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The proliferation of lifestyle shows has spawned an imitator of sorts- just don’t ask the hosts for tips

It looks and sounds just like an average TV lifestyle show. It comes in half-hour doses, dispenses a range of do-it-yourself tips and even the hosts seem strangely familiar. But SBS’s new series, Life Support, is not quite what it seems. The show is instead a satirical look at the genre through four oddball characters. There’s do-it-yourslef carpentry and cooking expert Todd, patronising and egotistical health spokesman Dr Rudi, street-wise hippie Penne and a conservative, doily-lover named Sigourney.

Writer and director David McDonald says he and business partner John Eastway chose these four characters and their roles carefully to express the full range of absurdity involved in lifestyle shows.

McDonald comes from a healthy comedy background, having worked with Andrew Denton and Libbi Gorr (Elle McFeast) and watched countless episodes of Mother and Son, whch starred his father Garry.

But he admits Australian comedy shows are often difficult to produce and maintain. "The thing in Australia is that we don’t give things time and we don’t seem to have the money to give things time.," he says.

"If you look at Mother and Son, and even Seachange, it took a second run for them to really pick up. You’re very lucky if you nail it first time and the way it is in Australia is sudden death. Ordinary drama is totally acceptable but ordinary comedy is not."

With Life Support, McDonald says a decision was made not to parody commercial TV’s lifestyle shows and their presenters. "We’d rather have our own characters. That was probably the best decision for us because we could develop them a bit and enjoy them a bit more."

The tips these characters advocate certainly show how far they have developed from their more serious counterparts. Todd tells viewers to rip the pages out of large books and store videos inside their covers. Sigourney, meanwhile, covers "unsightly" objects with the pink fabric and lace confections that generally cover toilet rolls. Getting the wrap include the tyres in front of Kombi vans and one girl’s conjoined twin.

McDonald says he chose to satirise lifestyle shows because it is different from the usual news or current affairs spoof and the shows are "a nice target".

"Every commercial station has one and for the bulk of middle class Australia that’s what they are watching so we’re taking aim at them as well."

McDonald says Life Support won’t be "ball-tearingly high rating" straight off, but he hopes the show would grow in popularity.

Jennifer Dudley, Daily Telegraph, 23/8/01

SBS’s new satire on Lifestyle TV programs, Life Support, has found itself in a bit of bother. Or rather, the radio promos for the series produced for the multicultural broadcaster by McDonald Eastway Productions have.

SBS bought spots on 2Day-FM in Sydney and its sister stations in Melbourne, Brisbanne, Adelaide and Perth. In one, the show’s resident doctor, Dr Rudi (Simon Van der Stap) gives some weight loss tips. "Eat less" he says. "That’s right, eat less. It worked in Changi. It will work for you"

In another, Todd the handyman (Brendan Cowell) says "If you’d like to see how you could turn your chicken coop into a handy refugee camp, tune into Life Support, 9pm Mondays, on SBS"

"We wanted to accurately capture the flavour of the shows so the scripts [for the promos] were strong," says an SBS spokesman. "However, these stations are listened to by a young, hopefully broadminded demographic so we thought it would be OK"

Wrong. In Adelaide, SAFM pulled the promos because of complaints from its audience. "As far as I know, none of the other stations received complaints," the spokesman says.

Daily Telegraph, 6/9/01