This was published 7 years ago
Gogglebox paints intriguing picture of Australian society
Gogglebox confirms that lounge room banter is easily equal to the wit of most comedy panel shows.
By Melinda Houston
GOGGLEBOX
★★★☆
Thursday 7.30pm, Ten
Everyone was a bit surprised to discover how entertaining Gogglebox is when it launched early last year. Although to be honest, it's not that surprising. If you've ever sat down with your mates to watch an episode of, say, Seven Year Switch, you'll be well aware that the banter in your lounge room is easily equal to the wit of most comedy panel shows. What's been genuinely unexpected, though, is both the personal relationship we've developed with the Goggleboxers over the years, and the intriguing picture it creates of Australian society.
Forget your focus groups. If you really want to know what the average Australian thinks about culture, politics, consumer goods and human relationships, spend an hour in front of this show. You'll get everything you need, in 20 words or less. And it'll be funny, too. Credit too, to the narrator.
While in the British version the voiceover is a key part of the entertainment (the Brits do narrations exceptionally well), in ours it's so low-key and unobtrusive we almost don't notice it's there – and that's a good thing. (Except when it delivers a genuine zinger, like describing Celebrity Apprentice as the show featuring "Australia's most available celebrities").
Gogglebox talents Tom and Wayne pose for portraits.Credit: Martin Philbey/Melinda Houston
The editing is a work of art, cutting back and forward between the households to create mini-narratives within the show, whether that's canvassing a range of opinions on a topic, or providing technicolour proof of how excruciatingly embarrassing it is to watch a sex scene on telly with your parents. Most rewarding, though, has been the emotional engagement Gogglebox has engendered. When Lee and Keith went on holidays, we really missed them.
I already have a bit of a girl crush on Zina and Vivian – they're fantastic. And in a recent episode, when Wayne explained with agonising succinctness that his birth mother rejected him because he's gay – and Tom then stroked his arm and said gently: "I love you. I'm glad you're gay" – I think I cried harder than in a whole season of Long Lost Family combined.