Style
Fast Forward was noted for its fast paced satirical comedy which particularly lampooned the media, in particular film and TV, with its precise parodies of well known television shows (such as Kung Fu, Lost In Space, The Munsters, A Current Affair), personalities (such as Clive James, Jana Wendt, Hinch, Geoffrey Robertson) and commercials (such as Amex, Nescafe) .
It subjects were also Australian politics which it attacked through various political impersonations ( including John Howard, Paul Keating), and also using the political puppets, Rubbery Figures, previously seen in small segments on the ABC, and based was based on Peter Nicholsons political cartoons.
Another key distinguishing feature was the use of simulated channel surfing to switch from sketch to sketch, often in the middle of a sketch, sometimes after the punchline. Particularly a sketch would abruptly switch to a momentary segment of static, followed by another sketch, simulating the effect of the viewer repeatedly switching channels. The channel surfing device became a distinctive hallmark of the show that helped move quickly from sketch to sketch.
The television and multimedia subject matter of the sketches, pace, style and devices were real points of difference from predecessor sketch comedy shows of the time, particularly earlier shows such as The Mavis Bramston Show, The Naked Vicar Show, Australia You're Standing In It, The D-Generation, The Comedy Company : Fast Forward was more media-focused and parody-focused; a real difference, and the binding force for the whole show, was the now-famous channel changing device. The white noise and on-screen static that represented the channel change became the modern television equivalent of a curtain being drawn at an old-fashioned vaudeville show.
Fast Forward was also well known for its excellent musical parodies, particularly of current music video clips, many of which featured Gina Riley. Some of the better known music parodies included ABBA, Cher and Dannii Minogue.
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Famous quotes containing the word style:
“Where there is no style, there is in effect no point of view. There is, essentially, no anger, no conviction, no self. Style is opinion, hung washing, the calibre of a bullet, teething beads.... One’s style holds one, thankfully, at bay from the enemies of it but not from the stupid crucifixions by those who must willfully misunderstand it.”
—Alexander Theroux (b. 1940)
“I concluded that I was skilled, however poorly, at only one thing: marriage. And so I set about the business of selling myself and two children to some unsuspecting man who might think me a desirable second-hand mate, a man of good means and disposition willing to support another man’s children in some semblance of the style to which they were accustomed. My heart was not in the chase, but I was tired and there was no alternative. I could not afford freedom.”
—Barbara Howar (b. 1934)
“Style is the man himself.
[Le style c’est l’homme même.]”
—Leclerc, George-Louis Buffon, Comte De (1707–1788)