Last night I watched the grand finale of Masterchef Australia with my two big boys...Sam and Harry.В They LOVE the Masterchef series'...last year when we were living in Perth (briefly ...thank goodness) В the second series of Masterchef aired and my boys fell in love with it!В They followed all the contestants as though they were characters in a TV-soapie.В They begged us to recreate the recipes we saw on the show (we did: to varying degrees of success ...) and when Sam's favourite, Claire, was eliminated, he was so upset, he shed a few tears!В Poor Sam.В Last night, my big boy was delighted to see Kate as the winner!(www.masterchef.com.au)We've been back in Australia for a week today and ALL I can find to watch on TV in Australia, is reality TV shows.В The Block, The Renovators, Masterchef, The Voice ...well OK, the Voice isn't really in the same vein, but still, its not a fictional show!В Spicks and Specks, The New Inventors, The Gruen Transfer (all brilliant shows) are also real-life quiz/discussion/critique shows ...no storylines here.В RPA, The Circle (lame, very lame), В Hamish and Andy's Gap Year (funny, but sometimes misses the mark) are more of the same.В A new supposedly shocking talk show, called "Can of Worms" discusses topics which are supposedly taboo such as sex, homosexuality and pornography.В The panel is stacked with guests who are on opposing sides of each debate ...obviously with the express purpose of encouraging a debate!В It's also ...I'm sorry to say ...a bit lame!?!
Then there are the ENDLESS list of chat shows surrounding Australia's OBSESSION with sport ...well, to be honest, with football!В The footy show (a no brainer), with it's spinoffs the NRL Footy Show (about rugby league) and the AFL footy show (about ...Aussie rules), some other show called "The Sunday roast".В There are shows about travel such as Getaway and home shows such as Better Homes and Gardens.В Given that there are only a small number of public access channels (called free-to-air in Australia) ...you have to wonder what ELSE is on?
It is quite entertaining though, watching all these people competing for some unbelievable prize ...talking about each other in a very "big brother" kind of way ...some of them love criticising other contestants, but then there is always the annoying person who loves everyone and is having a great time and is just glad to be there for the experience!!!!!В
Yes, I watch a lot of the shows I have mentioned above ...some of them I enjoy more than others, but if I was to hate all of them, there would be precious little else to watch ...maybe this is the Australian government's way of encouraging families to play board games at night or read instead of watching TV!В If it is ...it's working!
Jim Beam Bacon Mustard, 11-Ounce (Pack of 6)
