What is Jason Akermanis even doing there?
The famously smarmy bleach-blonde ex-footy player seems an odd match alongside ethicist-comedian George McEncroe, and Chaser satirist Craig Reucassel. I almost expect co-host, comedian Meshel Laurie to start singing, 'One of these guests is not like the others ...' Most of Akermanis' responses throughout the program consist of witless one-liners that conclude with the word 'shit'.
Then, suddenly, everything becomes clear. The panel is in the midst of discussing whether it is okay for parents to spy on their kids online. Suddenly, host Ian 'Dicko' Dickson interjects with a leading question directed at Akermanis, about a youth who committed suicide after being bullied online.
'If you commit suicide it's the most selfish thing you will ever do,' Akermanis declares.
It's a contentions comment that draws a booo from several members of the stuido audience. But he goes on to open up about his own past battles with depression. 'I've been in that situation [being bullied], and I had the chance to, and I wanted to [commit suicide], and you know what? I'm glad I didn't.' Aker is rewarded for his candour with warm applause.
Can of Worms is a show about the ethics of everyday life. This is typically heady territory for Andrew Denton's production company, Zapruder's Other Films, and it is somewhat refreshing to find it located on prime time commercial television. As the exchange with Akermanis illustrated, there is a genuine desire to get beyond frivolity and provoke reflection and the articulation of varying perspectives.
It's somewhat of a lightweight Q+A, neither as lively nor as incisive as the ABC's water-cooler champion (Dicko, certainly, is neither as smart nor as congenial as Q+A host Tony Jones). But it's made a promising start, and with some refinement could provide Ten with a solid counterpart.
The bulk is dedicated to discussion of two curly questions or 'worms'; probing, through dialogue and light debate, the nuances of the panellists' thoughts and feelings about the given issue. During episode one, an trivial question about whether it was insulting to call someone a 'bogan' became a discussion about elitism, about denigrating the 'other', and about individual pride and dignity.
The one-hour running time is fleshed out with 'fun' segments. One saw the guests asked to take recent news bites — such as the fact that AFL Hawthorn club president Jeff Kennett owns a golliwog named after star player, Lance 'Buddy' Franklin (who