The Strange Calls: First Call
June 17, 2016 8:43 AM - Season 1, Episode 1 - Subscribe
A young constable arrives to take the night shift in Coolum Beach, an ordinary Australian town . . . until the sun goes down.
Coolum Beach is an ordinary Australian town ... until the sun goes down. Toby Banks is transferred there to take over the night shift, where his job is to answer calls from the residents who apparently have some special problems at night. His girlfriend dumps him; his office is a beat-up trailer; and his side-kick is an elderly gentleman who favors a Dungeons-and-Dragons style board game. There's a break-in at Frequent Fryers Chicken Shop and no money has been taken, only chicken.
It can get pretty weird around Coolum Beach when the sun goes down.
Coolum Beach is an ordinary Australian town ... until the sun goes down. Toby Banks is transferred there to take over the night shift, where his job is to answer calls from the residents who apparently have some special problems at night. His girlfriend dumps him; his office is a beat-up trailer; and his side-kick is an elderly gentleman who favors a Dungeons-and-Dragons style board game. There's a break-in at Frequent Fryers Chicken Shop and no money has been taken, only chicken.
It can get pretty weird around Coolum Beach when the sun goes down.
This was just added to Netflix in Canada. According to the ABC website for this show there was only one season of 6 episodes. Pity!
I've seen online rumours that NBC was considering doing an American remake.
posted by fimbulvetr at 10:48 AM on June 17, 2016
I've seen online rumours that NBC was considering doing an American remake.
posted by fimbulvetr at 10:48 AM on June 17, 2016
Weirdly, it's also on Netflix in the U.S.
Watched the first one last night. Pretty cute, and don't as obviously comedy or drama or dramedy as I think the U.S. equivalent would/will be.
posted by Etrigan at 3:40 AM on June 19, 2016
Watched the first one last night. Pretty cute, and don't as obviously comedy or drama or dramedy as I think the U.S. equivalent would/will be.
posted by Etrigan at 3:40 AM on June 19, 2016
I grew up in the area, spent many a Christmas at a beach house at Coolum, and I have a real soft spot for this show. Unlike most Australian tv - which is usually shit, and drowns under parochial winky bullshit - this show just kinda went with it off into a parallel universe.
The Coolum it inhabits is really the Coolum of yesterday, caravan parks replaced by million dollar subdivisions - perhaps that's why I liked it so much. It reminded me of the Sunshine Coast I grew up with, not the sprawling, debt-fuelled conurbation that inhabits that space now.
posted by smoke at 1:44 AM on June 20, 2016
The Coolum it inhabits is really the Coolum of yesterday, caravan parks replaced by million dollar subdivisions - perhaps that's why I liked it so much. It reminded me of the Sunshine Coast I grew up with, not the sprawling, debt-fuelled conurbation that inhabits that space now.
posted by smoke at 1:44 AM on June 20, 2016
Saw this pop up on Netflix and watched the first couple of episodes. If I have a complaint, it's that people react awfully negatively to Toby for him being brand new to town. Like they're not standoffish; they're offensively intimate in the way of small towns with their well-known residents. It seems like it would have worked just as well plotwise to have Toby be from Coolum and just never have encountered the night shift stuff before than to have everyone treat him like an annoying relative despite never having met him before.
Still, I quite enjoyed the first two and am looking forward to the other four. I enjoy narratives that just take their dumb premise and keep walking it until it works.
posted by Scattercat at 12:37 AM on June 23, 2016
Still, I quite enjoyed the first two and am looking forward to the other four. I enjoy narratives that just take their dumb premise and keep walking it until it works.
posted by Scattercat at 12:37 AM on June 23, 2016
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posted by Etrigan at 10:37 AM on June 17, 2016