Streaming columnist NICK OVERALL says “Wellmania” isn’t must-watch TV, but it is certainly watchable TV.

“I’M well, thanks.” It’s a phrase heard almost every day, but what actually makes someone “well”?

That’s the question at the centre of Netflix’s newest Aussie comedy series “Wellmania”, a tongue-in-cheek look at the world of health trends and the extremes people go to achieve it.

Aussie comedian Celeste Barber is behind this series broken up into eight, 30-minute episodes all now available to stream. She plays Liv Healy, a chaotic food journalist with a live-fast, die-young attitude. 

“What’s the point if you’re not making the f—-ng most of it every moment?” she asks a one-night stand in the show’s opening minutes.

But that ethic is soon thrown into disarray after she suffers a major health crisis, one severe enough to make her rethink her approach to life. In response she goes on the ultimate cleanse – dipping her toes in almost every ridiculous wellness trend in order to get her cholesterol and blood pressure down. Whether it’s fasting, cupping or even drug taking, this adventure to achieve a “balanced lifestyle” only gets more ludicrous as the show goes on.

“Wellmania” isn’t must-watch TV, but it is certainly watchable TV.

Barber has been around the Aussie TV scene for a while, but rose to international fame after a series of Instagram posts where she mocked celebrities and their ostentatious social media forays.

Whether it was Lady Gaga or Kendall Jenner posing half naked in all sorts of weird and unrealistic angles, Barber, a middle-aged mother, recreated their posts on her own account to hilarious effect, showing just how unrealistic and absurd the age of Instagram is.

The posts went viral and have since clocked Barber up almost 10 million followers.

She’s now taken that style of comedy and turned it into her new show for Netflix – the producers smartly clueing in to how much her posts resonated with people around the world.

“Wellmania” pokes fun at the absurd lengths middle, upper-class women will go to in order to achieve “wellness” and is a merciless takedown of millennials. 

“My dog needs her epilepsy pills”, says one of the glammed-up influencers in the show’s opening episode.

Set in Sydney, it’s raced to Netflix’s top 10 most popular shows in Australia. How far it will go in attracting audiences from overseas will be the real test but it’s refreshing to see more of downunder in the Netflix feed.

ON first blush, a movie about falling blocks might not sound all that thrilling but somehow the newest film to hit Apple TV+ has pulled off just that.

This month they’ve brought subscribers “Tetris”, a biopic about the man who created one of the most famous and addictive video games of all time.

Initially spotting “Tetris” on my feed, it seemed like a “they’ll-make-a-movie-about-anything” type affair but I found myself captivated by this surprisingly intriguing true story.

Taron Egerton of “Rocketman” and “Kingsman” fame plays Henk Rogers, an ambitious business mogul who risks it all to get “Tetris” out of Russia, its country of origin, and to the rest of the world.

Turns out he wasn’t the only one to think he was on to the next big thing. The film details his battle against media tycoons and the Soviet Union in order to secure the rights to the game. Who thought a film about “Tetris” could include car chases, espionage, and secret deals?

The movie is certainly jumping on the trend of nostalgia, particularly for the ‘80s ​​à la “Stranger Things”, but the product here is more than compelling enough to justify its existence as a two-hour watch. It turns out the story of “Tetris” proves as pacey and enjoyable as the game it’s named after.

It seems to be the start of a wider trend to make movies about popular brands. Coming up this year are also biopics about “Nike”, “Blackberry” and even “Cheetos”.

“Tetris” may be a winner, but I can’t help but feel Hollywood is getting a little carried away here. Next thing you know there’ll be a Product Placement Cinematic Universe hitting cinemas.