So I've checked out the Australian version of wilty and this got super long, so my take on it is under the cut!
I've been watching series 2 (because that's what ozmartian has) and after 5 episodes I can say that it's really good fun, even if it hasn't the same magic as the original. But it's not like the original wilty was fully formed by its first episodes, they took a few series until they had the fomat down cold and David, Lee and Rob had years to develop their dynamic (though David and Lee's antagonistic chemistry worked very well from the beginning).
The format is essentially the same, the only difference being that they have the format point Could it Be?, which is basically the same as The Ring of Truth, only that the facts read out aren't celebrity related - which was a good move in my opinion, I think this round works better than The Ring of Truth ever did.
My only exposure to Australian comedy so far was Taskmaster AU, so I didn't know any of the regulars (Frank Woodley & Charlie Pickering as the team captains, Chrissie Swan as host). Frank Woodley won me over pretty quickly, he's a good fit for the show because he knows how to tell a story, but Charlie Pickering remained quite colorless in the first episode. Which is not surprising, because as I later found out, he only joined the show in series 2, replacing Chris Taylor as team captain. But I have to give it to him, he won me over by the second epsiode. I really like it when his team is guessing, because he has a more aggressive questioning style, which I enjoy.
Unlike David and Lee, Frank and Charlie are not each others foils though. And I think therein lies the big difference between the formats: whereas in the original sometimes David and Lee's dynamic does the heavy lifting, in the AU version it's really all up to the format itself. I don't think that's necessarily bad, just different.
As for the panelists, it's the same as in the original, some are better than others. There's no Australian Bob Mortimer figure, but then again Bob Mortimer is unique <3 But there are some familiar faces from British comedy...
The only weakness of the format is Chrissi Swan. It's not like she is a bad host, but she's not a comedian, she's a presenter. This is the same gripe I have with Taskmaster NZ (and ironically the thing that makes Taskmaster AU superior in my eyes), I think a comedy show needs to be hosted by a comedian because so much banter gets lost otherwise.
I definitely want check out series 1, very curious about the dynamic between the original team captains. If you know where to find it, please let me know 🙏
