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The current affairs bingo card

Clueless bogans, bras, plucky battlers, money saving tips, psychics - check out this bingo card of story ideas for current affairs shows.

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I’m not sure what George Negus will be doing with his spare time after this week but he might like to while away the hours playing on this bingo card aimed at A Current Affair and Today Tonight.

There are some pretty amusing observations about their favourite content, including:

– Story about bras / swimsuits / underwear that are mostly shots of models wearing not much.
– Story about plucky battler who beats the system. Any system.
– Clueless bogan rails at authority figure or institution.
– Story asking if you are really getting what you pay for?
– Someone says “It’s Un-Australian!.”
– Thinly veiled racism disguised as concern.
– Host nods seriously and says “Interesting / Worrying” stuff after story.

They did overlook the entire grocery / supermarket / taste test and the red light camera / speeding fine / parking fine stories, but apart from that it’s spot on.

It has been circulating online for a few months but kudos to “Engineroom” who came up with the idea.

You can check it out here.

31 Responses

  2. The rehashed how to slash your power bills comes up in their promos at least twice a week . Of course headed now by Burgo so desperate to get his mug on tv . You see he’s an advocate for the battling pensioner now!

  4. Today Tonight + A current Affairs are not current affairs programs. They are trashy and misguided wanna-be-journalism-programs which resemble celluloid versions of pathetic tabloid magazines. Foreign Correspondent or George Negus at 6.30pm are our current leaders in good journalism…

  12. That host nods head and says something like worrying/interesting reminds me of a send up someone did of TT & the previous host. They’d do her saying something like “troubling times” with a serious expression lol

  14. @ Trix, I’ve noticed those stories as well, asserting that asylum seekers are whooping it up in Club Med style accommodation whilst ordinary Australians battle on. It’s the sort of story that resonates with One Nation supporters and taps into the undercurrent of racism that runs just under the surface in this country. These sttories exist purely to get a rise out of the audience and to demonise asylum seekers/Muslims/minority racial groups even further, if that is possible.

    The Bingo card is hilarous!!! Talk about spot on! I haven’t read through them all, but I trust the time-honoured hidden camera catching car mechanic/fridge mechanics/TV repairmen rip-offs is there. Another oldie but goldie is dating agency ripoffs.

  17. Also missed “Rip off story or footage from rival station”.

    Thanks for clearing that up, David. I had always assumed that they used a dartboard to select which one of their 20 stories they would rehash. However, this makes more sense as obviously Nine, if not Seven, use the dartboard to program their schedule. (I hear that numbers 1 to 5 all say “TBBT”).

  21. i am amazed how Matt White (and prevous TT hosts) can stand infront of the camera and present these laughable stories with a straight face everynight. How does he do it???

  22. That list is so apt! I was going to post a comment this morning anyway at the increasing number of stories which fall under the “thinly veiled racism disguised as concern stories” that are popping up on both ACA and TT at the moment. Along the lines of “resort style luxury for boat people as locals do it tough”. It really is the most mean spirited, divisive kind of reporting, and clearly aims to make asylum seekers the scapegoats. I just hate to think how many people watch these programs and assume they’re factual when they’re often clearly not.

  23. I’ll give them credit, occasionally Today Tonight and ACA actually serve up a really interesting investigation that hasn’t been covered before or in a certain way. Unfortunately 95% of their menu is the same old stories we have seen for over a decade and yes some of them are almost blatantly racist.

    I cannot believe mainstream Australia tune in for this stuff, it makes us look like a social backwater.

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