Yeah but why are we even mentioning it? They’re just fans of the show who were extras on the show. I’m sure that happens all the time with many shows.
Comedian Nicolette Minster played a parody character in episode 4, poking fun at Helen.
Nicolette also met Marg Downey during the filming.
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Is she referring to her playing Marg who parodied Jana? A similar storyline was done in Frontline with Brooke, did Jana interview Marg on ACA at some point?
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Exactly. She’s playing a Marg Downey type character in a sketch show poking fun at Helen.
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Michael Lucas posted on social media last night that the wedding of Brian and Cheryl was actually the final scene to be filmed for the series.
Brian’s father is played by Aussie TV legend, Mark Mitchell, Rhys Mitchell’s real dad. An icon to anyone who grew up with ‘The Comedy Company’ or ‘Round The Twist’. And yes, the groomsmen are Rhys’ real brothers. #TheNewsreader pic.twitter.com/s6L2upPTNO
— Michael Lucas (@MrMichaelLucas) March 2, 2025
Erin added Helen’s visit to Larundel Mental Asylum, and Brian and Cheryl’s wedding, were shot within one week in late March last year.
Just saw the finale tonight. That was an interesting way to wrap up the series.
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The storyline (and performance) around Helen’s mental health was exceptional again this series.
I wasn’t a fan of the final episode at all though. Dale’s breakdown felt a bit Burgundy and Bruce Almighty, which are comedy movies. So I felt that was a bit off in this show. I wasn’t satisfied with its ending either, largely because it felt all a bit rushed. So I was a bit disappointed.
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Yeah agree it felt very rushed. I wonder if there was a lot they had to cut out of the final episode for timing? It was like they were expecting to get another season and then had to cut it short, but from what I’ve read they always planned to end it here.
Watched it for the third time tonight and got teary yet again once “When Tomorrow Comes” started playing. I can see why it aimed to wrap up everyone’s arc in a neat little package but probably tried too hard to please everyone.
I thought it was of Evelyn’s best episodes/storylines. Marg did an amazing job with her portrayal of the character and possibly my favourite line of the whole series. “What a wasted life you’ve led.”
I didn’t hate Dale’s story but I didn’t buy the timeframe we were sold. If the on air incident and car crash happened in ep5 and it happened over more than five days it might have been more believable.
Lindsay finally getting his comeuppance was satisfying, but souveniring the portrait of the ‘old pinched sphincter’ and his final line being “go fuck yourself” stayed true to the character.
I did like that I felt that Helen was in a happy place and the final frame was her smiling.
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I watched the final tonight. And I can see the frustration with some about it being rushed. The timeframe with Dale’s on-air drunkenness and crash, to then being the lead reporter on the rival channel within days is far fetched. Should have seen more of his consequences.
I had an inkling about Lindsey finally getting the boot. And I liked every bit.
Still a brilliant show. Should be up for many awards in coming months.
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I agree the wrapping of Lindsay’s storyline was satisfying and Evelyn was also a brilliant character. But things at Public Eye felt very unfinished IMO. Weren’t they getting axed and with good ratings for that special episode, the boss gave them one more week but ‘that’s it’. What happened with that? A shame we didn’t see more of Noelene in her higher role either.
BTW, does anyone like Noelene and Rob together??
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Very great season overall - only a few minor things, and the fact that Lindsay didn’t have one last screaming tantrum so Jean could slap him for all the bullshit she’s had to put up with for years 
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Excellent cast and crew still showing that people still want to watch high quality local drama.
It’s been mentioned a number of times afterwards that’s the show’s ratings were increasing, and then in the final episode it was mentioned that the show was now number 1.
I agree
I would love if in maybe a few years or so, they could do some spin-off on how Dennis is running the newsroom, or another one set in the past with a younger Lindsay and Geoff.
Great team behind this for sure.
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I do know that the edit of the sixth episode of the second series originally came out as an hour-and-a-half, and Lucas said having to cut it down to an hour was one of the “agonies” of production up to that point. I do agree in that the overall pacing of the series did seem off; the series was rather slow for the first four or five episodes then suddenly picked up. That meant that, IMO, the first four episodes of the third series were a little deficient in terms of quality, as if they had decided Dale must fall apart in a spectacle whose aftermath must be shown as immediate to represent his racing mind during it? For instance, one interview I read saw Reid talk about how Dale was effectively getting into a viper’s den getting involved with Evelyn Walters, which in hindsight seems odd as they barely touched upon that aspect of the Dale-Kay storyline in the series. And as much as I enjoyed Lindsay receiving his comeuppance, it did feel a bit flawed in its execution, thrown in like they realised it needed to be done (and there wasn’t time in previous episodes to set it up with more of a tailend) and done in too much of a soap-like manner for my liking.
I haven’t really listened to or read much else from interviews etc. surrounding this series yet, so it is possible that they had wanted more time to explore that aspect of the series arc - i.e. that this episode may well have also come to a long edit like the final ep of s2 - but couldn’t. Something @nationalnews picked up on was how the ratings turnaround for Public Eye and the falling numbers for Six were barely mentioned in the episodes – and I noticed this is in spite of how they are key parts of the synopses on ABC iView! There was literally one mention by Helen at the start of episode 5, that they were number #1 in the ratings. Surely you’d expect at least a scene or line of dialogue somewhere in which Lindsay expresses his disapproval at the fact Six is now below her show, perhaps in the scene in which Lindsay encourages Dale to get his act together like in episode six.
Maybe such a line was cut for time, or perhaps it was felt too much ratings talk was too on-the-nose and such dialogue would come across clunky. Nonetheles, episode 6 gave us two clues that there has been cutting of potential pivotal lines at some points; for instance, the ep5 recap at the start included some dialogue between Lindsay and Dale in the scene in that episode in which Lindsay teases Dale in his office that was not present in the episode (Dale warns Lindsay that would be a disgrace if he managed to lose this third newsreader in a row). Furthermore, I had a good look at the prop newspaper later in ep6 which read that the scene of Dale’s on-air rant included him directly criticising the comedy show that mocked him - dialogue which wasn’t in the episode (so either they cut it from the show in post-production or it was never there in the first place and was just a curious addition to the prop). Curious.
While Lindsay finally got what he deserved in episode 6, it was disappointing that it happened after Dale’s on-screen meltdown and Evelyn and Kay finally took action. I felt that Lindsay interfered too much in Dale’s personal life because the news boss was jealous of Dale’s success (winning the Gold Logie for example).
I was surprised to see Paul Stricker joining Public Eye as a producer in episode 6 as Dennis and Dale had been looking for Paul to take over from Lindsay. The series finished with Dennis becoming the news director, but no replacements announced for Dale.
Helen and Bill would have had a long-running working partnership at Public Eye but Bill ruined it by showing his love towards Helen.
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In this day and age I’m suprised they didn’t do an extended cut for iview if that is indeed the case
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I also struggle to understand why they couldn’t have given it an extended series finale on linear TV anyway.
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Dennis wasn’t looking for Paul to take over from Lindsay - when Dennis found out that Dale was going to recommend Paul to take over, rather than recommend him, he then went to Lindsay and told him what Dale was up to.
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Season 2 began screening on Franco-German channel Arte last Friday (March 14).
📌 Sur le site d'@ARTEfr du 14.03 au 27.06 : la saison 2 de la #série "The Newsreader" avec Anna Torv et Sam Reid, deux stars du petit écran aux prises avec le traitement de l'actualité dans l'Australie des années 80.
— ARTE pro (@ARTEpro) March 12, 2025
Le CP ➡ https://t.co/zxtFM8cwxS pic.twitter.com/YhirIrYzaw
(Arte’s press release is in French)