What I’ve Been Watching: Osher Günsberg

What shows are on your must-see TV list lately?

OG: Too many to mention but let’s start with:

Rivals (Disney+) – an exquisite adaptation of Jilly Cooper’s book.

Receiver (Netflix) – come for the up-close spectacle of the NFL, stay for the brilliant modelling of modern masculinity, of dedicated fatherhood, and the remarkable moments of high-stakes conflict resolution that is so brilliantly displayed by these huge, super-fit, powerful, tackling machines.

Slow Horses (AppleTV+). I’m biased because I love the See Saw Films podcast, but this latest season is so intensely brilliant that Audrey and I were stuck on a couch well after midnight, both with early starts because we simply had to finish the season. Worth the bleary heads the next day.

Which guilty pleasure show are you reluctant to admit watching?

OG: I’m not reluctant to admit anything, I absolutely love Grizzy and the Lemmings. Made in France, but set in Canada – this absolutely hilarious silent comedy takes all the best slapstick gags from Looney Tunes cartoons and reimagines them in the most bonkers way possible. There’s heaps of episodes, they’re six minutes each, and my son and I laugh our faces off every time. Very well written, very clever details, very worth it.

When you settle down for a night on the couch what are your ‘must-haves?’

OG: Audrey works very early (her alarm goes of at 0245 when she’s working on breakfast TV) so I’m often on the couch alone. I watch the AppleTV with the AirPods in. I have significant hearing loss and normally wear hearing aids, however with the AirPods I get a TV experience unlike any other. This way the only thing what wakes up my son is the noise of me shouting “come on!” When I’m watching the basketball highlights.

What show would you secretly love to appear on?

OG: I half-ticked the box I had to appear on Survivor when I was called off the bench to host a season finale one year when JLP couldn’t travel (it was early 2020, you do the maths). That was nice, however I’d absolutely love to play the game. I always grow from a challenge, and sometimes I set myself huge goals just because I know that I’ll benefit from them regardless of whether I succeed or not. I’d love the chance to play the best game ever invented by people.

Tell us about what we can expect to see in A World of Pain and why this was important to you?

OG: A few years back, after hip replacement surgery I started experiencing pain which eventually became unbearable at worst and horrible at best. To cope, I needed to learn a lot, not only about what happens to our brains after an extended period of being in pain, but also how I might be able to cope with this sensation while still being able to work. Heavy painkillers were off the cards (which I go into in the film) so I sought help from a number of different people including a pain psychologist. When I discovered the efficacy of things like Opioids on chronic and persistent pain, and how much of my pain was being created in my brain (there’s an uncomfortable moment in the film where I discuss what it was like to realise that some of my agony really was all in my head) I simply had to tell people.

Teaming up with the brilliant crew at Lune Media once again, together with SBS we have made another excellent film.

I’m so proud of it because once again, we have achieved what we set out to do – to make a documentary which would not only inform people who care about someone affected, but to also bring hope to those that are suffering.

It’s a very important film, and by design may even be confronting for some, yet ultimately it’s a message of possibility that I’m enormously proud of.

Osher Gunsberg: A World Of Pain screens 8:30pm Thursday November 21 on SBS.