Whilst perusing the television guide yesterday I noticed something which pleased me, at 11:40 last night ABC Television were screening a repeat of their excellent political drama series Grass Roots. When I eventually tuned in at 11:50 after remembering that it was on, I was even more pleased to note that it was the first episode of the first series, meaning that I am now able to watch the entire first series once again, albeit at a peculiar hour. I don’t think I’ll ever understand why television stations insist on screening great programs late at night and junk during prime-time, but I suppose I should be thankful that they bother to screen great programs at all.
Grass Roots focuses on the internal rumblings of the fictional Arcadia Waters council, in a suburb of Sydney. The show is in my view the Australian version of Yes Minister, showing a masterful grip on the politics and bureaucracy of local councils, with the necessary addition of mild but biting satire to make sense of it all.
The series currently being shown by the ABC was originally screened in 2000, and the second series was produced in 2003. It was unfortunate that the show never got a third series as the second series (without giving too much away) ended with many open questions, however it could quite legitimately be argued that enough plot points were wrapped up to justify the end of the show, whilst leaving things open in much the same way that politics never really ends.
Prior to the days of Quizmania on Channel Nine I was quite partial to the repeats of another brilliant Australian drama, Water Rats, which used to screen at 1am on Tuesdays, and I’m glad to finally have another Australian drama to enjoy in the wee hours.
Grass Roots currently screens at 11:40pm on Sundays on ABC Television and runs for a bit under an hour.
Samuel
Comments Disabled To "Grass Roots"
#1 Comment By Tim On May 7, 2007 @ 11:49 am
I haven’t watched Grass Roots before, but it certainly sounds interesting. I may have to set up a recording of it. 🙂
#2 Comment By tuggers On May 9, 2007 @ 10:53 pm
What are your thoughts on Steve Pratt scrubbing off the mural from the stormwater drain?
#3 Comment By Samuel On May 9, 2007 @ 11:24 pm
Well before I answer that question I should probably point out that when the issue with Steve Pratt scrubbing off the graffiti/mural came to light I believed that Mr. Pratt had done the right thing, and privately contacted his office to express my support.
Moving on to my answer, well I’m now waiting to find out the final outcome of that. If it turns out that Mr. Pratt had a legitimate reason, involving thorough fact checking, to believe that it was graffiti and not a sanctioned mural then I fully support him in his actions. If this is the case then it would come back to being the responsibility of a government official, be it political or public servant, providing incorrect information.
If on the other hand, Mr. Pratt’s fact checking was not thorough or he knew that what he removed was sanctioned, then whilst I applaud his “get tough” attitude towards illegal graffiti, I think he should be made to pay for, and if at all possible, help to fix the damage.
I have my view as to which of those scenarios I think is the case, however as I believe there is an ongoing police investigation in to the matter, I will keep that opinion to myself for now.
Of course if my information is out of date, feel free to update me, I may have missed an update, although I’m not sure how I could have missed an update a story as big as this.