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Go on, pull the other one

Thursday 10 July 2008, 4:23 pm

Jeremy

Categories: GrodsNews

Tags: ABC, John Howard, The Hollowmen, Tony Abbott

Tony Abbott explaining why he enjoyed the ABC’s pale new imitation of Yes Minister, The Hollowmen:

“I just thought The Hollowmen … no one would have got it 12 months ago because the Howard Government didn’t work like that,” he said. “No Howard Government ministerial office was recognisable in the caricature we saw last night”.

Yeah, the Howard government never resorted to shameless spin and bullshit-peddling. They were bastions of straight-talk and action.

What we saw last night, a fictional PM declaring he was going to do something about a national childhood obesity epidemic, and then lamely producing a cop-out “awareness campaign” and voluntary code of conduct… that couldn’t possibly have happened during the Howard years, could it?

Damn that Kevin Rudd and the spin he’s brought to Australian politics. Like Tony, I truly miss the higher principles that left with Howard.

UPDATE Tim Blair has convinced himself that The Hollowmen is exclusively about Rudd, whatever the creators might say. It couldn’t possibly be about Howard too, because he was a man of substance and principle, who abhorred tricky politics and spi… LOOK BEHIND YOU IT’S A MUSLIM BOAT PERSON!

Clearly explicitly referencing the Howard-era childhood obesity stunt wasn’t obvious enough for Blair. Here’s hoping subsequent episodes cover imprisoning asylum seekers in the desert, locking up some innocent bloke the AFP says is related to a terrorist, and redefining marriage in the Marriage Act to make sure no-one tries giving gays equal rights.

Watch Tim quickly change his mind on how good the series is.

15 Comments

Bron (Thursday 10 July 2008, 5:04 pm) #

“It isn’t Kevin Rudd,” co-creator Tom Gleisner said last week of the show’s never-seen Prime Minister. “It’s no more Kevin Rudd than John Howard.”

Obviously Tom Gleisner is LYING about HIS OWN SHOW according to Timmeh.
Zombie Mao (Thursday 10 July 2008, 5:05 pm) #

Hang on.

The Hollowmen would have been some time (months/years ?) in the making.

Therefore the Working Dog peeps had a crystal ball, a soothsayer or an enchanted jockstrap and found out about Rudd before we did.

Maybe they employed psychics now starring in ‘The One’ on channel seven.
Bridgit Gread (Thursday 10 July 2008, 5:28 pm) #

Proof:

The Hollowmen is an idea the Working Dog ensemble had been tossing around for close to a decade.

Who was in power a decade ago, Timbo?
John Surname (Thursday 10 July 2008, 5:36 pm) #

I was about to say, Bridgit. The scripts were mostly completed before Rudd was voted in. Gosh, darn it.
John Surname (Thursday 10 July 2008, 6:07 pm) #

“Some will have found last night’s debut short of laughs. That’s OK. There’s some work involved in establishing characters and building a series platform.”

Gee, I wish Blair would let us in on all his TV writing secrets. It’s not like he was running really close to deadline and needed to pump any old shit out.
pludian (Thursday 10 July 2008, 6:09 pm) #

No, Bron. He would’ve said it was about Rudd. Except then Rudd would get the Climate Change Police to KILL HIM. Obviously.
cosmicjester (Thursday 10 July 2008, 6:09 pm) #

i like how if this were to come out during the howard government bolt/ackerman/janet and gerald would all be screaming that it is an example of extreme left wing bias entrenched in the abc

i havent seen any leftists or labor supprters jump up and down about this series, perhaps a certain maturity the right lacks
thr (Thursday 10 July 2008, 6:15 pm) #

Tim’s right on this one. And Orwell’s 1984 is an amalgam of the Rudd and (future) Obama governments.
Bridgit Gread (Thursday 10 July 2008, 6:40 pm) #

And the John Surname-led Democrats government to be elected in 2017.
Jeremy (Thursday 10 July 2008, 6:45 pm) #

I don’t think you guys understand it at all.

1. The ALP are do-nothing morons who are all about spin.
2. The characters in The Hollowmen are do-nothing morons who are all about spin.
3. Therefore the characters in The Hollowmen are a parody of the ALP.

Also:

1. The Howard Government was the greatest government this country has ever seen.
2. The government in The Hollowmen is clearly not the greatest government this country has ever seen.
3. Therefore the characters in The Hollowmen do not represent the Howard Government.

Unarguable.
Mikey (Thursday 10 July 2008, 8:37 pm) #

Multiple across the board pwning.

Kudos J.
keri from her phone (Thursday 10 July 2008, 11:12 pm) #

That’s it. I’m asking working dog for next weeks lotto numbers.
cosmicjester (Friday 11 July 2008, 12:32 am) #

from 2004

http://www.abc.net.au/worldtoday/content/2004/s1142782.htm

“ELEANOR HALL: The Prime Minister has promised to spend $116 million to tackle the problem of childhood obesity. Mr Howard has already rejected Labor’s plan to ban fast food advertising during children’s television programs, saying that would take responsibility away from parents.”

reminds me of a tv show i saw last night
Mikey (Friday 11 July 2008, 9:35 am) #

Has anyone else noticed the Liberal party has gotten together to start repeating the same narrative that Rudd ‘doesn’t stand for anything’. There was Howard, there was Abbott, there was Coonan on what little of Q&A I could stomach (until some old lady fully pwned her about Rudd’s core beliefs being in press unlike Mainstream Values).

The Libs do this every single time. They think it’s a high school debate and they gather together at recess to plot their strategy. It’s pathetic. As indeed they are.
David (Monday 14 July 2008, 4:21 pm) #

I finally got ’round to watching the first episode last night, and found it reasonably amusing. I don’t care what Gleisner _said_, it’s about Howard. Eventually that’ll even penetrate the thick skulls of Abbot, Timmeh, and the rest.