Planet America

Although the premise of this program is well intentioned, the excitable presentation of Chas spoils it - swallowing words, turning away from the camera to give unintelligible asides to John, rushing through his words thus making it impossible to read the accompanying text on the screen, applying his personal feelings as if he's in a play on the stage instead of a steady, lower key chat - his diction is appalling and very difficult to understand. Shame because he no doubt has some good points of view and is obviously intelligent. By comparison, John is measured and provides the reason for watching the show.

This is astute comedic political commentary done in a specific style, and is not to everyone's tastes, but it does gives a bipartisan take on the world of American politics (read: Trump's America). If you are a regular on Fox, this won't be your bag - but it also isn't a liberal satire like what Samantha Bee does. This is much more subtle, there's no name calling here. Honestly, the two presenters are ABC Australia regulars and seeing them riffing is a good reason to watch the show alone - however Planet America could be a lot better, but it is a (fairly) young show u can see the show has tried different ideas, to varying degrees of success. But when they stick to astute and observant comedy they are in their best element. Recommended

Love the show, however, we must continually must turn the sound level up and then turn the sound level back down several times during each show. This is because Chas tends to swallow some words or lean in or out of the boom microphone range or turn off camera making the volume of his voice vacillate widely. A similar scenario occurs with the clips of some people being interviewed. Their voices also vacillate widely and make it difficult to understand them. It would be nice if all sound bites had a similar sound level. Please edit accordingly so that we can continue to enjoy this delightful show.

A lot of people here are complaining that this is a 'leftist' TV show. I disagree. The ABC does have something of a centre-left bias, which makes a lot of their political panels and analysis pretty irritating to sit through. Planet America is an exception, and is very refreshing for that reason.

The show does make fun of Trump, that's true. And they also make fun of Biden, Harris, Pelosi, and the Democratic party. They make fun of all politicians - that's the point. It's part satire, part political analysis. Having a comical Trump impersonator narrate the president's tweets isn't left wing bias.

It's very strongly researched, and they delve deeply into the details while remaining funny and entertaining. I have not once heard the political, social, or moral opinions of the hosts injected into the show. They talk about how the politics works, how it is structured, rather than their own beliefs.

They interview people from all sides of the political spectrum. This is in contrast to most panels on the ABC, which generally consist of people on some part of the left all agreeing with each other and not addressing the opposing points.

Some of the interviewees can be a bit biased, bizarre or extreme in their statements or beliefs (on both sides). They should still be kept on the show: they are interviewed fairly, in an objective manner. They are there so that we can see who holds what views in US politics.

My only complaint are the short skits that have been appearing recently by Zoe Norton Lodge at the end. I get that she needs to promote her new show, but I really don't find them funny at all, and they're not exactly biting satire.

But overall a great show. Really hope they'll continue for a long time now that the election is over.

Great research goes into each and every episode, which covers federal, state, and local governing in America, as well as reporting on political-adjacent areas such as the Supreme Court, protests on all sides, and, of course, the horrid American media (Fox, CNN, MSNBC, etc). One of the few shows on TV that backs up their claims with current research, and to the other Trumpian hacks reviewing this I'd suggest that "facts don't care about your feelings". This show, while heavily anti-Trump, doesn't pull punches from the rest of the US political class, either. Definitely worth a watch!