The White Room
In the premiere of Seven's new game show, everybody was trying hard to get the laughs. Very, very hard...
- Published by David Knox
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- Filed under Programming, Reviews
“If you are glued to the TV right now, you either have great taste, or ar the victim of a terrible prank,” said Tony Moclair.
I’m picking the second, Tony.
And I’d like to buy a vowel, please.
The White Room, Seven’s answer to Spicks and Specks and Talkin’ ‘Bout Your Generation and Good News Week has arrived following rapid promos and no previews. It’s simple format sees comedians divided into two teams answering television trivia questions and games to the two hosts, Tony Moclair and Julian Schiller.
The genre is one Seven has been hungry to become a player in since the demise of Todd McKenney’s You May Be Right and Celebrity Spelling Bee and Glenn Robbins’ Out of the Question. Andrew O’Keefe also dabbled briefly with a more variety-driven vehicle with This is Your Laugh.
Dwarfed by a huge white-filled studio, the panellists and guests included Dave Thornton, Felicity Ward, George McEncroe, Lawrence Mooney, Fifi Box and Luke Jacobz. All were trying hard to get the laughs in the premiere episode. Very hard…
Aiding and abetting the game play were television clips, mostly nostalgic, providing a visual support to the static studio presentation. While it wasn’t all Seven shows, much of the other footage appeared to be either ABC shows or YouTube quality clips of rival network shows. SBS didn’t appear to crack a look in at all, while Foxtel shows were only referenced for footage of international titles such as The Wonder Years and Blue Heelers (a Hallmark rather than a Seven logo here).
Like rival shows, games were built around singing, linking objects (wearing a blindfold, the panellists correctly felt their way around a bunch of bones must be the answer to Bones) and even interpreting a dodgy dance quartet.
So if Spicks and Specks can be so damned successful at an entire game show built around music, where’s the harm in another show around TV itself?
There were several problems here. The cold set is so big as to leave the players shouting at one another. Everybody felt the need to come up with a punchline. And 60 minutes is just far, far too long. Why do commercial networks always feel the need to stretch a 22 minute idea to 44? Generation gets away with it thanks to its acerbic host, who is brilliantly deriding the game at the same time as celebrating it. Were Micallef sincere it would be a whole different ball game.
The cast also seemed so busy amongst themselves to play to the studio audience.
The White Room has also taken a risk in casting largely unknowns in the show. But in the 7:30 slot it may have benefitted from a little star power and more development of its gameplay. Humility goes a long way in this genre, too.
The real key to the success of Spicks and Specks is its charming host and the good company of its players. You’d be happy to have them around for a dinner party and reminisce about music.
If I invited this lot around I reckon I’d be lucky to get a word in anywhere. And I actually like telly…
The White Room airs 7:30pm Thursdays on Seven.
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101 Responses
What didn’t you like about them, Ant? What was not to like? They were funny as!
fifi box was hottest one their thats why everyone watched it
I surfed into this, and hesitantly admit to having had a few good chuckles. Those 4 blokes “dancing” though, crap! It could get better (so long as they ditch those dancers).
I recorded it, so only just got round to watching it… OMG what a load of Shite!
Nec, we do have a Stephen Fry, his name is Tony Martin. However I certainly wouldn’t want him on some terrible Seven show.
Haha! At least the review was funny!
Yet, surely SBS was mentioned? Weren’t they thanked for supplying their old ADbc set?
Did I miss the meeting where Fifi Box was labelled a “comedian”? When did she stop being a seat filler?
I agree with Tomothy, QI is great! I wish we could make something like that here but we don’t have a Stephen Fry. I also agree with Chewie about the dancers- they were brilliant. Ha! Maybe it’s just me, but those guys were awesome. Who are they?
This is the worst show of the year & it’s only Feb
@ guanolad- now that’s a show with potential.
“If you are glued to the TV right now, you either have great taste, or ar the victim of a terrible prank”. Really who wrote that? That is the best we can do in comedy? “Humility goes a long way in this genre, too”. Well summed up. Watching largely unknowns acting cocky is hardly appealing.
Someone here posted that they’ve stopped watching Good News Week because it’s become focused too much on the jokes and not enough on the game, which is the exact same reason I stopped watching. But at least GNW’s comedy comes naturally, unlike The White Room where everyone is trying too hard to get in a joke which ends up being rather poor anyway, instead of just going with the flow.
Having said that, I enjoyed it overall, but that would be due to my interest in television, not for the comedy. And it’s no secret that 7 is hopeless with comedy (Kath and Kim doesn’t count because it’s really an ABC show) so I give it one season and TV Burp-esque bumping and shifting before it gets the chop altogether.
worst TV i have seen produced in this country for a long long long long time…hated it…i wont be back
So here’s what you do. You base the game on all kinds of geek topics. Movies, TV, video games, comics, music, etc.
You get Scott Edgar to host.
Tony Martin is captain of one team, Ed Kavalee is captain of the other.
Each team has a celebrity guest, and a member of the public/audience.
It’s Rockwiz meets TBYG.
I felt as warm about the hosts and the guests as the ice cold set.
Look, it was not the best. However, pilots rarely air well and shows need time to find their rhythm and tone. Hosts will improve- maybe less scripting and more relaxed riffing from the guests would inspire some organic humour. As for the ‘dodgy dance quartet,’ David- that was the best part of the show. Those guys were funny and really committed. The clues were hard but as a spectacle, it was the funniest/most entertaining, part of the night for sure!
Chewie “dodgy dance quartet” wasn’t a criticism. I acknowledge it was a dodgy spoof.
I didn’t see this show but from promos it reminds me of Shooting Stars from the UK, which by the way is a fab random meaningless quiz show filled with odd moments and hosts Vic Reeves and Bob Mortimer. They too have a giant set, and I get the idea that 7 have perhaps pilfered the idea from them though from comments above, clearly not the humour.
Ordinary,first new show to get the axe
Don’t we have enough panel shows in this country already? TBYG, Spicks, GNW, Rockwiz, ADBC, 7pm project… enough already! This was derivative, cheap and uninventive, with dreadful comedians all scrambling for attention, and the two wooden identical hosts were a shocker. Won’t be watching again.
Let me get this straight RainMan: According to you…
(1) Felicity Ward’s “physical suitability to the medium [of TV] is… she has a great head for radio.”
and (2) you’re opining: “We need more strong Funny female talent in this country! Where’s Our Sarah Silverman?”
It’s the prospect of playing to people with your attitudes that keeps networks from creating opportunities for strong female comedians and a lot of potentially brilliant female comedians from even putting themselves out there. For mine, Felicity Ward is one of the country’s strongest female comedy stars.
Oh really…? I didn’t mind it. I found the hosts and most of the panel, with a couple of exceptions. quite likeable. I wanted to be a contestant, because unlike Fifi Box, I would have got the answers right.
New series of Amazing Race starts this week in US. Give White Room two weeks and replace it with AR.
Not as bad I thought it would be.
Thanks Tony H. I’ve been on about Richard Stubbs’s Great TV Game Show since I started seeing the promos for this show, and people look at me like I’m from another planet. I was starting to think I’d dreamed the whole thing.
I remember really liking it, though I was of a younger and less cynical age.
It has two hosts become Tony Moclair & Jullian Schiller come as a package – ‘Restoring The Balance’ (Triple J) anyone? Both are highly intelligent and well suited to radio (particularly character/voice acting a la Guido)… but perhaps not TV.
Can I just add that Felicity Ward is the worst thing to happen to Australian television since the invention of hi-def? Her physical suitability to the medium is… she has a great head for radio.
Have the producers put her on the show simply because she’s female / Australian / young… and Cal Wilson was otherwise employed?
We need more strong Funny female talent in this country! Where’s Our Sarah Silverman?
I got a few chuckles out of it but it made me realise how much I loved TV Burp.
Agree with everyone about Tony Martin – his presence can brighten up anything – and Fifi Box – she needs to disappear.