I've binged watched Offspring since I noticed it on Netflix earlier this year, including the most recent 7th season that was just released a few weeks ago. In general, I enjoy Australian TV a great deal more than US network TV shows. Part of it is probably the Australian over-the-air networks can get away with a lot edgier material than the US nets. In that sense, shows like Offspring resemble US shows on cable networks like FX or HBO, and those are the ones I tend to gravitate towards.
Overall, I've enjoyed Offspring, even though I typically don't watch the hospital type shows like Grey's Anatomy to which I've seen some compare this too. There is a fair share of melodrama and tragedy, but it also has a much lighter air than shows like Grey's, which I appreciate.
Don't read any further if you don't want to be spoiled on key show plots. But I feel like I need to address some things I liked, and things I didn't, in order to properly review the show.
I do find the Proudman clan just straddles the right side of the line from being too cartoony...they each have their own struggles and demons, especially Nina and Billie...they make progress only to regress at key moments...they rebuild only to fall again. If the characters weren't likable this would get tiresome. But for the most part, even as they make the same mistakes, I found myself engaged with the Proudmans. But its a very thin line, and the show has been in danger of crossing it too far several times.
I do think the show struggled a bit in the 5th and 6th seasons, after the death of Patrick. I don't have an issue with the writers killing him off (though I can only imagine Australians' reaction watching that live), and I thought the actors did a wonderful job portraying how heart wrenching that would be.
It just felt one step too far in pulling on the viewer's heartstrings. To have Patrick die a week before his child was born, when a big reason for his struggles was the stillborn birth of a child with his first wife, was a bit too emotionally manipulative for me.
So I think the show struggled finding a footing after that. By killing him off in such a tragic circumstance, the show has lionized Patrick as the "one great love" for Nina, when as others have pointed out, their relationship had as many downs (maybe more) as ups over the 3 seasons he was on the show.
I just think they've made it hard to root for any of the subsequent men in her life; for instance her current love interest through the 7th season is probably a stronger (and healthier) relationship for her than Patrick. But as one of her ex-boyfriends comments to her in an episode (which I can't help but wonder was the the writers' way of answering critics), Patrick is always going to exist as the perfect ideal to Nina now, whether he was that in real life or not. Its hard for anyone else to compete.
I also think the show has introduced too many peripheral characters recently. Did we really need yet another Proudman half-sibling at this point? And while I think the Mick/Billie relationship had really run its course, it was dispatched with so little fanfare at the beginning of season 7. I can only assume actor commitments made it impossible to bring Mick back for more closure than we got, but it was kind of weird that after all those two had been through we don't get to see the ultimate break up scene.
But overall, I did think the 7th season was an improvement over 5 and 6, and has me intrigued to watch an 8th season, if there is to be one. Even if they make you want to pull your hair out, I still want to root for Nina, Billie, Jimmy and the rest of the Proudmans. If a show can do that through 7 seasons, its doing something right.
Overall, I've enjoyed Offspring, even though I typically don't watch the hospital type shows like Grey's Anatomy to which I've seen some compare this too. There is a fair share of melodrama and tragedy, but it also has a much lighter air than shows like Grey's, which I appreciate.
Don't read any further if you don't want to be spoiled on key show plots. But I feel like I need to address some things I liked, and things I didn't, in order to properly review the show.
I do find the Proudman clan just straddles the right side of the line from being too cartoony...they each have their own struggles and demons, especially Nina and Billie...they make progress only to regress at key moments...they rebuild only to fall again. If the characters weren't likable this would get tiresome. But for the most part, even as they make the same mistakes, I found myself engaged with the Proudmans. But its a very thin line, and the show has been in danger of crossing it too far several times.
I do think the show struggled a bit in the 5th and 6th seasons, after the death of Patrick. I don't have an issue with the writers killing him off (though I can only imagine Australians' reaction watching that live), and I thought the actors did a wonderful job portraying how heart wrenching that would be.
It just felt one step too far in pulling on the viewer's heartstrings. To have Patrick die a week before his child was born, when a big reason for his struggles was the stillborn birth of a child with his first wife, was a bit too emotionally manipulative for me.
So I think the show struggled finding a footing after that. By killing him off in such a tragic circumstance, the show has lionized Patrick as the "one great love" for Nina, when as others have pointed out, their relationship had as many downs (maybe more) as ups over the 3 seasons he was on the show.
I just think they've made it hard to root for any of the subsequent men in her life; for instance her current love interest through the 7th season is probably a stronger (and healthier) relationship for her than Patrick. But as one of her ex-boyfriends comments to her in an episode (which I can't help but wonder was the the writers' way of answering critics), Patrick is always going to exist as the perfect ideal to Nina now, whether he was that in real life or not. Its hard for anyone else to compete.
I also think the show has introduced too many peripheral characters recently. Did we really need yet another Proudman half-sibling at this point? And while I think the Mick/Billie relationship had really run its course, it was dispatched with so little fanfare at the beginning of season 7. I can only assume actor commitments made it impossible to bring Mick back for more closure than we got, but it was kind of weird that after all those two had been through we don't get to see the ultimate break up scene.
But overall, I did think the 7th season was an improvement over 5 and 6, and has me intrigued to watch an 8th season, if there is to be one. Even if they make you want to pull your hair out, I still want to root for Nina, Billie, Jimmy and the rest of the Proudmans. If a show can do that through 7 seasons, its doing something right.