Some TV shows begin so frustratingly, so obviously setting off on the wrong foot, that I feel inclined to press pause, look towards the heavens and cry out “why, whhhyy, WHHHYYYY?” The perils of lazy voiceovers and the temptation for screenwriters to tell rather than show are familiar topics for critics and teachers to kvetch about. And yet kvetch I will, given the slab of misty-eyed narration that kicks off Stan’s new series Year Of: a well-acted but unfocused and only intermittently interesting portrait of young Sydneysiders attending the fictitious Jubilee high.
This same school is featured in the beloved series Bump, making Year Of a rare Australian spin-off series. The first episode starts with shots of Sydney’s city centre at night, capturing a busy intersection, a food delivery person on a bike, a train whizzing by and buildings including the Sydney Tower Eye reaching into the skyline.
