OFFSPRING. AN OBSESSION
OK… for the record.
Peta Mayer, Melbourne writer and academic, is a little bit obsessed with Offspring and explains her fascination with this: “Because of its conventional structure and plotlines, Offspring is a great vehicle for discussing gender stereotypes and social hypocrises.”
We reckon she’s pretending that the show is research while she sobs and laughs into a bucket of wine.
Beautiful people suffer too… Nina and Patrick.
She loves Offspring’s writer Debra Oswald so much, that she imagines they’re BFFs.
And, she’s got a few questions to ask…
Tune in tonight at Network Ten at 8.30pm to watch the latest episode. Or view past episodes here. Peta’s recaps of past shows can be read here.
(Offspring nuts may be able to decipher this. I confess to being a bit lost. – Ed)
Dear Debra,
Remember when we had it all?
I’d get home from work and start drinking. You’d drop in with some takeaway and tell me I was looking so much better.
The kids were safely online and while I lay on the couch, primed for a foot rub, you’d fill me in on Nina’s latest escapades.
Then a curious thing happened.
The stories grew darker and the foot rubs more sporadic.
A sultry new anaesthetist surfaced at St Francis: a man muted by his past.
He presented as an abusive husband, but he turned out to be a protective brother. Not an addict – a survivor. And if he was not exactly a rhetorician, Patrick still boasted a chest the likes of which could cushion any overactive mind.
Yet the more innocent he was revealed to be, the more guilt Nina wore, and the more clothes she borrowed from Billie. Apologies showered the new relationship like confetti.
After which: The Honeymoon.
I’ve heard that old habits die in 28 days. Yet there was Patrick, a mere five episodes into the new season, and falsely accused again!
They say that beautiful people suffer too – just witness poor Patrick retreating to an inner-city motel to do push-ups.
Another apology quivers on Nina’s lips; I want to reach out and turn it into Blistex.
“Save the sorry,” I whisper. “For when you can’t eat any more soup.”
Dear Debra, please tell me: why is Nina always so sorry?
If my house burnt down; if my father turned out to be Garry McDonald and not John Waters; if my sister spent her days on Skype while her husband romanced Clare Bowditch; and if my brother prepared for fatherhood by weaving a cock harness, I could be forgiven, surely, for feeling just a little… overwhelmed?
| Page 1 of 2 | next >> |
16 Responses to this article
-
Marcia June 20, 2012
Have just discovered your musings and wow…what a clever and witty writer you are! Keep it up
-
Nikki @ Styling You June 20, 2012
For my readers, it’s all been about Nina’s wardrobe style – they’re nuts for it!
-
flickster June 20, 2012
Love it, i have a small offspring addiction. Also I have to admit i have a mild “couple crush” on Debra and her hubby Richard Glover.
-
KayO'Sullivan June 20, 2012
I, too, am obsessed with Offspring but — oh gosh — I’m going to sound like a dud here but I wish Debra would bring back Dr Chris. He’s the man for me…oops… I mean Nina.
-
WENDY GREEN June 20, 2012
Dr Chris?? Oh Please! You have got to be kidding???!!!
-
-
Jacqui June 20, 2012
TOTALLY obsessed with the show as well and now you’ve opened my eyes about Debra Oswald…..she’s written for more of my faves – Secret Life of us, Police Rescue, Bananas in Jamies (!!) and I love Richard Glover’s articles as well. Love to sit around their dinner table…..
-
janiemay June 20, 2012
My biggest problem with Nina is that she is so indecisive, and generally incoherent in her thought processes. This is a woman we’re supposed to trust the most fragile and important members of our society – newborns and their mothers?!?!
-
WENDY GREEN June 20, 2012
‘Offspring’ is the funniest (and I mean belly-laughing) and tenderest (tears every episode) TV show Australian writers have produced in a long, long time. I am a bit concerned though about the direction of this current season … it seems like the writers have lost their way a bit. One of the things I love about the show is that it is so believable – but lately, it’s pretty ‘out there’ ???
-
Alice Shaw June 20, 2012
I love Offspring. Every Wednesday I join fellow devotees on Twitter and away we go. They almost lost me though.. I can’t take any more angst on the part of the delightful Nina. I love the living daylights out of Nina. She’s spectacular. She’s lovely and she dresses so well I can hardly stand it. I just want her and Patrick to get back together.. it will make real life a little happier
-
Ann Wawrzyniak June 20, 2012
I have to agree with Kay O’Sullivan. I also miss Chris Havel from the cast of Offspring. I think Don Hany was extraordinary playing that character and both he and Asher were amazingly good together. I haven’t felt that way about any of her ‘love interests’ since. Just love this show to bits and am hopeful that Series 4 will get the go ahead.
-
Ambiguity June 20, 2012
This piece was hilarious.. and yes – why is Nina constantly apologising to the less than spectacular men in her life!?
-
Pam miller June 20, 2012
So glad someone else agrees with me about Dr Chris Havel. He should definitely come back and claim Nina, I was so mad when she chose Patrick over Chris. I mean what a hunk Don Hany is, another McDreamy in my opinion.
-
Pam miller June 20, 2012
Bring back Don Hany please!
-
VRog June 21, 2012
Having to choose between Matthew Le Nevez and Don Hany? Oh, to have that problem! *swoon*
-
Buttercup June 26, 2012
I actually don’t think Chris’s smile is a patch on Patrick. Patrick’s smile turns my legs to jelly. So to me Patrick wins hands down!
-
Julie July 21, 2012
Nice writing – I really enjoyed this! I agree with the other Chris/Don Hany fans. Although I sometimes thought Nina and Patrick were a better match, I just can’t warm to Patrick. I found his last minute confession in front of the family of ‘it was my fault, I messed you around, I want to be with you no matter what and I wish you had been pregnant’ quite unbelievable, given how he had behaved this season. I guess I’m not as taken with his bare chest and smile as some other fans! However, the Nina/Chris/Patrick triangle was resolved in S 2, so I feel I need to let Chris go.
