0/5

Nine greenlights new local drama

Channel Nine has a new Aussie drama series, Rescue Squad, to premiere in 2009. And there are more 'feelgood' shows set to reward and re-unite ordinary Aussies.

Channel Nine will launch a new drama series in 2009, Rescue Squad.

Described as a “high octane drama” it will centre on the lives and loves of a Special Operations Rescue Squad.

The series will join with Underbelly and Sea Patrol as a flagship drama for the network in 2009. It follows recent news that Nine would not proceed with The Young Doctors.

Amongst some of the other new formats set to launch are several factual and “blue sky” shows that reward ordinary Aussies or make their dreams come true.

Everyday Heroes is a salute to heroic Australians and the survivors they rescued. It features reunions, stories of survival and tales of bravery.

Hot on the heels of the success of Domestic Blitz comes Random Acts of Kindness, described as “heart-warming and feel-good, making dreams come true for deserving Australians.”

Nine’s own contribution to the rising reunion genre, Missing Pieces, tracks down lost friends and relatives desperately needed by their loved ones. In this version, family and friends work with a team of experts to track down those missing from their lives – from a girl who needs a kidney transplant trying to find her biological father to other remarkable stories and emotional reunions.

The network also picks up the US version of Who Do You Think You Are? The American version of the British genealogy series, is executive produced by Lisa Kudrow.  It depicts celebrities uncovering the truth of their ancestry.

The Unusuals is an ensemble dramedy starring Amber Tamblyn as a New York policewoman working with a crew of quirky weirdos. Produced by the makers of Rescue Me, ABC has ordered 10 episodes of this “comedy procedural.”

Dubbed as a new reality series, Trouble in Paradise will follow the real life drama as Aussies get in trouble abroad. Who are they going to call? Gun running, drug smuggling, kidnapped or mugged – this is an insider’s view of these stories as they unfold.

Seven Deadly Sins is a factual series based around sins including Greed, Gluttony, Lust and Wrath. It promises to look at “the devil in us all.”

Kids have not been forgotten, either, When I Grow Up is a “fun, family entertainment that empowers kids and captures the enthusiasm, wonder and hilarity of how they view the world.”

Finally, Nine also promises a series that was slated for 2008, Toasted & Roasted. This entertainment style show recruits an assortment of A-listers to toast and roast some of Australia’s biggest names.

More titles are expected to follow.

Photo: stock image

Kindly link to this site when sourcing or posting in messageboards, thanks!

32 Responses

  1. The love affair with everything channel seven is very transparent, particularly with newspapers such as the Australian in the media section. They don’t even try to cut back on the biased words obviously written by the network such as ‘extremely well’, ‘cruse to the finish line’ etc.

  2. @ GuanoLad: I couldn’t stop laughing when I read “Police Car Goes Fast”? lmao!

    But seriously, another day, another police procedural…

    I’d like to watch a dramedy in the form of something like Always Greener/Packed to the Rafters. Or have they considered a sitcom or comedy? Then again after Monster House they’d probably just leave it to Aunty.

  3. I find it extremely interesting how when Nine on an occasion where it may appear they have copied off Seven, people immediately cry poor, yet when Seven copies off Nine people don’t even mention a thing!

  4. If I’m not mistaken this show deals with the Paramedic Rescue squad – its not a cop show for the fifteen incorrect people above.

    Even if it was then I doubt that’d be bad – cop shows are way more interesting than any other kind of drama when done well.

    And also if I’m not mistaken this is being done by Sarah Smith who did McLeod’s Daughters…?

  5. I wouldn’t get too excited about this lineup just yet.

    This is similar to what they promised this time last year, and what did we get? Endless repeats of Two and A Half Men, and all the Gordon Ramsay you could eat. (pun intended)

    And if any of the shows seen here make it to air, it’ll only be because the show is a “feel good/blue sky” type of thing, which is what Aussie audiences lapped up this year in the form of Find My Family.

  6. oh and another thing – “toasted and roasted” – sounds like a show that’ll be 30 / 60 mins of channel 9 cross promotion – like someone on 60 minutes getting “roasted ” by various people from getaway, footie show, today etc etc…basically c9 celebrities.

    Who Do You Think You Are? sounds interesting though…..

  7. Yes, SBS aired series one of the Australian version of Who Do You Think You Are? earlier this year, and series two is being planned I believe. It will be interesting to see whether Nine will air the US version up against the SBS version on the same day, or in a similar period as the SBS version.

  8. uhhhh – more carbon copies of other shows – and more “this ep will shock you” / “you wont believe the end” / “the worst case ever” type promos. Granted 9 aren’t as bad as 10 in this department, but still……….do we really need more cop shows?
    With the economy etc about to nosedive, couldn’t we really do with more light-hearted material (like packed to the rafters – a show I keep getting sucked into watching)….?

  9. Just like Nine to copy anything that is remotely successful on another network – Rescue Squad? Obviously they were watching Rush!

    The one thing they should do is bring back Burke’s Backyard. Put that at 5:30pm against Deal Or No Deal and I reckon it would rate.

  10. A “high octane drama” that will “centre on the lives and loves of a Special Operations Rescue Squad.”

    So, in other words, a Rush clone shot on the cheap with two lights and wobbly cardboard sets a la Canal Road?

    Nine really needs to either stop with the me-too or up the ante. I’m betting the latter’s not even on the table.

    Everyday Heroes, Random Acts of Kindness, Missing Pieces… photocopy photocopy photocopy, fail, fail, fail. Oi.

    The Unusuals sounds intriguing (and not just because it’s not produced by Nine’s Tedium Department!) – I haven’t read anything about it yet, but if it’s a comedy take on the procedural cliche then bring it on. And also bring on the wonderful Amber Tamblyn, who’s been sorely missed since Joan Of Arcadia – which Nine eventually burned off on Sunday afternoons after putting it on hold for over a year. If The Unusuals is good, maybe we’d best download it as Nine will get scared and not show it at all.

    Seven Deadly Sins sounds like one tailor-made for the poor pathetic delusionals that kept handing me burned DVDs of “The Secret”. All of which are now in a landfill somewhere.

    Oh, and as for “Toasted & Roasted”… well, Nine really needs to stop pretending it’s the 1970s. Ugh.

  11. Are they serious?? Rescue Squad sounds like Rush and Everyday Heroes sounds like Seven’s Triple Zero Heroes. Missing Pieces is obviously Find My Family expanded.

    So basically Nine has no original ideas at all for 2009.

  12. Not another one! Argh! Too many “high octane” “dramas”! Too much ‘serious face’ and ‘exciting action’! How about some levity to break it up, for a change?

    And I see it follows the “lame title” routine we’ve had with “City Homicide” and “Sea Patrol”. Why not just call the next one “Police Car Goes Fast”? Or maybe “The Episode You Can’t Miss!”

  13. Yawn!

    another crime/police drama?

    wow… can’t wait 🙁

    god forbid something different was made.

    if nothing else, don’t NINE think ‘well, our last 8 crime shows haven’t worked… maybe we need something other than a crime show?’

Leave a Reply