A Tale of Two Titties

All week I've been seeing an ad for the Australian series Underbelly: A Tale of Two Cities where it is announced that, in this week's episode, actor Kate Ritchie will "come of age." I thought it was extraordinarily odd that it was the actor's name being spoken of in the commercial, and not the character's name. How, I wondered, does an actor "come of age" in a show? Then my actor friend, Chris Tomkinson, clarified matters: "coming of age" is a merely a euphemism for Ritchie showing her breasts for the first time on national television. Get the VCR ready. 

Given the nature of this particular show and its' capacity to integrate plot and the pendulum swing of the female breast, I was ashamed to have not realised this myself. Underbelly perhaps represents one aspect of Channel 9's general strategy to pilfer some of the loyal audience of SBS - a station that has been built on a reputation of combining high-brow with high-nudity. SBS has obviously anticipated 9's "booby trap." It's show, My Big Breasts and Me, airs this Friday at 10pm. Kate Ritchie - watch and learn.