Style
Fast Forward was noted for its fast paced satirical comedy which particularly lampooned the media, in particular film and TV, with its precise parodies of well known television shows (such as Kung Fu, Lost In Space, The Munsters, A Current Affair), personalities (such as Clive James, Jana Wendt, Hinch, Geoffrey Robertson) and commercials (such as Amex, Nescafe) .
It subjects were also Australian politics which it attacked through various political impersonations ( including John Howard, Paul Keating), and also using the political puppets, Rubbery Figures, previously seen in small segments on the ABC, and based was based on Peter Nicholsons political cartoons.
Another key distinguishing feature was the use of simulated channel surfing to switch from sketch to sketch, often in the middle of a sketch, sometimes after the punchline. Particularly a sketch would abruptly switch to a momentary segment of static, followed by another sketch, simulating the effect of the viewer repeatedly switching channels. The channel surfing device became a distinctive hallmark of the show that helped move quickly from sketch to sketch.
The television and multimedia subject matter of the sketches, pace, style and devices were real points of difference from predecessor sketch comedy shows of the time, particularly earlier shows such as The Mavis Bramston Show, The Naked Vicar Show, Australia You're Standing In It, The D-Generation, The Comedy Company : Fast Forward was more media-focused and parody-focused; a real difference, and the binding force for the whole show, was the now-famous channel changing device. The white noise and on-screen static that represented the channel change became the modern television equivalent of a curtain being drawn at an old-fashioned vaudeville show.
Fast Forward was also well known for its excellent musical parodies, particularly of current music video clips, many of which featured Gina Riley. Some of the better known music parodies included ABBA, Cher and Dannii Minogue.
Read more about this topic: Fast Forward (TV series)
Famous quotes containing the word style:
“As the style of Faulkner grew out of his rage—out of the impotence of his rage—the style of Hemingway grew out of the depth and nuance of his disenchantment.”
—Wright Morris (b. 1910)
“I am so tired of taking to others
translating my life for the deaf, the blind,
the “I really want to know what your life is like without giving up any of my privileges
to live it” white women
the “I want to live my white life with Third World women’s style and keep my skin
class privileges” dykes”
—Lorraine Bethel, African American lesbian feminist poet. “What Chou Mean We, White Girl?” Lines 49-54 (1979)
“Compare the history of the novel to that of rock ‘n’ roll. Both started out a minority taste, became a mass taste, and then splintered into several subgenres. Both have been the typical cultural expressions of classes and epochs. Both started out aggressively fighting for their share of attention, novels attacking the drama, the tract, and the poem, rock attacking jazz and pop and rolling over classical music.”
—W. T. Lhamon, U.S. educator, critic. “Material Differences,” Deliberate Speed: The Origins of a Cultural Style in the American 1950s, Smithsonian (1990)