"Warring Land" promo, February 7, 2024/12 Sagittarius
In the last few days the people around me look tired and by "people around me" I of course also refer to myself every time I look in the mirror. If after half a year of a reality that looks like a post-apocalyptic series on Netflix we thought that everything was small for us, last night we got something that looks like something between the close and the exciting first episode of a regional war. It turns out that as the Polish cliché says - it can always be worse. From a television point of view at least, The Mochash newscast sequence was gold, not to mention a cult in the making. The authentic hysteria felt on the faces of the newsmen combined with the slightly kinky enthusiasm seen on the faces of the generals who were invited to the studios created a sequence of broadcasts that will be talked about for many years to come. They received all of this dowry in "Great Land" and with it only one request - make it a little funny. But it turns out that the national fatigue was also well felt in the "Eretz" writers' room and last night's program was its weakest since the beginning of the season.
It's hard to be angry with the writers of "Wonderful Land" who have been dealing for the last year, since the days of the regime revolution, with a reality so disturbed that it is almost impossible to satirize it because everything is dwarfed. Nevertheless, the elite unit of contemporary Israeli humor has proven that it is capable of the task and in recent programs has often brought out characters and sketches that manage to make a clear statement about our reality. This happened, for example, with the "Master Chef" judges' skit, with the new and exact imitation of Yossi Cohen (Sharon Teicher), and even with Liat Har Lev's Tali Gottlieb, who although does not manage to reach the trolling levels of the real woman (because no one can), but still succeeds To be iconic and unforgettable.
Last night, in the Iranian post-attack program, they chose "Ertez" in a relatively restrained line and brought the characters of the immediate suspects to an early Passover Seder meal. So yes, the attempt to decide on Yonit Levy, probably the symbol most associated with News 12 and with news in Israel in general, was cute, but with the "I'm more serious than Kushmero" jokes and the revelations that she simply knows everything, don't start a plan. For too many minutes yesterday, "Wonderful Land" seemed like an accurate reflection of reality and not a satire program: a sequence of Nir Davori, spokesman for the Home Front Command, Bibi and Miri Regev, and the unhinged duo Itamar Ben Gabir and Bezalel Smotrich, did not bring anything new to the holiday table. In general, if we're talking about Nir Davori - we can calm down a little with the fat jokes, can't we? Especially since, as often happens in the show, his character is played by Lior Ashkenazi with makeup that includes a few extra chins and not by an actor of larger dimensions. Even with Finish's imitations of Iranian generals (this time it was General Bagri) it is possible to calm down, especially when they all sound one by one like the late Yosef Shiloh's Farouk, only they don't have the charm and originality that those imitations had.
Unlike the worn and tired impersonation of Debori, the promos promised Yaniv Biton as Eitan ben Eliyahu, who was the undisputed star of the Iranian attack broadcasts and his built-in arrogance (as also shown in "Hahaht" here 11) carries an inexhaustible comedic potential. Unfortunately, the root E.P. came back here as well, when Beaton, as usual, provided a very accurate imitation but received a text so disgusting that it could have come from Ben Eliyahu's own mouth and we would not have felt the difference. Yes, once again we return to the same problem - reality demands that the writers of "Eretz" exaggerate much more, after all, what is the point of a satire show that feels like a more sane and fairer version of reality? That's probably why the program's bright spots came precisely from the moments of complete nonsense.
In an imaginary order, the characters of Yaakov and Rina (Yeron Berald and Shani Cohen), the most Israeli Israeli couple ever, were called to the flag. Last night, something in their physical humor, combined with the pause from talking about the Iranian bomb, worked and managed to raise a smile. The climax of the episode, and not for the first time this season, came with Tamir Bar - the biggest star who is not used enough in Eretz, who was sent to a hidden camera sketch and tried to sell. The Israeli public has products that will be used during wartime. Everything worked in this skit, from Bar's natural quirkiness to the products he offered to visitors to his stand in the mall ("Want a test tube with Corona? Go back a little to sane days").