The Wedge (Australian TV series)

The Wedge was an Australian sketch show created by Ian McFadyen and produced by Network Ten, largely based around autobiographical events from the life of the executive producer, Christina Adams. The show stars Dailan Evans, from the ABC sketch show Eagle & Evans; Adam Zwar, best known for his roles in Wilfred, Rebel Wilson, 'Toula' on the comedy show Pizza; Jason Gann, two-time winner of best actor at Tropfest for his roles in Wilfred, as well as regulars Kate Jenkinson, Anthony Ahern, Katrina Mathers, Julie Eckersley and Ross Daniels. Marney McQueen, Aidan Fennesy and Cori Hooper were also regulars in Series 1, and Damian Callinan and Cal Wilson were regulars in Series 2.

The Wedge
Season two logo
Created byIan McFayden
Developed byCornerbox Productions
StarringDailan Evans
Rebel Wilson
Cal Wilson
Jason Gann
Adam Zwar
Opening themeSounds Funny sung by Hunter Kaine
Ending themeSounds Funny Instrumental
Composer(s)Musicbox
Country of originAustralia
Original language(s)English
No. of seasons2
No. of episodes48 (4 unaired) (list of episodes)
Production
Executive producer(s)Christina Adams
Season One
Christina Adams
Season Two
Producer(s)Michael Horrocks
Production location(s)South Melbourne
Running timeApprox. 22 minutes
Release
Original networkNetwork Ten
Picture format16:9/1:85:1
Audio formatStereo
Original release30 May 2006 –
29 December 2007
Chronology
Related showsMark Loves Sharon (Spin-off)

It ran for two seasons, airing 2006 and 2007. A spin-off mockumentary of one of the show's characters, Mark Wary, was produced by Network Ten in 2008. The show, titled Mark Loves Sharon premiered at 9:30pm on 30 June 2008.

History and premise

The program was first advertised by Network Ten in December 2005, with promos depicting Wedgedale, a stereotypical Australian urban sprawl suburb. The show’s pilot debuted on Network Ten on 30 May 2006. It is a sketch based format similar to Fast Forward or The Comedy Company. The difference is that nearly all the sketches take place in the same town, so the transition from sketch to sketch often involves a reference to the previous one. Most transitions involve a timelapse shot that takes the audience from one location to another, but sometimes the reference is more direct and seamless. This is used so often, that a sketch based on it was made. In one episode, the character, Sandra Sultry said "Next up, I'll turn my head to the TV behind me; it's a clever transitional device which will put you through to the next item..."The first season finale was broadcast on 21 November 2006. "Sounds Funny" is the show's theme. Hunter Kaine was recommended as the singer by a production team member's friend.[1]

A second series was commissioned by Network Ten;[2] production began in September,[2][3] and was filmed in South Melbourne. The second season's status was updated by a news bulletin posted on its official website, which was advertising for a live taping with an audience.[4] The second season was broadcast on Network Ten in 2007.[5]

The second season was first hinted on Network Ten in 2007 promoting a Mother Energy drink, featuring the character, Sandra Sultry (played by Katrina Mathers) and unknown voice actor as a frog. Along the bottom of the screen scrolled a web address for the Mother energy drink.[6]

The official website was relaunced with new information on the second series on 10 August.

The second season began on 12 August 2007, with two episodes screened back to back with the new rating of 'M' at 9.40 PM. However, from 19 August onwards, the timeslot was inconsistent from week to week. The season took a break for almost a month and was continued at the later time of 10.25 PM on 16 September with a single episode airing. It was dropped from the timeslot was once again due to the Rugby World Cup. Despite such movements from Network Ten, the show retained a much more popular feedback than its first season and has been having consistent ratings of around 500,000 viewers per episode. On 26 October the show returned with a 10.30 PM timeslot, and was not renewed for a third season.

Cast and crew

Season 1

Cast

CastRoleOccupation
Dailan EvansVarious CharactersActor/Comedian/Writer
Rebel WilsonVarious CharactersActor/Comedian/Writer
Jason GannVarious CharactersActor/Writer
Julie EckersleyVarious CharactersActor/Writer
Anthony AhernVarious CharactersActor
Katrina MathersVarious CharactersActor
Kate JenkinsonVarious CharactersActor
Adam ZwarVarious CharactersActor/Writer
Marney McQueenVarious CharactersActor
Aidan FennessyVarious CharactersActor
Cori HooperVarious CharactersActor
Julia ZemiroVarious CharactersActor/Comedian
Brandon JohnVarious CharactersActor
Frieda McKennaVarious CharactersActor
Ross DanielsVarious CharactersActor/ Comedian
Hunter KaineTheme Song/Music ClipSinger/Songwriter

Crew

CrewJob
Steve DundonExecutive Producer
Michael HorrocksSeries Producer
Steve VizardCreative Consultant
Ross DanielsSupervising Producer
Nick BufaloDirector
Graeme RowlandDirector
Ian McFadyenCo-Executive Producer/Writer/Creator
Andy McIntyreCo-Executive Producer
Brendan LunoWriter
Tal BrottWriter
Paul CallejaWriter
Catherine DeveneyWriter
Des DowlingWriter
Craig EagleWriter
Russell GilbertWriter
Andrew MajWriter

Season 2

Cast

CastRoleOccupation
Dailan EvansVarious CharactersActor/Comedian/Writer
Rebel WilsonVarious CharactersActor/Comedian/Writer
Jason GannVarious CharactersActor/Writer
Julie EckersleyVarious CharactersActor/Writer
Anthony AhernVarious CharactersActor/Writer
Katrina MathersVarious CharactersActor/Writer
Kate JenkinsonVarious CharactersActor/Writer
Adam ZwarVarious CharactersActor/Writer
Damian CallinanVarious CharactersActor/Comedian/Writer
Cal WilsonVarious CharactersActor/Comedian/Writer
Ross DanielsVarious CharactersActor/ Comedian/ Writer/ Supervising Producer
Hunter KaineIntroductory Song/Music ClipSinger/Songwriter

Crew

CrewJob
Michael HorrocksSeries Producer
Daniel ScharfSeries Producer
Andrew PowerAssistant Director
Steve VizardCreative Consultant
Daniel ScharfProducer
Kevin CarlinDirector
Ian McFadyenCo-Executive Producer/Writer/Creator
Nicole MinchinLine Producer
Andy McIntyreExecutive Producer
Tal BrottWriter
Michael ChamberlainWriter
Paul CallejaWriter
Des DowlingWriter
Craig EagleWriter
Russell GilbertWriter
Jo GillWriter
Greta HarrisonWriter
David LawrenceWriter
Andrew MajWriter
Garry MacaffrieWriter
Ray MatsonWriter
Gerard McCullochWriter
Lulu McClatchyWriter
Anita PuntonWriter
Matthew VaughanWriter
Vin HedgerWriters Coordinator
Matt CameronWriter

Characters and sketches
Further information: List of The Wedge characters and sketches

DVD releases
DVD title Release date No. of episodes Running length Rating
We're Moving 9 October 2006 6 134 minutes M
Lucky 7 156 minutes
Thanks for Coming 20 November 2006 7¹
That's Valid 16 December 2006 7
  • ¹The 20th episode of season one was repeated in the That's Valid and Thanks for Coming DVDs.

Episode guide
Further information: List of The Wedge episodes

Critical reception

The Wedge had mixed success with audiences and critics during its first season. The ratings for the first season were initially strong, with the first episode receiving 1.5 million viewers[7] and later episodes averaging over one million viewers.[8][9] The shows recent popularity waned nearer the end of the first season, with episodes reaching a much smaller audience (681,000 viewers for the episode that aired on 21 November 2006[10]). Despite the show's first season initially receiving high ratings, it was criticised by some TV reviewers. Issue was taken with the perceived over-use of canned laughter[11] and what they considered to be poorly written, dated, cheap humour that attacked easy targets and propagated offensive stereotypes.[12][13] Shortly after the series debuted, Catherine Deveny, one of the writers, wrote an article for The Age in which she revealed that the producers had insisted on re-writing and blanding out the scripts in the hope of appealing to a wider audience,[14] but maintained that the writers and performers were themselves talented comics.

Although the show had its share of negative reviews, critics from Famous magazine quoted that it had "Some of the most outrageous, loopy, and colourful residents God ever put on this world",[15] while Sean Fewster from the Adelaide Advertiser remarked that "This could well be the first truly great ensemble of the 21st Century" and "The Wedge is a near perfect blending of The Comedy Company's family-friendly, occasionally bizarre jokes and Fast Forward's nasty, satirical edge.... Ladies and gentlemen, welcome back to Australian sketch comedy".[16] Sean Lynch remarked that "We may very well look back on this...as the beginning of one of Australia's greatest comedy shows of the new millennium", Neil Mitchell from 3AW remarked that the show was "one of the freshest things on TV" and a writer from newspaper The Age said "Such a rich vein of comedy, you can't help wonder why someone hasn't mined it sooner". Memorable TV remarked "At last we have a comedy sketch show worthy of the mantle of Fast Forward and Full Frontal. Very funny." shortly after the release of the DVDs.[17] The show's second season had a much more popular feedback from audiences during its second season, hence reflecting from its consistent ratings at its 'dead-zone' timeslot. The Age, who had panned the show's previous season remarked, "... (The Wedge) delivers enough flashes of brilliance to confirm it's on the right track".

British television and radio presenter Jonathan Ross recently reviewed it on his film 2009 show, in which he condemned it saying "it tries to hard to follow the much better British alternatives and fails badly" in which he added "not one to watch".

Side projects
  • Karingal Park Secondary College won a competition called "Art Cooney Comes to Your School" that was first advertised on The Wedge website. As a part of the prize, the school received a visit from Adam Zwar, portraying the character Art Cooney. Another competition to get on set of 'The Wedge' was set, winners were invited onto the set for a tour.[18]
  • The Wedge characters Mark Wary (Jason Gann) and his manager (Dailan Evans) made an appearance on the 50 Years of Comic Relief show broadcast on Seven Network. In addition to this, Russell Gilbert, Kate Jenkinson and Rebel Wilson also made an appearance on the show.
  • Cal Wilson, Dailan Evans and Kate Jenkinson have made an appearance on Australia's improvisation show, Thank God You're Here during its second season.[19] Rebel Wilson has also made appearances on the third season of Thank God You're Here (as well as Kate Jenkinson's second appearance).
gollark: I think it's a nice-to-have property but not worth sacrificing much else for.
gollark: You can see when it is *happening*, if you happen to be active, and ignore it for a bit.
gollark: You can just mute them *when* discomforting things happen, or possibly mute <#348702212110680064> if you mostly care about esolangs.
gollark: See, I was halfway through writing about why that wasn't a good solution.
gollark: I think it is somewhat more valuable to be able to have reasonable discussion about controversial topics than to make some people able to not mute things at some points.

References
  1. www.myspace.com/hunterkaine Official Hunter Kaine Myspace. Retrieved 15 March 2007.
  2. Bridget McManus, "Wedge drives through", theage.com.au, 31 August 2006, URL last accessed 24 November 2006.
  3. The Wedge on IMDb, last updated 26 September 2006.
  4. Official Wedge News Page
  5. Official Wedge News Page
  6. A Force Of Nature
  7. "The Early News - 5 June 06", Network TEN Corporate, 5 June 2006, URL last accessed 24 November 2006.
  8. "The Early News - 13 June 06", Network TEN Corporate, 13 June 2006, URL last accessed 24 November 2006.
  9. "The Early News - 19 June 06", Network TEN Corporate, 19 June 2006, URL last accessed 24 November 2006.
  10. David Dale, "The Tribal Mind: Slow bowling", The Sydney Morning Herald Blogs, 24 November 2006, URL last accessed 24 November 2006.
  11. David Dale, "The freedom not to laugh", smh.com.au, 18 July 2006, URL last accessed 18 November 2006.
  12. Craig Platt, "Last Laugh: Sockin' the suburbs", smh.com.au, 31 May 2006, URL last accessed 18 November 2006.
  13. "Wedge Politics", The Blurb, URL last accessed 18 November 2006.
  14. The Age, 24 June 2006 reproduced here: I did a few weeks' writing for The Wedge but you will be pushed to find a word of my stuff on screen. This is because when they said, "What we are after is new, fresh and young", I didn't realise that what they actually meant was "boring, safe and dumbed down". Most of the scripts have been rewritten so many times that the guts of the joke has been diluted severely or obliterated entirely.
  15. The Wedge: Lucky DVD cover
  16. The Wedge: We're Moving DVD cover
  17. "Long Shot Film Entertainment's 'The Wedge' page"
  18. "The Wedge: episode guide", Australian Television, URL last accessed 29 November 2006.
  19. "Thank God You're Here's Episode Guide", Australia Television, URL last accessed 29 November 2006
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