morrison-dylan-fan With Easter coming up I started looking for films/TV shows that friends would enjoy watching over the holiday season. After hearing from a friend about how much she has enjoyed visiting family in Australia,I began looking for Aussie films/TV,and I remembered an Aussie TV Comedy program that I heard praised when shown on the BBC,which led to me attending the Summer school.View on the program:Going to school to play all three leading roles, Chris Lilley gives outstanding performances as Mr. G, Ja'mie and Jonah Takalua. Finely-tuning the characters in his stand-up gigs for years, Lilley keeps any of the trio from blending in with each other via unique characteristic, from the delusional aggression of Drama teacher Mr. G and the juvenile frustrations and swearing of teenager Takalua,to it-girl snub Ja'mie. Spending time doing research in real schools, the scripts by Lilley find hilarity by pushing realistic school situations out of their comfort zone,as Mr.G's ego goes wild over his grandiose staging of a show based on the recent drug overdose of a student,Ja'mie making posters with her real view on her new "friends",and Jonah disrupting every class. Following the trio at school, director Stuart McDonald goes for a fake documentary-style,which along with placing the show in a grounded atmosphere, also gives the jokes a richness,thanks to McDonald capturing all the awkward reactions at each lesson of Summer Heights High.

WakenPayne Okay, I'm going to be a tad more reasonable than the last review I wrote for this show. Chris Liley does have a talent for imitating stereotypes as clearly seen in this show. I first started watching this in High School during my English Class's free time, I hated it at the time even more-so because I can escape from my schooling life to go into a reflection of unlikeable characters' schooling lives.The premise of the show is to take three cardboard cut out stereotypes, one being a 13 year old boy named Jonah who likes Rap, break dancing, insulting teachers and blaming all the negative things in his life on everyone around him. There's a 17 year old high school girl named Ja'mie who is snobby, racist, prejudice, materialistic, vain and like Jonah, blames everybody else for all the negative things in her life. Then there's the drama teacher named Mr G. He is controlling, whiny, sees himself as some kind of messiah and like the other 2 characters blames everybody else for all the negative things in his life.The biggest problem I have with the show is (what a shock!) none of the characters are likable. But if we see unlikeable characters then the best thing to do would be to put them in constant misery right? Liley does that only half of the time. The other half is tasteless shock humour or offensive humour. There's even one episode where Ja'mie wants to fund the formal dance and tricks everyone into thinking it's an AIDS charity drive... Really? You had to do that? I personally don't find stuff like that funny, it's annoying to me and offensive to the people who suffer from this problem.Pretty much all the show is jam packed with humour like that. These unlikeable characters make life for everyone around them miserable and when the consequence of that happens they find a way to say it's their fault. I know some people like this kind of humour and if you like that, then that's fine. I personally don't. I can see some talent behind Chris Liley, I really do. I just don't find over-exaggerated stereotypes of people doing horrible things then blame the consequences on everybody else funny.

lambiepie-2 I see great things in America for Chris Lilley. I'm watching Summer Heights High in America on our HBO cable network and this show is hilarious! Chris Lilley's characters are indicative of high school personalities we've all know/known no matter what part of the world you're in. I'm especially fond of the "head of dramatic arts". It doesn't matter what the title is - people like this go power hungry with very little power given. This is a perfect example.Ja'mie, well, you just want to slap her she's so pretentious. And my other favorite Jonah - you just know he's going to grow up to be Governor-General someday. So its fun to see those high school days.I'm enjoying this show and I'm looking forward to the weekly episodes. Besides that, I'm looking forward to see what else Chris Lilley has up his comedic sleeve!

miriam_eryan Taking a Borat approach to High School here is a tongue-in-cheek series brilliantly directed and performed by Chris Lilley. In a hilarious no-holds barred representation of 'school these days – with boys and perves and sex and drugs (where) it's not like it used to be ...' Lilley's theatrical vividness comes to life. Three characters equivalently blunt in their opinions co-exist at Summer Heights High School. The three main characters all acted by Lilley; Mr G – the eccentric, 'camp' drama teacher, Jonah Takalua the Polynesian school scapegoat and smart-arse and Ja'mie the pretentious and elitist Hilford Girls exchange student all guarantee a laugh in the series. This is a satirical look at public schools, 'the worst place in Australia, where you can go get anorexia.' Playing on various truths and myths about public education, the school has all the necessary ingredients to prove microcosmic of schools today. There is Mr G's drama production, where a school play is written, directed and performed about the dangers of public education, discrimination towards Jonah and attitude to counter attacks made on him. There is also discrimination in Mr G's casting of his play towards disabled and less talented children , and bitchiness within Ja'mie's friendship group of 'public school skanks,' as well as the typical unruly classroom environment created by the class clown - Jonah. The show offers a students view of school as we know it. Though satirical, it makes a serious point about the need for change in public schools and public perception of public schools as seen through Ja'mie's character. Mr G in his musical production composes the song 'School these days –(stating) you'd have to be a fool these days, to wanna go to school these days.' Just one of the many musical scores bound to sound in your head for days and even months after viewing the series. This is a show that resonates with its audience while having us in stitches. With the suggestion of it being integrated into schools' syllabus, it may also stitch up school wrongs in time to save nine before a 'puck you with a P' revolution. For those who can't handle the candor of the series, in the words of Ja'mie, need to 'learn what a sense of humour is and just build a bridge and get over it.' This is a must see for adults and children alike.