Fans of office comedies centered around bureaucratic themes, like Utopia and The Hollowmen, will find a welcoming experience in Ground Up. This series, well-structured and easy to digest, thrives on familiar elements of the genre: pointless meetings, complex approval procedures, excessive red tape, and continuous shifting of responsibility. Similar to The Games, which focuses on the Sydney Olympics, Gary McCaffrie’s creation revolves around managing a significant sports initiative: establishing an AFL team in Tasmania.
As dictated by the AFL licensing agreement, a new stadium is also in the works, sparking controversy for various reasons, particularly its hefty price tag. This premise is quite timely; each episode opens with a note stating, “the following events never took place” yet many viewers will recognize the underlying real-life context. After extensive discussions and debates, the Tasmanian parliament approved a substantial $1.13 billion Hobart stadium late last year, paving the way for Tasmania’s team, the Devils, to join the AFL and AFLW.
In Ground Up, Sam Pang stars as Hugh Shen, an AFL administrator who relocates from Melbourne to manage the establishment of this new club along with all its components, such as uniforms, sponsorships, and stakeholder meetings. Naturally, challenges abound. The opening scene reveals Hugh’s dissatisfaction with the preliminary version of a team song themed around Hobart, setting the stage for further complications. Tension arises with the chief financial officer, Destiny Pitt (played by Emma Harvie), who is tasked with maintaining the budget, a role that proves to be quite challenging.
Echoing the fast-paced dialogue found in screwball comedies and Armando Iannucci’s works, including The Thick of It and Veep, the actors deliver their lines with a lively energy. Their primary task, which Pang especially handles adeptly, is to make the dialogue feel as natural as possible despite the complexity of the language. A notable exchange in the third episode features a conversation between Hugh and AFL CEO Alistair Penfold (Josh McConville, embodying a quintessential blokey character).
Alistair: You’ve gotta spend money to make money.
Hugh: Yeah, but first you’ve gotta make the money you’re gonna spend to make money.
Alistair: So you spend money to make that money, that you’re gonna spend to make money.
Hugh: Yeah, but you’ve gotta make the money you’re gonna spend, to make the money you spend to make the money.
While conversations like this may not elicit uproarious laughter, they play a crucial role in maintaining a lively rhythm and keeping the energy high. One risk with this style of writing is that it may sometimes feel overly contrived. However, Ground Up avoids crossing into strained territory, even though it occasionally flirts with it. There are moments when the material seems somewhat stretched, yet McCaffrie skillfully expands the script, often best suited for collaborative writing environments where scenarios can be thoroughly refined.
The show also excels in crafting small, humorous moments. For instance, in episode three, Hugh opens a bottle of non-alcoholic red wine at his desk first thing in the morning, prompting shock and disapproval from Destiny. She softens her critique upon discovering there’s no alcohol, but still insists, “What time are you allowed to start having non-alcoholic drinks?” Hugh then poses a thought-provoking question: “What time are you allowed to start having non-alcoholic drinks?”
While the humor may not be groundbreaking, and this type of comedy has been explored more effectively in the past, it offers a lighthearted and enjoyable atmosphere.
- Ground Up premieres at 8.30pm on Sunday on ABC TV and ABC iview.
