【英语生活】肥皂剧开涮澳洲女总理私生活

Australia's political leadership has been so rife with comedy, it's being turned into a sitcom.

The Australian Broadcasting Corp.'s 'At Home With Julia,' which was green-lit last week and is expected to run later this year, will be a four-part series on the home life of Prime Minister Julia Gillard and her partner Tim Mathieson. Other country leaders, including opposition head Tony Abbott, former Prime Minister Kevin Rudd and Deputy Prime Minister Wayne Swan (or actors playing them), are expected to make appearances as ABC looks to mock the top levels of Australia's government.

Australian actors Amanda Bishop and Phil Lloyd are scheduled to play Ms. Gillard and Mr. Mathieson, respectively, with Ms. Bishop reprising a role she has undertaken repeatedly on sketch comedy show 'Double Take' ─ not unlike '30 Rock's' Tina Fey as Sarah Palin. The most obvious fodder for the show will be professional stylist Mr. Mathieson, who is locally referred to as the 'First Bloke,' sculpting Ms. Gillard's hair in the morning as he regularly does.

There's no word yet on whether 'Question Time' ─ the regular session in which members of Parliament have a chance to grill the prime minister ─ will get a run on the show. Question Time has devolved beyond the comedic into the embarrassing lately, including the donning of white cowboy hats partly to support and partly to mock MP Bob Katter. Mr. Katter, affectionately called the 'Mad Katter,' recently created his own political party.

Lampooning key political figures is a common occurrence in the U.S., where 'Saturday Night Live' has made a living turning famously boring presidential debates into must-see TV. Mockery of President George W. Bush got its own show, with 'That's My Bush!' getting an eight-episode run on Comedy Central in the beginning of his presidency.

For Australia, the show is the first of its kind, despite the country's rich comedic history ─ recently premiered in the U.S. is 'Wilfred,' a remake of an SBS show about a man who sees his neighbor's dog as a real person.

Ms. Gillard herself seems to have little problem with 'At Home With Julia,' telling a radio show that she thinks the actress playing her has done a good job in the past and that she plans to watch it, and laugh. Federal Labor MP Michael Danby was less pleased, saying over the weekend that ABC's decision was 'ugly' and 'disrespectful.'

'We've long been concerned about generous government funding for the ABC. Hopefully 'At Home with Julia' will put a stop to that,' said ABC Head of Comedy Debbie Lee.

Given Ms. Gillard's approval ratings and the mixed ratings seen when it comes to political sendups on TV, which will last longer: the show or Ms. Gillard as PM?

Associated Press澳大利亚演员阿曼达•毕晓普(Amanda Bishop)将在澳大利亚广播公司(Australian Broadcasting Corp.)的新节目中扮演朱莉娅•吉拉德(Julia Gillard)。
澳大利亚政治领导层笑料连连，所以有人为此拍了一部情景剧。

澳大利亚广播公司(Australian Broadcasting Corp.)节目《跟朱莉娅过日子》(At Home With Julia)近期获得许可，预计将于今年晚些时候开播。这将是一部由四个部分组成的系列剧，讲述朱莉娅•吉拉德(Julia Gillard)及其情侣蒂姆•马西森(Tim Mathieson)的家庭生活。随着澳大利亚广播公司想方设法地拿政府高层开涮，反对党领袖托尼•艾伯特(Tony Abbott)、前总理陆克文(Kevin Rudd)和副总理怀恩•斯万(Wayne Swan)（不如说是扮演他们的演员）等其他国家领导人预计也会亮相。

按计划，澳大利亚演员阿曼达•毕晓普(Amanda Bishop)和菲尔•劳埃德(Phil Lloyd)将分别扮演吉拉德和马西森。毕晓普已经在短喜剧《恍然大悟》(Double Take)中多次扮演吉拉德，就像是蒂娜•费(Tina Fey)在美剧《我为喜剧狂》(30 Rock's)当中饰演莎拉•佩林(Sarah Palin)。《跟朱莉娅过日子》最明显的笑料，将是专业发型师马西森在早上为吉拉德打理头发。现实生活中的马西森就经常为吉拉德做头发，在澳大利亚国内被称为“第一男人”。

至于澳大利亚议员们拷问总理的例行环节“问话时间”(Question Time)会不会在节目中出现，现在还没有说法。最近“问话时间”已经不再只是喜剧，还有些让人难堪，比如议员们戴上白色牛仔帽，对下议员鲍伯•凯特(Bob Katter)既表示支持，又表示嘲笑。凯特最近创办了自己的政党，被人亲切地称呼为“疯子凯特”。

在美国拿重要政治人物开涮是常事，《周六夜现场》(Saturday Night Live)的生存之道，就是把乏味的总统竞选辩论变为必看的电视节目。嘲笑前总统小布什(George W. Bush)的节目同样也有，在他刚刚上台的时候，《咱的小布什》(That's My Bush!)就在“喜剧中心”(Comedy Central)电视台放了八集。

虽然澳大利亚有着悠久的喜剧历史，但《跟朱莉娅过日子》却是这个国家的第一档同类节目。最近在美国开始上演的澳大利亚喜剧是《威尔弗雷德》(Wilfred)，翻拍了澳大利亚SBS电视台的一档节目，讲的是一个把邻居家的狗当成真人的男子。

吉拉德本人对《跟朱莉娅过日子》似乎没有什么意见。她在一档电台节目中说，她觉得扮演她本人的演员在过去演得不错，自己打算看这档节目，然后开怀大笑。联邦下议院工党议员迈克尔•丹比(Michael Danby)就有些不高兴了，他说，澳大利亚广播公司允许播出这档节目的决定“令人不快”，是“无礼”的。

澳大利亚广播公司喜剧部负责人Debbie Lee说，我们对政府为澳大利亚广播公司提供的慷慨拨款长期感到担忧，但愿《跟朱莉娅过日子》会阻止这一局面。

考虑到吉拉德的支持率，以及电视政治讽刺节目获得的好坏不一的评价，哪一个会维持得更久呢？是这档节目，还是吉拉德的总理职位？