Frontline-Series 1, 2 and 3 (1994) |
BUY IT |
This 6 disc set contains the three previously released two disc sets of each season of Frontline enclosed in a cardboard slipcover. Each set is exactly as it was in the individual releases. If you did not buy the individual sets this is certainly worth considering but there is certainly no driver for an upgrade if you already have the individual sets.
Video | |
Audio | |
Extras | |
Plot | |
Overall |
Frontline-Series 1 (1994) |
BUY IT |
General | Extras | ||
Category | Comedy | Menu Audio | |
Rating | |||
Year Of Production | 1994 | ||
Running Time | 346:03 (Case: 345) | ||
RSDL / Flipper |
RSDL (14:47) Dual Disc Set |
Cast & Crew | |
Start Up | Ads Then Menu | ||
Region Coding | 1,2,3,4,5,6 | Directed By |
Santo Cilauro Tom Gleisner Jane Kennedy Rob Sitch |
Studio
Distributor |
Roadshow Home Entertainment |
Starring |
Rob Sitch Bruno Lawrence Kevin J. Wilson Steve Bisley Jane Kennedy Tiriel Mora Alison Whyte Santo Cilauro Anita Cerdic Trudy Hellier Linda Ross Genevieve Mooy Lynda Gibson |
Case | Amaray-Transparent-S/C-Dual | ||
RPI | $39.95 | Music | Craig Harnath |
Video | Audio | ||
Pan & Scan/Full Frame | Full Frame | English Dolby Digital 5.1 (448Kb/s) | |
Widescreen Aspect Ratio | None | ||
16x9 Enhancement | No | ||
Video Format | 576i (PAL) | ||
Original Aspect Ratio | 1.33:1 | Miscellaneous | |
Jacket Pictures | No | ||
Subtitles | None | Smoking | Yes |
Annoying Product Placement | No | ||
Action In or After Credits | No |
After the success of The Late Show in 1992 and 1993, and before they made The Castle in 1997, the team behind those classic Australian comedies made what is widely regarded as one of the smartest and funniest satire comedy series ever created in this country. The series was of course Frontline and the fact that many of the episodes are still used as parts of media syllabus in universities around the country is testament to the esteem in which it is held. Thankfully for us, after a very long wait, series one of Frontline has been released as a two-disc DVD set. Hopefully series two and three are not too far behind.
This series is a satirical fly-on-the-wall account (with an almost documentary style) of the background workings of a commercial television current affairs programme. Frontline is the name of the program shown each weeknight on an unnamed commercial network. Think of a cross between A Current Affair and Today Tonight (or whatever the name for Channel 7s flagship current affairs vehicle is at the present time - it changes frequently) and you are pretty much on the money for the style of story that Frontline is after. It is hosted by former ABC journalist Mike Moore (Rob Sitch). Mike was the finance reporter for the 7:30 report in Perth before being poached by the commercial network. He thinks he's hard hitting and in the same league as Laurie Oakes or Kerry O'Brien, but in reality he's pretty light weight and not much more than a talking head. He spends a great deal of each episode trying to prove his journalistic worth and increase his standing in the hierarchy of Australian television, all without much success.
The on-air reporting duties are handled by Brooke Vandenberg (Jane Kennedy) and Martin Di Stasio (Tiriel Mora). Brooke is a highly ambitious upwardly mobile young lady who will let nothing get in her way as she scrambles to the very top of the television pile and the dream job of celebrity interviews on 60 Minutes. Marty is a rather cynical, hard-bitten and extremely rough around the edges veteran journalist of many years. Marty has seen and done it all and really can't be bothered with all the shenanigans of those wannabes around him. But like Brooke, he has been known to bend a few rules and stretch the journalist's code of ethics to breaking point to secure the exclusive story.
The man charged with the responsibility of getting the show to air each night and keeping the ratings on the upward trend is executive producer Brian Thompson (the late Bruno Lawrence), a man with one eye on the ratings, one on his staff, and one on the executives pushing for higher ratings. His life is one extreme stress attack and he is never settled. The real brains and effort behind each of the stories is program producer Emma Ward (Alison Whyte), who comes up with most of the ideas for the stories, does almost all the research, writes most of the copy, and is also probably the only staff member with any hint of integrity. Incidentally the packaging states Emma's surname as Thompson which is an obvious mistake.
Frontline opened up the eyes of the unsuspecting viewing public to some of the more dubious and completely immoral practices of commercial tabloid television, all while raising many laughs. It covered everything from the use of hidden cameras, the classic foot-in-the-door bullying style of interview, the crassness of cheque-book journalism and the need to consider ratings wins above everything else (but only in Sydney and Melbourne - nobody cares about the rest of the country). It also dealt with the huge egos obviously present in commercial television and the inability for many television stars to stop thinking about anything apart from themselves. It satirised many events that were topical at the time such as the time Mike Willesee interviewed two children during a siege in 1993 and the scramble by the commercial television networks to interview mountain survivor James Scott.
Look out for a small, but pivotal role throughout the entire series by Tom Gleisner as the photocopier repair man and of course the critical role of station weatherman Geoffrey Salter played with naive abandon by Santo Cilauro (who was also camera operator for the whole series). There is also a who's who (circa 1994 anyway) of Australian television included in many small guest roles each episode.
13 episodes comprise series one. Here's a brief rundown of each:
Frontline host Mike Moore is suffering from a crisis of credibility. After he is accused of being light-weight and the nice-guy of Australian television, Mike decides to get tough. Things backfire though when he editorialises on a topic he knows nothing about and the office receives death threats as a result. Meanwhile Marty has his hands full with a classical piano-playing child prodigy and Brooke gets some unexpected results from her interview with national treasure, comedian 'Ugly' Dave Gray. Special guest on the show this week is opposition leader John Hewson.
The ugliness of cheque-book journalism comes to the fore after a young Australian aid worker, presumed missing in the Sudanese desert suddenly reappears after being lost for six weeks. With rival networks falling over themselves to get the exclusive, the Frontline executive producer pulls out all stops to ensure his team gets the story. Mike's attention is elsewhere though, when he has a secret meeting with some Channel Nine executives intent on poaching him to the Packer network. Meanwhile Brooke is setting tongues wagging when she must interview tennis legend Pat Cash. Everybody is in on the secret that Brooke once had a secret fling with the tennis star and this interview should be good for a laugh.
In an effort to keep Mike's spirits up and make him feel popular, the Frontline office staff filter out all the bad and derogatory mail that many people send him each day. But somehow it looks like Mike has got hold of a large pile of negative mail and he's not happy. It's the least of his problems though, when the Frontline team are accused of a sensationalist media beat up when they link two completely unrelated crimes into a serial killer story.
Frontline producer Emma Ward is feeling pretty disgruntled this week. Executive Producer Brian Thompson has decided to employ an attractive Olympic athlete as a guest reporter, in a hope of boosting ratings. Emma's feathers are ruffled since she knows this girl has no journalistic talent and was merely employed because of her looks and the ability to pull in a few more male viewers. Mike of course backs Emma's concerns, but still manages to flirt outrageously with the new reporter.
It's a big news day when a crazed gun-wielding father of two kidnaps his children from his estranged wife and holds them hostage in a remote Victorian farmhouse. The race is on with all the current affairs shows tripping over themselves to get the best coverage possible. But they are all thwarted in their attempts by a police imposed exclusion zone around the farm. This doesn't stop Brian who insists on getting exclusive footage and has Marty and a film crew circle the farm in a chopper, much to the chagrin of the police. Meanwhile Emma manages to get the phone number of the farmhouse and arranges a one on one interview between the gunman and Mike Moore to be broadcast on the show.
This classic episode was inspired by the real-life antics of Mike Willesee on the Nine Network's A Current Affair in 1993 when he managed to speak to two children being held hostage during a siege at Cangai in NSW.
Mike is again suffering from a credibility crisis, feeling he is nothing more than a light-weight talking head. He suggests to Brian that he be allowed to go on an overseas assignment for a week, to Bougainville, in an effort to get some real hard-hitting stories and prove he's no light-weight. Brian reluctantly agrees, but then must deal with another problem as Marty and Brooke battle to take on the role of acting host for the week.
Frontline is losing its female viewers by the truckload. Some proven methods for getting them back are employed with a general softening of Mike's image and more stories angled at women's interests commissioned. Special guest star this week is senator Cheryl Kernot.
The grubbiness of foot-in-the-door tabloid journalism is evident for all to see when Marty uses some highly unethical means to get an interview with a man who has just lost his wife to a crocodile attack. Meanwhile Mike is convinced to drop a boring story idea he was working on to tackle an expose on the sleazy world of table top dancing. Mike is dead against anything sleazy that might damage his credibility, but when he meets the attractive and very intelligent dancer, his attitude suddenly changes.
The classic hidden camera style of story gets an airing on Frontline this week, when reporter Brooke Vandenberg exposes women shoplifters. Brian is happy when the camera is hidden in the changing room of a clothing store providing some titillating and ratings winning footage. Meanwhile Mike is doing his best to fix up his profile which is still slipping, making him almost invisible to Australian audiences.
More sensationalist antics this week when the Frontline team takes a rather dull story about a female sports star being dropped from the national team and turns it into an exposé of lesbians in sport. Mike organises a cocktail party which nobody in the Frontline office seems particularly keen on attending. He is also set for a higher national profile when he becomes the celebrity gardener on the Nine Network's Burke's Backyard lifestyle programme. Special guests on this week's episode include George Negus, Glenn Ridge, and of course Don Burke.
Frontline is again criticised for going after the small fish - the likes of video and washer repairmen for example. But when Mike is passed some information from an out-of-work tabloid journalist that could result in the biggest story of his career, this looks set to change. But Brian is not convinced about the story and tries to brush Mike off. Will the hard hitting Mike Moore see this one through to its conclusion?
Brooke interviews a young woman who claims she was raped by a priest, and the results are not what any of the crew would have expected. Meanwhile Marty is assigned to cover a story about the butterfly enclosure at Melbourne Zoo, the results of which are quite environmentally damaging and equally amusing.
It's Logie night, the night of nights where the Australian television industry come out to congratulate each other and drink copious amounts of alcohol. Mike is not amused that he is not presenting a Logie, so Brian has to pull a few strings to get him on stage. This isn't the end of Mike's troubles though since he is having trouble finding a date for the night. Special guests in this episode abound, with Channel 7 news reader Anne Fulwood playing a key role.
Anyone who is familiar with either the original television broadcast on the ABC or the VHS tape version of this series will know exactly what to expect in terms of video quality. Not much is the short answer. But really that is part of the charm of this show. The highly variable video quality contributes to the overall style and mood of the show. The majority of each episode was recorded on a simple hand-held video camera (probably Hi8 or S-VHS), while the on-air segments of the actual Frontline show were shot using a higher resolution Betacam SP video camera. The difference between the two is quite remarkable but allows the viewer to instantly switch between the professional controlled on-air environment and the slapdash chaos that is the behind-the-scenes action. Grain is highly problematic for the majority of each episode, particularly the lower resolution video footage. This is in no way a mastering issue though, since it has always looked like this. Shadow detail suffers on the odd occasion, but again this is not a mastering fault, rather the use of poor lighting during filming. It was a pretty low budget production after all. Unfortunately edge enhancement on the lower resolution shots is rife throughout, especially when the lighting drops to lower levels. Overall the video transfer for these DVDs mirrors exactly how the show looked on television and is as good as can be expected.
The original made-for-television aspect ratio of 1.33:1 has been maintained and this transfer is not enhanced for 16x9 televisions.
Colours are fairly drab, but again this is exactly as expected.
Compression artefacts are absent, but there are plenty of video artefacts present throughout many of the episodes. Examples of various analogue tape noise problems and the like occur at 13:42 in episode 2 and at 9:16 in episode 3.
Unfortunately there are no subtitles.
Both discs are dual layered with Disc 1 featuring a layer change mid episode. It occurs during episode 4 at 14:47. Thankfully it's on a fade to black and is virtually impossible to detect. Disc 2 features three episodes on each layer so there is no layer change to contend with.
Sharpness | |
Shadow Detail | |
Colour | |
Grain/Pixelization | |
Film-To-Video Artefacts | |
Film Artefacts | |
Overall |
The sole audio soundtrack contained here is a Dolby Digital 5.1 effort encoded at the bit rate of 448 Kb/s. Don't get too excited by the promise of a fully remastered 5.1 surround soundtrack though. This is basically anchored to the front three channels for pretty much the entire program, with just a little leakage to the rears on the odd occasion. In all reality, a simple Dolby Digital 2.0 surround soundtrack would have probably done here and most likely would sound almost the same as the one we ended up with.
Dialogue levels are adequate with no obvious audio sync problems.
The main Frontline theme plays at the beginning of each episode, over the end credits and also pops up during the episode whenever the 'real' Frontline show goes to air. It's a fairly dynamic tune with quite an authoritative feel to it.
As mentioned there is very little surround channel use, and I'm pretty sure the subwoofer received no discrete channel use.
Dialogue | |
Audio Sync | |
Clicks/Pops/Dropouts | |
Surround Channel Use | |
Subwoofer | |
Overall |
The two-disc set is effectively devoid of extras. That's a shame since I'm sure a commentary track at the very least from some of the Working Dog crew would have proved of immense benefit and probably been good for a laugh as well.
There is censorship information available for this title. Click here to read it (a new window will open). WARNING: Often these entries contain MAJOR plot spoilers.
NOTE: To view non-R4 releases, your equipment needs to be multi-zone compatible and usually also NTSC compatible.
Frontline has yet to be released in Region 1.
Frontline is perfect proof that Australian comedy (in this case satire) can rank with the best in the world. Watch this series and you will never, ever look at A Current Affair, Today Tonight, or the myriad of other current affairs shows that have long come and gone in the same way again.
The video quality presented on this DVD is exactly the same as when the series was first shown on television and is on a par with the VHS release. It at least benefits from the fact it will not wear out.
The audio quality is average, despite the promise of a Dolby Digital 5.1 soundtrack. A standard surround encoded stereo soundtrack would have probably sufficed.
There are no extras.
Video | |
Audio | |
Extras | |
Plot | |
Overall |
Review Equipment | |
DVD | Loewe Xemix 5106DO, using RGB output |
Display | Loewe Calida (84cm). Calibrated with Digital Video Essentials (PAL). This display device is 16x9 capable. |
Audio Decoder | Built in to amplifier/receiver. Calibrated with Digital Video Essentials (PAL). |
Amplification | Harmon/Kardon AVR7000. |
Speakers | Front - B&W 602S2, Centre - B&W CC6S2, Rear - B&W 601S2, Sub - Energy E:xl S10 |
Frontline-Series 2 (1995) |
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General | Extras | ||
Category | Comedy | None | |
Rating | |||
Year Of Production | 1995 | ||
Running Time | 346:30 (Case: 345) | ||
RSDL / Flipper |
Dual Layered Dual Disc Set |
Cast & Crew | |
Start Up | Menu | ||
Region Coding | 1,2,3,4,5,6 | Directed By |
Santo Cilauro Tom Gleisner Jane Kennedy Rob Sitch |
Studio
Distributor |
Roadshow Home Entertainment |
Starring |
Rob Sitch Bruno Lawrence Kevin J. Wilson Steve Bisley Jane Kennedy Tiriel Mora Alison Whyte Santo Cilauro Anita Cerdic Trudy Hellier Linda Ross Genevieve Mooy Lynda Gibson |
Case | Amaray-Transparent-S/C-Dual | ||
RPI | $39.95 | Music | Craig Harnath |
Video | Audio | ||
Pan & Scan/Full Frame | Full Frame | English Dolby Digital 2.0 (224Kb/s) | |
Widescreen Aspect Ratio | None | ||
16x9 Enhancement | No | ||
Video Format | 576i (PAL) | ||
Original Aspect Ratio | 1.33:1 | Miscellaneous | |
Jacket Pictures | No | ||
Subtitles | English for the Hearing Impaired | Smoking | Yes |
Annoying Product Placement | No | ||
Action In or After Credits | Yes, Couple of episodes have action in the end credits |
Frontline - Series One was released on DVD back in 2004, so we've had to wait a fair stretch to finally see Series Two and Three released in the last few weeks. For those not in the know, Frontline was made by Working Dog, the same production team responsible for such television gems as The Late Show in 1992 and 1993 and feature films The Castle in 1997 and The Dish in 2000. Frontline is widely regarded as one of the smartest and funniest satire comedy series ever created in this country and the fact that many episodes are used as parts of media syllabuses in universities around the country is testament to the esteem in which it is held and the look it provides at the commercial media circus in Australia.
The series is a satirical fly-on-the-wall account (with an almost documentary style which is further helped by the fact that it was shot on a domestic style camcorder) of the background workings of a commercial television current affairs programme. Frontline is the name of the program shown each weeknight on an unnamed commercial network. Think of a cross between A Current Affair and Today Tonight and you are pretty much on the money for the style of story that Frontline is after. You know the sort - miracle diets, dodgy repairmen, or complaints against Telstra are the staple for these lowest common denominator programmes. Frontline is hosted by former ABC journalist Mike Moore (Rob Sitch). Apparently Mike was the finance reporter for the 7:30 report in Perth before being poached by the commercial network. He thinks he's hard hitting and in the same league as someone like the ABC's heavyweights Tony Jones and Kerry O'Brien, but in reality he's pretty lightweight and not much more than a talking head. He spends a great deal of each episode trying to prove his journalistic worth and increase his standing in the hierarchy of Australian television, all without much success. It is amazing how little Mike does around the office and still manages to claim he is under the pump all of the time.
Back for series two and handling all the on-air reporting duties are Brooke Vandenberg (Jane Kennedy) and Martin Di Stasio (Tiriel Mora). Brooke is still the highly ambitious and very b****y young professional who will let nothing get in her way as she scrambles to the very top of the television pile and the dream job of celebrity interviews on 60 Minutes. Marty is the archetypal journo. Heavy drinking, cynical, hard-bitten and extremely rough around the edges. A veteran who has done much and seen even more and really can't be bothered with all the shenanigans of those wannabes around him. But like Brooke, he has been known to bend a few rules and stretch the journalist's code of ethics to breaking point to secure the exclusive story.
The main change to the cast for series two sees a new Executive Producer take the reigns of the show. The change was forced due to the untimely death of the talented Bruno Lawrence who played Brian Thompson. Stepping into the EP role is Sam Murphy (Kevin J Wilson), who just like his predecessor keeps both eyes on the ratings, one on his staff, and yet another on the executives pushing for higher ratings. As before the real brains and effort behind each of the stories is program producer Emma Ward (Alison Whyte), who comes up with most of the ideas for the stories, does almost all the research, writes most of the copy and is also probably the only staff member with any hint of integrity.
Frontline Series Two continues to open the eyes of the unsuspecting viewing public to some of the more dubious and completely immoral practices of commercial tabloid television, all while raising many laughs. It again covers everything from the use of hidden cameras, the classic foot-in-the-door bullying style of interview, the crassness of cheque-book journalism and the need to consider ratings wins above everything else. It also deal some more with the huge egos obviously present in commercial television and the inability of many television stars to stop thinking about anything apart from themselves.
Just like Series One, there are 13 episodes in Series Two. Here's a brief rundown of each:
While the ratings are dropping and the threat of an axing has everyone at the Frontline office on edge and at each other's throats, not even a raging argument can get in the way of the filming for the network's new promotional ad.
The bread-and-butter blue collar audience of Frontline is declining, so in an effort to boost ratings, Mike Moore is the target of the publicity department's effort to make him more of a working class icon. The gleaming new Saab that Mike drives could be a problem though.
The Frontline team is gunning for a supposedly racist academic who allegedly made some outrageous claims in his new book. But at more than 800 pages, has anybody bothered to read it? Certainly not host Mike Moore who leads the charge against the unsuspecting studio guest.
Mike is bored and when it is discovered that someone in the Frontline office has been leaking story ideas to a rival network, Mike dons his investigative hat and hunts down the perpetrator.
Stu the Frontline cameraman stumbles on a violent bashing of a young man in a park and captures it all on tape, rather than lending a hand to the poor victim. Sam is over the moon with the footage and prepares to air it on that night's programme. The ratings may be up but the incident has raised some serious moral questions.
Channel Nine is scoring big ratings with their series of specials in which Angry Anderson helps some underprivileged kids in a charity-style event. Sam pinches the idea and pushes the Frontline team to come up with a similar concept. All is going well until Mike decides to help out.
Ethnic violence is exploding in the suburbs and when Frontline captures a bashing on camera the situation spirals way out of control.
A tragically scarred woman, whose face was seared with acid, sells her story to the highest bidder. Frontline wants the scoop but can't afford the price, until Sam comes up with a brilliant idea.
Once again Mike is worried about not being taken seriously as a journalist, so he decides to help out Marty on an investigative piece - with disastrous results.
Management is concerned about falling ratings, so a consultant is called in to help change the show. A funny episode with American Harry Shearer starring as the alternative management consultant who loves plants and the colour orange. Needless to say, his suggestions leave much to be desired.
Mike is again accused of being a lightweight and when he decides to hit back hard his past catches up with him.
Mike is adamant he wants to appear on the network's quiz show, Jackpot, but Sam, knowing he is going to make a dill of himself won't let him. Meanwhile Marty bails out a killer from jail in a trade for an exclusive story.
Mike is angry at the thought of all the cross-promotion occurring in the network and is adamant he won't stoop to such a level. But when the network owner asks to appear on Frontline in an effort to show his honest side, Mike is thrown into an ethical dilemma.
Just like Series One, anyone who is familiar with either the original television broadcast on the ABC or the VHS tape version of this series will know exactly what to expect in terms of video quality. Again the answer is not much. But really that is part of the charm of this show. The highly variable video quality contributes to the overall style and mood of the show. In what co-creator and star Rob Sitch described as a possible world-first, the majority of each episode was recorded on a simple hand-held video camera (probably nothing more than a home style Hi8 or S-VHS), while the on-air segments of the actual Frontline show were shot using a higher resolution Betacam SP video camera.
Just like in Series One, the difference between the two is quite remarkable but allows the viewer to instantly switch between the professional controlled on-air environment and the slapdash chaos and almost fly-on-the-wall style that is the behind-the-scenes action. Grain is highly problematic for the majority of each episode, particularly the lower resolution video footage. This is in no way a mastering issue though, since it has always looked like this. Shadow detail suffers on the odd occasion, but again this is not a mastering fault, rather the use of poor lighting during filming. It was a pretty low budget production after all. Just as it was with Season One, edge enhancement on the lower resolution shots is rife throughout, and is actually probably worse this time round. Overall the video transfer for these DVDs mirrors exactly how the show looked on television and is as good as can be expected.
The original made-for-television aspect ratio of 1.33:1 has been maintained and this transfer is not enhanced for 16x9 televisions.
Colours are fairly drab, but again this is exactly as expected.
Compression artefacts are absent, but there are plenty of video artefacts present throughout many of the episodes.
Series One was hampered by the lack of subtitles. Thankfully that problem has been remedied and English for the Hearing Impaired subtitles are now present for all episodes. They are well placed on screen in a nice bright yellow typeface and are easily read.
Both discs are dual layered with separate episodes spread across separate layers.
Sharpness | |
Shadow Detail | |
Colour | |
Grain/Pixelization | |
Film-To-Video Artefacts | |
Film Artefacts | |
Overall |
Unlike Series One, which somewhat surprisingly featured a Dolby Digital 5.1 effort encoded at a bit rate of 448 Kb/s, Series Two contains a vanilla Dolby Digital 2.0 stereo track. This is basic stereo track which manages to perform the task required of it with little fanfare.
Dialogue levels are adequate with no obvious audio sync problems.
The main Frontline theme plays at the beginning of each episode, over the end credits and also pops up during the episode whenever the 'real' Frontline show goes to air. It's a fairly dynamic tune with quite an authoritative feel to it.
There is no surround channel or subwoofer use.
Dialogue | |
Audio Sync | |
Clicks/Pops/Dropouts | |
Surround Channel Use | |
Subwoofer | |
Overall |
There are no extras on either disc in this set.
NOTE: To view non-R4 releases, your equipment needs to be multi-zone compatible and usually also NTSC compatible.
Frontline has yet to be released in Region 1.
Frontline - Series Two is further proof that Australian satiric comedy can sometimes be world class. Building on the success of Series One, Series Two lifts the lid on the shenanigans of commercial current affairs. Watch this series and you will never, ever look at A Current Affair, Today Tonight, or the myriad of other current affairs shows that have long come and gone in the same way again.
The video quality presented on this DVD is exactly the same as when the series was first shown on television and is on a par with the VHS release. It at least benefits from the fact it will not wear out.
The audio quality is average, with a Dolby Digital 2.0 soundtrack only.
There are no extras.
Video | |
Audio | |
Extras | |
Plot | |
Overall |
Review Equipment | |
DVD | Denon DVD-3910, using RGB output |
Display | Loewe Calida (84cm). Calibrated with Digital Video Essentials (PAL). This display device is 16x9 capable. |
Audio Decoder | Built in to amplifier/receiver. Calibrated with Digital Video Essentials (PAL). |
Amplification | Harmon/Kardon AVR7000. |
Speakers | Front - B&W 602S2, Centre - B&W CC6S2, Rear - B&W 601S2, Sub - Energy E:xl S10 |
Frontline-Series 3 (1997) |
BUY IT |
General | Extras | ||
Category | Comedy | None | |
Rating | |||
Year Of Production | 1997 | ||
Running Time | 344:13 | ||
RSDL / Flipper |
Dual Layered Dual Disc Set |
Cast & Crew | |
Start Up | Menu | ||
Region Coding | 1,2,3,4,5,6 | Directed By |
Santo Cilauro Tom Gleisner Jane Kennedy Rob Sitch |
Studio
Distributor |
Roadshow Home Entertainment |
Starring |
Rob Sitch Bruno Lawrence Kevin J. Wilson Steve Bisley Jane Kennedy Tiriel Mora Alison Whyte Santo Cilauro Anita Cerdic Trudy Hellier Linda Ross Genevieve Mooy Lynda Gibson |
Case | Amaray-Transparent-S/C-Dual | ||
RPI | $39.95 | Music | Craig Harnath |
Video | Audio | ||
Pan & Scan/Full Frame | Full Frame | English Dolby Digital 2.0 (224Kb/s) | |
Widescreen Aspect Ratio | None | ||
16x9 Enhancement | No | ||
Video Format | 576i (PAL) | ||
Original Aspect Ratio | 1.33:1 | Miscellaneous | |
Jacket Pictures | No | ||
Subtitles | English for the Hearing Impaired | Smoking | Yes |
Annoying Product Placement | No | ||
Action In or After Credits | Yes, Some episodes have action in credits |
Hot on the heels of Series Two comes the third and final instalment of the hysterical satire Frontline, a television show that will alter the way you watch current affairs forever. Frontline - Series One was released on DVD back in 2004, with Frontline - Series Two released in March 2006 at the same time as this third series. Since not much has changed, much of the same detail from my review of Series Two is contained below with a quick summary of the differences from the first two series and a brief run down of each episode.
Frontline is a satirical fly-on-the-wall account (with an almost documentary style which is further helped by the fact that it was shot on a domestic style camcorder) of the background workings of a commercial television current affairs programme. Frontline is the name of the program shown each weeknight on an unnamed commercial network. Think of a cross between A Current Affair and Today Tonight and you are pretty much on the money for the style of story that Frontline is after. You know the sort - miracle diets, dodgy repairmen, or complaints against Telstra are the staple for these lowest common denominator programmes. Frontline is hosted by former ABC journalist Mike Moore (Rob Sitch). Apparently Mike was the finance reporter for the 7:30 report in Perth before being poached by the commercial network. He thinks he's hard hitting and in the same league as someone like the ABC's heavyweights Tony Jones and Kerry O'Brien, but in reality he's pretty lightweight and not much more than a talking head. He spends a great deal of each episode trying to prove his journalistic worth and increase his standing in the hierarchy of Australian television, all without much success. It is amazing how little Mike does around the office and still manages to claim he is under the pump all of the time.
Back for series three and handling all the on-air reporting duties are Brooke Vandenberg (Jane Kennedy) and Martin Di Stasio (Tiriel Mora). Brooke is still the highly ambitious and very b****y young professional who will let nothing get in her way as she scrambles to the very top of the television pile and the dream job of celebrity interviews on 60 Minutes. Marty is the archetypal journo. Heavy drinking, cynical, hard-bitten and extremely rough around the edges. A veteran who has done much and seen even more and really can't be bothered with all the shenanigans of those wannabes around him. But like Brooke, he has been known to bend a few rules and stretch the journalist's code of ethics to breaking point to secure the exclusive story.
Just like the major cast change that occurred between Series One and Series Two, a new Executive Producer has taken the reigns for Series Three. I guess this revolving door of EPs pretty much mirrors real life, where the on-air talent is kept as stable as possible so as to not upset the picky viewers, while those behind the scenes are far more expendable. Out goes Series Two EP Sam Murphy (Kevin J Wilson) and in comes the delightfully over-the-top slime-ball and chauvinistic pig Graham Prowse (Steve Bisley). Whereas Prowsey's predecessors were obsessed with ratings, the slimy Prowse is far more interested in chasing the odd bit of skirt in the office. As before the real brains and effort behind each of the stories is program producer Emma Ward (Alison Whyte), who comes up with most of the ideas for the stories, does almost all the research, writes most of the copy and is also probably the only staff member with any hint of integrity. She still manages to do all of these duties with little thanks and beat off the advances of her lecherous boss.
Frontline - Series Three continues to open the eyes of the unsuspecting viewing public to some of the more dubious and completely immoral practices of commercial tabloid television, all while raising many laughs. It again covers everything from the use of hidden cameras, the classic foot-in-the-door bullying style of interview, the crassness of cheque-book journalism, the need to consider ratings wins above everything else and some serious bending of the journalist's code of ethics. It also deal some more with the huge egos obviously present in commercial television and the inability of many television stars to stop thinking about anything apart from themselves.
Just like Series One and Two, there are 13 episodes in Series Three. Here's a brief rundown of each:
Mike Moore is still worried about being seen as a light weight and this time he has had enough. He decides to finally make a stand and demands some say in the editorial content of the show. With not enough room for both the host and the Executive Producer to decide on the stories it looks like it might be the end of one of them.
Always worried about what people think of him and the show, Mike is concerned Frontline is painting a negative picture of young people. He takes his concerns to new EP Graham Prowse, who decides that this exploiting of children in stories is too good an opportunity to pass up.
A new Queensland MP makes a maiden speech in Federal Parliament and sets off a storm of controversy about immigration and Aboriginal welfare. Pauline Hanson mania was at its peak when this episode was filmed and somehow the team managed to convince the outspoken member for Oxley to appear on Frontline as herself. "Please Explain!".
Frontline runs a story on a dodgy builder and afterwards Mike starts receiving death threats. Convinced someone is out to get him, Mike has Prowsey arrange a bodyguard with disastrous results.
A media frenzy breaks out after Frontline runs a story about a boy from PNG who has been flown to Australia to have a heart operation. Meanwhile Brooke has some pretty serious news of her own.
In between saving kids with heart trouble, helping Brooke with her personal issues and worrying about the ratings, Mike must make time to attend a celebrity golf day with Aussie golfer Ian Baker-Finch.
Mike's status as a working class icon is again under threat when he is spotted bidding at an auction for a luxury house. His credibility is further dented when he makes the famous BRW magazine 'Rich List'.
Mike is convinced the only reason he gets the big name guests is because he is the king-pin of interviewers. But does Mike get the big names or do the big names get him?
An aspiring executive producer picks Prowsey's brains on why Mike is such a good interviewer. With Marty and Emma, the team dissects what makes the perfect interviewer and show how Mike has a trick for every occasion.
Mike is working on a book about himself, which is further proof that modern journalism is little about reporting and more about self-promotion and the art of being a television stars.
Mike decides to reduce his public profile but finds it almost impossible to live without the publicity, while weatherman Geoffrey Salter finally gets a television show of his own.
Elliot Rhodes, the Friday Night Funny Man, insults a friend of Mike's, so the host has him sacked. Meanwhile Marty is working on one of the most difficult stories of his career - one focused solely on Mike.
Mike decides to leave his mark as a journalist so looks to tackle the weighty issue of Aboriginal health. Meanwhile Brooke is talking about weddings.
The video transfer for Series Three is pretty much exactly the same as that found on the first two series. Anyone who is familiar with either the original television broadcast on the ABC or the VHS tape version of this series will know exactly what to expect in terms of video quality. Again the answer is not much. But really that is part of the charm of this show. The highly variable video quality contributes to the overall style and mood of the show. In what co-creator and star Rob Sitch described as a possible world-first, the majority of each episode was recorded on a simple hand-held video camera (probably nothing more than a home style Hi8 or S-VHS), while the on-air segments of the actual Frontline show were shot using a higher resolution Betacam SP video camera.
Just as it was with Series One and Two, the difference between the two is quite remarkable but allows the viewer to instantly switch between the professional controlled on-air environment and the slapdash chaos and almost fly-on-the-wall style that is the behind-the-scenes action. Grain is highly problematic for the majority of each episode, particularly the lower resolution video footage. This is in no way a mastering issue though, since it has always looked like this. Shadow detail suffers on the odd occasion, but again this is not a mastering fault, rather the use of poor lighting during filming. It was a pretty low budget production after all. Just as it was with the first two seasons, edge enhancement on the lower resolution shots is rife throughout, and is on a par with that found in Series Two. Overall the video transfer for these DVDs mirrors exactly how the show looked on television and is as good as can be expected.
The original made-for-television aspect ratio of 1.33:1 has been maintained and this transfer is not enhanced for 16x9 televisions.
Colours are fairly drab, but again this is exactly as expected.
Compression artefacts are absent, but there are plenty of video artefacts present throughout many of the episodes.
Series One was hampered by the lack of subtitles, but this was rectified for Series Two. Thankfully that continues here on Series Three with English for the Hearing Impaired subtitles present for all episodes. They are well placed on screen in a nice bright yellow typeface and are easily read.
Both discs are dual layered with separate episodes spread across separate layers.
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Just as was the case with Series Two and unlike Series One (which somewhat surprisingly featured a Dolby Digital 5.1 effort encoded at a bit rate of 448 Kb/s) Series Three contains a vanilla Dolby Digital 2.0 stereo track. This is a basic stereo track which manages to perform the task required of it with little fanfare.
Dialogue levels are adequate with no obvious audio sync problems.
The main Frontline theme plays at the beginning of each episode, over the end credits and also pops up during the episode whenever the 'real' Frontline show goes to air. It's a fairly dynamic tune with quite an authoritative feel to it.
There is no surround channel or subwoofer use.
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There are no extras on either disc in this set.
NOTE: To view non-R4 releases, your equipment needs to be multi-zone compatible and usually also NTSC compatible.
Frontline has yet to be released in Region 1.
Frontline - Series Three caps off the brilliant and biting satire that lifted the lid on the shenanigans of commercial current affairs. Watch all three series of this award-winning program and you will never, ever look at A Current Affair, Today Tonight, or the myriad of other current affairs shows that have long come and gone in the same way again.
The video quality presented on this DVD of series three is exactly the same as when the series was first shown on television and is on a par with the VHS release. It at least benefits from the fact it will not wear out.
The audio quality is average, with a Dolby Digital 2.0 soundtrack only.
There are no extras.
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DVD | Denon DVD-3910, using RGB output |
Display | Loewe Calida (84cm). Calibrated with Digital Video Essentials (PAL). This display device is 16x9 capable. |
Audio Decoder | Built in to amplifier/receiver. Calibrated with Digital Video Essentials (PAL). |
Amplification | Harmon/Kardon AVR7000. |
Speakers | Front - B&W 602S2, Centre - B&W CC6S2, Rear - B&W 601S2, Sub - Energy E:xl S10 |