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A smart-arse, post-modern, high concept satire is high risk: when you aim for twisted genius you may end up with a steaming embarrassment. But the first episode of local series The Jaquie Brown Diaries is neither. It is simply rather good.
The aren't-we-daring premise for the show is that Jaquie Brown, once a real television reporter known for her quirky stories on a primetime current affairs show called Campbell Live, plays Jaquie Brown, a fictional television reporter known for her quirky stories on a fictional primetime current affairs show called McHuntly. The set-up gives Brown a wink-wink opportunity to create a media pastiche mixing aspects of her real persona, such as shots of her appearing on magazine covers and hosting the music awards, with her satirical persona, who is a bit of a female Tony Veitch (before his disgrace).
In the first episode, Brown is miffed to meet a new reporter on her show, Serita (played by Madeleine Sami) who has been hired to do the same kind of wacky stories but who it is hoped will appeal to an ethnic audience. "I'm not racist," Brown writes in her diary. "In fact if anything I am jealous of her being Fijian, it makes everyone feel sorry for her."
Brown goes on to talk her way into an interview with a visiting rap star, Busy Trickle, which had been given to her new rival Serita. Brown stuffs it up and the show closes as she writes: "I guess I'm going to have to work that much harder if I'm going to seal my position as the number one light relief journalist in the country."
Brown is a clever girl and a gifted comic, simply because she is not trying to be one. The problem is the other actors seem to think they are on a different sort of show, one which requires Proper Acting so morons can tell where the jokes are.
The opening scene where Brown is getting an internal exam from her gynaecologist might be amusing in the script but is let down because the actor who plays the gynaecologist doesn't seem to realise he's not in a laugh-track sitcom.
The best lines are those which are not punchline funny but just seem so embarrassingly real. If only all the supporting cast could be as droll as comedian Mike Loder, who is wonderful as Darren the tape editor. The Jaquie Brown Diaries could be our own version of that Aussie genius satire, Frontline. It's not as if we don't have enough material for it. Here's an idea. There's this sports presenter who falls from grace ...
* The Jaquie Brown Diaries debuts on TV3 this Friday at 9.30pm.
