Frontline (Australian TV series)

Frontline (1994–1997) was an Australian comedy television series which satirised Australian television current affairs programs and reporting. It ran for three series of 13 half-hour episodes and was broadcast on ABC TV in 1994, 1995 and 1997.

The Souffle Rises [1.1]

 * Brian Thompson: Put Ray Martin up against a celebrity and it rates. God knows why, maybe opposites attract.




 * Geoffrey Salter: You're tough! You're... Remember that time you asked Imran Khan about his new lover? Man, nobody would have done that!
 * Mike Moore: Yeah, that was off-air.
 * Geoff: ...yeah! But it still took guts, he's a big man.




 * Domenica Baroni: I mean, that's why people like you Mike, you're nice. My mum likes you.
 * Mike: I didn't know she watched.
 * Domenica: She doesn't, but from what I tell her, she thinks you're really nice.

The Desert Angel [1.2]

 * [At the end of an interview.]
 * Brooke Vandenberg: Thanks a lot for that, Pat, that was terrific.
 * Pat Cash: Just one thing, why is everyone laughing? Is it something I said? Everyone's been giggling the whole time.
 * Brooke: There's rumour going around that you and I slept together.
 * Pat Cash: You're kidding, that's unbelievable. We've never even met before today. I just... who would start stuff like that?
 * Brooke: I did.

The Siege [1.5]

 * Kate Preston: Brian, we're still struggling to find a psychologist specialising in siege-related traumas.
 * Brian: Well, we need someone.
 * Kate: Well, we have got a psychology, uh, student...
 * Brian: Nah.
 * Kate: Well, he's mature age. He's got a beard.
 * Brian: Alright. We'll slap him up in front of a bookcase.




 * Stu: What are you doing, mate?
 * Martin Di Stasio: Crouching.
 * Stu: What for?
 * Marty: 'Cause it makes it look like I'm in danger.
 * Stu: Mate, the gunman's five kilometres away.
 * Marty: Shut up. It's dark, who's gonna bloody know?

Playing the Ego Card [1.6]
[Interviewing a student from his former school.]
 * Mike: And say hello to Father Stephenson for me.
 * Student: Uhh, he's dead.
 * Mike: Oh that's terrible. Uh, well, tell him I'm sorry to hear that.




 * Farmer: Mike Moore has this network's support right up until the day we sack him.




 * Mike: Don't underestimate our viewers Brian.
 * Brian: I've built a career on it, mate.

The Invisible Man [1.9]

 * Emma Ward: Marty, can you imagine how humiliating it would be for a woman to know that her breasts have been seen by half the country?
 * Marty: [turns to Brooke] What's it like, Brooke?

Add Sex and Stir [1.10]

 * [After the interviewee, Allison, has gone.]
 * Brooke: I might just re-ask one of the questions. When I said to her, "How many team members had it in for her", what was her answer?
 * Stu: "Most of them."
 * Brooke: I might just change that question slightly.
 * [Cut to the edited, broadcast interview.]
 * Brooke: Allison, how many girls on the team are gay?
 * Allison: Um, most of them.

Smaller Fish to Fry [1.11]

 * Brian: Great. We get a thirteen-year-old, wire him up with a camera and get someone to sell him smokes.
 * Emma: That's entrapment.
 * Brian: No, it's current affairs.




 * Brian: Our audience simply doesn’t have the concentration span.
 * Mike: [plays distractedly with a piece of stationary]
 * Brian: Mike?
 * Mike: [looking up] Sorry.
 * Brian: We've got three minutes to do a story. Five if it involves nudity.



This Night of Nights [1.13]

 * Brian: [on the Logie Awards] That's the trouble with these shows. You spend all night trying to remember everybody’s name.
 * Marty: Simple solution – you call everyone "mate". [Everybody laughs and agrees.] Everyone does it, can't remember your name, see ya – maaaaate.




 * Mike: [spotting Bert Newton in a shopping centre] Bert! Bert.
 * Bert Newton: Oh, hi.
 * Mike: How's it going?
 * Bert Newton: Just great, thanks.
 * Mike: Looking forward to the Logies?
 * Bert Newton: Oh, certainly am, yeah.
 * Mike: Well, I've just been doing some shopping for it.
 * Bert Newton: Yeah.
 * Mike: Well, I better get going – lovely to see you Bert.
 * Bert Newton: Yeah, good to see you... mate.




 * Domenica: [picking a Logie award up off the office table] Hey, I thought we didn’t win a Logie?
 * Marty: Oh, Christ! [remembering] I nicked it off the 4 Corners table. Ollie's gonna kill me.
 * Brooke: Marty!
 * Marty: Negus made me do it!

One Big Family [2.1]

 * [The network is filming a new commercial to promote its "One Big Family" tagline.]
 * Jan Whelan: We're shooting it in a way that no one need be within a 5 kilometre radius of each other.
 * Emma: Why?
 * Jan: Oh, this is television darling, everyone hates everybody else, that's why we spend so much time promoting how well we all get on... One Big Family, darling!




 * Brooke: [studying the script for the commercial] Jan, it says here I've gotta do a high-five with the weatherman.
 * Jan: Brooke, no one's doing a high-five with anyone, darling. It'll just appear that way.
 * Brooke: Good, 'cause I'm not touching him.




 * Emma: Hello, Mrs Rosen, thanks for coming in so early. Um, have you been to make up?
 * Mrs Rosen: Make up is the devil's work. Satan, his face was painted white to hide the darkness of his soul.
 * Emma: Right. No make up.

Heroes and Villains [2.3]

 * Domenica: You want to hear this letter?
 * Mike: Yeah, yeah.
 * Domenica: "Dear editor, as a big fan of Frontline and in particular Mike Moore, I'm glad he's back hosting the show. Brooke Vandenberg did a good job, but let's face it – she's no match for Mike."
 * Mike: Great. That's fantastic.
 * Domenica: You want me to mail it today?
 * Mike: Yeah, oh, and Dom...
 * Domenica: Use a fake name.
 * Mike: Yeah.

The Art of the Interview [3.9]

 * Prowsie: Sunday Forum's got three problems. One, it was run by a soft-cock. Two, it's presented by a soft-cock. Three, it features soft-cock and while we're at it four - the opening titles. I mean what's that all that about? Chess pieces? I mean chess is a game-
 * Steve Barrett: For soft-cocks.
 * Prowsie: Right, remove the soft-cock element.


 * Prowsie: Why do people watch interviews?
 * Steve Barrett: Uhm, I dunno, uhh for information?
 * Prowsie: Entertainment. We've turned it into a sport - who wins, who loses. It's point scoring.


 * Mike: [talking to himself] Now what did I come up here for? [looks at video tapes in hand] What are these?...let me retrace my steps...I was down at the canteen [to Prowsie] stay there cos....now I walk back in - Oh yeah, these are for you [Puts video tapes on Prowsie's table and leaves the office]
 * Prowsie: Soft-cock.

Cast

 * Rob Sitch - Mike Moore
 * Jane Kennedy - Brooke Vandenberg
 * Tiriel Mora - Martin Di Stasio
 * Alison Whyte - Emma Ward
 * Bruno Lawrence - Brian Thompson
 * Kevin J. Wilson - Sam Murphy
 * Steve Bisley - Graeme Prowse
 * Anita Cerdic - Domenica Baroni
 * Santo Cilauro - Geoffrey Salter