Mercado on TV: Rich white people doing it tough…and return of Housos

The Undoing (Monday on FoxShowcase) is a new drama about an uber rich woman with a permanently startled look whose seemingly perfect life is rocked by gossip and intrigue. No, not Roxy Jacenko, it’s Nicole Kidman’s new HBO drama.

Ever since Big Little Lies, everyone has been trying to replicate that formula, and that includes everyone from Big Little Lies. Reese Witherspoon repeated her character for Little Fires Everywhere (Amazon Prime) and now The Undoing has Nicole Kidman playing another ill-used wife.

The Undoing is disappointing and not even the reliable Hugh Grant can save it. All of these chick lit adaptations are starting to blend into one, and they are getting less relatable with every new crime of passion.

Seven tried doing rich in Between Two Worlds (7Plus) so now they are doing the opposite with two new Aussie comedies. Housos 2020 and Regular Old Bogan (Monday on 7mate) are outrageously rude and crude. Good on Seven for supporting local comedy and proving that political correctness has not killed Aussie comedy.

Paul Fenech has been drop kicking Housos around for nearly a decade as it’s gone from SBS to cinema screens. Housos 2020 sees the residents of Sunnyvale back and looking worse than ever, all locked up together in one filthy house during coronavirus lockdown. Not for the faint-hearted. As Paul Fenech would say, it’s a bit full-on.

Regular Old Bogan is an original Aussie adult animation series. The first was Pacific Heat (Foxtel, 2014) but that Working Dog production didn’t click because it was set on Queensland’s Gold Coast but looked like Florida’s Gold Coast.

Regular Old Bogan doesn’t make that mistake and keeps everything Strayan as. The family are foul-mouthed and dodgy, but because it’s a cartoon they come across more loveable and less ugly than Housos. Looks promising.

Apparently Aussie TV only accepts bogans in comedies. We have never cracked a bogan comedy drama hybrid, like New Zealand did with Westside (9Gem) and Outrageous Fortune (why isn’t this show streaming somewhere).

Brave New World

Brave New World (Stan) is set in the future, where life is one long rave with drugs and sex. It’s the most ambitious adaptation yet of the classic Aldous Huxley novel and it’s gorgeous to look at, but the sex scenes are weirdly coy and fake.

Demi Moore is a sexy bogan in Brave New World but sadly, her role is as skimpy as her nightie. I want moore. Demi has always been underrated so let’s hope this is the start of another comeback. Just nothing dreary about rich white people doing it tough though.