Show Steps Back In Time

OUTBACK HOUSE Sunday, 7.30pm: ABC TV

Pity The Children, Not Chooks

IF ever there was proof that we live in an Australian version of The Truman Show, it was the kerfuffle over the ABC television program Outback House. Or, how the tale of one rooster with a (temporary) gammy leg and a dead lamb caused more outrage than the sight, over on the Ten network's terminally banal Big Brother, of a man exposing his penis and rubbing it against the head of a young woman.

Farmers Are Pushed Beyond Limit

THIS week I heard grief at the end of the phone line. They're coming to take away Peter Spencer's sheep. Next week he will meet relatives to decide whether to walk off his farm, which is near Bredbo. Spencer is the latest victim of the drought, and also of the cruel green war against farmers that the State Government has been waging for the past decade.

Settlers' Life Unsettles Abc Viewers

Reality TV may have just become too real. Viewers who tuned in on Sunday to the first episode of the ABC's Outback House, in which 16 people are dropped into a re-creation of 1861 farming life, swamped the show's website and talkback radio with claims of animal cruelty.

The History Mystery

As Outback House and Monarchy show, we're fascinated by the past. But are we driven by a thirst for knowledge or a hunger for escapism? By Brian Courtis.