In an interview with David Knox, Shaun revealed a lot about what we can expect from Mad As Hell this year, plus a few other tidbits.
Firstly, there will be two seasons this year, each of 10 episodes.
His original plan for Mad As Hell was to push to 5 nights a week, similar to shows like The Daily Show with Jon Stewart (although that’s only four nights). And Shaun still wants to get there: “A proper, nightly show. And the idea is to eventually have it 2 nights a week, then 3 and then be on every night.”
This season, he’s looking forward to the new content provided by a change in government. “It’s great. If we had more of the same we’d be worried about repeating ourselves. But it’s a very different dynamic.”
Some favourite characters will return: “Roz Hammond seems to have the best hit ratio. She has lots of characters that everyone loves writing for.” But Shaun will continue to avoid any shots of the audience: “I loathe them.”
And there’s a few hidden gems in this season for fans like us: the humorous episode synopsis will continue, with inspiration from some Three Stooges episodes; plus the Micallef Tonight sign, saved from the old GTV9 building before it was demolished recently (or “burned down” as Shaun put it), will make a background appearance somewhere on the set.
Finally, he also confirmed that his decision to pursue two seasons of Mad As Hell this year has halted any chance of Mr & Mrs Murder returning, had Channel Ten been interested.
Greetings from the USA.
Shaun is hysterically funny. Love the show, even if I don’t understand much of it, and can’t get the rest cos of the accent. No really, I can tell how much I’d LOVE it if I were Australian.
Loved Mr/Mrs. Murder too. Very much.
All the best!
Must say that pursuing Mad as Hell for two seasons in favour of making a second season of Mr and Mrs Murder for an international audience seems, well, MAD, and not in a good way.
Surely you would rethink that decision. Just look at the IMDb rating for Mr and Mrs Murder.
LOVE LOVE LOVE Mr. & Mrs. Murder. So sad that there are no more planned. Please reconsider.
Meanwhile, thanks for the wonderful season we did get! Hoping my PBS station will pick it up so more people can enjoy it!
Having finally now seen all 13 or Mr. And Mrs. M, I went a-Googling, hoping to find news of another season that might wash up on American shores. Alas, I find this mention instead, of likely no chance of more episodes. (heavy sigh)… I cannot recall a series in recent memory I have enjoyed more than Mr./Mrs. M. Kudos to you Shaun, and the crew…it has been a pure delight, full of laugh out loud moments, watching you and Nicola puzzle out the murders. Thank you for a wonderful series!