DVD cover for Series 1 of Frontline (l to r: Rob Sitch, Bruno Lawrence, Jane Kennedy, and Tiriel Mora)

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Frontline

Frontline is an Australian comedy television series which satirised Australian television current affairs programs and reporting. It ran for three series of 13 half-hour episodes and was broadcast on ABC TV in 1994, 1995 and 1997. more...

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Production

The series was written, directed, and produced by the tight-knit team of Jane Kennedy, Tom Gleisner, Rob Sitch, and Santo Cilauro. They had met at the University of Melbourne and after creating and performing in the popular ABC comedy series The D-Generation and The Late Show and a stint on radio they created Frontline (as well as Funky Squad between seasons 2 and 3). After Frontline they moved into feature films, making several popular Australian movies including The Castle and The Dish, and for several years they have hosted the popular panel discussion show The Panel.

Kennedy, Sitch, Cilauro also acted on the show, as well as Tiriel Mora, Alison Whyte, and numerous other notable Australian actors appeared in guest roles. Gleisner also appeared in a regular cameo role as a photocopier repair man.

The series was partly inspired by a 60 Minutes special 'Has the media gone too far', not Drop the Dead Donkey as some have suggested.

Setting

A commercial ntwork

The series follows the fortunes of a fictional current affairs show, Frontline, which airs on a fictional commercial network, directly opposite to much like Channel 7 and Channel 9. Frontline competes directly with Nine's A Current Affair and Seven's Real Life in the first season, Real life changing its name to Today Tonight in 1995 onwards.

The Frontline office showcases and satirises the machinations of the ruthless producers, the self-obsessed airhead host, and the ambitious, cynical journalists, all of whom resort to any sort of underhanded trick to get ratings and maintain their status -- including the use of hidden cameras, foot-in-the-door, bullying interview techniques and cheque-book journalism -- not to mention ingratiating themselves with the all-powerful network bosses -- while all the real work is in fact done by their long-suffering production staff.

The station itself also runs a few other television shows which are similar to shows on other stations, such as 6 o'clock news program, a 3 hour news review show Sunday Forum, a sketch show The Comedy Bunch, a game show Jackpot and a teen soap opera Sunshine Cove.

As a commentary

What gave the show its special edge was that the stories and the actions of the characters were often thinly-disguised parodies of recent real events and real people, episodes such as The Siege were replays of controversial events which had occurred a few months prior, told as though Frontline had covered the story.