News Free Zone (1985) User Reviews

This was Grahame Bonds Best, Fantastic Show

[nel_syd · 10/10 · 3 March 2009]

I don't know about the last guys comments, but it sounds like he never saw the show. This show was hilarious and I have been trying to get a copy of it but it is not available. He left out the segment "Never Ending Story" this was like a game show with Grahame and other persons from the show where they would have to tell a story, the subject was picked from a hat, and then they would pass the story along to the next person to continue with plot, it was hilarious. The segment Australia Street was also a classic where these people shared a house together, Grahame Bond was Sydney representing NSW, there was Victoria no explanation required, Sunny from queensland, Westie from WA Adelaide and Tassie.

If the concept is not funny enough you should have heard the theme song, this is the street where all the states meet Australia Street. These segments only went for about 5minutes each and left the audience craving more. The ideas used in this show and the amount of entertainment crammed into each 5 minute segment was sensational. I could wait to get home from school to watch this show. It was called News Free Zone as the news was on all the other channels so if you didn't want to watch the boring news you had an alternative, what a great concept. The show also featured best of clips from the Aunty Jack Show, and Kev Kavanagh was my favourite, he always used to get up to some funny mischief like calling up a French restaurant and asking if they served Chinese food, once he explains the party is for 150 the waiter gladly agrees to serve Chinese food. I wish I could remember more but this show was absolutely awesome. Everyone praises the Aunty Jack Show which I think is morbid and not funny at all, News Free Zone is definitely Grahame Bonds best work and should be a credit to Australian television, instead I cant even by a copy of the show from the ABC shop. When are they going to make it available. The characters on the show in particular Kev Kevanagh should be an Australian icon and is up there with Dame Edna. Its a shame the program never got much advertising as most people have never even heard of the show nor watched it at the time, they were all too busy watching the news. However friends at the time that i got to watch the show loved it and it was always a good talking/conversation topic.

Please ABC shop don't let Australia down, release the series so we all can enjoy this excellent show which is a credit to Australian television and an icon like Dame Edna and vegemite.

Embarrassing, but with the odd laugh

[gut-6 · 25 September 2005]

News Free Zone was an attempted half-hour comedy show which ran each weekday at 6pm. Judging by the number of episodes reported by IMDb it ran for 10 weeks, which is a miracle considering how embarrassingly few laughs it delivered. Each episode consisted of a number of regular segments. There was Bond's fat guy character doing the introduction and finale on stage to the studio audience, selected clips from Bond's old "Aunty Jack Show", Bond's Kev Kavanagh character doing a segment on culture, a one-woman soap opera consisting of a monologue delivered by a switchboard operator, and a sitcom segment featuring six people each of whom represented an Australian state. Perhaps there was another segment or two that I missed, I'm not sure.

If none of the above sounds even potentially funny, you're sadly right. The program's failure was predictable from the start. Bond and 3 other writers (there was one more who didn't actually contribute any material) had to come up with a little over 2 hours of fresh comedy each week for ten weeks. Bond then had to act in a number of segments in a variety of costumes and makeup. However talented Bond and his co-writers may have been, this was beyond any normal human's capability. With a 6pm timeslot, he couldn't even do anything vaguely risqué. To top it all off it was filmed in front of a live studio audience, who maintained a deathly silence until the end of most segments, when they would clap politely to the APPLAUSE light. Quite why Bond agreed to such inevitable humiliation is beyond me. He hadn't done any television comedy before this program for some time, which may have been a factor in his decision. However the program ensured he wouldn't do any afterwards either.

Nevertheless the show had a couple of redeeming features, which is the reason I watched multiple episodes despite the embarrassment. The clips from the Aunty Jack Show were always original & surreal, often quite funny, and hitherto unseen by many younger people. It was the show that gave Gary McDonald (Norman Gunston) his big break. In addition Kev Kavanagh, the last living bodgie, was quite a funny character, and was the one saving grace of the new material. The one Kavanagh sketch that I remember had Kev "improving" a Van Gogh painting by sticking a bleeding amputated ear onto the canvas.

Always reminded of this show when anyone wants a description of Australian states.

[kudrakarma · 10/10 · 29 April 2024]

I was obsessed with this show in high school, and desperately wish someone had even one full episode on YouTube or the ABC would sell a collection (if they even exist anywhere!)... I created a petition at school to try and bring back the show after it was cancelled, though I can't remember if I even sent it off (or got any response...) My favourite segment was Australia Street, and I can still sortof sing the theme song even though I haven't heard it since 1985. It went something like this:

Australia, Australia... This is the street where all the states meet, Australia Street Cor Sunny Queensland loves his beer South Australia's gone quite queer And something's rotten in the state of New South Wales (typical, huh) Our new boy sailed from the West And Victoria still thinks she's best That's about Australia's story And the Northern Territory There's nothing like this wide brown land for me... This is the street where all the states meet, Australia Streeeeeet!

Oh! And Tasmania...!

Taaasmania, near Australia... This is the street where all the states meet, Australia Street.

Maybe one day some more footage or clips from the show other than they opening theme song will emerge online.

What a zone

[videorama-759-859391 · 10/10 · 4 December 2022]

You'll never come across something as unique as this show. Only it burnt bright for not long, but boy, well I ever remember it, and 1985 for it. Talented actor Bond, was sheer genius, here, of course with his standout character, Kev Kavanaugh. Filmed in Adelaide, featuring lovely hottie, Wendy Patching, who I did spot in the Unley shopping centre, once, and a cast of some others, some people I knew from my high school, were a guest audience on the show. I always remember all of the tunes, especially the awesome end song, sung by Bond, and company. NFZ will always be remembered, for it's uniqueness, and is why it's worth it's full score.

A Bit Of Fun While Dinner Was Being Cooked

[trademarkd · 15 October 2021]

I have to agree with nel_syd that the first two reviews are way off the mark. What needs to be remembered about this show is that it was shown at 6pm when every other television channel at the time ran the news (and still do today), the same time the nation ate dinner.

So with the above in mind, onto my review. I liked it, it was a funny show. I'd not say it was brilliant, but it fit the bill. Perfectly named for a program that poked fun at the culture of the time and a good way to fill the hole left when "Australia You're Standing In It" finished up the year earlier and did the same thing in that same timeslot. If memory serves me well, it was repeated for couple of years, along with "The Goodies". The slot pretty much belonged to "The Goodies" but even the programmers at the ABC knew that they couldn't show them all year round.

"Australia Street" was a really funny shot at the way that the states saw each other. The theme song for the segment was half the fun of it and the characters, although were nothing like the average person from each of the states, really did represent the view of them from outside of each state.

Everyone knew a person like Kev and '"Kev Kavanagh's Kulture" did well to parody that person.same. Dip" which made fun of "Star Search", Iemeber the title of tth telephiont exchange skit, "The Party Line" but can't remember the segment "World Championship Acting" at all.

When all is said and done, I think the show had merit to it enough it to be remember well enough that people have come to the entry for it on here.

Sad

[Lupercali · 6 March 2004]

Embarrassingly unfunny comedy series by Graeme Bond, composed mostly of short serial episodes. Aired at around 6 PM on weekdays during 1985. Tragic, because the desperately unfunny serials and bits are in such contrast to the luminescent brilliance of the best of Bond's early to mid 70's comedy series with Rory O'Donoghue, which at moments were utterly sublime.

The only reason I could possibly think of for finding a copy of any of these episodes if they still exist, is for the snippets of the early 70's 'Aunty Jack Show' which were usually shown, and which you probably won't find anywhere else.

After this, Bond apparently got into advertising. He is still a beloved icon in many ways, but certainly not for this show.