Hungry Beast
On a deconstructed, inelegant set, this show revels in its undergraduate attitude. As a first effort, it is a welcome addition to our news & current affairs horizon.
- Published by David Knox
- on
- Filed under Programming, Reviews
19 (mostly) new faces, all congregating in ABC’s Ultimo Studio…here comes the class of 2009. On one level the mission is to “tell us something we don’t know.” On another, it is to discover new talent and on yet another it is to impress us with its highly secretive debut.
On a deconstructed, inelegant set, this show revels in its undergraduate attitude. The stories move swiftly, at varying lengths. Like a metropolis magazine, there are some stories with serious editorial tone and others that are flippant, irreverent or information-heavy. Not all of them hit their target in the premiere episode.
The first story was its publicised hoax, in which the Hungry Beast team hoodwinked media with a fake survey story about gullible people. Many radio stations, press and television fell for the stunt. Like The Chaser, the Hungry Beast team are already out to prank the corporates. And like The Chaser’s Andrew Hansen, presenter Daniel Keogh had the wild, distracting hairdo. But the stunt was a clever one for both proving a point and attracting pre-promotion for the show itself.
Another segment in which a cat was pilloried in the style of a tabloid current affairs show was effective in debunking sneaky presentation tricks. Slow-mo here, voice over there, this was definitely a pussy guilty of being a suburban cat. Shame, shame, shame.
Other snappy graphics with information and facts jammed in between stories hark back to the wry, breakneck speed of the short-lived current affairs series, The Times (a show ahead of its time at Seven).
Hungry Beast‘s best contribution was an interview with the mother and wife of Brett Till, an Australian soldier who was killed in Afghanistan.
Sitting in a suburban kitchen they shone with laughter and tears as they remembered their husband and son. It was personal, honest and spoke powerfully to our continued role in the region. Indeed, it told us something we don’t know.
Less successful was a silly sketch about saving -or possibly not saving- pandas, most of which was to reiterate a line to “F**k Pandas.”
As a first effort, Hungry Beast is a welcome addition to our news & current affairs horizon. So far its best asset appears to have been the element of surprise. May it continue to surprise.
Hungry Beast airs 9pm Wednesdays on ABC1.
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- Tagged with Hungry Beast, The Chaser's War on Everything, The Times
35 Responses
The Hack (sorry re spelling) half hour that was on ABC2 last year – Triple J has the Hack radio show and they made a 30 min tv version.
David, is HACC coming back to tv?
That had waaaaay more entertainment value than this did.
Which?
Watching the beast last night made me realise how good the Chaser was at its best. Generally really terrible – VCE stuff – attempting to be smart asses when not very smart. Panda sketch made me cringe and they guy with the clown hair needs to deal with his impending baldness and take appropriate steps.
Please ABC – just put on The Daily Show with Jon Stewart and/or The Colbert Report for a few seasons so our youngsters can see how its done before they attempt things on their own.
Well overall I thought it was a good show, very ABC although I thought it would be more suited to ABC 2 than ABC 1. The interviewing of the cat was an accurate send up of ACA/TT and I think the best part was the story on their hoax opening the show. But I have to admit that it was a little unclear as to what the format was. A serious interview and sketch comedy, although both good, just don’t seem to go together in a show. Still, I’ll be watching the whole series.
I would lose the sketch comedy and overtly down the barrell moving camera emotional presentation that accompanied the War releted intervew. The two presenters in that piece made me cringe. The interview itslef was good and didnt need that, which I thought was heavy editorial. The war so far was not the greatest either. The stunt was very good in its restraint and cleverness. There was a point and its refreshing. Some of the bufers , segues were quite alright and had sopme flare. I would not try the comedy too mcuh though although the netball one id funny…
Giant meh from me sorry.
Watched first segment then changed channel when lame cat story came on, changed back when pathetic ,unfunny panda story was on – just because you say f— doesn’t make something funny.
I really don’t like this show from what i have seen so far.
1. 19 newcomers well no marc fannell and dan ilic are not new comers.
2. it reminds me off today today/a current affair especially with the war and talking to the family.
3. and finally the panda bit was just stupid and not really that creative.
hopefully the next episode is betterI
I had a chuckle at the end but generally awful.
I would loose the bad sketch comedy and stick to what’s real and true. I’ll be watching again next week…
I thought it was great – clever, fresh, and intelligent. Great shows are not great every segment, but that they try is what is important, otherwise we get more dumbed down, formulaic reality TV. I didnt know what was going to come next, and that is part of what I so enjoyed about it, Including the cat (I thought that was a rather clever send up of ACA and Today Tonight, did anyone else?))
I thought the first segment with the fake survey was fantastic and the rest was awful. The interview with the widow of the soldier was good but totally out of place between two sketches that were supposed to be funny but were in fact not funny at all.
Also the presentation was too wacky and zany…
Thoughts in no particular order or weighted importance:
It’s Behind the News all growned up!
I’m not the target demographic even though I’m in roughly the same age range as the presenters. Those that need to develop their critical literacy skills would not have been watching it or will study the epsiode at school next week.
Promo for next episode *sigh*
I expected so much more.
It came as tepid to me last night, didn’t know what to make of it.
Gave it ten minutes. Lost me with the ridiculously unfunny cat / tabloid journo sketch. Mind you, I thought the last season of the Chaser was rubbish too, so my tastes may be changing.
Of course this didn’t rate very well & it’s easy to see why… It’s not a show that’s been shoved into Nine’s creative microwave & re-heated to be consumed ten years later. Points to ABC1 for attempting something *new.*
Didn’t watch it but saw the panda segment and that was freaking hilarious.
I agree with most of the comments. It definitely should have been an ABC2 and iview exclusive. And thank you David for mentioning The Times. I was reminded of it last night when watching the show, but could not remember the name of that show.
hmmm i agreed SJ, i found that format really confusing
it didn’t know what it wanted to be – funny, serious, thought-provoking, clever?
it reminded me of the late show a little, in that it walked that satirical line with a mix of segments… but it is really lacking something major. there is no continuity across the show and feels very disjointed
it had the feeling that feeling that everyone was given the freedom to do what they wanted and they all came back and tried to paste it together… with some good results but some disappointing too.
ill tune in again but if it continues to be a bit frustrating i might stop eventually
I tried to give this show a go, being interested by the hoax survey thing they did, but then the next segment, interviewing a cat!?! Turned the channel straight away.
Seemed like it was made by 19 media studies students for their Uni assignment, not very professional to be worth a prime time slot paid for by us tax payers! Should be moved to ABC2.
It reminded me of Reportage on BBC2 in the late eighties – it’s always held up as landmark tv, but was frankly unwatchable.
I think this would have done better to spend some time on ABC2 to find it’s legs, it feels more JTV than ABC1. Without Denton attcahed I suspect this would have got nowhere as it’s unclear what the format is. I was disappointed with ep1 as despite all the hype and slick promos it seemed undercooked, but I’ll give it another go.
personally, i felt that the show was very disappointing. it looked very cheap and should be on ch31. the show has big shoes to fill being in the old chaser slot. hopefully there is an improvement.
I liked the show, it was refreshing to see a news and current affairs program aimed at young people. I think the way the show transitioned from funny to serious could have been better, but I do like the fact that they were both included. I will be definitely be tuning in next week.
p.s. F**k Pandas.
‘It was personal, honest and spoke powerfully to our continued role in the region. Indeed, it told us something we don’t know.’
Oh yeah, sounds really daring and innovative.
I honestly found the format very confusing. No where near as interesting as the Chaser boys.
I thought the panda bit was great, light hearted but still thought provoking. Overall an intruiging debut-I’ll be watching again next week.