"Dossa and Joe" (2002) TV series

User Rating:

9.5/10   

Seasons:

1

Release Date:

15 May 2002 (UK)

Genre:

Comedy | Drama

Plot:

A working-class Australian couple, named Dossa and Joe, start marriage guidance sessions after Joe retires

Plot Keywords:

Marriage | Australian | Family Relationships | Retirement | Marriage Counselling

Cast

Anne Charleston	...	Dossa Bailey (6 episodes, 2002)
Michael Caton	...	Joe Bailey (6 episodes, 2002)
Ryan Johnson	...	Bobby Bailey (6 episodes, 2002)
Jeanie Drynan	...	Vanessa (6 episodes, 2002)
Robert Bruning	...	Big Sean (6 episodes, 2002)
Donal Forde	...	Chook (6 episodes, 2002)
Darren Gilshenan	...	Wayne (6 episodes, 2002)

Runtime:

UK:30 min (6 episodes)

Country:

Australia

Language:

English

Color:

Color

Company:

British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC)

Breaks the first rule of comedy

Which is to be funny. I expected a lot of this series, coming after the revelation that was "The Royle Family" - though that had slowly deteriorated through its three-season run. In fact I laughed only twice at the entire series of six half-hour episodes: I found it more depressing than anything else. "The Royle Family" was a near-miracle for its combination of richly detailed characters in realistic situations with laugh-out-loud humour. The jokes are very funny, but they didn't - at its best - seem like jokes planted to get a laugh: they flowed naturally from the characters' everyday conversations. The impression I had from "Dossa and Joe" was that Aherne had concentrated on building complex characters with convincingly rich backgrounds to the extent that she had forgotten about actually making it funny. I see now that it has some very eager fans, for the average rating at the time I wrote this was 9.7 out of 10 - but that was based on only 14 votes.