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The Games
1998 - 2000 7.0 (2 votes) 2 Seasons
Official Website
Genres
Comedy
Networks
ABC TV

The Games

Overview

The Games was an Australian mockumentary television series about the 2000 Summer Olympics in Sydney. The series was originally broadcast on the ABC and had two seasons of 13 episodes each, the first in 1998 and the second in 2000. 'The Games' starred satirists John Clarke and Bryan Dawe along with Australian comedian Gina Riley and actor Nicholas Bell. It was written by John Clarke and Ross Stevenson. The series centred on the Sydney Organising Committee for the Olympic Games and satirised corruption and cronyism in the Olympic movement, bureaucratic ineptness in the New South Wales public service, and unethical behaviour within politics and the media. An unusual feature of the show was that the characters shared the same name as the actors who played them, to enhance the illusion of a documentary on the Sydney Games.

Top Cast

Seasons

Season 1 poster
Season 1 (1998)

No overview available.

13 episodes

Episodes
Episode 1: The Press Conference
1998-08-17

Barrie Cassidy analyses John, Bryan and Gina's performance at their recent press conference.

Runtime: 26 min
Episode 2: Athletics Schedule
1998-08-24

Just when the administration and logistics team have got things running smoothly, sport rears its ugly head. John, Bryan and Gina go through the steps of trying to organise athletics for the games.

Runtime: 26 min
Episode 3: Funding
1998-08-31

Funding for the games becomes a problem. John and Gina review a video designed to promote Sydney as an easy town to get around in, while Bryan meets with a mysterious potential corporate sponsor.

Runtime: 25 min
Episode 4: Robbo and the 100 Metres
1998-09-07

Jasmine presents some marketing ideas to clear out some ""dead wood"", Robbo holds a press conference on the environmental impact of the Games, and John and Bryan confront the contractor who built a 100 Metre track that doesn't quite measure up.

Runtime: 26 min
Episode 5: Past Sports Stars and Gender
1998-09-14

The team wrestle with the Asian meltdown, the GST, an athlete who has had a sex-change and a troublesome seating plan. Gina is placed on special phone duties.

Runtime: 26 min
Episode 6: Millennium Bug
1998-09-21

Gina's voice recognition software is causing difficulties and John is having trouble with technology. The millennium bug looks like it might threaten the games. A live webchat doesn't quite go to plan.

Runtime: 27 min
Episode 7: Dead Man
1998-09-28

The swimming schedule has been disastrously modified at the last minute. Meanwhile, Gina and John are asked to babysit an IOC member who has turned up dead the day before a major Dinner, while Bryan and Jasmine go to meet President Mandela and Princess Margaret at the airport.

Runtime: 27 min
Episode 8: Rural and Environment
1998-10-05

John attempts to explain the swimming schedule to the camera before going on Lateline to face the Spanish Athletics Association coordinator's concerns about the ozone hole over Australia. Meanwhile, Gina and Bryan meet with the Federation of Rural Progress delegation's proposal for an Opening Ceremony program which has already been awarded to the Germans.

Runtime: 27 min
Episode 9: J'Accuse
1998-10-12

Gina tries to explain the disastrous effect a 100% effective anti-doping system would have on athletic attendance at the Games, while Bryan discovers that the Lacrosse facility which Juan Antonio Samaranch is set to tour next week has not, in fact, been built. Meanwhile, John attempts to quell a particularly negative (and uncomfortably accurate) anti-Olympics reporter.

Runtime: 28 min
Episode 10: A Management Course
1998-10-19

John, Bryan, and Gina are sent to a training exercise at the Grand Vistas Conference Centre in the Blue Mountains where they are asked to solve hypothetical problems they might encounter during the Games. John utilises the "Athens Option" to deal with a petition asking that the gold medals be made of gold. The time has come to deal with the fact that no venue has been organised for fencing.

Runtime: 28 min
Episode 11: A Conflict of Interest
1998-10-26

John tries to keep a Sydney businessman from gaining a seat on SOCOG. Plans to sell Games venues to American interests trouble the crew. Gina suffers the aftereffects of conducting yet another tour for visiting dignitaries. The documentary film crew visits John at home on a Sunday morning.

Runtime: 27 min
Episode 12: Horse and Dream Team
1998-11-02

John plays hardball with the agent representing the American basketball team when the issue of special treatment is put forth. A "Civility Awareness" programme is proposed for the city's service industry to help make visiting Americans feel more at home.

Runtime: 27 min
Episode 13: Transport!
1998-11-09

John discovers that the aquatic center's diving pool has been built in the wrong place, while Gina does some digging into the new transport agency Nicholas and the Minister are pushing for and Bryan helps develop a brilliant new invention.

Runtime: 27 min
Season 2 poster
Season 2 (2000)

No overview available.

13 episodes

Episodes
Episode 1: In the Public Interest
2000-06-19

John becomes the target of a TV documentary. He becomes a prisoner in his own house, after accusations of corruption are made by a former college.

Runtime: 26 min
Episode 2: Talking to the Troops
2000-06-26

The organisers address the troops to bolster morale. However the team find themselves facing a hostile and unhappy group of workers. As John, Bryan and Gina try to duck and weave the curve balls thrown their way, John reveals his ten-point plan that will ensure a smooth Olympic Games for everyone.

Runtime: 26 min
Episode 3: Reconciliation
2000-07-03

The team have to deal with a aboriginal land claim and a demand by a US senator for a formal apology by the P.M.

Runtime: 28 min
Episode 4: IOC Man
2000-07-10

The team look after an IOC man from the States. Many hundreds of thousands of internationals guests will be here with us as we celebrate the games of the (whatever) Olympiad of the Modern Era. This is the story of just one of them, and perhaps one or two others.

Runtime: 28 min
Episode 5: Inquiry
2000-07-17

Each member of the Games team must face an inquiry into their practices. The system of cheques and balances which operates in an organisation of this kind ensures that the public gets the very best service, open access to decision making and full recourse to the best legal system available anywhere in the world.

Runtime: 27 min
Episode 6: Pommy Visitor
2000-07-24

A visitor from the UK arrives from the London 2012 bid committee and highlights some airport shortcomings. Nicholas tries to sell all the furniture.

Runtime: 28 min
Episode 7: Immigration
2000-07-31

Any potential "Aussie Gold Rush" at these Olympics can be expected to profit, as gold rushes in Australia have done in earlier days, from immigration. Freedom-loving peoples everywhere who yearn to start a new life in this beautiful country, should apply directly to the Minister for Sport, stating their name, event and shirt-size. The Games team must deal with the lies coming out of the Minister's office regarding immigration.

Runtime: 28 min
Episode 8: Job Search
2000-08-07

In the uncertain world of international logistics and sports management, prospects for the future must be considered carefully. Meanwhile, at sea, the piranha play happily in the afternoon sun. The Games team consider what the future holds after The Games.

Runtime: 27 min
Episode 9: Strike
2000-08-14

The Olympics offer Australia an opportunity not just to showcase our wonderful country and a range of endangered marsupials. The event will also bring to this country an international Cultural Festival featuring the very best in the visual arts, music and dance. There will also be some sport. The Games team must try to avoid major industrial action which could ruin the impending Olympics.

Runtime: 28 min
Episode 10: Solar
2000-08-21

Head of Administration and Logistics, John Clarke, and his colleagues, Bryan Dawe, Head of Accounts, Budgeting and Finance, and Gina Riley, Marketing and Liaison Manager, are sizzling in the heat of the final countdown to the Opening Ceremony. As the Games draw closer, the Games team try to devise ways of supplementing their dwindling revenue.

Runtime: 28 min
Episode 11: Sponsorship and Media Discontent
2000-08-28

Would the person who borrowed the synopsis for this episode, please return it to the office immediately. To have this sort of thing happening at this stage is just an embarrassment. The whole world is watching and this is precisely the sort of problem we were trying to avoid. Grow up.

Runtime: 28 min
Episode 12: Four Corners
2000-09-04

The ABC's Four Corners is planning an expos on the games. John and Bryan have been secretly recorded advocating that the rich pay more taxes. A much bigger story overtakes the expos and leaves Nicholas with egg on his face.

Runtime: 28 min
Episode 13: The End
2000-09-11

The games team cope with the hype as the opening ceremony draws near, but there is a problem with the closing ceremony.

Runtime: 27 min

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