KEY POINTS:
In the Jaquie Brown Diaries (last night, TV3) "the number one lightweight journalist in the country", Jaquie Brown, plays a parody of Jaquie Brown, the former number one lightweight journalist in the country, in a show which is a parody of lightweight telly and the insecure egos of
the celebs it creates.
Which makes it sound a bit of a media in-joke, and a bit too clever for its own hot pink velour tracksuit pants, in which, by the way, Jaquie Brown's booty wobbles like a lovely big jelly at a kid's birthday party. Appearing on telly in such a get-up really is intrepid journalism.
It's touches like the wobbly hot pink-clad bum scene which saved the first episode from being either too clever or too much of an in-joke. Yes, those lightweight telly celeb chicks think they're pretty hot; getting to laugh at them is a bonus. Which means that the in-joke is one we'll all get. And it was funny - silly, but funny.
You didn't need to know that Jaquie Brown, when she was the wacky girl reporter on Campbell Live, once interviewed a visiting American rapper - to humiliating effect - to get the joke here. Which was that this Jaquie Brown turned up to interview a visiting American rapper - in her hot pink trackies and big hoop earrings - to humiliating effect.
She asked stupid questions of the fictional rapper, Bizzy Trickle. She took him up the Sky Tower. "I thought this setting would be appropriate given your recent elevated status." He didn't laugh. He hated her questions.
JB: "Bizzy Trickle is not your real name, is it?"
Bizzy Trickle: "No."
JB: "What is your real name?"
BT: "It's Derek Beasley."
He said: "Bitch, I'm not playing this wit you."
She said: "All right, chill out, nigger."
The interview ended with the Trickle shutting the lift doors in her face, JB turning to camera and saying something lame about Bizzy being busy, and her hot pink pants getting caught in the lift doors. I laughed.
The fictional host of the current affairs show, McHuntly at Seven, (that's a bit rude and only a bit funny) watched this clip with appalled astonishment. The look on his face suggested he was about to fall off his host's chair in fits of laughter, or from sheer horror. Which is pretty much how I remember feeling when I watched the original Jaquie and the Rapper interview.
Jaquie has a rival: the beautiful Serita, played by Madeleine Sami, who is brought in to double the quirky factor. Serita is given the rapper interview. Jaquie wants to do it. Her boss, played by Geeling Ng, said: "You don't even like rap music."
"Oh, just because I'm white?"
"No, because you told me you didn't like rap music. In fact, I believe your exact words were: `I find rap music as enjoyable as being humped by a dog'."
When Jaquie met Serita she mistook her for a fan. "Thanks so much for watching," she purred.
That's perfectly all right, Jaquie. This is fun. Cute, lightweight, a bit naughty. And much smarter than those real current affairs shows.