Last night, in the Iranian post-attack program, they chose “Ertez” in a relatively restrained line and brought the characters of the immediate suspects to an early Passover Seder meal. So yes, the attempt to decide on Yonit Levy, probably the symbol most associated with News 12 and with news in Israel in general, was cute, but with the “I’m more serious than Kushmero” jokes and the revelations that she simply knows everything, don’t start a plan. For too many minutes yesterday, “Wonderful Land” seemed like an accurate reflection of reality and not a satire program: a sequence of Nir Davori, spokesman for the Home Front Command, Bibi and Miri Regev, and the unhinged duo Itamar Ben Gabir and Bezalel Smotrich, did not bring anything new to the holiday table. In general, if we’re talking about Nir Davori – we can calm down a little with the fat jokes, can’t we? Especially since, as often happens in the show, his character is played by Lior Ashkenazi with makeup that includes a few extra chins and not by an actor of larger dimensions. Even with Finish’s imitations of Iranian generals (this time it was General Bagri) it is possible to calm down, especially when they all sound one by one like the late Yosef Shiloh’s Farouk, only they don’t have the charm and originality that those imitations had.
Unlike the worn and tired impersonation of Debori, the promos promised Yaniv Biton as Eitan ben Eliyahu, who was the undisputed star of the Iranian attack broadcasts and his built-in arrogance (as also shown in “Hahaht” here 11) carries an inexhaustible comedic potential. Unfortunately, the root E.P. came back here as well, when Beaton, as usual, provided a very accurate imitation but received a text so disgusting that it could have come from Ben Eliyahu’s own mouth and we would not have felt the difference. Yes, once again we return to the same problem – reality demands that the writers of “Eretz” exaggerate much more, after all, what is the point of a satire show that feels like a more sane and fairer version of reality? That’s probably why the program’s bright spots came precisely from the moments of complete nonsense.
