You know how comedy can sometimes be a little ‘try hard’? The humour can feel a bit forced and the jokes fall flat? You know how sometimes you wonder why they even bothered?
Yeah, well that’s not the case with “No Activity”, a 6×30 minute comedy from Australian streaming company, Stan. No Activity is its first dip in the ‘local content pool’.
Semi-improvised, the show follows two detectives (Patrick Brammall and Darren Gilshenan), who’re staking out a warehouse, where two crooks (Jake Johnson and Dan Wylie) are also waiting for something to happen. In the radio room, two police dispatchers (Genevieve Morris and Harriet Dyer) are while away the hours, occasionally checking in with the detectives.
It’s opening title sequence is very slick and very True Detective-esque with glitzy overhead shots of city freeways at night and comes complete with a killer theme song.
But it’s very apparent from the outset that this is no knock-off of an American procedural crime show. A concrete dolphin in the back seat and crooks trying to do a “Chopper” are pretty big hints that this will not be a dead serious cop show. But nor is it a ‘send-up’ of those shows. It doesn’t need that shtick to make it work.
Creators Jungleboys have been clever with the casting. The actors are clearly at ease with improvising their scenes in the limited confines of their sets: car, warehouse or radio dispatch room.
And it’s funny. Very funny. The humour is “real” and it’s very easy to imagine cops on a stake out having some of these conversations – they’ve got to entertain themselves somehow in the early hours of the morning.
In fact, it wouldn’t be surprising if writer/director Trent O’Donnell knows a few cops and picked up a few story ideas for the show.
Stan should be congratulated in going with No Activity. It’s funny and clever. It deserves as many seasons as the Jungleboys team and the cast can come up with.
It’s a big call, but No Activity alone is worth the $10 monthly subscription to Stan.
No Activity will be available to stream on Stan Australia from Thursday October 22nd.
Nikole Gunn has been a watcher of TV since the 70s. A writer of words since the 80s. A reader of the news since the 90s; mostly on Triple M, Nova and Gold.
Twitter – @NikoleGunn