For me, TV shows largely fall into one of four categories.
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The first category is shows I’m keen to watch and live up to expectations.
The second is shows I’m keen to watch but find out they suck.
Then there’s the shows that I expect will suck and, lo and behold, I was right.
The fourth category is the best – shows that I think I will hate but totally draw me in.
Allow me to tackle a side issue first – yes, I watch TV shows I reckon I won’t like. It’s how it works when you write a column each week reviewing TV shows.
You wouldn’t expect a movie reviewer to watch nothing but movies they already know they’ll like.
Well it’s the same deal with a TV reviewer – and the only reason you’ll ever catch me watching rubbish like the never-ending Bachelor and Bachelorette shows.
Don’t Stop the Music (ABC, Sundays, 7.40pm) falls into the fourth category.
I watched the first two episodes on Sunday night purely because I needed something to write about here.
Wasn’t expecting to enjoy it at all. But dammit, the show really got its hooks into me; so much so that I found myself getting a little teary at the end of the second episode.
But don’t tell anyone about that, okay?
The show follows a principal of primary school in an under-privileged area of Perth as she tries to get a real music program going.
The reason is because learning music activates multiple areas of the brain, which can then help improve students’ efforts in other subjects.
She does this by roping in former music teacher turned pop star Guy Sebastian and several experts in musical education to help train the school’s teacher and also get the kids themselves excited.
Sebastian is great with the kids and is an inspired choice for the show but it’s the kids who are the stars.
Whether it’s Sam skipping music class because he thinks he’ll get in trouble because his mum broke a string on her violin, Anastasia and her dream to be a singer, cool kid Levi wasting his musical talent or the persistence of Kylah in trying to get a sound out of the cornet, they’re the best things about this show.
Glen Humphries
I'm an award-winning senior journalist with the Illawarra Mercury and have well over two decades' worth of experience in newspapers. I cover the three local councils in the Illawarra for the Mercury, state and federal politics, as well as writing for the TV guide. If I'm not writing, I'm reading.
I'm an award-winning senior journalist with the Illawarra Mercury and have well over two decades' worth of experience in newspapers. I cover the three local councils in the Illawarra for the Mercury, state and federal politics, as well as writing for the TV guide. If I'm not writing, I'm reading.
