Now this is way too close to my reality!
Australian comedy is a strange thing, it can be so good when it’s good! While it can be so bad when it’s bad! *Shudders*. But Rob Sitch’s ‘Utopia’ is one of those good ones! So good, so good!
For those who haven’t seen Utopia before (first aired on the Australian Broadcasting Channel), and now streaming on Netflix- Utopia is a workplace comedy following a team of Bureaucrats working in a fictitious government department called ‘Nation Building Australia’ (NBA). The department is headed up by CEO Tony Woodford (Rob Sitch), while everyone else who surrounds him are pretty much incompetent. Haaha. Almost like a reversal on that other popular workplace comedy series…… ‘The Office’.
Over 8 episodes in season one, Utopia highlights and pokes fun of government bureaucracies, workplace fads, inter-office interactions, and aspects of late 2010 workplace scenarios which we definitely do not miss in this new age of WFH (Working From Home).
For me, I first started to watch Utopia after hearing my work colleagues constantly talk about it. Something would happen at work and then someone would say “that’s just like Utopia”. And after I realised that Netflix was streaming seasons 1-4 of Utopia on Netflix, I gave it a go- wanting to be a part of these ‘that’s just like Utopia’ conversations.
And OMG! Utopia is just like work! Or is work just like Utopia? As I too work in an Australian government department. And I have to say, everything which Rob Sitch depicts in Utopia- it really does happen! But obviously not to the same humorous extremes, if so there would be a light-rail system (which no one wanted), running down which was once Sydney’s most iconic and busy street, where construction costs were grossly over-budget and today no one uses…..
My wife asked me once while watching Utopia, “Doesn’t this stress you out just watching it?” But I shrug it off. Utopia is too funny to be stress inducing…… However, we have designated Sunday afternoons for our Utopia consumption, as methinks watching it at night time, too close to bed-time might cause some unwanted nightmares! Haaha.
But Utopia is too good not to watch, it’s the realistic acting- each character comes off as being 100% ‘that person’ from work. The workplace fads and daily office struggles they depict are so close to reality, but they make such light heart of it! From your first interaction with work and your security pass not working, to the various charity days which are celebrated- haven’t we all lived out an episode of Utopia before? And it’s the slick editing and production, from the music between scene transitions, to the edited out scenes played during the end credits- the entire 25-27 minute episodes pass way too quickly!
So if you haven’t already watched an episode of Utopia before, check it out! It’s so Australian! It’s so bureaucracy in action! You never know, it just might turn you off from ever applying for a government desk job! Haaha. To start watching, click HERE!
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