This Aussie PI genre show has all the hallmarks of being a Home and Away spin off. And the cast is so dazzlingly white I was tempted to reach for my sunglasses 15 minutes in. Don't get me wrong. These are good, professional actors. The familiar, generic types you get on Aussie made TV shows. And the technical production values are good. In fact they prop up the whole thing. The big problem is the makers of Tricky Business know we love icecream and position the show to be our new fat reduced treat. You want icecream? the show screams at us. We got low fat VANILLA for you here, and with all the sugar brain-dead TV consumers are used to! Tricky Business is so self consciously vanilla, I bet they'll introduce the token ethnic/ coloured character before the end of the second episode. Any takers? I could tell you about the script and story so far, but I'd be repeating years of white TV character culture, and plot lines you already know. Some reading this may feel my tone and criticism is a bit harsh. You're right. It's how I respond to cynical efforts like Tricky Business. A show whose air of sophistication meekly cloaks a product choc full of preservatives, artificial colouring and flavouring. A product a halfwit wouldn't choose from the supermarket shelf, but something to be mindlessly consumed because it's served over the airwaves. First and last episode of this show for me.
For those to whom sitting in front of the TV isn't a never ending fast food moment, and you'd like to see how this TV genre does work Aussie style, go to your local video shop and rent the Good Guys, Bad Guys series from the late '90's. Marcus Graham, Alison Whyte and Travis McMahon reveal how characters and the genre is done with class, wit and humour. A genuine treat that wont rot your teeth.
