It seems to go without saying that in today's modern society no daily routine would be complete without a daily dose of Television. For the most part Mandy and I try to get out to explore and experience as much of the Aussie culture as we can, but there are few shows we like to be home for. And since TV is such prominent part of modern culture, we can cleverly disguise our couch potato moments as adventures into Aussie pop culture.
So, below you will find a few field notes on some of our favorite programs from our exploration into Aussie TV. Click the links to watch a sample clip from the highlighted show.
Can of Worms: This show started the Monday after we arrived in Sydney and it's simply a talk show where the host asks a panel of Australian celebrities or semi celebrities a series of loaded questions and gets their thoughts on the matter. Mandy and I both found it an interesting way to get a perspective on the Aussie perspective.
Farmer Wants a Wife: This is essentially The Bachelor only with a slightly different structure. The show selects 6 different farmers who are a looking for love to follow. Then each farmer is asked to pick 6 women out a 100's of profiles they receive and their family is asked to pick 1 for a total of seven. Then the 7 women are invited to a winery where the farmers have speed dates with their 7 picks. The Farmers select 3 to take back to the farm with them for further dates. Eventually the Framers end up with 1 lucky lady, and hopefully their true love. Unlike the Bachelor there is no proposal at the end they just continue to date to see if things work out.
The show doesn't necessarily offer much in the way of cultural exploration, but one of Mandy's co-workers was on the show this season, so, it was fun to watch someone you know act silly on TV.
Hamish and Andy's Gap Year: This one is our favorite!!! This is comedic combination talk/sketch/travel show. Hamish and Andy are young radio hosts who have their own tv series. This season they traveled to New York for a Gap year(educational holiday(vacation)) and are experiencing life in the USA. Each week they rehash their adventures; and take a safari to a different place in the US, battle each other in some form of crazy competition, try to accomplish something on their to do list, and interview a celebrity in order to share what they have learned with the Australian public.
Again not super culturally stimulating, but interesting to see what parts of American culture to Aussie pick to share with Australia.
We like this one so much we've posted more clips below...Enjoy!
Ultimate Wingman: Hamish, Andy's appointed love coach tries to get Andy a lady.
You can explore more clips on youtube if you have the time or inclination (the safari section of the show can be pretty interesting).
Other than those three shows the only other thing we find culturally interesting on TV is the sports. And we are proud to say after hours of watching Rugby(Union and League: two variations on essentially the same game) as well as Australian Rules football, both referred to as footy which can get a bit confusing, we more less understand what's going on. Cricket, on the other hand, is still a complete mystery and utterly baffling to watch.
Well, sorry we don't have anything more interesting to report. September was a little lame adventure wise, but we have some fun trips planned in October to the Blue Mountains, Tasmania and whale watching in Sydney Harbour. So, hopefully our next post will be more exciting and more frequent.
Thanks for checking in with us!
