At Home With Julia

Boring and uninventive.

Julia's voice is even more annoying than the real thing. Her character is weak and naive. The jokes are all aimed at easy targets. Is it really that hard to produce a funny sit com?

Maybe the problem is our pollys do such a great job of parodying themselves. It's always going to be tough sending up the incumbent PM but, really, you can do better than this.

The interesting aspects of Julia Gillard's leadership that are worth putting under the satirical microscope are: behind the scene power struggles (how did she really take the reins?); the stress of responding to a 24 hour media cycle; Australia's lack of influence on world politics; the process of getting a PM make-over and what that means for feminism. The only hint of a storyline that piqued my interest in the first episode of At Home With Julia was Tim wandering around the house looking lost. It's a look I recognise. What does he do with himself while his girlfriend is out running the country?

The set up for this series bodes ill for the remainder. I think the theme for the episode was impotence. Julia doesn't even seem to realise she is the PM and Tim is just hoping for someone to notice him. Reading some other reviews, the words warm-hearted come up. That's spot on. It's all warm and gentle and not very funny or insightful or anything much. Very easy to turn off.

I don't think I'll be giving the rest of the series a go.