Arnold
Tash Jayasinghe
CibbuanoFrontline - Series 1 Overview
March 20th 2007 10:17
Frontline series 1 jumps right into it… little introduction is made in regards to the characters, it’s just straight in. Indeed, the first few episodes of the show could’ve been shown or filmed in any order. References are made to Mike having recently come across to Frontline from another network (the ABC), but aside from this it’s as if the team has been running for a while prior to the start of the series.
Mike Moore: The host of the show. Just like Ray Martin (from Channel 9’s ‘A Current Affair’), he has shit and vaguely-fake looking hair. Like his other contemporary, Stan Grant (from Channel 7’s ‘Real Life’), he also has a near-permanent gormless look on his face. Mike Moore, despite being the focal point of the show, is the one least involved in it’s creation. Brainless, vain, self-righteous and armed with an extremely short attention span, Mike Moore is often little more than a puppet. When he isn’t making a nuisance of himself in the newsroom, he’s often out trying to get publicity for himself, with disastrous results.
Brian Thompson: The Executive Producer of Frontline, and an expert at manipulating his staff. Brian is completely unscrupulous and immoral, and will lie and bullshit his way through anything so long as it gets Frontline good ratings. One of the few times he backs down from doing a story for his own reasons is in ‘Add Sex and Stir’, when Emma asks if Frontline can out a secretly gay and well-known cricket player.
Brooke Vandenburg: Completely self-obsessed and only in journalism for the celebrity factor. Started a rumour that she shagged Pat Cash. Referred to by Emma as a ‘two-faced bitch’.
Emma Ward: The Producer of Frontline. Probably the hardest working member of the team and the one who gets the least amount of credit. Marty says in Series 2, "She’s a bloody good producer but she comes with a price – she’s sometimes inclined to take the moral high-ground". Emma is idealistic and good-hearted but not above using devious means to get what she wants, she’s the conscience of the team (and is very rarely listened to as a result) and the most sympathetic person of the five main characters.
SUPPORTING CHARACTERS
Kate: The producer under Emma, she often does research for the various stories.
Shelly: Brian’s secretary. She doesn’t really do or say much in the show in Series 1.
Dom: The office secretary. She is a little dim and flakey, and is probably the only person in the whole office who genuinely likes Mike.
Stu: The camera-man. Often seen with Marty and Jase, more working class and down-to-earth than the rest of the team. He and Jase sometimes play tricks on Mike.
Jase: The sound-guy. Always seen with Stu… Jase doesn’t utter an entire word throughout the entire first series.
Hugh: The editor. Often appears slouched in darkness, smoking and coughing. He appears outside the editing suite on only two occasions in Series 1.
Jan: The network’s head of publicity… very much a ‘luvvie’-type person, good at her job and good at placating the ‘talent’.
Geoffrey Salter: The weatherman on the network’s news program. Mike’s only true friend. His discussions with Mike often involve him struggling to understand what Mike is saying so he can agree with him.
Neil Mitchell: Real-life radio announcer. Mike appears on his show once a week to talk about stories the stories of the week. These segments often involve Neil criticising Mike and Frontline.
Farmer: Manager of the network. Pretty much just a more important version of Brian. He appears in episodes 2, 4, 6 and 7. His voice is also heard in episode 11. He only appears in the first series.
Cavell: The head of the network. Intimidating and cold, he appears only in episode 11 of the first series but returns later.
Elliot Rhodes: ‘Friday-Night Funnyman’ of Frontline. He appears on the show once a week performing a supposedly humourous but incredibly pissweak ditty on an issue of the week.
EPISODES
Most of the episodes are very much ensemble pieces. Mike often gets the most plot, he is often the focus point – we weave in and out of the various subplots as he bumbles and blunders about the office. The dynamics between the various members of the team is fairly well thought out… Brian often has to placate Mike and Brooke and is an expert at manipulating them. His efforts to manipulate Marty and Emma are somewhat less successful. Brooke is hated by most of the team, and Mike is pretty much a figure to be ridiculed… one of the few exceptions being in episode 5, ‘The Siege’, where Mike’s hostage interview actually impresses Brian for once. Everyone in the office (except for Mike and Brooke) seems to like Marty and Emma though.
Emma’s biggest moment of the season comes fairly early on in episode 4, 'She's Got the Look'… it’s revealed that she has dreams of being a reporter but the reality is that she isn’t glamourous enough. You really feel for her as an under-appreciated and talented person in an industry filled with credit-stealing showponies.
Mike is mostly an unsympathetic and irritating character. One of the few moments where he actually redeems himself is in episode 11, 'Smaller Fish to Fry' where he initially seems to have some actual integrity (though, to be fair, this is probably because he’s too dumb to know when he should back down). This episode is probably the best of the season… a very well-written, dirty and complex episode that makes some good points about the hypocrisies of current affairs shows and journalism in general.
The series goes out on a high with crowd-pleasing Logies episode… lots of celebrities appear, but unfortunately this episode will appear less impressive as the years go by and more and more of these once familiar faces disappear into obscurity for future audiences. Still, it’s a good laugh all the same.
Ray Martin is referenced in 9 of the 13 episodes in Series 1.
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