Offspring

While this show might not be everyone's cup of tea, I truly have loved watching it. I adore every character (at least until season 6 & 7) and spend every episode laughing out loud or tearing up a bit. Nina's neurotic inner voice is very much how a lot of women over think everything (of course, in the extreme) and the love and troubles of all of the characters draw you in. You really care about every up and down.

And ohhh... Patrick. Need I say more?

This show is Grey's Anatomy meets Brothers and Sisters so if you like these shows definitely start watching Offspring! It's really great - the cast are amazing and so diverse and it's really well written to the point where even the bitchy sister is endearing (at times). She's definitely lovable. The show has great potential, especially with there being so many different story lines working simultaneously and the fact that Nina's work allows for more story lines to be written in. On a whole I am finding Offspring so enjoyable to watch. The characters and funny, quirky and complex and each episode delves into the complexities of life. I'm extremely excited to watch this show flourish and hope that it makes the most of what it can be! Asher Keddie is absolutely amazing... the whole cast is, but she deserves extra credit!

This is a spectacular series - about relations in a core(?)family, whose members fill almost all existing niches of personalities and characters in human relationships. It is unique that the lead role, this time, is from the perspective of the person who is more introvert and introspective, less self-assured in her own place in the micro-macro-cosmos, concerned character, harassed and needy at the same time for the extrovert, bold, ego-centered, impulsive characters around her - who usually create endless drama. It makes cry, laugh, love, hate, feel empathy or frustrated - but mainly evokes introspect on human relations and our always unique role in them. Each season presents much sincerity, clear and sharp understanding of the writers and producers. Exquisite!

I have just finished watching the first season on DVD, and am glad I resisted it on TV, broken up by adverts, this would not shine the way it does uninterrupted. The characters are brilliantly played, each a caricature, and thoroughly enjoyable. The background music is terrific, and I don't usually enjoy back ground music, if I even notice it. The parts of Melbourne shown to us in this series, are tempting and alluring. i don't see the problem with babies being born (although some are a little on the large size) as it's an obstetric ward in a hospital, so that makes sense. Maybe the story-line is a little over the top, but this is entertainment as the Australians do so well. As a previous reviewer has said, I've laughed and cried at this first series, and I see there are five more. Can't wait.

Seven full seasons of this awesome, addictive Aussie series couldn't have come at a better time. Our protagonist, hardworking OB Nina Proudman, lives within shouting distance of her extended "nut bar" family members in a scruffy/trendy Melbourne suburb. She may remind you a bit of Elliot on "Scrubs"--gorgeous but socially challenged, "neurotic, often obsessive" (says her admiring boss, quite the nut bar himself) and frequently trapped inside her own head. The workplace comedy stuff is entertaining, the tale of Nina's search for love with a series of "moody, damaged" colleagues is quite relatable, and the show has lots of insightful things to say about the difficulties and rewards of family life.

Plot lines are suspenseful and involving, sometimes melodramatic (casual sex often results in the titular offspring; season 5 is a lot more like "Parenthood" than "Scrubs" ), and the writers do resort to some shameless romcom shtick to keep things moving, esp. In the earlier episodes---panting lovers kept apart by doofy misunderstandings and cell phone glitches and whatnot---but I'm guessing you're not going to mind any of that very much. Btw, who- or whatever (Beta-release voice-rec software?) transcribed the CC doesn't have much of an ear for the elusive Aussie accent: "my way" (pron. "my why") comes out as "my wife" in the captions, "Tongan chick" as "tongue in cheek" and "feeling wretched" as "feeling rat sh*t."