Drawing its name from a musical number produced for Channel 10’s 1988 launch (look it up on YouTube for big hair and amazing cheesy lyrics), “How Good is Perth?” set out to address the questions of “how good is Perth, actually? Super good? A bit good? Not good at all? Who is it good for? How do we make it gooderer?”

Former ABC news anchor James McHale hosted an eclectic range of seven special guests representing the media, corporate and not-for-profit sectors, who in the course of this ‘talk’ sportingly played along with a bizarre time-travel plotline (bringing us a rare opportunity to see the Chief Scientist in a mullet wig).

The core premise of the show, to take a good look at how Perth could become the best possible place for every resident, is engaging. As you would expect, there were plenty of self-deprecating and ironic jokes and references that only people from WA would appreciate, some of which generated a good chuckle (from State Daddy to cactuses). The show also touched on issues ranging from mandatory sentencing to homelessness to the impact of FIFO on communities, and several progressive proclamations from guests had the audience clapping and cheering.

Unfortunately, these great ideas and clever humour got lost in a bit of a muddle, with a storyline involving time travel and a mission to save humanity (or at least the people of Perth) that slowed things down. Stage resets left the audience waiting and technical difficulties such as mic issues made it a strain to keep track of what was going on. This led to audience response being a little lacklustre overall.

So how good is “How Good is Perth?” Well, the complex execution prevented it from delivering on its full potential, but it was a fun show to get people thinking from different perspectives about what makes a city great.