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AbstractHistoryArchive Description
'When Kostas Stephanidis came to this country 23 years ago with 20 pounds in his pocket, one suitcase and his father's pants, he opened a small Greek café, Acropolis, where old men played cards and drank coffee. Now he has decided to retreat to an idyllic lifestyle in the Greek islands, leaving his one and only son, Jim, to uphold the café and family tradition. After careful thought, however, rather than entrust his beloved Acropolis café to his only son, Jim, Kostas insists on putting someone more sensible in charge. Jim's pal, Ricky, he has brains - he's been a college student! Amid cultures clashing - and crockery smashing - Jim and Ricky generate riches all right. But strictly in the form of laughs. The key writers of "Acropolis Now" are also in the cast. Nick Giannopolis, George Kapiniaris and Simon Palomares. The unique trio who were responsible for having staged Australia's longest running stage comedy, "Wogs Out Of Work".'
Source: http://www.australiantelevision.net/acropolis_now/index.html Sighted 04/07/12
Notes
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Acropolis Now helped popularise the term 'skippy' or 'skip' to refer to people of Anglo-Australian descent. The term became partiuclarly popular within the Mediterranean/Australian community, and especially in Melbourne.
Publication Details of Only Known VersionEarliest 2 Known Versions of
Works about this Work
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Why Aren’t Greeks Cool Anymore?
2019
single work
column
— Appears in: Neos Kosmos , July 2019;'During the 90’s and Noughties Greeks were everywhere in Australia. The success of comedy productions ‘Wogs out of Work’ and ‘Acropolis Now’ not only broke audience records for both stage and screen but took the Greek Australian experience mainstream. The ‘Heartbreak Kid’, ‘Head On’ and TV show ‘The Slap’ further explored the second generation in adapting to an ever changing culture. But in recent times there has been a distinct lack of Greek Australian stories and characters on TV and film screens.' (Introduction)
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Whatever Happened to Multiculturalism? Here Come the Habibs!, Race, Identity and Representation
2017
single work
criticism
— Appears in: Continuum : Journal of Media & Cultural Studies , vol. 31 no. 2 2017; (p. 242-256) 'In February 2016 Channel Nine broadcast six episodes of Here Come the Habibs!. The show was a comedy about a Lebanese-Australian family who win 22 million dollars in the lottery and move from working-class Lakemba to upper-class Vaucluse where they buy a house next to the very white O’Neills. The show invokes key tropes of official multiculturalism most importantly race and identity. At the same time, official multiculturalism has been in decline in Australia since the advent of John Howard’s conservative prime ministership in 1996. Official multiculturalism focused on ethnic groups and their cultures. It has been supplanted by the ideas of neoliberalism which is concerned above all with individuals and the market. In this article I argue that Here Come the Habibs! is, in the end, nostalgic for a multiculturalism which is no longer privileged in Australia. The dynamics of the tension between the Habibs and O’Neills has been displaced, as is signalled in the final episode of the show, by the entry into Australia of a mobile, cosmopolitan elite whose worth is measured not in their culture but in what they can economically contribute to the country.' -
Wog
2010
single work
column
— Appears in: Ozwords , April vol. 19 no. 1 2010; (p. 1-3)
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Wog
2010
single work
column
— Appears in: Ozwords , April vol. 19 no. 1 2010; (p. 1-3) -
Whatever Happened to Multiculturalism? Here Come the Habibs!, Race, Identity and Representation
2017
single work
criticism
— Appears in: Continuum : Journal of Media & Cultural Studies , vol. 31 no. 2 2017; (p. 242-256) 'In February 2016 Channel Nine broadcast six episodes of Here Come the Habibs!. The show was a comedy about a Lebanese-Australian family who win 22 million dollars in the lottery and move from working-class Lakemba to upper-class Vaucluse where they buy a house next to the very white O’Neills. The show invokes key tropes of official multiculturalism most importantly race and identity. At the same time, official multiculturalism has been in decline in Australia since the advent of John Howard’s conservative prime ministership in 1996. Official multiculturalism focused on ethnic groups and their cultures. It has been supplanted by the ideas of neoliberalism which is concerned above all with individuals and the market. In this article I argue that Here Come the Habibs! is, in the end, nostalgic for a multiculturalism which is no longer privileged in Australia. The dynamics of the tension between the Habibs and O’Neills has been displaced, as is signalled in the final episode of the show, by the entry into Australia of a mobile, cosmopolitan elite whose worth is measured not in their culture but in what they can economically contribute to the country.' -
Why Aren’t Greeks Cool Anymore?
2019
single work
column
— Appears in: Neos Kosmos , July 2019;'During the 90’s and Noughties Greeks were everywhere in Australia. The success of comedy productions ‘Wogs out of Work’ and ‘Acropolis Now’ not only broke audience records for both stage and screen but took the Greek Australian experience mainstream. The ‘Heartbreak Kid’, ‘Head On’ and TV show ‘The Slap’ further explored the second generation in adapting to an ever changing culture. But in recent times there has been a distinct lack of Greek Australian stories and characters on TV and film screens.' (Introduction)
