Review: ADbc – Flutes of Shame
In recent months I have been gaining incredible appreciation for panel comedy shows. And so, to have a new panel comedy show that has Tony Martin as a semi-regular was always going to be Must See TV at the Televised Revolution headquarters.
ADbc is a new panel comedy show produced for SBS.
It’s focus: history.
It’s host: RRR’s Breakfasters host Sam Pang.
It’s quality: Well, it makes me want to believe in evolution.
The concept behind ADbc is good. Panelists compete by answering trivia questions about history. Much like the UK panel show QI, the comedy and and general thrust of the show is derived from the on-air talent playing with the comedic potential of facts and trivia. There are a few fundamental problems with the program though that prevent the show from being appointment television.
ADbc’s host, Sam Pang, is very stiff. He seems like a nice and affable guy. And give him some more experience on TV, he could likely very easily carry a show like this. From the first episode of this series, it’s apparent that Pang needs time to develop his skill and find his television mojo. Pang should be given time as a panelist on a show like this before graduating to being the host. He’s still too green and too reliant on working from the quiz show questions.
The visual look of the show is off-putting and make it look like a community TV game show with a decent budget. The set design is far too iPod white. I’m pretty sure Dulux now have a paint in that shade. Comedy doesn’t stem from sterile cleanliness. This is why there has never been a good hospital-based comedy. The graphics interrupt the flow of the show a little too much and were obviously created to allow for frequent edit points throughout the show.
But, please don’t read too much into my negativity. The show does have potential. Sam Pang does feel more relaxed in the second episode and the show has a better flow & rhythm as a result. Hopefully with a bit more time, Pang will find his groove. Also, I really dig the small musical tracks that are run over the graphics, of which are performed by Tripod.
With a visual style that plays against the potential of the show and a host who is visibly inexperienced, ADbc is fighting an uphill battle against itself. Given that it’s on SBS, the show will be given time to air the entire run of the show and allow it time to develop and grow.
ADbc airs on SBS1 Thursday nights at 8:30pm. Panel guests on the first episode are Tony Martin, Matt Preston, Emily Booth, and Celia Pacquola.
14 Comments to “Review: ADbc – Flutes of Shame”
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Should be on 630 Sunday to harpoon the audience from the Einstein Factor. Celia Pacquola is also problematic on television.
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your review might read better if you didn’t get the show’s title wrong three times… it’s ADbc (as much as that title makes me cringe to the extreme just because it reeks of Channel 9-ness, ie. homeMADE and THIS afternoon)
Either way, I’ll be watching The Amazing Race on Seven, and taping Rush from Ten, so will have to give this a miss. There’s enough of these panel game shows already!!
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I guess you’ve hit upon the biggest problem with the show – the title is easily prone to typos. 50% strike rate.
I never really had a problem with the capitalization of homeMADE and THIS afternoon, it just strikes me as a standard wanky commercial TV thing to do and an extension of the trend of ignoring capitalisation altogether.
I love panel shows, but I think there’s a problem in Australia in which panel shows are given 20+ week runs. It wears out their welcome and stretches the formats too far. I’d much rather see shows run, as they do in the UK, for 6-10 week runs. It makes the panel show feel more like an event and not just cheap to produce telly.
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Lauren says:
“there has never been a good hospital-based comedy”. Have you ever seen this little show called Scrubs?
Eh, I’ll give it a go. Apparently David Stratton was terrible at being a TV presenter for the first few years as well.
P.S. There is no apostrophe in the contraction of it is.
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Molly says:
I was in the studio audience for one and the energy was fun. Pang is genuinely funny too, and I think his relative TV inexperience is a relief. Good to see new talent getting a chance rather than recycling the same people again. (Gruen Transfer/Wil Anderson, I’m looking your way.)
As for hospital-based comedy…Green Wing? Anyone?And Lauren (just to top pedantry with pedantry) the contraction of it is does need an apostrophe, the possessive its (that Dan was using) does not.
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An “it” isn’t a proper “thing” so it doesn’t have the ability to own something. Good work Molly, you’re right, here’s an invisible t-shirt.
I don’t really like “Scrubs” myself, but “Green Wing” was wonderful. Does “Dark Place” also count as a medical comedy? Because that is EPICALLY wonderful. “Doctor in the House/ Doctor in Charge/Doctor Aboard/etc” could also merit a mention. “House”?
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I knew that my claims of no good comedies coming out of hospitals would get me some grief.
Scrubs and Dark Place are certainly wonderful (Dark Place moreso). Green Wing I deem as horribly overrated. Oh boy did that show irk me in ways that TV so rarely does.
And do give it a go. Sam Pang will get better. Of that, I am fairly sure.
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Molly you are totally right. Teach me for being a know all.
Dark Place was excellent – I miss that show.
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I too really enjoyed the theme music and also the opening titles
But i agree Sam Pang was quite stilted. hopefully he gets better. You look at a show like rockwiz/spicks and the hosts really carry the show.
Also agreed that the in betweeners were a bit much and the TV screens behind really showed off the (lack of budget). They were projected and quite faint.. very 31.
But I did quite enjoy the content of the show – Tony and Matt were great (the other 2 not so much).
I’ll give it another week or two.
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ZedP says:
Let the blood run free?
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Anders says:
What day is it here?
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Community tv at its blandest. Tony Martin was on the first episode I watched and it was painful to watch. None of the contestants knew what was required of them, it was quite awful really.
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