I tried wil anderson’s new show “the gruen transfer” last wednesday. I lasted about 10 minutes before switching channels.
There are many reasons for me to dislike this program (which debuted with disappointingly high ratings). The main one is also the reason I so disliked the glass house – the host’s glibness, smugness, and all round “lightweightness”. Crudity is not a substitude for comedy in my book. (I’m aware that this makes me sound like me grandmother)

But really, any student of english, media studies, cultural studies etc spends their life these days deconstructing the power of advertising. For me, the fact that the gruen transfer is based on doing this makes it extremely tedious viewing. If I want to be exposed to explanations on the power of advertising I’ll go back and read some of my undergraduate essays. Sure they weren’t very (intentionally) funny. But then neither was what I saw of the gruen transfer.
And really, haven’t we got enough of these panel shows where the host sets a little topic in motion and the job of the rest of the guests is to keep the ball in play, back and forth blah blah blah.
Surely the ABC can come up with something more interesting than this for local content.
(And Bed of Roses – you’re no better in terms of local content – recycled poor cousin to the far more entertaining Seachange)