The Glass House (TV series)
Encyclopedia
The Glass House was a half-hour Australia
n comedy
talk show
which screened on the ABC
from 2001 to 2006.
It was hosted by stand-up
comedian Wil Anderson
, and co-hosted by fellow television and radio comedians Corinne Grant
and Dave Hughes
. Two additional guests joined the regular cast each week, including musicians, politician
s, actor
s, radio
personalities and other celebrities
of varying calibre, such as Young Australian of the Year
winners and Olympic
athletes. Regular guests included comedians Adam Spencer
and Akmal Saleh
, netballer Liz Ellis
, Play School
host Rhys Muldoon
, musician Pinky Beecroft
, and music critic Molly Meldrum
. The show thrived on taking regular shots at, among others, Shannon Noll
, Amanda Vanstone
, Naomi Robson
, Shane Warne
and Peter Costello
. The format of the programme is similar to that of the BBC
series, Have I Got News for You
.
The show was pre-recorded in front of a live audience
in the ABC's Sydney
studio on Tuesday evenings. During the Melbourne International Comedy Festival
, the show was taped inside the Melbourne Town Hall
. The program initially screened on Friday nights, but suffered from an inconsistent timeslot, resulting in humorous TV spots, for example 9:30 Friday...probably. In 2005, The Glass House shifted to a more reliable timeslot on Wednesday at 9:35pm.
The show was recognised by the AFI Awards
in 2005, winning Best Light Entertainment in the Television category, and beating long-time rival and ABC stablemate Enough Rope
. Also in 2005, The Glass House was voted Most Under Acknowledged TV Show in one of the categories for the satirical TV Fugly Awards.
The main part of the show began with Anderson seated on steps at the front of the stage, who begins with "Welcome to the Glass House, the program that asks the question...", the question concerning an event from the past week. Anderson will then joke about one to four unusual stories and introduce Corinne Grant, who enters from the camera left. Grant starts off with a pun on Anderson's name and performs a similar, but shorter monologue
. Anderson then introduced Dave Hughes
who enters from the camera right, and usually begins with "This week I'm..." and followed by an emotion, usually 'angry', ad-libbing his concerns. The two guests are announced and greeted by Anderson while the panel assembles at the boomerang-shaped table.
Regular segments included:
Other segments:
Closing segments:
The show ends with two segments performed by Anderson:
announced the program was cancelled and the final episode of the series would go to air on 29 November 2006 as a one hour special. Anderson mentioned on the show that they may look at Network Ten
as a possible home for the show in the future.
The ABC decision generated public interest, with suggestions the decision may have been politically motivated. Dave Hughes
stated that "We have had our best ratings ever,".
The cancellation occurred in the same year as the ABC's decision not to publish the biography of Alan Jones
and followed relevations the ABC had begun a new investigation into bias in its programs. The decision occurred one day after NSW senator Connie Fierravanti-Wells told ABC executives under their questioning that co-host Corinne Grant had been guilty of a serious conflict of interest because she was the public face of the ACTU's workplace relations campaign.
Numerous online groups and petitions were created in an attempt to keep the show on air. Although the move came in the middle of Federal Government
attempts to force changes in the management and policies of the ABC to remove perceived bias, then Prime Minister
John Howard
said he did not ask the ABC Board to axe the show.
The final episode was ranked the week's 10th most watched show nationally with 1.15 million viewers, which also provided the highest ever ratings for The Glass House.
Australia
Australia , officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a country in the Southern Hemisphere comprising the mainland of the Australian continent, the island of Tasmania, and numerous smaller islands in the Indian and Pacific Oceans. It is the world's sixth-largest country by total area...
n comedy
Comedy
Comedy , as a popular meaning, is any humorous discourse or work generally intended to amuse by creating laughter, especially in television, film, and stand-up comedy. This must be carefully distinguished from its academic definition, namely the comic theatre, whose Western origins are found in...
talk show
Talk show
A talk show or chat show is a television program or radio program where one person discuss various topics put forth by a talk show host....
which screened on the ABC
Australian Broadcasting Corporation
The Australian Broadcasting Corporation, commonly referred to as "the ABC" , is Australia's national public broadcaster...
from 2001 to 2006.
It was hosted by stand-up
Stand-up comedy
Stand-up comedy is a comedic art form. Usually, a comedian performs in front of a live audience, speaking directly to them. Their performances are sometimes filmed for later release via DVD, the internet, and television...
comedian Wil Anderson
Wil Anderson
William James "Wil" Anderson is an Australian comedian, writer, performing stand-up, and television and radio presenter and personality.- Early life :...
, and co-hosted by fellow television and radio comedians Corinne Grant
Corinne Grant
Corinne Grant is an Australian comedian and television presenter.-Career:After briefly studying as a nurse in Wodonga, she embarked upon a career as an actor in Melbourne, obtaining a degree in drama. After graduating, Grant started doing stand-up comedy to overcome her stage-fright. Her first...
and Dave Hughes
Dave Hughes
David William "Hughesy" Hughes is an Australian stand-up comedian, radio and television presenter. He is currently co-host on the Network Ten's The Project and Before the Game as well as the breakfast radio show Hughesy and Kate.-Television:Hughes co-hosted the ABC comedy talk show The Glass House...
. Two additional guests joined the regular cast each week, including musicians, politician
Politician
A politician, political leader, or political figure is an individual who is involved in influencing public policy and decision making...
s, actor
Actor
An actor is a person who acts in a dramatic production and who works in film, television, theatre, or radio in that capacity...
s, radio
Radio
Radio is the transmission of signals through free space by modulation of electromagnetic waves with frequencies below those of visible light. Electromagnetic radiation travels by means of oscillating electromagnetic fields that pass through the air and the vacuum of space...
personalities and other celebrities
Celebrity
A celebrity, also referred to as a celeb in popular culture, is a person who has a prominent profile and commands a great degree of public fascination and influence in day-to-day media...
of varying calibre, such as Young Australian of the Year
Australian of the Year
Since 1960 the Australian of the Year Award has been part of the celebrations surrounding Australia Day , during which time the award has grown steadily in significance to become Australia’s pre-eminent award. The Australian of the Year announcement has become a very prominent part of the annual...
winners and Olympic
Olympic Games
The Olympic Games is a major international event featuring summer and winter sports, in which thousands of athletes participate in a variety of competitions. The Olympic Games have come to be regarded as the world’s foremost sports competition where more than 200 nations participate...
athletes. Regular guests included comedians Adam Spencer
Adam Spencer
Adam Barrington Spencer is an Australian radio presenter, comedian, and media personality. He first came to fame when he won his round of the comedic talent search Raw Comedy in the mid-1990s...
and Akmal Saleh
Akmal Saleh
Akmal Saleh is an Australian comedian and actor. He was born in Egypt and arrived in Sydney, Australia with his family in 1975 at the age of 11. He has been performing stand-up comedy since the early 1990s and his live shows have toured comedy festivals both within Australia and internationally...
, netballer Liz Ellis
Liz Ellis
Elizabeth "Liz" Ellis AM is a retired Australian netball player, a member of the national team from 1992 until 2007 and captain for the last four of those years. She is the most capped international player for Australian netball....
, Play School
Play School (Australian TV series)
Play School is an Australian educational television show for children produced by the Australian Broadcasting Corporation. It is the longest-running children's show in Australia, and the second longest running childrens show in the world. An estimated 80% of pre-school children under six watch the...
host Rhys Muldoon
Rhys Muldoon
Rhys Muldoon is an Australian actor, writer and director who has worked extensively in film, television, theatre and radio.-Television:...
, musician Pinky Beecroft
Pinky Beecroft
Pinky Beecroft is an Australian singer/songwriter/performer.He was the lead singer and song-writer of Australian band Machine Gun Fellatio. He quit the band in 2005, at which point the group split up. He is the lead singer of Pinky Beecroft & The White Russians...
, and music critic Molly Meldrum
Ian Meldrum
Ian Alexander "Molly" Meldrum AM is an Australian popular music critic, journalist, record producer , and musical entrepreneur...
. The show thrived on taking regular shots at, among others, Shannon Noll
Shannon Noll
Shannon Noll first came to prominence as runner-up of the first series of Australian Idol which led to him being signed to Sony BMG. Since then he has released five Top 10 albums and ten Top 10 singles. His first two albums That's What I'm Talking About in 2004 and Lift in 2005 debuted at No...
, Amanda Vanstone
Amanda Vanstone
Amanda Eloise Vanstone is a former Australian politician and a former Ambassador to Italy. She was a Liberal Senator for South Australia from 1984 to 2007, and held several ministerial portfolios in the Howard Government. After her resignation from the Senate in 2007, she served as the Australian...
, Naomi Robson
Naomi Robson
Naomi Robson is an Australian television presenter who is best known as the former presenter of the east coast edition of Today Tonight, an Australian current affairs program which is broadcast on weeknights on the Seven Network, from 1997 to 2006...
, Shane Warne
Shane Warne
Shane Keith Warne is a former Australian international cricketer widely regarded as one of the greatest bowlers in the history of the game. In 2000, he was selected by a panel of cricket experts as one of the five Wisden Cricketers of the Century, the only specialist bowler selected in the quintet...
and Peter Costello
Peter Costello
Peter Howard Costello AC is an Australian politician and lawyer who served as the Treasurer in the Australian government from 1996 to 2007. He is the longest-serving Treasurer in Australian history. Costello was a Member of the Australian House of Representatives from 1990 to 2009, representing...
. The format of the programme is similar to that of the BBC
BBC
The British Broadcasting Corporation is a British public service broadcaster. Its headquarters is at Broadcasting House in the City of Westminster, London. It is the largest broadcaster in the world, with about 23,000 staff...
series, Have I Got News for You
Have I Got News for You
Have I Got News for You is a British television panel show produced by Hat Trick Productions for the BBC. It is based loosely on the BBC Radio 4 show The News Quiz, and has been broadcast since 1990, currently the BBC's longest-ever running television panel show...
.
The show was pre-recorded in front of a live audience
Audience
An audience is a group of people who participate in a show or encounter a work of art, literature , theatre, music or academics in any medium...
in the ABC's Sydney
Sydney
Sydney is the most populous city in Australia and the state capital of New South Wales. Sydney is located on Australia's south-east coast of the Tasman Sea. As of June 2010, the greater metropolitan area had an approximate population of 4.6 million people...
studio on Tuesday evenings. During the Melbourne International Comedy Festival
Melbourne International Comedy Festival
The Melbourne International Comedy Festival is the third-largest international comedy festival in the world and the largest cultural event in Australia. Established in 1987, it takes place annually in Melbourne over four weeks in April typically opening on or around April Fool's Day...
, the show was taped inside the Melbourne Town Hall
Melbourne Town Hall
Melbourne Town Hall is the central municipal building of the City of Melbourne, Australia, in the State of Victoria. It is located on the northeast corner of Swanston and Collins Streets, in the central business district. It is the seat of the Local Government Area of the City of Melbourne...
. The program initially screened on Friday nights, but suffered from an inconsistent timeslot, resulting in humorous TV spots, for example 9:30 Friday...probably. In 2005, The Glass House shifted to a more reliable timeslot on Wednesday at 9:35pm.
The show was recognised by the AFI Awards
Australian Film Institute Awards
The Australian Academy of Cinema and Television Arts Award, known as the AACTA Award , is an accolade presented annually by the Australian Academy of Cinema and Television Arts . The awards recognize excellence of professionals in the film industry and television industry, including directors,...
in 2005, winning Best Light Entertainment in the Television category, and beating long-time rival and ABC stablemate Enough Rope
Enough Rope
Enough Rope with Andrew Denton is a television interview show originally broadcast on ABC Television in Australia...
. Also in 2005, The Glass House was voted Most Under Acknowledged TV Show in one of the categories for the satirical TV Fugly Awards.
Segments
The show opened with "Ahead in The Glass House...", where an (unseen) upcoming segment is announced followed by a few seconds of out-of-context news footage, usually taken from an interview of an Australian political figure.The main part of the show began with Anderson seated on steps at the front of the stage, who begins with "Welcome to the Glass House, the program that asks the question...", the question concerning an event from the past week. Anderson will then joke about one to four unusual stories and introduce Corinne Grant, who enters from the camera left. Grant starts off with a pun on Anderson's name and performs a similar, but shorter monologue
Monologue
In theatre, a monologue is a speech presented by a single character, most often to express their thoughts aloud, though sometimes also to directly address another character or the audience. Monologues are common across the range of dramatic media...
. Anderson then introduced Dave Hughes
Dave Hughes
David William "Hughesy" Hughes is an Australian stand-up comedian, radio and television presenter. He is currently co-host on the Network Ten's The Project and Before the Game as well as the breakfast radio show Hughesy and Kate.-Television:Hughes co-hosted the ABC comedy talk show The Glass House...
who enters from the camera right, and usually begins with "This week I'm..." and followed by an emotion, usually 'angry', ad-libbing his concerns. The two guests are announced and greeted by Anderson while the panel assembles at the boomerang-shaped table.
Regular segments included:
- Movers and Shakers, concerning stories about unusual trendsetters or pioneers. Anderson will read from teleprompter a short monologue concerning each story, then throw it open to one of the guests, Hughes or Grant for discussion. There are usually three of these, taking up about half the show.
- Later in The Glass House, a short sequence filmed in the same style as the opening, with the voice-over beginning with "Later in The Glass House".
- Second Rate Media Watch. A play on the ABC's serious Media Watch program. This segment is similar in structure to Movers and Shakers. However, the story discussed is one that has appeared on a television, radio or internet medium, instead of Movers and Shakers newspaper articles.
- Question on the Glass House. Shows footage of Hughes in the theatre lobby before the show, getting vox popsVox populiVox populi , a Latin phrase that literally means voice of the people, is a term often used in broadcasting for interviews with members of the "general public".-Vox pop, the man on the street:...
from the studio audience before the show, normally using a simple one line question. Some participants answer seriously, others not so seriously, and others try to hide.
- Interview with Hughesy. A continuation of Questions on the Glass House, in this segment Anderson introduces a single story related to the questions previously asked, after which Hughes is asked to help by roleplaying a significant newsmaker from the story. Donning an often ridiculous hat or costume prop, Hughes then has to answer questions from the other panelists.
Other segments:
- Rogues' Gallery. Here, the panelists examine and make fun of interesting or funny photos from the week's media.
- Contact with the Great Unwashed. Anderson takes a microphone into the audience to ask them to suggest a recent event for the panel to discuss.
Closing segments:
The show ends with two segments performed by Anderson:
- The Trophy. Anderson announces the end of the show with the line "Yes, it's time to award the coveted Glass House trophy, which this week is called..." followed with a short animation of a humorous plaqueCommemorative plaqueA commemorative plaque, or simply plaque, is a plate of metal, ceramic, stone, wood, or other material, typically attached to a wall, stone, or other vertical surface, and bearing text in memory of an important figure or event...
(often alliterativeAlliterationIn language, alliteration refers to the repetition of a particular sound in the first syllables of Three or more words or phrases. Alliteration has historically developed largely through poetry, in which it more narrowly refers to the repetition of a consonant in any syllables that, according to...
or a tongue twister). The winner is the person or thing responsible for the news item. The trophy is golden figure holding an umbrella, to protect him from shattering glass. The trophy was originally known as "The Golden Shier", a pun on Jonathon Shier, then responsible for running the ABC, giving an alternate purpose for the trophy's umbrella. The umbrella has been broken off at least twice during a show recording, although only the first occasion made it to air.
- Tomorrow's Headlines. A newspaper headline for the week is shown (and read), followed by a humorous sub-heading.
Cancellation
On 31 October 2006, the ABCAustralian Broadcasting Corporation
The Australian Broadcasting Corporation, commonly referred to as "the ABC" , is Australia's national public broadcaster...
announced the program was cancelled and the final episode of the series would go to air on 29 November 2006 as a one hour special. Anderson mentioned on the show that they may look at Network Ten
Network Ten
Network Ten , is one of Australia's three major commercial television networks. Owned-and-operated stations can be found in Sydney, Melbourne, Brisbane, Adelaide and Perth, while affiliates extend the network to cover most of the country...
as a possible home for the show in the future.
The ABC decision generated public interest, with suggestions the decision may have been politically motivated. Dave Hughes
Dave Hughes
David William "Hughesy" Hughes is an Australian stand-up comedian, radio and television presenter. He is currently co-host on the Network Ten's The Project and Before the Game as well as the breakfast radio show Hughesy and Kate.-Television:Hughes co-hosted the ABC comedy talk show The Glass House...
stated that "We have had our best ratings ever,".
The cancellation occurred in the same year as the ABC's decision not to publish the biography of Alan Jones
Alan Jones (radio broadcaster)
Alan Belford Jones AO is an Australian radio broadcaster, former rugby union and rugby league coach and administrator.Jones hosts Sydney's most popular breakfast radio program, on radio station 2GB...
and followed relevations the ABC had begun a new investigation into bias in its programs. The decision occurred one day after NSW senator Connie Fierravanti-Wells told ABC executives under their questioning that co-host Corinne Grant had been guilty of a serious conflict of interest because she was the public face of the ACTU's workplace relations campaign.
Numerous online groups and petitions were created in an attempt to keep the show on air. Although the move came in the middle of Federal Government
Government of Australia
The Commonwealth of Australia is a federal constitutional monarchy under a parliamentary democracy. The Commonwealth of Australia was formed in 1901 as a result of an agreement among six self-governing British colonies, which became the six states...
attempts to force changes in the management and policies of the ABC to remove perceived bias, then Prime Minister
Prime Minister of Australia
The Prime Minister of the Commonwealth of Australia is the highest minister of the Crown, leader of the Cabinet and Head of Her Majesty's Australian Government, holding office on commission from the Governor-General of Australia. The office of Prime Minister is, in practice, the most powerful...
John Howard
John Howard
John Winston Howard AC, SSI, was the 25th Prime Minister of Australia, from 11 March 1996 to 3 December 2007. He was the second-longest serving Australian Prime Minister after Sir Robert Menzies....
said he did not ask the ABC Board to axe the show.
The final episode was ranked the week's 10th most watched show nationally with 1.15 million viewers, which also provided the highest ever ratings for The Glass House.