Tara Ward: The Paper, In Flight, Bay of Fires

The Paper  

Following up on the story from "The Office," the documentary crew that immortalized Dunder Mifflin's Scranton branch discovers a disappearing Midwestern newspaper and the publisher trying to revive it with volunteer reporters. This mockumentary follows the daily lives and struggles of dreamers in love with journalism, and their less-than-competent co-workers, trying to deliver accurate news without the resources or training to do a great job (TVNZ+). 

  

In Flight  

Jo Conran's son is imprisoned for a murder he denies. A gang blackmails her into smuggling, pushing her into a world of corruption and violence to save her child's life (TVNZ+). 

  

Bay of Fires  

Betrayed and in immediate danger, Stella is forced to move her family to the last place on Earth anyone would expect, a place where the locals hide secrets and outsiders are viewed with suspicion bordering on the murderous (TVNZ+). 

 

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Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:07):
You're listening to the Saturday Morning with Jack Team podcast
from News Talks AB.

Speaker 2 (00:12):
Twenty three past ten, which means it is screen time time.
Tara Award joins us every time this week. Every week
at this time I got there with her three shows
to watch or stream at home. She's with us now at.

Speaker 3 (00:27):
Kyoto Tara Cure, Good Morning.

Speaker 2 (00:29):
All three shows are on TVNZ plus this week. So
let's begin with The Paper.

Speaker 3 (00:35):
Yeah. This is a new mockumentary sitcom that comes from
Greg Daniels and Michael Coman, who of course made The
Office US and so this is a spin off from
the Office. It's set in the same universe, if that
makes sense. The Office US was a mockumentary about the
Dundlar Mifflin Paper Company, and twenty years later, those same
documentary makers have returned to find out what happened to

(00:57):
the people who work there, and they follow a trail
that leads them to the Toledo Truth Teller, which is
a once glorious Midwestern newspaper that is now failing terribly.
It shares its office with the toilet paper part of
the business. The toilet paper is the only thing making
enough money to keep the newspaper going. A new editor
and chief arrives to revive the newspaper with a team

(01:18):
of volunteer reporters, some of whom are more experienced at
selling toilet paper than finding breaking news. I didn't think
I'd say toilet paper so many times on the radio before,
but here we are. So this is a satire about media.
But if you like The Office US, there are lots
of similarities here. Same kind of workplace comedy, same kind
of awkward interactions and quirky characters. Donald Leeson stars in this.

(01:41):
British comedian Tim Key is in this as well. He
goes full David Brent playing a strategy manager. It's a
smart and warm kind of sitcom. Feels very familiar. You know,
if you have watched The Office, this will feel very familiar.
And I think it gets better as it goes on
and just becomes a bit more comfortable with itself.

Speaker 2 (01:57):
Okay, cool, So that's the paper. Next up, tell us
about In Flight.

Speaker 3 (02:02):
Yeah. This is a new British crime thriller and it's
about how if one mother will go to protect her child.
It stars Catherine Kelly, who plays a flight attendant whose
nineteen year old son is arrested and imprisoned for murder
while he's on holiday in Bulgaria. He claims he's innocent,
but we're not quite so sure, And back in the UK,
his mother Joe is targeted by a gang of criminals

(02:25):
who blackmail her into smuggling drugs across Europe during her
flights as a way of ensuring her son's safety in prison.
If she refuses to smuggle the drugs, he'll be killed,
and so she decides to do it with the help
of a colleague and starts to realize that a lot
of other people have been pulled into this corrupt world
as well. And this is a drama that pulls you,

(02:45):
grabs you straight away from the opening minutes and doesn't
let up on the grip the whole time, which I
found to be a little bit exhausting and a bit
bleak at times. But if you like a tense, almost
claustrophobic kind of thriller that doesn't waste any time and
isn't over complicated and is quite dark, I would definitely

(03:05):
recommend that it is far fetched, but almost in a
good way, and that you can just kind of fall
into it completely and not have to think too hard
about it.

Speaker 2 (03:14):
Okay, cool, So that's in Flight and last, but not least,
Bay of Fires. Yeah.

Speaker 3 (03:20):
This is a second season of this darkly funny, quite
unusual Australian mystery drama. This stars Rachel House, Stephen Curry,
and Martin Dusseldorf who plays this high flying Melbourne ceo
who suddenly has to drop everything and escape to Tasmania
with her children. She's trying to avoid being hunted down

(03:40):
by an organized crime cartel who's looking for her business partner,
and the police send them to this tiny Tasmanian town
called Mystery Bay under a witness protection kind of scheme,
and it's a town where the locals are very suspicious
of any newcomers and it's very much a kind of
a fish out of water situation. But there's a lot

(04:00):
more going on in this town than first appears. And
I started watching this back in twenty twenty three when
season came out, and I wasn't sure about it. Sometimes
it doesn't quite get that balance between comedy and drama
quite right. But I kept going and started to really
enjoy it. It almost feels like a scanty noir drama
with all the forest and the mist of the Tasmanian Mountains.

(04:21):
It's beautifully shot, but it's also got this really dry,
dark Australian humor in there as well, and some mystery
and crime chucked in there too. So this is a
show that won't give you all the answers at once.
It's going to keep you guessing and keep you on
your toes, so you have to have some patience with it,
but it pays off in the end. It's over the top,
but in quite an intriguing, delightful kind of way.

Speaker 2 (04:42):
Yeah right, Okay, that sounds interesting. So that's bay of Fires.
Tara's other shows, The Paper and In Flight. All three
of those shows are streaming on TVNZ Plus and we'll
have details on the News talks 'B website.

Speaker 1 (04:54):
For more from Saturday Morning with Jack Tame, Listen live
to News Talk Z'B from nine am Saturday, or follow
the podcast on iHeartRadio.