Most Likely to Succeed ... Overseas
In which I pitch an idea for the series I think actually deserves an overseas remake.
A few outliers like The Office aside, foreign remakes (typically American) tend to be disasters. Here in Australia the scars from Kath & Kim, the beloved local comedy massacred by the American treatment, still linger. Reality shows tend to make the transition with more ease, however, and it's certainly not a drama I'm pitching today. The show I think could find a place from Moscow to Mississippi is Kitchen Cabinet.
Kitchen Cabinet sounds like a terrible idea. It's basically a cooking show with politicians. Journalist Annabel Crabb cooks up a nice dessert and trundles off to some far-flung corner of the nation to have dinner with a politician, hoping that the long-held wisdom that a meal is the way to an MP's heart pays off. When it started, it was a charming little oddball of a thing, languishing on the digital channel ABC2, as Crabb tried out what worked and what didn't: ex-Immigration Minister Amanda Vanstone and Liberal attack dog Christopher Pyne proved to be surprisingly enjoyable company and Northern Territory Senator Nigel Scullion hosted a typically rugged outback barbecue, but some of the other instalments weren't as successful. A few of them had an air of distinct awkwardness, as with famously reserved Finance Minister Penny Wong.
Now finishing up a triumphant third season in a prime-time slot, the creases have largely been ironed out , and this latest series has been faultlessly entertaining. Whether it's Malcolm Turnbull traipsing around his outback property before cooking up yabbies to share with his wife Lucy, a former Sydney Lord Mayor, or Independent Senator Nick Xenophon commandeering an Adelaide seafood restaurant to fry some octopus, or the famously quirky Craig Emerson scouring the local markets for some fresh produce, they've been a joy. The episode focused on Jenny Macklin, the Family and Indigenous Affairs Minister, showed that Crabb now knows how to tackle the less flamboyant personalities as well, coming up with a fascinating portrait of a retiring but effective Labor powerhouse. The most recent episode was a surprising standout: Sussan Ley has been on the Coalition front bench for years now, but most Australians wouldn't recognise her name. She proves to be a delight, a natural on camera, relating wildcap stories of her exceptionally varied road to Canberra, and it's almost a disappointment when Crabb and Ley are joined by good old Bill Heffernan, who's been uncharacteristically quiet lately.
Kitchen Cabinet is not a flashy show, but it's the closest Australians get to seeing behind the nightly-news masks of the people who represent them; it's a chance to see what sort of people they really are. Whether you agree with their politics or not, most of the subjects have come out looking like pretty decent folks. It's something that's sorely needed in this age of increasingly disengaged, disillusioned voters with a cynical loathing of any and all politicians. This, surely, is something that could be appreciated everywhere.
A few outliers like The Office aside, foreign remakes (typically American) tend to be disasters. Here in Australia the scars from Kath & Kim, the beloved local comedy massacred by the American treatment, still linger. Reality shows tend to make the transition with more ease, however, and it's certainly not a drama I'm pitching today. The show I think could find a place from Moscow to Mississippi is Kitchen Cabinet.
Kitchen Cabinet sounds like a terrible idea. It's basically a cooking show with politicians. Journalist Annabel Crabb cooks up a nice dessert and trundles off to some far-flung corner of the nation to have dinner with a politician, hoping that the long-held wisdom that a meal is the way to an MP's heart pays off. When it started, it was a charming little oddball of a thing, languishing on the digital channel ABC2, as Crabb tried out what worked and what didn't: ex-Immigration Minister Amanda Vanstone and Liberal attack dog Christopher Pyne proved to be surprisingly enjoyable company and Northern Territory Senator Nigel Scullion hosted a typically rugged outback barbecue, but some of the other instalments weren't as successful. A few of them had an air of distinct awkwardness, as with famously reserved Finance Minister Penny Wong.
Now finishing up a triumphant third season in a prime-time slot, the creases have largely been ironed out , and this latest series has been faultlessly entertaining. Whether it's Malcolm Turnbull traipsing around his outback property before cooking up yabbies to share with his wife Lucy, a former Sydney Lord Mayor, or Independent Senator Nick Xenophon commandeering an Adelaide seafood restaurant to fry some octopus, or the famously quirky Craig Emerson scouring the local markets for some fresh produce, they've been a joy. The episode focused on Jenny Macklin, the Family and Indigenous Affairs Minister, showed that Crabb now knows how to tackle the less flamboyant personalities as well, coming up with a fascinating portrait of a retiring but effective Labor powerhouse. The most recent episode was a surprising standout: Sussan Ley has been on the Coalition front bench for years now, but most Australians wouldn't recognise her name. She proves to be a delight, a natural on camera, relating wildcap stories of her exceptionally varied road to Canberra, and it's almost a disappointment when Crabb and Ley are joined by good old Bill Heffernan, who's been uncharacteristically quiet lately.
Kitchen Cabinet is not a flashy show, but it's the closest Australians get to seeing behind the nightly-news masks of the people who represent them; it's a chance to see what sort of people they really are. Whether you agree with their politics or not, most of the subjects have come out looking like pretty decent folks. It's something that's sorely needed in this age of increasingly disengaged, disillusioned voters with a cynical loathing of any and all politicians. This, surely, is something that could be appreciated everywhere.