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Summer Heights High (ABC, Wed 9.30pm)

Ja'mie makes me really angry. I need to lighten up a bit :\
 
samadhi said:
I love ja'mie :D How wrong was it to see an adult actor dressed as a 16 year old girl, cracking on to a 12 year old boy? :D

Good times. :D
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Hahaha yes, it is reasonably hard to satisfy my partner's picky humour, but he found Summer Heights High absolutely side-splittingly hilarious!
WINNER!!
 
nickyj said:
Ja'mie makes me really angry. I need to lighten up a bit :\
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Yes, you do!!!
You didn't go to a private school did you??
Ja'mie's character encompasses all of the stuck-up bitches who though their own personal minds and emotions were the be-all-and-end-all of the whole universe.
I.e. HILARIOUS!!
 
^ I know! Thats what pisses me off, that there are actually people like that and lots of them! They should all be sterile.
 
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Summer Heights High episode upsets ecstasy death family
By Lisa Capozzi
September 21, 2007 09:41am

THE parents of a woman who died after taking a party drug had to walk away from their TV in disgust while watching Wednesday's episode of the ABC's hit show Summer Heights High, which featured a storyline about the ecstasy death of a blonde student with the same name.

The ABC will make a public apology to Peter and Alison Catt, the parents of Elanora Heights dance teacher Annabel who died in February.

While it has agreed to end next week's program with a message to the local family, the broadcaster is refusing to pull the the remaining shows that continue the storyline of beautiful blonde teenager "Annabel Dickson".

A photo of the character, which even looks like Annabel, was used in the episode, with drama teacher Mr G using the death as fodder for a school musical promoted as "One girl, one pill, one hell of a night".

It included songs with the lyrics, "She's a party girl with a bad habit for drugs ... when girls take drugs and then they die, who would have thought at Summer Heights High".

Mr and Mrs Catt said the episode had caused their family enormous distress and they had called on the ABC to pull future episodes of the series which continue the ecstasy death storyline.

Annabel, 20, died on February 18 after taking an ecstasy tablet - later found to be the deadly drug PMA - at a Good Vibrations music festival.

The show also caused great anguish yesterday for staff and students at Annabel's former school, Narrabeen Sports High.

Acting principal Roger Dawson said staff and students were very distressed.

Mr and Mrs Catt said: "We and many others immediately drew the conclusion the episode was making a comparison to our beloved daughter.

"This was done by naming the deceased in the show Annabel Dickson, describing her as blonde and beautiful and showing a picture that had a resemblance to our daughter."

The ABC described the similarities as an unfortunate coincidence.

"All filming of Summer Heights High finished on February 7 this year - 11 days prior to the tragic death of Annabel Catt on February 18," ABC-TV director Kim Dalton said.

"ABC TV and the producer have both contacted the Catt family to explain the situation and to apologise for the extremely unfortunate coincidence that our fictional character has the same first name."

An ABC spokeswoman confirmed the distressing parallels were known to the corporation. "We had finished production, it was all done. Of course we knew, the world knew, it was all over the newspapers. There was nothing we could do about it."

Asked why the Catt family were not told before the program aired, the spokeswoman declined to comment.

Annabel's older brother, Antony, said the show had "opened a massive wound" for his already traumatised family. "Shock, disbelief, anger - I could use a lot of adjectives to describe how I felt," he said.

"They have known about Annabel for months and they gave us no forewarning to say it's a terrible mistake and say sorry.

"We've got another five episodes of comparisons being drawn between this character and my little sister.

"This is the first time I have been genuinely angry since Annabel died."

The show's creator and main actor, Chris Lilley, 32, was not available for comment.
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News.com.au
 
Fury at ABC skit
Edmund Tadros
September 21, 2007 - 10:19AM

The managing director of the ABC, Mark Scott, has been forced to make a personal phone call to the family of Annabel Catt after the comedy show Summer Heights High mocked the ecstasy death of a high school student named "Annabel" in this week's episode.

The Catts are now awaiting a mystery package being sent by ABC managing director Mark Scott and did not want to comment until this package arrived.
Ms Catt, a dance teacher, died after taking two ecstasy capsules, or MDMA, at the Good Vibrations music festival on February 17 this year.

In the episode of Summer Heights High, a student named "Annabel Dickson" overdoses from ecstasy. The girl is later referred to as a "slut" by a drama teacher called Greg Gregson, played by Chris Lilley. Mr Lilley plays a number of characters in the mockumentary series.

The drama teacher then develops a musical about the student to "get to the truth of Annabel".

Songs played by the teacher feature the lyrics "Annabel, Annabel you're a slut" and "she's a party girl, with a bad habit ... for drugs."

Ms Catt's older brother, Antony, told The Manly Daily the show had "opened a massive wound" for his family.

"Shock, disbelief, anger - I could use a lot of adjectives to describe how I felt," he said to the paper.

Mr Scott spoke to Mr Catt by phone this morning.
"We're still awaiting comment for the ABC, Mr Catt said. "I don't want to say something that I regret."
"I had a conversation with Mark Scott and they're still to get back to us. They're sending out by courier."
Annabel's older brother, Antony, said the family would make comment after the ABC's package arrived.
"We really having trouble dealing with this," Antony said today.

The ABC told The Manly Daily the similarities were an unfortunate coincidence.

``All filming of Summer Heights High finished on February 7 this year - 11 days prior to the tragic death of Annabel Catt on February 18,'' ABC-TV director Kim Dalton told the paper.

Summer Heights High has done produced good ratings but has also attracted criticism for some of it's humour.

In another episode Mr Gregson points to an area in the school and comments: "We had a girl raped behind them [the bushes].

"So we had them removed and the kids have done an anti-rape mural, which is nice."

Mr Lilley has previously said the series was "probably going to shock people and people might feel a bit uncomfortable and that's what I really like about this show".

Comment is being sought from a spokeswoman for Mr Lilley and the ABC's Mr Scott.
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SMH
 
"Ms Catt, a dance teacher, died after taking two ecstasy capsules, or MDMA, at the Good Vibrations music festival on February 17 this year."

----- BUT IT WASN'T mdma, it was pma. Morons. (it pisses me off that papers always gets the facts wrong)


And seriously this family should just freaking deal with it (as harsh as it sounds) - they didnt intentionally do it, and if they dont like what it says they shouldnt watch it. I feel bad for them that their daughter died, but its not as if Chris Lilley has gone intentionally out of his way to make them mad.
 
kryalkastleE said:
but its not as if Chris Lilley has gone intentionally out of his way to make them mad.
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Well, actually....

In a recent interview (part of it is there), he was accused of being intentionally confrontational, and didn't deny it. Of course, that isn't to say he only created the thing, to piss off the parents of a dead girl. But why should he have to pretend that sort of shit doesn't happen?

Fuck it, I say. People need to stop putting dead people on pedestals. If he had of named her Kate or Lauren; it would have looked like he was skirting around the issue.

Good on him for taking the proverbial bull by the horns.
 
abc.net said:
Anger over Summer Heights High drug death joke

The ABC has apologised to the family of a girl who died after taking drugs at a Sydney music festival this year. The family was upset by this week's episode of the Summer Heights High comedy series.

Alison Catt says many people thought the program was referring to her daughter, Annabel, when it made light of a character with the same first name who died from a drug overdose.

In the episode of the show, created by and starring comedian Chris Lilley, the year 11 student's death from a drug overdose inspires flamboyant drama teacher Mr G to write a high school musical about the incident.

Ms Catt says the family spoke with the ABC's managing director, Mark Scott, this morning.

She says the family asked for an apology, but now understands filming of the program finished 11 days before Annabel's death in February.

In a statement, Mr Scott says the public broadcaster was aware of the "horrible coincidence" and should have contacted the Catt family before it broadcast the show.

"We apologise that this has caused further distress to the family," he said.

"Unfortunately, as the series was already completely filmed and the production closed down, it was impossible to alter the name of the character."

He says the ABC will run a statement ahead of the show's future episodes, saying the characters are fictional and not intended to resemble any particular person.

Lilley has previously said his characters are based on his observations of real people.

Summer Heights High sparked controversy even before it aired over a scene in the premiere episode in which Mr G touches a student with Downs syndrome inappropriately.

The show will run for another five weeks.
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abc
 
Newspapers digging up shit, drawing long bows and relying on tenuous links to masquarade as news........ welcome to Australian journalism.

I feel sad for the Catt family, as I always have for the media sluts that are the Wood family, they both lost a daughter. But just shut the fuck up people.

She says the family asked for an apology, but now understands filming of the program finished 11 days before Annabel's death in February.

In a statement, Mr Scott says the public broadcaster was aware of the "horrible coincidence" and should have contacted the Catt family before it broadcast the show.

"We apologise that this has caused further distress to the family," he said.

"Unfortunately, as the series was already completely filmed and the production closed down, it was impossible to alter the name of the character."
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Clearly its an unfortunate coincidence, but just whose interests are being served?

a. Anti drug lobbyists;
b. The ABC TV's PR department;
c. Australian Media; or
d. Al Qaeda
 
Yeah, the media truly is alive and healthy in Australia. Now that we've all seen there's no link between the two perhaps they could shut up.

Noones asking the family to watch the rest of the series and I found that song to be one of the most hilarious things I've ever seen.

This is the kind of furore I expect to happen in the States. It's a comedy show, and it's funny because it's fuckin' wrong...
 
Damn straight ^

another perspective - Its 2007, nothing else has worked, maybe politically incorrect shock humor can appeal to viewers across Australia and encourage thought provoking discussion on the perils of dangerous drugs and being a slut
 
VT: i love that you've used a film-still from "Friday". :D Nice work!

Interestingly, one of the first ecstacy-related deaths that was publicised was in Brisbane in 1993, a girl named Deborah Hangar (she was actually in my loose circle of friends at the time :\), and while for a shor time, her parents were lobbyists, they, in the end, just wanted to remember their daughter, and certainly haven't gone the way of Tony Woods. :|
 
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The Catt family have accepted ABC's apology

Summer Heights High episode upsets ecstasy death family
September 21, 2007 04:47pm

THE family of Annabel Catt has accepted an apology from the ABC about a TV comedy show which mocked the ecstasy death of a student, in a story paralleling the Sydney woman's fatal overdose.

Comedian Chris Lilley's hit show Summer Heights High, which is centred on a fictional school, on Wednesday night poked fun at the ecstasy death of a blonde, teenage student named "Annabel".

The program devastated Peter and Alison Catt, the parents of Annabel Catt, a 20-year-old Elanora Heights dance teacher who died in February after taking what she thought was ecstasy, but turned out to be the deadly drug PMA, at a dance party.

"We and many others immediately drew the conclusion the episode was making a comparison to our beloved daughter," they told The Manly Daily newspaper.

"This was done by naming the deceased in the show Annabel Dickson, describing her as blonde and beautiful and showing a picture that had a resemblance to our daughter."

In the program, the fictional Annabel's death is used as the subject of a school musical promoted as "One girl, one pill, one hell of a night".

It included songs with the lyrics, "She's a party girl with a bad habit for drugs ... when girls take drugs and then they die, who would have thought at Summer Heights High".

ABC managing director Mark Scott phoned the Catts at home today to apologise as well as sending them a written apology by courier.

However, the ABC will not be pulling the show, which has five weeks left to run, despite the continuing drug death storyline.

Mr Scott said filming of the show had finished almost two weeks before Ms Catt's death, which he described as a "horrible coincidence".

Mr Scott conceded the ABC should have forewarned the Catts of the program's distressing parallels to their daughter's death.

"The ABC and the producer sincerely apologise for this extremely unfortunate coincidence, and in hindsight, we feel we should have alerted the Catt family to the situation in advance of the broadcast," Mr Scott said.

"We apologise that this has caused further distress to the family."

Mr Scott said the production had already been closed by the time the ABC learned of Ms Catt's death, making it impossible to alter the name of the character.

Antony Catt, Annabel's elder brother, said the family had accepted the apology.

"(Mr Scott's) apologised for the distress and hurt that the screening of this week's episode of Summer Heights High has caused us and for the production team not warning us of the contents of the program," Mr Catt told ABC Online.

The ABC plans to show a statement before each of the remaining shows to make it clear there is no link between Annabel Catt and the fictional character Annabel Dickson.
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News.com.au

If you have nothing better to do, you can also check out the comments page for this topic on News.com.au for 325 responses from typical News Limited readers, plenty of whom love nothing more than to share their narrow view on drugs with the rest of the internets. :\ 8)
 
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