Gogglebox. Gogglebox. The TV show that utterly rocks.

A TV Show about people watching TV shows?

“AS IF that will even be good” I said.

“As if anything will drag me from the brave and important documentaries on our national broadcaster” I said, hoping to impress my workmates.

Now, this be me. Eating ALL the pie that is humble.

Because Gogglebox is the breakout show of 2015.  Run, don’t walk.  RUN to your couch and watch it tonight. (Grab a snack on the way).

It’s one of the best shows on TV at the moment. And even the harshest critics, even the most skeptical amongst us, are watching it and thinking “Holy moley. This is great.”

Simply put, it is a show about everyday Australian families, friends and couples watching and talking about TV.

(Stick with me. Like I said, on paper it sounds average.  Mindless even).

But what happens is astonishing.  It totally flips the nature of watching TV. The focus is no longer about bitching couples looking for five minutes of fame on MKR.  It’s no longer about those daggy families trying to win Family Feud. The show is now us.  We are watching us on the couch. And it’s glorious. These people drinking wine on the couch, eating icecream in the Lay-Z-Boy and talking shit with their family/partner/bestie? THAT IS US.

This show takes the power and focus away from over-produced reality shows and puts it squarely back on everyday people and their observations.

The casting of this show has been a masterstroke. The gay couple Wayne and Tom with the dog on the couch and a cocktail in hand. The posh indigenous art dealers Mick and Di, who sit rod-straight, trying to understand Fashion Police from their penthouse in Sydney. The Greek besties, Faye and Anastasia, who tell it like it is through a mouthful of ice cream.

There are the best girl-friends that watch with the dog on their lap and a bag of chips, and the daggy dad that looks like he’s walked straight out of the office and flopped on the couch with the family. You will LOVE them. All of them. Because their honesty, their humanity, the way they interact with each other and the uncensored observations that spring forth are magic.

It’s the greatest insight into the human condition that you can see in half an hour.

It’s other strength, apart from the casting, is that our Gogglers watch a huge variety of programs.  The temptation would be, of course, for a network that’s airing the show to get the Gogglers to review only the programs on that network. The other temptation would be for the Gogglers to stick to what they know and usually watch.  But that’s entirely not the case. Yes, there is the odd blockbuster reality show, and the wonderful pithy observations that come with it, but our Gogglers also watch David Attenborough documentaries, health shows, game shows, fashion police.

It’s not just bitchy comments over cups of tea and tim tams. There are tears with the beers too. These Gogglers will take you on a journey like no reality TV contestant could ever articulate.

There’s just nothing else like it. It’s TV eating itself. It’s TV inception. It’s Meta as. And it captures the pulse of a nation in a way that nothing else does.

I know I probably haven’t convinced you.  Words don’t do it justice.  All that’s left is for you to watch yourself.

Gogglebox has been called “a game changer”.  That’s precisely what it is. Come play.

Gogglebox airs on LifeStyle Channel on Wednesday nights and on Channel Ten on Thursday nights. And no, this is not a sponsored post.