Australia is amazing: super-hot women, a beach culture, oceans of cold beer, deep-seeded racism toward aborigines that competes with the U.S.’s treatment of Native Americans, and state-funded television programs. Which brings us to this news story, which would never in a hundred years happen in America
A television comedy series about a bong-smoking dog that has sex with a cat and a teddy bear has received $1.5 million of federal and state taxpayers’ money. The cult SBS series Wilfred is also peppered with profanity, full-frontal nudity and jokes about rape.
I think I’m in love.
SBS spokeswoman Jane McMillan said while Wilfred was not a show for everyone, it was a justified recipient of government backing.
“We know that it will not be to everyone’s tastes, but it’s in the appropriate timeslot, with the appropriate rating and comes with the appropriate warnings. SBS, like the ABC [Australia’s version of PBS], invests what limited budget it has in quality Australian productions because we want to tell Australian stories with an Australian voice. We want to encourage local talent.’
That sounds… reasonable?