Utopia

What a beaut series. The grotesque day to day idiocy of office life set against the biggest stuff we dare to dream or connive. A wincing joy to watch. Thanks

I work in a very similar environment, and this show is a pitch perfect satire of my job. It makes me feel uncomfortable in the way a fantastic satire should. The writing is spot on, and the performances, especially from Rob Sitch, Kitty Flanagan, Celia Pacquola, and Dave Lawson bring it to life in such an incredible way. It truly realizes the absurdities of government life in a Westminster-style government in a way many shows don't grasp and truly demonstrates in its best moments the conflict between good policy and political realities without leaning on any one character too heavily to point out the absurdities.

That being said, I don't know how much all of it would resonate with someone outside of the climate of government. Some of the episodes are pretty universal - there's a season 2 episode with an HR rep that probably would resonate with most office environments, but I fear that some of the more clever moments may be lost on some viewers.

It is surprising that the Australian government allowed the Working Dog team to film in a department headquarters for so long and obtain such candid reactions from their staff. The small group of employees are responsible for developing nationally significant infrastructure (a.k.a. "nation-building"). Clearly, most government departments work the same way as this department reminded me so much of the one in which I used to work. Logical decisions are constantly over-ridden by politics. Long-term planning is defeated by short-term political imperatives. Media advisers outrank experts in the field. The main purpose of the department is smothered by peripheral workplace issues such as occupational health and safety, IT upgrades and social events. The second series is a great improvement on the first. Perhaps the employees were a little nervous in front of cameras for the first time but, in the second series, their true characters are much better defined. All these people would make excellent actors if they ever wanted to give up working for the public service. Kitty Flanagan would certainly make a great stand-up comedian. Some of the projects proposed are very exciting. I am looking forward to the unveiling of the solar-powered train. Also, now that Stage 2 has been "launched", I can't wait for Stage 3, hoping then to have some idea what it is! This is among the best pieces of writing that Australian television has produced.

This is yet another masterpiece from the team of Santo (Snatto), Gliesner and Sitch, the people who brought you the brilliant political satire "The Hollowmen".

Those who don't work within the Public Service of Australia will likely look at this and wonder what is going on, but for those of us on the "inside", the humour can be found.

The basic premise revolves around a Government office (Nat. Building Authority), with its incompetent low-grade staff, it's time-wasting managers, pushy marketing department, and the piles of red tape our "hero" (Sitch) has to wade through to get even the most simple things done.

Like 'Hollowmen', the humour here is very dry, and while there are still the sight gags and silliness we expected from a show like that, there's a lot of subtlety that will be lost on those not familiar with what it's like working in the APS.

To those who enjoyed 'Hollowmen', I would highly recommend this show. It's not quite as good as that show in my opinion, as the 'lead' characters aren't as fully developed (Tony, Nat and Hugh are marvellous though), and at times some of the characters irritate me to no end (Rhonda, oh how I hate you). Although thinking about it, that's probably the whole idea, because aside from the moronic PA, these people would not seem out of place at all in any government department.

The acting (c'mon, it's a small Aussie show, we're not expecting A-listers) for the most part is very good. Sitch, Pacquola, McGregor, Wilson and yes, even Kitty Flanagan do a wonderful job of portraying "Pubes". The small-part characters are also quite memorable, particularly the guy from the iSelect ads. Sadly, some like Lawson, Truslove and even Lehman, just seem to be phoning it in (Lawson's character Scott also feels entirely pointless).

Kudos to these guys for producing yet another Australian gem. The first episode is a little slow (and seemed like it needed an "Intro"), but by episode 2, everything was looking great. Except Rhonda...

Welcome to the Nation Building Authority, an Australian government organisation set up to plan and oversee major infrastructure projects. While the staff are capable and enthusiastic, in true government fashion, red tape, politics and inefficiency will always have the last laugh.

Great series, parodying the inefficiency of government departments. "Parody" might not be the right word - "mirroring" would be more accurate. Shows well how the best intentions of staff always take a back seat to political machinations, unnecessary red tape and the usual government inefficiency.

Quite funny in the way it explores these themes though sometimes so accurate it is more sad than funny.