David M. Green: Purveyor of fine humour

Category: TV

  • DO SOMETHING to save Australian Community TV!

    This week June 1 to 5, community television in Australia is having a week of action to call attention to the fact they’re still facing the axe at the end of the year when the Federal Government turns off their TV transmission.

    I wrote an article about all this for The Age last year. Aside from my middle initial mysteriously disappearing from The Age website, nothing much has changed since then – not least my firm belief that community television is an important part of the Australian media landscape and deserves to exist.

    Do you agree? Yes? Okay. So what can you do?

    Go to the Commit to Community TV website: http://i.committocommunitytv.org.au/

    Sign the petition. Like the Facebook page. Send a Tweet. Write to your local MP and/or Communications Minister Malcolm Turnbull. Tell someone you think community TV and the thousands of hours of content created every year by thousands of volunteers is important and they should have more time to make the transition to an online distribution business model.

    Do it this week.

    DO SOMETHING.

    – David M. Green

  • VHS Revue 4 – 12 O’clock High (1989)

    Hi dudes. On VHS Revue Ep 4, I take a look at a 1989 Channel 10 recording of the 1949 war film “12 O’clock High”. (Got all those numbers?)

    Highlights include ads for: Dynamo washing powder (with Mother & Son), Miss J. M., Honda CRX (my favourite), Planters Nuts, Ashley & Martin, and some other things. AND if you watch all the way to the end, there are singing cats.

    Plus a surprise appearance from TV’s Michael Pope!

    Thanks again to Michael Pope for “agreeing” to be in this episode of VHS Revue. If you’re a Gen Y like me, you might remember him from those 90s kids game shows “Blockbusters” and “Total Recall”. One of the finest MCs in Australia and if you’re ever lucky enough to be in the studio audience for a TV show and he’s the warm up guy, you’re in for a fun night. Also check out his podcast: An Audience with the Pope for some great celebrity chats.

    Cheers as always to Nick Godfrey & Alexis Kotlowy. And to Antonio Cafasso, Matthew Smith, Annika Samuelsson & Hannah Green for their help on this one.

    See the other Eps on my YouTube channel.

    – David M. Green

  • VHS Revue 3 – The Two Mrs Grenvilles (1988)

    When I was back in Adelaide over Christmas, I found a box of old video tapes in my Mum’s garage. After lugging them back to Melbourne – and buying a VCR – I’ve spent the last few months going through them and boy… thank Christ no one threw these out.

    I’ve seen things you people wouldn’t believe… And this stuff is way too good to keep to myself. So I’m thrilled to announce SIX brand new episodes of my webseries “VHS Revue”!

    I’ll be releasing one a week for the next six weeks, starting right now. Here’s Ep 3 – The Two Mrs Grenvilles (1988):

    Highlights include ads for Jeans United, Big Sister fruitcakes, pork, space-themed instant scratchies, Menage cologne and the inaugural edition of “What the hell was that?”

    And a special thanks to a few fantastic people for all their help with these six episodes. Nicholas Godfrey, Adam Navarro, Matthew “Smiddy” Smith & Antonio Cafasso behind the camera; Alexis Kotlowy for his sensational music, graphics and video tape editing; Tim Wray for props, Annika Samuelsson for her voice and my sister Hannah Green for her make-up.

    I’ve found some very funny stuff, and a lot of it isn’t already on YouTube. So if you love old ads and random audio-visual tidbits from 80s and early 90s Australia, this is right up your alley.

    See the other episodes on my YouTube channel.

    – David M. Green

  • Mad as Hell wraps for Series 5

    It’s a wrap on another season of Shaun Micallef’s Mad As Hell. What more can I say? I love the show. I love the team. I love the man.

    By the way, that’s the ACTUAL Godzilla toy (centre) as featured in that sketch from “The Micallef Pogram”. You know the one I mean.

    All 10 episodes from series/season 5 are up on ABC iView. You’ve got until April 29 until they take them down. I had quite a bit of food-related material in this season. Look out for a bit about a pretzel and an edible coffee cup 😉

    Also, see if you can spot me in the final episode. Here’s a hint:

    Something else unexpected I’ve enjoyed since moving to Melbourne is randomly seeing something I saw on TV years earlier. Sometimes it’s the most obscure thing. Here’s one of them. This is the corner of Selwyn Street and Sinclair Street in Elsternwick, just outside the ABC production offices, looking east:

    I thought there was something familiar about that corner. Now take a look at the opening titles to “The Micallef Pogram” (correct spelling), that aired on ABC TV in early 2001… about 91 seconds in:

    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xGWcnlneS-U

    Aha!

    How about that? As you can see, those water restrictions had some impact.

    Or maybe it’s the budget cuts?

    Kind regards,
    David M. Green

  • RIP Joe Murray

    Very sad this week to hear veteran ABC director Joe Murray passed away Wednesday morning.

    Joe directed some of Australia’s most memorable TV comedies, including The Late Show and DAAS Kapital. He was vision mixer on Countdown and The Gillies Report. Backberner, Recovery, The D Generation – the list goes on.

    I had the pleasure of working with Joe last year when he came out of retirement to direct the third season of 31 Questions. He was very generous with his time and taught us all so much about how to make television. He was always cool, calm and collected. When there was chaos in the studio, I’d hear Joe speak with that softly-spoken voice of his and I knew it was all under control. And I loved hearing his stories about the old days at the ABC.

    He shared his wealth of knowledge and experience with a new generation of television-makers. It was a rare opportunity and an honour to work with a legend. We will always cherish the brief time we had with Joe, and he will be sorely missed among the cast and crew.

    My thoughts are with Joe’s family and close friends at this difficult time. RIP.

    Yours sincerely,
    David M. Green