The Sydney Morning Herald from Sydney, New South Wales, Australia • Page 52

TOE GUIDE iteom gets its toughs together THE Mi Tmdi NEWTOWN 5504041 -K -v iffy SPECIAL THIS WEEK -3 NAD Low-risk sitcom All Together Now has defied the critics. And survived, james cockington finds out how. ft YANAHA MINI SYSTEM 1 133 KING STREET (END OF MISSENDEN ROAD) mm HI-FI AND VIDEO NEWS All together from left, Philip Dalkin, Jon English and Alan Hardy. THE producers of All Together Now relate, with considerable pleasure, the story of one gentleman sitting in the back row of the studio audience who found one of their jokes so funny that he lost control of three of the more basic bodily functions. While it took some time to clean up the mess, and adjacent audience members were not appreciative, at least the producers had graphic evidence that their sitcom was getting results.

They don't remember which gag produced the reaction, but they do remember, with less pleasure, the long list of guaranteed killer jokes that bombed. Complete silence. Bullfrogs croaking. Consistent in the ratings, All Together Now has been periodically canned by some critics and ignored by others, who dismiss it as low-brow, low-risk comedy for the masses a kind of junk food for the brain. Hey Dad! gets the same reaction, or lack of.

but survives nonetheless. While these shows will never rank up there in sitcom heaven with Fawlty Towers, Mother and Son or Married, With Children. the fact that All Together Now made it past pilot stage, gathered a strong and apparently devoted audience, and was asked back for a second season, means that it succeeded where others failed. Many, myself included, originally believed that Alt Together Now was Jon English's personal project, so entrenched is he in the role of Bobby Rivers, brain-dead rock roller trapped in a 1972 timewarp. In fact, the original idea came to director Pino Amenta in 1987, allegedly when he was on a toilet.

With Philip Dalkin and spontaneous laughter from the live audience). Dalkin has received an estimated 2S0 submissions from potential sitcom scriptwriters. Some submissions have had the laughs but no storyline, others have had the storyline but no laughs, most have neither. Only five of those submissions have gone on to production. Writing and rehearsing the script is just stage one.

Inevitably there's the live audience with a collective mind of its own, perfectly happy to laugh themselves stupid at the straight lines and sit gobsmacked at the writer's funniest gags. Even professionals like Dalkin say they can never' predict what makes people laugh. The laughter longevity record goes to Bruno Lucia, who plays Wayne Lovett. He regularly scores two minutes' worth of applause, screams, stamping feet, whistles and cheers (which has to be edited for the final to-air episode) simply by walking on stage and saying, as he does every week, "Chicky The frustrating thing is that no-one knows who first thought of Bruno's catchcry, so no-one can claim credit for this masterstroke. All Together Now can be seen on Channel iSine on Tuesdays at 8 pm.

sonal space, he physically intrudes upon English's personal space by moving closer and closer. English backs away, moving to another chair, while Who pursues him around the table. It's a gag worthy of Laurel and Hardy, except that no-one ends up on the floor. To understand the making of a sitcom, you have to understand the constraints of the medium. Telltale Films is contracted by the Nine Network to produce 42 episodes a year, which is more than the total output of Mother and Son over its six seasons.

Comparisons between the two are unfair, Dalkin suggests, adding that 26 episodes a year would be ideal Not that he is exactly complaining. Nor are the writers, for whom All Together Now provides welcome employment, along with a high degree of challenge. Shane Brennan, the writer of this week's episode, says that writing a sitcom is twice as hard as writing a one-hour episode of Embassy, which he has also done. The difficulty is in what they call "the sitcom writing the situation as well as the comedy, and compressing it all into around 20 minutes (minus a couple of minutes which allows, optimistically, for John Powditch (his partners in Telltale Films). Amenta pitched the concept to Channel Nine.

They were pleasantly surprised when the idea made it out of the toilet, over the mahogany boardroom table, and into production. English was their first choice for the lead role, and Dalkin admits that there wasn't a huge list if English had declined. The fact that English is now indistinguishable from his character is an occupational hazard softened, we assume, by a handsome salary. The description of English as oT cave eyes is not totally accurate at 1 1 am Monday, when the cast first run through the script for the week's episode. Up close and personal, his eyes look more like dungeons.

To English's credit, the number of jokes at the expense of his physical appearance pop up regularly, with his approval. In this week's episode, his nostrils are described as "twin caves, with grass growing out of Rehearsal is the serious side of funny business. Around midday there is this magic thing happening between Gary Who and Jon English, the two with perhaps the best chemistry of any of the cast. Who, smarter than he looks, is a good "physical" actor. It is his suggestion that during a deep and meaningful chat about jealousy and per Wires ain't wires I recently read a column regarding the somewhat alchemical properties ascribed to various Hi Fi cabling.

WruJe I could not qet the gist of the milters intentions, it occurrecT to rne that it could be extremely confusing to trie average music lover. Even the most sensitive electronic instruments do not appear to be able to quantify the differences between "cheap and nasty bell wire" and specialist speaker cables. So, where does that leave you a very good position, actually. If you forget all the hype and techno babble, all you are left with is your ears. All we ask you to do is listen.

So come in and hear the difference! And you'll realise the value of quality speaker cable andor interconnects. It is that simple to markedly improve your system. Mirage Speakers For those of you missed our for music night in June, you may not be aware that we have on display the full range of Mirage loudspeakers from Canada. Priced from only $595 to $12,000, this is a remarkable range of speakers, with exceptional quality both in construction and sound. The Mirage parent company, A.P.I..

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Fathers' Day Specials range from CD players to exotic speakers. For example: Harman Kardon HD7300 CD player was $499 now ony $399. Audio phile compact discs Choose from our extensive selection of Jazz. Classical and re-issues. (Mention the Pink Guide and receive 15 off all discs, for this week ony.) Stereophile Hi Fi magazines now ofiy $10 Choose from our range of Clock Radios.

CD Storage, Portables. Tapes and Accessories. If you still can't decide what to buy. surprise Dad with a Pirimai Gift Voucher. Your Surround Sound Lounge At Home In our new Surround Sound Lounge we have another "typical' home installation (how that the PioneerHitachi package has gone to a good home.

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