THE MOVIE

CNNNN: Chaser Non-Stop News Network*, where there is no such thing as a slow news day. The Chaser News Team report on the top news stories as they happen, and they’re not afraid to tackle the big issues. During the advertisement breaks you can also get a taste of some of the other great programs broadcast on the Chaser Cable service including A Chaser Affair, Rita and Lin the hyper twins and Lameass.

This DVD features five humorous episodes from this Logie award winning comedy series that stars Charles Firth, Andrew Hansen, Dominic Knight, Chas Licciardello, Julian Morrow, Craig Reucassel and Chris Taylor. Interestingly, Andrew Denton served as one of the executive producers and script editor for this series.

You really need to watch this CNNNN twice, once for the actual news stories and then again so you can read all of the humorous news items that travel across the bottom of the screen throughout the news broadcast.

* Not affiliated with any other news network with fewer N’s.

Episode 1 - Lunchgate
The CNNNN team interview Prime Minister John Howard to get his views on APEC fashions. However, they then cut to a chase saga as it unfolds live on air, Dwight Maloney has left home without his lunch and police are chasing after him so he doesn’t get to work and discover he has nothing to eat.

Episode 2 - Cadman for PM
The news bulletin starts with a minute’s silence to remember the victims of 9/11, but someone has forgotten to turn off their mobile phone. However, breaking news is the shock leadership challenge by Alan Cadman. The CNNNN team interview prominent politicians including Tony Abbott and Bronwyn Bishop to see if they’re Cadman supporters.

Episode 3 - Shush for Bush
George W Bush is coming to Australia for 24 hours to have a sleep. The CNNNN team think its crucial that he gets his sleep so they’re asking viewers to be as quiet as possible, but only after you’ve welcomed him with the big ‘W’. The CNNNN team have also introduced newsbar quick for those people who want their news in a hurry.

Episode 4 - Animal Farm
CNNNN, now with 20% more chimp stories! Today’s top story centres around the Chaser Cable service reality TV show, Animal Farm, which has proven to be a ratings winner. Twelve contestants are forced to live like animals, locked up in a pen they must eat all meals from a trough. One contestant has already died, but his corpse is more popular than ever.

Episode 5 - Packer Health Crisis
Australia’s richest man, Kerry Packer, has been rushed to hospital just an hour ago and the CNNNN team have lawyers present to advise them what they can and can’t say. They hit the street to see what organs ordinary Australian’s are willing to donate. This final episode also looks at some of the extra features on the CNNNN DVD.

THE TRANSFER

Video:

CNNN: Chaser Non-Stop News Network is presented in an aspect ratio of 1.85:1 widescreen and it is 16:9 enhanced. The visual transfer is excellent, especially the scenes in the news room, the lighting is perfect and the level of detail is great. Similarly, the on-location footage (e.g. when the guys go and harass the politicians) also looks really good. Colours are nice and bright and flesh tones are realistic in appearance. There is not a skerrick of film grain to be seen and I couldn’t find any MPEG artefacts or aliasing either. This is a dual layer (DVD9) disc but the layer change was not evident.

Audio:

CNNN: Chaser Non-Stop News Network features being Dolby Digital 2.0. The audio transfer on this DVD is really good. Dialogue is clearly audible throughout all five episodes and there were no audio synch problems. Thanks to the CNNNN band there is also some rather interesting music to be heard. Unfortunately there are no subtitles on this DVD.

THE EXTRAS

This DVD comes with a number of bonus advertisements for Fungry’s Family Restaurants, Esteem Cosmetics, Bog’s Beer, A Chaser Affair and CMX News Slam. There are also more of those humorous behind the scenes interviews with the various CNNNN anchormen, excerpts from The Firth Factor, Firth and Friends, Chaser on the Streets of America and Golden Moments of Newstainment (including the Dow Jones Dancers, Blankety News Blanks and News Bingo). All of this bonus material is presented in 1.85:1 widescreen with Dolby Digital 2.0 channel sound. Total running time is approximately 50 minutes.

SUMMARY

CNNNN: Chaser Non-Stop News Network is the ABC’s Logie award winning comedy series starring Charles Firth, Andrew Hansen, Dominic Knight, Chas Licciardello, Julian Morrow, Craig Reucassel and Chris Taylor. This DVD features five episodes from the series along with a number of special features. The visual and audio transfer are also very good.