After bit of a wobbly start in its first season or two, it has settled into being a regular laugh-out-loud entertainment highlight.
Some of the words I find myself using to describe it are irreverent, anarchic, clever, subversive, and coy.
It has memorable characters such as the Kraken, Darius Horsham, the Greens Spokes-gollum, and, of course, Caspar Jonquil.
The writing is tight and jam-packed with pop-culture references. It is an inter-textural tour-de-force. The show aims high and anticipates that it is speaking to a well-read, switched on audience. It is a clever television program delighting in the creative possibilities of absurdist sensibilities and flamboyant word-play.
Micallef's title, 'Mad as Hell', is obviously provided by those famous lines preached by Peter Finch in Sydney Lumet's classic of 1970s cinema, 'Network'. (If you have never seen 'Network' then please check it out. It is just as relevant now - if not more so - than when it first appeared forty years ago).
Exquisitely written by Paddy Chayefsky, 'Network' contains a number of superbly acted set pieces.
There is of course Finch's call to arms.
And there is Ned Beatty's "The world is a business" soliloquy. ("It is the international system of currency which determines the totality of life on this planet.")
But my favourite is probably when William Holden addresses his wife, played stunningly by Beatrice Straight. Holden has had an affair with a much younger work colleague - played by Faye Dunaway - and his long term marriage is probably coming to an end. Holden is in fine form - perhaps the best of his career - and the dialogue is raw yet refined. It is a stunning blend of intelligence and emotion. This is mature movie making founded on beautiful poetic writing.
The writing in both Micallef's 'Mad as Hell' and Lumet's 'Network' - each in their distinct ways for their respective genres - often leaves me gobsmacked with awe and appreciation. I often find myself asking, "How did they come up with that?"
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