Hello, and happy late summer! I noticed my last few reviews were on rather weighty topics, in the midst of a nerve-wracking and perilous time here in our country: assassination attempts, shake-ups in electoral politics, the rising heat around the planet, and another dangerous wildfire season. So for this post, I’m going to share a lighter treat.
Given what’s been going on in the real world and the news, I was beyond pleased to discover a truly delightful, happy and enjoyable dramedy (drama/comedy) from Australia on Acorn TV. It’s a number of years old (it wrapped in 2018), but perhaps it just never made it here until recently to any of the likely streaming venues. Or maybe I just missed it for a while. In any case, it’s one of the most pleasant TV series surprises I’ve stumbled upon in quite a while.
The basic plot is this: George Turner, a middle-aged newspaper columnist from Sydney, has lost his wife of 20 years, run down by a speeding car in the street. A year has gone by, in which he’s tried to recover from his grief, and help his two high-school age children (an older daughter and a younger son) get their lives back on track. But it’s not really working, at least not for him. So in a moment of impulsive desperation, he decides to move the three of them to Weld, a small surf town on the coast of New Zealand.
His reasons for uprooting the family, and going to this particular little rural community, seem to be nothing more substantial than the fact that he used to go there on summer vacations as a kid, and he’d never managed to learn to surf back then. He thinks perhaps he can learn how to do that now, and maybe also get himself and his family back on track, in this nostalgically-remembered far-away place, where he won’t constantly be surrounded by reminders of his beloved wife.
George’s job is one that is transportable. He writes regular columns about life that always total exactly 800 words (hence the title). As he moves the family to their new home, his process of writing and reading the column out loud to the viewers becomes the mechanism for sharing his own internal monologue about the process he’s going through with the viewers.
That’s the situation as the series begins. What makes it so funny and heartwarming is not just the interactions of the three family members (and the late wife, who makes occasional appearances), but the delightful ensemble cast of oddballs and quirky local characters, and the encounters this little family of Australian outsiders immediately begin to have with them as soon as they arrive.
There are a number of very charming romantic plots occurring throughout the series, as all the local unattached women check George out and vie for his attention, while the two kids (Shay and Arlo) enroll in their new high school, and begin to get to know some of their local schoolmates. There are also “big city people” versus “small-town country people” themes and subplots, and intriguing stories about some of the histories and relationships of the various white folk in town with their Māori neighbors (who are also sometimes family members).
And of course, there is all the comedy and drama of the dad, the daughter and the son at the center of the story, as they each slowly grow wiser, become community members, and come to terms in their own ways with the loss of the wife and mother.
In trying to come up with an analogy to another TV show that had a similar feel, I immediately thought of The Gilmore Girls. That had a similar kind of story about a small family of strong individuals, with a sad backstory, who were constantly fighting and arguing with each other, and getting into comical situations, but also clearly loved each other. It also featured a gossipy small town setting, full of amusing and eccentric characters, who surround and support the family members at the center of the story.
800 Words has the added benefit (for we Americans, anyway) of being set in the beautiful South Pacific island location of New Zealand, with their fun accents, and their very different culture and history from ours. It’s such a treat. Even with the Olympics going on, and all the electoral upheaval, we couldn’t help but binge all three seasons this summer, until we’d reached the very satisfying series conclusion.
I did notice and was actually impressed by the fact that this show only lasted three seasons. I’ve often thought in recent years that many good TV shows go on for far too long. The writers and producers often start with an intriguing situation, and initially do a good job of exploring the characters and how they might react to a number of plausible scenarios, but then try to keep it going year after year, long after the original story and situation still justifies it or can keep our attention.
The producers of 800 Words didn’t do that – they told a rich, complex story about believable, likable people and their community, played the various plotlines out to a lovely set of endings and resolutions, and then walked away from it, leaving the audience satisfied and feeling good about how it all worked out. That’s how it should be done!
I found 800 Words to be remarkably uplifting. I really loved the whole series -- it made me genuinely happy to watch it. I also thought the casting, acting and screenwriting were all excellent, and there was plenty of beautiful scenery thrown in, along with the occasional nice surfing clip. Truly, I enjoyed everything about it. Very highly recommended.
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