This series most definitely should end with a rather dramatic carver-ish storyline, says the boy in the corner who reads way too many episode synopses online and ruins his own fun in the process. WATCHING TV is passe - reading about it is faster and you get a series in a matter of minutes!

Perhaps Ms Jane Wilson and Mr John Kelly thought it best to avoid carver references as families sat down for their festive meals?

And now apparently Channel 9 are also trying to claim Outrageous Fortune as part of their local quota.

Series one has just started on Channel 9. Here's what the SMH had to say about ep 2 - screening tonight:

The Kiwis have famously done a few things better than us. A certain Test match and managing the US alliance come easily to mind. Some of Australia's finest actors and directors are New Zealanders. While I am not sure about that accent, their scenery is certainly up there with our best. Not entirely sold on the TV they export these days, though.

Here is a prime example, a comedy-drama built around the crooked West clan. Dad, who goes by the name Wolf, is in jail and mum, Cheryl, is determined the rest of the clan will go straight. Her four children are not entirely on song, though. The struggles the family face as they try to resist (or succumb) to the temptations of theft, burglary and other vicissitudes provide fodder for the plot.

This is episode two, and there are some genuinely funny moments - older daughter Pascale is a would-be model and chip-shop employee who cites one-time NZ checkout chick Rachel Hunter, who married singer Rod Stewart, as her icon (she wants a boyfriend who will be "Rod to my Rachel"). But the show is also laden with weak jokes and dialogue (tonight's worst line leans to Benny Hill, "she's got nipples like Jaffas").

The whole thing is lifted by a likeable performance by actress Robyn Malcolm as the family matriarch. But Sam Neill remains a superior cultural emissary for the Land of the Long White Cloud.

Miranda Harcout waded out into the ocean in the very last episode of season three while everyone else was having a party at Maxines - if my then adolescent mind is correct in its recall.
And agree - Maxine's hat not fitting through the door was a series highlight.
As for 2 People - it was a Neil Roberts-inspired move (Newsnight Version 2 might have been the intention I think). I wonder if you'd get Bic Runga singing a theme song for a TV2 newsmag now?

This EPG is pretty much the same one that launched on nzoom in 2001. It will be interesting to see how it evolves over the next year. EPGs seem to be notoriously difficult to get right online.