The Joy of Sets
The Joy of Sets is an Australian comedy television series looking at the elements used to construct television shows. The show was originally broadcast weekly by the Nine Network, premiering on 20 September 2011. The show was written and hosted by comedians Tony Martin and Ed Kavalee, and produced by Zapruder's Other Films, the production company owned by Andrew Denton. Martin and Kavalee previously worked together in 2006 and 2007 hosting the popular Australian radio program Get This. Outline The premise of The Joy of Sets was to have each episode focus on one element of television production. The first episode, for example, focused on opening credits of television shows, while the episode's title referred to the term used in the entertainment industry for credits, "selling the meat". The show was filmed in front of a studio audience at Technology Park, Alexandria, Sydney, however it did not screen live-to-air. Prior to its production, it was stated that the show would offer "a unique take on television – the good, the bad and the gloriously misguided". While this led to early comparisons with another popular Zapruder production, The Gruen Transfer, the release of The Joy of Sets revealed it to have a completely different structure and content. Each episode of the show employed various methods to explain the techniques used, including discussion and banter between hosts Martin and Kavalee, video clips from classic and contemporary free-to-air and pay TV programs, a celebrity guest related to the topic of that week's episode, re-enactments by the hosts and guests, and audience participation. Warwick Capper appeared as a guest in each episode, making an unexpected cameo appearance dressed only in gold hotpants during one or more of the re-enactments. A regular segment in each episode was a quiz called "Not on my network", where a member of the audience had to identify which of three unlikely options had actually been a real television program; this included a gift shop featuring a different attendant each episode, usually a former gift shop host from an old Australian television game show, and different tacky television memorabilia each program as possible prizes. Another regular part of the program was Martin announcing that the show would conclude with a special feature under the end credits, only to have Kavalee remind him that the show had no end credits, which would be met with an angry outburst by Martin or an invited guest just as the episode faded off air. Episodes The first episode aired nationally in Australia at 9:00 pm on Tuesday, 20 September 2011, and featured guests Warwick Capper and Peter Phelps. The first season was scheduled for eight episodes. The first four episodes remained in the 9:00 pm timeslot, however, from the fifth episode, the program was screened in the 10:30 pm Tuesday slot. Reception The Joy of Sets achieved good ratings for their debut episode on 20 September 2011, achieving an audience of over 1.1 million viewers. However the second episode which aired on 27 September