0/5

Keeping up with the Joneses

An unforgiving terrain, aerial shots, hard yakka, rogue crocs, and a likeable family feature in TEN's new factual series.

The Joneses, as they are so frequently branded in TEN’s new factual series, are quiet achievers.

Living on a cattle station 600km south of Darwin, their million-acre property is a spectacular, if unforgiving setting.

Like any Australian family working on the land, their daily routine is made up of hard yakka. It’s a matter of rolling up your sleeves and working relentless hours. It’s not at all romantic. But with aerial shots bookended with an alluring soundtrack it looks a whole lot more handsome on the small screen. This is not a criticism. There’s a lot to like about these Joneses.

The family is headed up by Milton, a patriarch who is as dusty as the land. Milton is middle-aged and beer-bellied, an outback Ocker who isn’t afraid of tackling any obstacle. He is married to Cristina, who loves to horse-ride and has clearly bonded with the lifestyle in ways the bush brides of Farmer wants a Wife can only hope to match.

Teenagers Beau (male) and Alex (female) study in the city but come home on holidays to help run the property. Both are so down to earth and seemingly camera-shy that it acually helps endorse the authenticity of the show. Their speeches to camera are endearingly understated. No starry-eyed reality celebs here. These two are the real deal.

Then there is three year old Little Milton, a ball of energy keen to try his hand at everything on the farm from bull riding to truck-driving. You’ll see him atop a bull calf clutching his father’s hand and sitting on his dad’s lap as he grips a big steering wheel. Do not attempt this at home, kids.

“If he’s going to make a career in the bush he’s got to learn about it,” says Dad. “He learns by looking, showing. Actually doing it.”

The five are the centrepiece of the series from WTFN (Bondi Vet), with in-laws and assorted supporting cast to boot.

To run a property of this size, Milton and his staff are licensed helicopter pilots. It gives the series both buoyancy and a memorable point of difference. While watching Milton muster the cattle from the air you can’t help but be sucked into the visuals of the red dirt land, green treetops and vast canyons. Start racking up those international sales, this is a show that should prove more successful abroad than in its home territory.

As well as bulls and horses, what Northern Territory property would be complete without rogue crocodiles? They add a sense of danger to life on the land and while it’s fascinating to watch you want Milton’s croc-hunting, it’s a job you wouldn’t want for quids. No doubt snakes are yet to come…

Toss in battles with the elements: rain, wind and fire, and you are well on your way to a series that looks to have plenty up its sleeve. Finally there are the personal moments. Watching how the family has adjusted its dynamic for this unforgiving lifestyle is what will define this series. After all, it’s no good having a great backdrop and plot points if the characters aren’t likeable. Thankfully they come across as salt of the earth folk, as ‘Dundee’ as they come.

Amusingly, every second sentence in the premiere hour episode ends in the word “Ay?”

“Growin’ up on the station, gives you a lot of common sense, ay?” says Beau.

The title is somewhat misleading. From the safety of my suburban sofa there’s no hope of trying to keep up with this lot. But it’s a race I’m happy to watch from arms-length distance.

Keeping up with the Joneses begins 9pm Thursday October 14 on TEN.

19 Responses

  1. Love the show… We have lived on a cattle station, not this big but it is all so true and realistic. You have to hand it to people that live this life! If it wasn’t for the farmers where would Australia be? True genuine people. I say good for them and all the other families out there alike. True Aussie spirit! :):)

  2. @Mason: your comment was quoted in the article in the Friday edition of the Herald Sun (posted online late tonight), about Little Milton sitting in his father’s lap and steering the family car around the property.

  3. I was up that way in May for my brother-in-law’s wedding on a cattle station on the McArthur River (900km SW of Darwin) I’m looking forward to this show, because all the blokes & sheilas I met are dead ringers for the family in this show. Will be awesome to see what they all do for a livin’…..while I sit behind my desk here in the big smoke whinging about traffic & electricity prices & moron neighbours!

  4. Is it just me, or does that kid look like the kid from that Mutual Community ad?
    “A crocodile came up and bit my guts out, split me into parts…pieces…and my legs went that way and my head went that way.”

  5. I’ll be watching it, even if it’s just for the amazing scenery and to see parts of Australia I wouldn’t normally get to see, rather than for the plot of the reality series.

    I think there’ll be a lot of people watching it for similar reasons. Sure you could watch a documentary, but this will probably have far better cinematography, and be far more entertaining, if less factual.

  6. I’m looking forward to this, looks really good.

    Ch 10 are light years ahead of 7 & 9 when it comes to factual reality shows.

    @ salf – I am really worried about Australia if ‘very few people have heard of the phrase’ keeping up with the joneses. Worried and sad that people are so silly these days.

  7. sounds great, i’ll be checking it out.
    but the title… very few people have heard of the phrase, about as many that got “money for jam”, and they think it is ten having a shot at Keeping up with the Kardashians in the bush, and roll their eyes at the thought.

  8. Look at that little tacker giving us the thumbs up while he rides off in the family helicopter. How could ya not want to watch the advetures of him? Hopefully some funniest home video moments as he falls off bulls and crashes his motorcycle.

  9. Interesting program, can’t wait to see it. It’s a shame that many Territorians will not be able to see it because Ten programming is not available outside Darwin and not everyone has internet access to watch the program on Ten’s website.

Leave a Reply