22 November 2012

Magic is here in Australia... In the form of Once Upon A Time!

Magic has finally arrived on Australian TV. No thanks to you, channel 7, for taking your sweet time!

Although I've been watching Once Upon A Time season two online, I will also be tuning in to watch it on channel 7. I'm quite impressed with seven playing two eps a week (on Tuesday and Thursday) starting next week as it means we'll catch up to the US at some point.

I love season 2 of Once. It is bigger and better than the first and with some awesome new characters. In the season 2 premiere 'Broken' we see Emma reunited with her parents as she declares she might need a glass of wine or "several bottles" to get over the fact that Snow White and Prince Charming are indeed her parents.

We also meet Mulan who declares to recently awakened Aurora that she's a woman, not merely a girl like Aurora points out. I think Aurora has a point though when she says Mulan is in love with Prince Phillip!

There are also some new creatures in the episode. Wraiths are clearly simliar to dementors! Even Ginnifer Goodwin tweeted during the US airing of the episode that she refers to them as dementors. Point being though, they are soul suckers and, although one wasn't successful in sucking Regina's soul out like Gold had hoped, it did result in Emma and Mary Margaret being whisked away to fairytale land through Jefferson's hat!

But never fear - Charming will find them. He will always find them. Well, here's hoping anyway!

After 'Snowing' (Snow and Charming) my favourite Once couple is 'Rumbelle' (Rumplestiltskin and Belle). They were simply gorgeous in tonight's premiere. Despite Rumple being hostile with her and sending her running out of his shop, there clearly are some strong feelings that remain between these two. And how beautiful did Belle look once Rumple had given her some clothes? The man has good taste, I say he's a keeper!

I loved that Henry didn't want Regina to be killed. After all she's done, he understands that it'd be wrong for them to kill her (but how tempting is the thought, seriously?!). And I laughed pretty hard at Snow's reaction to Henry calling Charming "grandpa". Gold! Ginnifer is a brilliant actress and proved it in that scene especially.

Line of the episode? "We were cursed!" The new best excuse for a one night stand and maybe even a replacement for Friends' classic "We were on a break!" even?

Bring on the rest of season 2, right?! I just hope Emma and Snow can get back soon...

9 November 2012

Redfern Now and A Moody Christmas - ABC1 gems.

I'd wanted to check out Redfern Now after seeing a promo for it after Rake. I wasn't sure whether I'd like it but it had a great cast and was set in Sydney's Redfern, so I watched it to see. Verdict? I love it!

Each week the series tells the story of a family in inner-city Redfern, a suburb known for its Aboriginal population which carries with it a bad reputation for violence and crime.

I love that the series shows the good as well as the bad. It also has a great Aussie cast. The first ep starred Leah Purcell, Shari Sebbens (of The Sapphires) was in last night's ep and next week's ep features Deborah Mailman.

Then there's A Moody Christmas, also on ABC1 and featuring a great Aussie cast. I missed episode 2 but after watching episode 1, I will definitely catch up on iView. Jane Harber (of Offspring), Rachel Gordon, Patrick Brammall and Ian Meadows were the standouts for me - all terrific actors.

I loved that it was centered around a regular Aussie family at Christmas time. The storyline was one which I, and I'm sure many other Australians, could relate to. It's a unique idea for a show and I applaud its writers and creators.

Aussie drama seems to be on somewhat of a production frenzy at the moment. There are so many new shows I really can't keep track of them all. It's very rare that the amount of Aussie-made shows I'm watching on TV outweighs the American, but right now I reckon it's pretty close - about 40/60 in favour of US shows.

Good work, Australia. The more local content the better, I say!

On my to-watch list tonight:

8:30pm Tomorrow, When The War Began on channel 10.
Then I'm going to watch The Five-Year Engagement on DVD - borrowed it off a friend, haven't yet seen it.

Please, until next time, do yourself a favour and watch some Aussie drama. You will not regret it!