The Games was an Australian mockumentary TV series about the run-up to the Sydney Olympics in 2000. Mockumentary (portmanteau of mock documentary. ... A television program is the content of television broadcasting. ... The Games of the XXVII Olympiad were held in 2000 in Sydney, Australia. ... 2000 is a leap year starting on Saturday of the Gregorian calendar. ...

The show was broadcast on the ABC and starred noted satirists John Clarke and Bryan Dawe along with Australian comedienne Gina Riley, and was written by John Clarke and Ross Stevenson. It centred around the Sydney Organising Committee for the Olympic Games (SOCOG), and satirised corruption and cronyism in the Olympic movement, bureaucratism within the Australian Public Service, and unethical behaviour within politics and the media. The show is unusual in that all characters were given the same name as the actors who played them, a stylistic decision to enhance the illusion that it is a documentary on the Sydney Games. The ABC or Australian Broadcasting Corporation is the national, Australia. ... John Morrison Clarke (born July 29, 1948) is a comedian and writer. ... Bryan John Dawe is an Australian comedian and satirist. ... A comedian (also comedienne, female) is a person who attempts to make people laugh through a variety of methods, normally through joke telling. ... Riley (right) with Kath & Kim co-star, Jane Turner. ... This is a disambiguation page — a navigational aid which lists other pages that might otherwise share the same title. ... Bureaucracy is a sociological concept of government and its institutions as an organizational structure characterized by regularized procedure, division of responsibility, hierarchy, and impersonal relationships. ...

John Clarke plays John Clarke, "Olympic Supremo" and head of the "liason and logistics team", an undefined but important subsection of SOCOG. Clarke was apparently a former Olympic champion, but ducked the question whenever asked about which event he competed in. Gina Riley plays Gina Riley, the harrassed head of marketing for the team, and Bryan Dawe is Bryan Dawe, the team's pessimistic head of accounting. The series also featured actor Nicholas Bell, who played the conniving Secretary to the Minister for the Olympics, a foil of sorts for Clarke's character. Pessimism, generally, describes a belief that things are bad, and tend to become worse; or that looks to the eventual triumph of evil over good; it contrasts with optimism, the contrary belief in the goodness and betterment of things generally. ...

The series had two seasons of 13 episodes, the first in 1998 and the second in 2000, with the final episode broadcast just days before the Opening Ceremony of the real games. In this episode, the three stars and Bell were forced to stand in for The Seekers at the opening ceremony rehearsal to sing "The Carnival is Over". The Seekers did indeed perform this song, but at the Closing Ceremony of the Paralympics some weeks later. 1998 is a common year starting on Thursday of the Gregorian calendar, and was designated the International Year of the Ocean. ... 2000 is a leap year starting on Saturday of the Gregorian calendar. ... The Seekers were a group of Australian folk-influenced popular musicians which was formed in Melbourne in 1963. ... Silver 2004 The Paralympic Games are an official equivalent of the Olympics for athletes with physical disabilities. ...

A cavalcade of Australian celebrities appeared on the show, including John Farnham, Dave Graney, Frank Woodley, Barrie Cassidy, Maxine McKew and a number of others. John Peter Farnham (born July 1, 1949), is an Australian pop singer. ... Frank Woodley is an Australian comedian, usually alongside Colin Lane, forming the comedic duo, Lano and Woodley. ...

In one celebrated appearance, the actor John Howard appeared on a video message intended for overseas release and read an apology to Aboriginal people for crimes committed against them by the Australian government. In the episode in question, an Aboriginal group threatened to disrupt the Games unless they were given a public apology by the actor's namesake, the Prime Minister of Australia. The message was accompanied by John Clarke saying "that's not the Prime Minister," to which Gina Riley replied, "he never said he was. He said he was John Howard." The confusion between the two men has become a frequent joke in Australia, exploited by the politically liberal actor. John Howard (born October 22, 1952) is an Australian stage and screen actor. ... Stolen Generation is the term commonly used to mean the Australian Aboriginal children who were removed from their families by Australian government agencies and church missions between approximately 1900 and 1972. ... Australian Aborigines are the main indigenous people of Australia. ... John Howard John Winston Howard (born July 26, 1939), is an Australian politician and the 25th Prime Minister of Australia, coming to office on March 11, 1996 and winning re-election in 1998, 2001 and 2004. ...

External links

• 'The Games' Official Site
• IMDb entry for 'The Games'
• 'The Games' in the Australian Televison Information Archive