We share our favourite finds from the internet this week.Jon Stewart and comedy in ChinaJon Stewart has recently discovered that he’s a hit in China, from the millions of viewers who see his show in …
By Anthony Morris Game of Thrones is the hit show of the moment – and holds the dubious honour of producing some of the most pirated television episodes ever. It’s rare to hear a bad word about it…
Presented by the Melbourne International Comedy FestivalWebsites, blogs, social media, YouTube, iTunes, live streaming and podcasts…The worldwide web has put a worldwide audience directly into the…
A co-presentation with Melbourne Conversations.Popular comedian and contrarian John Safran is known as a seeker of awkward and unusual truths. He infiltrates a secret world of madness, agitation and …
By Andie FoxMiddle age can make you a more savvy audience for art … but also a lazier one, as it must be squeezed into an ever-more time-poor life. Andie Fox realises that she’s become so risk…
Ben Elton is a writing all-rounder: he got his start creating cult television comedy classics like The Young Ones and Blackadder, then moved onto novels, movie screenplays and musicals.His…
And now for something completely different … we’re delighted to present everyone’s favourite travel addict, Michael Palin. (And we’re getting the Monty Python jokes out of the way before he gets…
The annual Foxtel Screenwriter’s Address, presented by the Australian Writers’ Foundation, recognises the ways in which writers shape our society and culture. Each year, a leading Australian…
We share some of our favourite links and articles found on the internet this week.Mitt Romney versus Big Bird versus ObamaThe US presidential campaign has taken another bizarre pop culture twist in t…
Elmo Keep is a writer and broadcaster whose non-fiction work has appeared in places like The Awl, the Age, Meanjin, the Big Issue and The Rumpus. She was a writer/producer on three series of ABC…
Romney’s Responsibility MapRepublican presidential candidate Mitt Romney is negotiating a major campaign obstacle, after a secret video was released of his candid remarks to a donor gathering, who…
Today’s American media is sharply divided along left and right political lines, with little room in the middle for the objective news and current affairs that was once the norm. From Fox News to The…
From the old days of The Brady Bunch and Bewitched to today’s ‘golden age of television’, where screenwriters and show-runners like Joss Whedon and Matthew Weiner have become household names –…
From the old days of The Brady Bunch and Bewitched to today’s ‘golden age of television’, where screenwriters and show-runners like Joss Whedon and Matthew Weiner have become household names –…
Aaron Sorkin’s new HBO series, The Newsroom, is politely labelled ‘critically contested’. While it’s been lambasted for sexism, general awkwardness, smugness (and dodgy use of Coldplay), it also has …
This month, our AMERICA series features a whole host of great events focusing on the US, just as the world watches the ailing superpower as it heads into a presidential election. This week, we…
The Wire: As Told in Lego AnimationJust when you thought you’d seen and read everything you could possibly handle about The Wire (aka The Best TV Show Ever Made), here comes something you need to…
The Wheeler Centre’s Shannon Hick confesses her unexpected passion for the daytime soap Days of Our Lives – and how she once shaped her uni schedule around it, so as not to miss the antics of Devil…
The author strikes backPatrick Somerville’s account of his new book being panned in the New York Times seems, at first glance, like another authorial whinge about being misunderstood by entitled…
This week’s Friday High Five focuses on the small screen. It’s old news that television has entered something of a golden age, with the advent of DVD box-sets enabling ongoing narratives with the…
Kathy Lette
Video · Wed, 09 May 2012
Kathy Lette pioneered smart, funny fiction with a frivolous edge (and a feminist flavour). In 2012’s The Boy Who Fell to Earth, Lette’s character Lucy has more to manage than most: she’s trying to…
Blown CoversA terrific new coffee table book by the art director of the New Yorker, Françoise Mouly, collects her favourite covers that were either rejected (often for being too controversial) or…
We share five of our favourite links to news, reviews or articles that we’ve discovered on the web over the past week.Fifty shades of spanking and Katie RoipheIt’s a bit weird to think that one of…
In this week’s themed Friday High-Five, we look at five memorable interviews … some good, some so bad they’re good – but each of them fascinating in their own way.Jon Hamm: Dark eyes like ‘an…
We began our Monday morning at the Wheeler Centre with a bit of a giggle, after stumbling on a very funny website that brings literary characters to (startlingly) real life.The creator of The…
Neil Gaiman
Video · Fri, 16 Dec 2011
From Coraline to The Sandman and American Gods to Doctor Who, Neil Gaiman has made his mark by bringing fantasy and sci-fi from the fringe and into the spotlight. Gaiman joins Clem Bastow onstage to …
The Slap
Video · Thu, 24 Nov 2011
The ABC’s television production of The Slap has been a high note in recent Australian drama. Christos Tsiolkas' eponymous novel has lost none of its sting in its journey from page to screen. In a…
Each year, the Australian Writers’ Foundation present the FOXTEL Screenwriter’s Address, a prestigious oration that has quickly established itself as an essential part of our film and television…
To coincide with the screening of the screen adaptation of Christos Tsiolkas' novel The Slap, the first episode of which aired on the ABC last week, we’re republishing a piece by Kris Mrksa. It was…
In Written for the Telly, two television writers — Adam Zwar (Lowdown, Wilfred) and Robyn Butler (The Librarians, Very Small Business) — discuss the commonalities and differences between their…
German ‘Sesame Street’ logo via WikiCommons
A new book claims that television shows such as Sesame Street propagate radical left-wing ideology. Newspapers across the world …
Poster of a Coffs Harbour Amateur Theatrical Society adaptation of Cloudstreet
A Perth-based fan of the Tim Winton classic Cloudstreet believes she’s narrowed the location …
