In the beginning was the Week. Then we decided to bring you the World. Spring 2011: Renewal. Rebirth. Lots of animals having sex. With the dark, forbidding chill of winter behind us & the best part of the year ahead, a young panel show’s fancy turned to thoughts of something new. 120 episodes after its occasionally triumphant return to Network Ten in 2008, the Good News Week grub took a break to attempt a metamorphosis into a butterfly called Good News World.
Like a Tasmanian forest after a logging company goes bankrupt, we were bursting with new life, fresh ideas & the kind of rich, earthy compost that makes great Aussie television.
Paul McDermott was joined once again by the thinking man’s bit of fluff, Claire Hooper, & the drinking woman’s sex symbol, Mikey Robins. Plus, a regular cast of some of the country’s best comedians, including Cal Wilson, Sammy J & Randy, Akmal Saleh & Tom Gleeson.
Somewhere between The Daily Show, Saturday Night Live & a hostage situation, Good News World used sketches, songs & regular characters to tackle the big stories in a different way. Few who saw Akmal as the soon-to-be-late Colonel Gaddafi will ever forget it. Some still have nightmares.
Good News World ran for twelve episodes, to the end of 2011, & just about killed us. But you know what they say: what doesn’t kill you makes you stronger. We can now lift a car over our head.