Thank God You're Here (Australian TV show)

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Thank God You're Here
Genre Improvisational comedy
Creator(s) Working Dog Productions
Starring Host
Shane Bourne
Judge
Tom Gleisner
Opening theme Come Anytime by Hoodoo Gurus
Country of origin Flag of Australia Australia
Language(s) English
No. of seasons 2
No. of episodes 20 (As of November 8, 2006) (List of episodes)
Production
Location Nunawading
Running time 60 minutes (Including commercials)
Broadcast
Original channel Channel Ten
Picture format 576i (SDTV)
Audio format Stereo
Original run April 5, 2006 –
Links
Official website
IMDb profile
TV.com summary
Common rating
Australia PG

Thank God You're Here is a partially improvised comedy television program created by Working Dog Productions, which premiered on Australian Network Ten on the 5 April 2006, and has currently aired for two seasons. The format has been sold for re-creation in Belgium, Denmark, Germany, Israel, Netherlands, Russia, Sweden and US markets, the US version began airing on April 9, 2007. Each episode involves celebrities walking through a door into an unknown situation, greeted by the line "Thank God you're here". They must then improvise their way through the scene. At the end of each episode a winner is announced. It was the most successful new show in Australia of 2006, attracting an average of 1.7 million viewers after the first few episodes.

The show is hosted by Shane Bourne, who in the past has worked on programs such as the Australian TV variety show Hey Hey It's Saturday, and is judged by Tom Gleisner, who in the past has hosted both The Late Show and The Panel.

A third season has been commissioned. Currently re-runs of the first season are screening on Network Ten.

Contents

[edit] Synopsis

During the show, the contestants take turns to "walk through the blue door" into the scene where they are greeted with "Thank God you're here! and they are meant to improvise through. Recently the door has been used less, with the writers finding other possible entrances to sets, to provide more inherently amusing situations. For example, climbing through the back of the stage through the door of a wrecked car sticking through the wall of a second-story flat. At least twice during each episode (to cover set-up and costuming for the live audience), footage is shown of the four participants in the same challenge filmed earlier in the week. These include a commentary booth where the contestants have to comment on an unfamiliar subject, an office where they are being interrogated (by police, customs officials, etc), or showing customers things for sale, such as cars, boats, houses, etc. Finally, when all the contestants have had a go, they are all sent into the same scene, called the "all-in group challenge". At the end of the show, the arbitrary winner is announced, along with honourable and dishonourable mentions. The player that doesn't get a dishonourable/honourable mention is usually the winner.

[edit] Ensemble cast

Though their parts are thoroughly scripted, the actors who interact with the guest stars in each scenario are drawn from an ensemble of experienced improvisational actors.

Improvisation experience is preferred so that the cast can react appropriately and immediately to the improvisations of the guest stars, though in most cases this improvisation is limited. This ensemble is also used in many of the assignments, fulfilling the roles of customers or members of the public with whom the guests must interact in a real-life setting.

The following are ensemble cast members who have regularly appeared on the show:

  • Heidi Arena
  • Daniel Cordeaux
  • Ed Kavalee
  • Nicola Parry
  • Andrew Bayly
  • Rebekah Foord
  • Simon Dowling

[edit] Episode guide

Main article: List of Thank God You're Here episodes
Season Ep # First Airdate Last Airdate
Season 1 10 April 5, 2006 June 7, 2006
Season 2 10 September 6, 2006 November 8, 2006


[edit] Production & broadcast schedule

The show is filmed at Global Television Studios in Nunawading, (a suburb in the outskirts of Melbourne) which are rented out by ATV-10.

The second series of the show ran from September 6 to November 8, 2006, at a 7:30pm AEST timeslot. The ratings for the second season place the show in the top three shows watched in Australia boosting the ratings of follow-up show House on the network and placing the show up with ratings juggernaut Border Security: Australia's Front Line which broadcasts on the Seven Network. Thank God You're Here received an average of two million viewers every week. [1]

For the last episode of 2006 (8 November), had received ratings of 1.85 million viewers nationally.[2]

The final episode of season one, in which the actor Angus Sampson won, had 2.13 million viewers nationally[3].

[edit] Music

The main theme of the program is Come Anytime, by the Sydney based rock band, Hoodoo Gurus. Another piece used throughout the interludes of the show is Don't You Know Who I Am, performed by Small Mercies.

[edit] DVD Release

So far, only the first season of Thank God You're Here has been released to DVD. The DVD has currently only been released in Australia. There are no plans to release the DVD in other countries.

DVD cover Season Episodes Discs DVD release date
Region 4
1 10 3 Australia: November 8, 2006
This release of the complete first season has a total running time of 487 minutes and contains all 51 scenarios. It includes a behind the scenes documentary, unscreened highlights, a vintage Frank Woodley performance from the pilot, plus a game based on the show you can play at home.

[edit] Trivia

  • Host Shane Bourne and Judge Tom Gleisner appeared on Rove Live on 11 April 2006, to promote the show after the first episode had screened. After an interview with Rove McManus, they participated in a game McManus called Where The Bloody Hell Have You Been, a play on words of the Austrailan tourism campaign, So Where The Bloody Hell Are You?. In this game they had to perform, without preparation, a situation involving a funeral, and the reading of an improvised eulogy, following exactly the same format as Thank God You're Here, which premiered the following night.

[edit] Distribution

Flag Country Name Host Channel Language Premiere Website Judge
Australia Thank God You're Here Shane Bourne Network Ten English 5 April 2006 Link Tom Gleisner
Denmark Gu' ske lov du kom TV3 Danish 30 September 2006 Link
Germany Gott sei Dank ... dass Sie hier sind! Knacki Deuser ProSieben German 30 November 2006 Link
Netherlands Gelukkig Je Bent Er RTL 4 Dutch September 2006 Link
Russia Slava Bogu, Ty Prishel Michael Schatz STS Russian 24 September 2006 Link
United States Thank God You're Here David Alan Grier NBC English April 9, 2007 Link Dave Foley

The format has been sold to FremantleMedia for worldwide distribution and has subsequently been sold for creation in Belgium, Denmark, Germany, Israel, Netherlands, Russia, Sweden and US markets[4].

  • The Dutch version, "Gelukkig Je Bent Er" broadcast its first episode on RTL 4 in late September 2006, followed by "Gu' ske lov du kom" on Danish TV3 a few days later.
  • The German version, "Gott sei Dank... dass Sie da sind!"[5], piloted in July 2006, premiered on November 30, 2006, in primetime on German channel ProSieben, produced by local Fremantle daughter Grundy LE, but managed only to attract a small audience. [6]
  • The Russian version of the show, "Slava Bogu, Ty Prishel" was first aired on STS channel on 24th September 2006.[4]
  • The Swedish version, "Tack gode Gud" was first aired on TV4 on 21st March 2007.[7]. It follows the same format as the Australian version and reguarly uses similar scenarios.

[edit] References

  1. ^ Australian Television Ratings
  2. ^ Seven Network, Seven Network Ratings Report for Wednesday, 8 November 2006, Seven Network, 2006-11-09, URL last accessed on 2006-11-18.
  3. ^ http://www.australiantelevision.net/thank_god/series1.html
  4. ^ a b http://news.ninemsn.com.au/article.aspx?id=178210
  5. ^ Official homepage of german version "Gott sei Dank ... dass Sie hier sind!"
  6. ^ „Knacki“ Deuser auf ProSieben: "Gott sei Dank ... dass Sie hier sind!" pro7sat1.com. Retrieved on October 15, 2006.
  7. ^ Official homepage of Swedish version 'Tack gode Gud'

[edit] External links

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