There’s a good chance that somebody at Channel 7 is getting their arse royally kicked as we speak, as earlier today – and possibly not for the first time – the network aired a raunchy, extreme fishing show with seemingly no idea that it’s actually a pisstake.
The series in question, Screaming Reels, is a self-styled “high-octane fishing show” from New Zealand, that sees comedians Jason Hoyte and Leigh Hart trying and failing to catch fish in foul-mouthed mockumentary style, and generally acting like clueless louts at home and abroad.
It seems that the joke may have sailed right over the heads of Channel 7’s programmers, however, as they currently have it listed in the 9.00am Sunday timeslot on 7 Mate as a “documentary”, and list it under “sport” on their own website.
It’s unclear how many weeks the show has been airing in the timeslot, although when writer Alex Lee first noticed it this morning, episode six was streaming on the 7 Plus site, so it’s clearly been on for a while.
“I think Channel 7 bought a NZ parody fishing show without realising it’s a comedy,” Lee wrote. “For starters, they talk about snorting cocaine and using a drone to film yourself having sex, yet it’s on at 10:30am on a Sunday and is classified as “sport” and “reality”.”
We watched episode six this morning, and for references’s sake, it include a lengthy and very amusing rumination on the use of a Go-Pro camera as an umpire during sex, and a drone for shooting outdoor lovemaking.
https://twitter.com/alex_c_lee/status/957399332113629185
Here’s a little taste of Screaming Reels, and look, the style is so delightfully deadpan that it really does skate the line between real and fake if you’re not paying attention, and honestly, we’re very happy that Channel 7’s potential stuff-up has introduced us little bit of comedy gold:
Clearly, others were confused, like this gentleman, who clearly thought he was in for an actual fishing show on Sunday morning.
https://twitter.com/saintredsfc/status/957396736795754496
One New Zealand Twitter user agreed that Screaming Reels is a great show, but pointed out that it was shown in the probably-more-reasonable timeslot of 9.30pm over there.
Screaming reels a great show! Never caught a fish the whole series. Aired at 9.30pm over here though!
— Daniel (@735Doon) January 28, 2018
In fairness to Channel 7, the show appears to have a PG rating, so per the Free TV Code Of Practice, it can currently be aired at any time, so there may have been a classification error before the show even got to 7, but still, it’s questionable whether anybody at the network watched it before putting it to air.
Either way, we’ve reached out to 7 for comment.
