MovieChat Forums > The Wedge (2006) Discussion > Too embarrassing to mention

Too embarrassing to mention

posted 17 years ago by canute82
16 replies | jump to latest

The writing's definitely on the wall when one of the cast members of "The Wedge" appears on "Thank God You're Here" and the only TV show that she currently has on air isn't even mentioned. I'm referring to Cal Wilson. Who could blame her, or Ten, for wanting it swept under the carpet. Her performances on TGYH amply prove that she's much too talented to ever have been wasted on something as puerile as "The Wedge". For my money, she's unique in that respect among Wedge cast members who have appeared on TGYH (although, in fairness to Rebel Wilson, I missed her second appearance, which from all reports appears to have been much better than her first). Cal Wilson actually deserves to be there on merit, and not just because of a connection to a Ten product that needs flogging. Evans and Jenkinson, on the other hand, we can only hope we've seen the last of.

[–] Professor_Dumbledore 17 years ago

A few thing we may need to adress here:

1) Cal WIlson had mentioned that she was on The Wedge on a TGYH episode.

2) Kate's second appearance didn't give her uch to work with. Her first appearance was very good. As dslah can say, 'it was much better last time'.

3)You can watch Rebel's second appearance on the official TGYH website.

[–] canute82 17 years ago

I never suggested that her being in The Wedge had NEVER been mentioned. I was only referring to her most recent performance. Of course it was mentioned when Ten was still trying to promote the show, which is the reason Wedge cast members were scheduled to appear on the show in the first place. My point was that the lack of reference to it more recently simply reaffirms what the change of timeslot suggests: that Ten has given up on trying to build an audience for the show and would prefer to just pretend it doesn't exist.

Jenkinson was given every bit as as much to "work with" as any of the other performers are. The difference is, she just isn't very funny. I agree with you and DSLAH that her first appearance was better than her second. However I also agree with DSLAH that her second appearance was terrible. By that definition her first appearance was just a bit less terrible. As I've said before, her first scene was saved by the ensemble guy, and it was he that did the quick witted ad libbing that got the big laughs, not her. Her second appearance on the show was, in my opinion, one of the lamest they've ever had on the show.

I will check out Rebel Wilson's scene when I get a chance. I thought her first appearance was fairly weak, but I'll give her the benefit of the doubt.

[–] tiprun 17 years ago

Rebel's second appearance was great - right up there with Hamish Blake's best. Let's look at the facts here. Rebel, Kate and Cal have all been great on TGYH this year, which proves they are individually talented. Dailan Evans had a difficult topic when he did TGYH last year, but you only have to check out his work on ABCTV's Eagle and Evans (Youtube's got it) and you'll see how talented he is. Then you've got Adam Zwar and Jason Gann's work on Wilfred - one of the best and most cutting edge Australian comedies we've ever seen on Australian television. Now all these people, proven talents in their own right, are on The Wedge. So why wasn't The Wedge any good? Well, it beats me. I'm not a television professional, but all I can summise is that something has gone wrong with the production process. In other words, the people in charge have championed ordinary scripts over good ones (and I'm sure there were good ones) and then edited those sketches in a really obvious way. For instance, I watch The Wedge and I'malways thinking, "end the sketch there, then, it'll be funny." But no, on it goes for another three or four seconds to fit in a laugh track, sometimes with applause. The Wedge = Missed Opportunity.

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[–] Professor_Dumbledore 17 years ago

Dslah. Do you hate Rebel or something? Her second appearance was by far one of the best performances ever on TGYH. She did not play a fat, bogan, idiot on her performace. Did you even see her second appearance?

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[–] Professor_Dumbledore 17 years ago

Go to the official TGYH website and you'll see why everybody is praising her seond performance.

[–] 17 years ago

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[–] tiprun 17 years ago

Good to see a bit of debate back on this forum. Dslah, I think Cal's very good. But I think Rebel and Kate will have international careers. As for summary of Wilfred - I know a lot of people who'd disagree with you. The show's DVD sales have gone though the roof.

[–] 17 years ago

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[–] tiprun 17 years ago

I don't know. Madman put out a release saying they were selling more than a thousand a week. The point was made that the DVD sales were quite remarkable considering that the show only rated around 200,000 a week or less. Dslah, how many eps of the show did you see? I ask that because I think if you'd seen the whole series you wouldn't take such a hard-line approach.

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[–] canute82 17 years ago

Hey Tiprun. You agree that Cal Wilson's "very good", but think that "Rebel and Kate will have international careers"(!!!???). Does that suggest you think they are BETTER than Cal Wilson? If so, I can not for the life of me understand how you could come to that conclusion. And on what do you base the "international careers" prediction? I guess it could be argued that Rebel Wilson's career is already "international", if you count the bit part in Ghost Rider, but Jenkinson? Judging by the awkward moment of mutual embarrassment which ensued after Shane Bourne asked her on TGYH what she'd been doing lately and she clearly couldn't think of anything to say (much like in her scene), eventually mumbling something vague about "um... just... some...um... acting projects", her career isn't exactly on fire even in THIS country, let alone on an international scale. Or do you know something we don't? You frequently do.

[–] Professor_Dumbledore 17 years ago

Canute, Kate clearly knew what to say in her scene and even if was ONE other acting project she DID mention, I wouldn't think it was an embarrassment. Kate has plenty of talent in her.

[–] tiprun 17 years ago

No, just a personal opinion Canute. BTW, I wouldn't place too much emphasis on Kate's interview with Shane Bourne. When it comes to ineloquent interviews, DeNiro is possibly the most ineloquent ever (apart from maybe Brando) and it doesn't seem to hurt his acting.

[–] canute82 17 years ago

You're right about that, of course, Tiprun. Ever seen Harrison Ford interviewed? The guy can't string two interesting words together. Possibly you misinterpreted me. I wasn't drawing any link between a lack of eloquence in an interview situation and a lack of acting ability or career potential. Anyway, For all I know, Jenkinson could be a perfectly fine actor in the right context (for that matter, she could be a delightfully eloquent interviewee, when she isn't being shamefully put on the spot the way she was by Shane Bourne). I just don't happen to think that either comedy nor improvisation are her forte, and that is all I've seen her do.

All I was saying was that her response to Bourne's question clearly indicated that she had nothing going on at the moment, professionally speaking. Protracted periods of unemployment are not particularly unusual for jobbing actors in Australia, and wouldn't ordinarily be anything to be ashamed about. But most jobbing actors aren't put in the humiliating position of having to admit it in front of two million people. That was a huge stuff-up on the part of Bourne and Working Dog. Bourne should have been briefed before the show that she didn't have current work to discuss. Or Jenkinson should have been briefed that Bourne was going to ask the question, so she could at least have prepared a face saving response. It was very clear that that hadn't happened, and that she was caught completely off guard by the question. She actually dealt with it pretty well in the circumstances. It was Bourne who was the clumsy, dense idiot in the situation. It was perfectly clear from her initial response "just.. some.. acting projects" that she had nothing worth talking about, felt uncomfortable and wanted him to just change the subject. But he failed to get the hint and just kept right on going: "really? Tell us all about them. Are they a big deal?", to which she could do nothing but answer honestly "no". She could hardly say "Ok, Shane. I've done nothing in the last twelve months apart from one small guest role in one episode of a soap. Is that what you want to hear?".