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﻿<title﻿>﻿New Socialist Magazine, Two Worth Watching - Review﻿</title>﻿

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﻿<b﻿>﻿Two Worth Watching 

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by Sandra Sarner﻿<br﻿>﻿

﻿<i﻿>﻿New Socialist Magazine, November 1996﻿</i>﻿<br﻿>﻿<br﻿>﻿<br﻿>﻿

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﻿<font﻿ ﻿size="1"﻿>﻿TV Review: ﻿<i﻿>﻿Newsroom﻿</i>﻿ and ﻿<i﻿>﻿Gullages﻿</i>﻿.﻿</font>﻿<br﻿>﻿<br﻿>﻿


There are two new half-hour weekly shows on CBC this season, both funny, both worth-watching. And each in its own unique way is different from those run-of-the-mill sitcoms we groan over but (if you're like me) find ourselves watching anyway. 


﻿<br﻿>﻿<br﻿>﻿

There has been so much hype around ﻿<i﻿>﻿Newsroom﻿</i>﻿ that premiered October 21 that I watched the first episode almost expecting to be disappointed. Set in the offices of a TV news show, I figured the media was just loving it because, after all, it's all about them. 


﻿<br﻿>﻿<br﻿>﻿

But it lived up to all its rave reviews. Not really a sitcom, sort of a satire, no jokes but witty and entertaining. The central character, news director George (played by creator Ken Finkleman) is gutless, shallow, chauvinistic -- and shown up as ridiculous again and again. 


﻿<br﻿>﻿<br﻿>﻿

Then there's the brainless anchor and the yes-men producers. Looking for a lead item for local news, they ditch a community event in favour of a plane crash in Africa, virtually making up all sorts of lurid details and a creating a dubious local link in the form of a "possible Toronto resident" on the flight. 


﻿<br﻿>﻿<br﻿>﻿

In the course of one half-hour, the show dealt with a half dozen issues including cutbacks, discriminatory hiring practices and gay sexuality. 


﻿<br﻿>﻿<br﻿>﻿

And, so far at least, the newsroom women -- researchers and assistants -- appear as the only intelligent characters on the show

﻿<br﻿>﻿<br﻿>﻿

It's taken me several shows to warm up to ﻿<i﻿>﻿Gullages﻿</i>﻿, but I've kept watching because I had a feeling it would take a big-city central-Canada girl like myself awhile to twig to the offbeat Newfie humour. And now I'm hooked on this one too. 


﻿<br﻿>﻿<br﻿>﻿

And offbeat is the best word I can come up with for this charming show, set around a small down-and-out taxicab company in St. John's -- Gullages. 

﻿<br﻿>﻿<br﻿>﻿

After years of pottering along, the half-dozen drivers -- each one an odd character -- find themselves facing a new owner, Pis (pronounced Pizz) Parsons -- none too bright but determined to change everything. 


﻿<br﻿>﻿<br﻿>﻿

The show centres around driver Calvin (Bryan Hennessey) who lives with his chain-smoking, no-nonsense mother, his political activist daughter Dolly who also drives for Gullages, his daughter's out-of-wedlock child and the old fella -- whose relation to the others is unclear since he never speaks and never leaves his spot in the background of the family kitchen. 


﻿<br﻿>﻿<br﻿>﻿

Then there's Iris (Brenda Devine) who lives next door. She's Dolly's mother and Calvin's sometimes lover, maybe friend -- it's all quite unclear and unconventional. 


﻿<br﻿>﻿<br﻿>﻿

There's a nebulous air altogether in the weird situations that arise on Gullages -- not to mention the dead-pan way the characters deal with their problems. Perhaps again it's my big-city naivety about the humour from a part of Canada where people have had to become used to never being sure about anything. 


﻿<br﻿>﻿<br﻿>﻿

But I'm not giving up on this one and I suggest you give it a try. And here's hoping it'll go beyond it's current six-week run. 


﻿<br﻿>﻿<br﻿>﻿


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