It’s October, and time for my favorite bittorrent search query: s01e01.

The first speck of gold – or possibly fool’s gold – to fall out of the dirt this year is Hungry Beast, on ABC in Australia.

It’s investigative journalism, satire, and half-serious opinions about half-serious issues. They try too hard to be stylish, but the first two episodes have been interesting and/or enjoyable, when it isn’t irritating and confusing.

The premise is to give 19 media newbies half an hour to “tell us something we don’t know”. The producer calls it “a show made by people who don’t watch TV for those who still do”.

The first episode jumps from interviewing the family of a soldier who has died in Afghanistan to a debate over whether pandas are an evolutionary dead end and should be allowed to go extinct. So .. that’s something you won’t see anywhere else.

They also play a wonderful practical joke on the Australian media, by tricking journalists into reporting a fake study from a fake research institute about how gullible Australians are. Here it is:

So will this work or devolve into self-parody? I hold both options open, and will keep watching to find out.