History Series / TheGames

** In real life the main stadium continues to be used for football & rugby sports, along with the occasional concert involving top tier stars like Music/TaylorSwift. The area around it however continued to be a weird out of the way location that people avoid that doesn't have much in the way of residential or commercial areas, leaving it a ghost town on days without a major event. There was a short lived plan to knock down the entire stadium in 2020, only for political intrigue to result in the knock down being changed to a still very expensive remodelling of the lower half of the stadium. It does have some large residential towers... although one of them was in the news recently for gigantic cracks that could force it to be demolished.

** In real life the main stadium continues to be used for football & rugby sports, along with the occasional concert involving top tier stars like Music/TaylorSwift. The area around it however continued to be a weird out of the way location that people avoid that doesn't have much in the way of residential or commercial areas, leaving it a ghost town on days without a major event. There was a short lived plan to knock down the entire stadium in 2020, only for political intrigue to result in the knock down being changed to a still very expensive remodelling of the lower half of the stadium.

** In real life the main stadium continues to be used as a major event stadium mostly for football & rugby sports, along with the occasional concert involving top tier stars like Music/TaylorSwift. The area around it however continued to be a weird out of the way location that people avoid that doesn't have much in the way of residential or commercial areas, leaving it a complete ghost town on days without a major event. There was a short lived plan to knock down the entire stadium in 2020, only for political intrigue to result in the knock down being changed to a still very expensive remodelling of the lower half of the stadium.

** In real life the main stadium continues to be used as a major event stadium mostly for football & rugby sports, along with the occasional concert. The area around it however continued to be a weird out of the way location that people avoid that doesn't have much in the way of residential or commercial areas, leaving it a complete ghost town on days without a major event.

In one episode John Howard played himself. That's John Howard the actor, not John Howard the then prime minister of Australia. John Howard (the actor) apologised for the treatment of indigenous Australians, which the prime minister had refused to do. (Kevin Rudd, the succeeding prime minister, did give the apology).

* LanguageFluencyDenial: John's instructions in ''Talking to the Troops'' are that if anyone asks who's paying for the Olympic Games you are to say, "No spikka di Inglish."

* PunnyHeadlines: An article about John's indiscreet comments at an 'old boys dinner' is titled "Gold Medal Loudmouth. John had mistakenly thought the comments were {{Off the Record}}

--> John: I was asked a question Nicholas and I answered it truthfully.
--> Nicholas: Why would you do that?
--> John: I've always told the truth Nicholas, I'm trying really hard but it's a difficult habit to shake.

--> Gina: She's changed her name by deed poll.
--> Bryan: To what?
--> Gina: Pepsi
--> Bryan: No, thanks
--> Gina: No no no, her name is now Pepsi.

--> Bryan: Gina stop it! Listen, you're in charge now. Whatever it is, you have to deal with it.

* BizarroEpisode: Series 2, Episode 1 manages to be this while also serving as a [[Recap Episode]]. Instead of the normal documentary, the episode is a long form news report focusing on John and recapping some of the major issues from the first series. However there are many bizarro elements such as John, who is usually anti-politics, above board, honest and loyal is portrayed as a backstabber with his hand in the til. The Team is blamed for the ticketing issues that were established prior and after as caused by the Minister and John is shown to have a large family for the only time, while all other episodes show no hint of children or a spouse.

* YouAreInCommandNow: When John is put on a mandatory 'holiday' by Nicholas (essentially a suspension), Gina is very reluctantly left in charge. When a letter from the IOC arrives with a major issue, Gina tries to chase down the bike messenger to get him to take it back rather than deal with it. Brian tells her more than once that she's in-charge now.

* PunnyNames: Some characters had these such as, from the tobacco lobby, Michael Physema (Emphysema).

* WackyAmericansHaveWackyNames: Referenced in "IOC Man" when Bill Ten Eyck says his son is named "Bill, Jr.".

* [[NewMediaAreEvil New Media Are Banal]]: The games' website is relaunched, and they hold a big event to celebrate. But this being 2000, you can't really do much on the website, and John realizes the relaunch is just for show, to distract from organizational problems. (It's also their fourth website relaunch.)

** IKnewIt: Over a decade after the Olympics, the stadium is hated by the general population of Sydney, the owners of the stadium have to throw money at local sporting teams, who play in the 80,000 seater stadium with crowds that rarely hit over 20,000. The amount of events that sell the stadium out would be a handful a year.

* AintNoRule[=/=]LoopholeAbuse[[note]]It's the same trope[[/note]]: As a result of the [[ItMakesSenseInContext 94 meter long]] 100 Meters race track, Bryan suggests that there is no rule saying the 100 Meters race has to be on a straight track.
** The John Howard incident is an example of loophole abuse. Even though it's not the 'real' John Howard in terms of what was meant to happen, the person who delivers the speech is still named John Howard.

* UsefulNotes/AustralianPolitics: It came cruelly close to what happens in real life politics (and not just in Australia).

* RealLifeWritesThePlot / RippedFromTheHeadlines: Many of The Games' storylines and events are based on rumours or news reports about the RealLife Olympics.

* ActingForTwo: Actors who play minor characters often reprise their roles as other minor characters.

* TheDanza: All the main characters had the same name as their actors.
** Taken to an extreme by John Howard: See CharacterAsHimself above.

* HeyItsThatGuy: John Clarke and Bryan Dawe now do sketches on ''The 7:30 Report'', and Gina Riley went on to be Kim in ''Kath and Kim''.