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Crownies spin-off to go ahead for ABC

Exclusive: "We will be making a spin-off, and it will be coming back in a slightly different form that's less soapy," says ABC1's Brendan Dahill.

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EXCLUSIVE: ABC legal drama Crownies will be getting a spin-off series.

The ambitious 22 part drama, starring Todd Lasance, Marta Dusseldorp and Lewis Fitz-Gerald, had a modest launch last year but while its ratings were disappointing it developed positive word of mouth as the series progressed.

Late last year ABC1 Channel Controller Brendan Dahill told TV Tonight he was weighing up a possible spin-off.

This week he confirmed a future for the show, by focussing on the legal aspects and not the personal lives of the young attorneys.

“We will be making a spin-off, and it will be coming back in a slightly different form that’s less soapy,” he said.

“We’ll be honing in on a much more solid narrative. We’ve taken on board some of the criticism we got from the first series about it being a bit unable to make up its mind if it was This Life or The Good Wife.”

Dahill says the series is also part of an evolution of ABC Drama and that audiences were not expecting a series of its style.

“I loved it and I loved the characters but maybe we were sending mixed signals to our audience, so we need to be more certain about the driving force behind the narrative,” he says.

“So it will become more about the cases and less about the people. That doesn’t mean we’re going to dropping entirely any reference to their back stories. You need to understand the back stories to understand the judgements that they make.”

Last year Producers Screentime issued a rare public statement on the series after some media reports questioned the new drama’s switch to a later timeslot in order to make room for The Slap. It noted the show had been created with the specific intention of appealing to a younger demographic.

At this stage it isn’t clear which characters will be featured or whether it will make it to screen in 2012.

“It’s still early days but I’m hoping we’ll have something more to say in the next couple of months,” he said.

“It won’t be the big 22 parter, but the characters in Crownies will be returning.”

33 Responses

  3. Oh gee…..why is Australian TV so moribund and predicable? Why are we so dull and unoriginal?

    Crownies (and the spin off) – about Lawyers…

    The Straits – about a crime family…

    Reef Doctor – about a Doctor…on a reef….

    When other countries come up with shows like ‘The Almighty Johnsons’, ‘Misfits’, ‘Sherlock’, Downton Abbey, the list goes on and on….all we do are bloody cop, doctor, or crime shows – oh…and suburban ‘reality’ like ‘Rafters’. They all look the same, they’re all written the same, all acted the same, and all Directed the same – by the same people. And they mostly all have twangy guitar ‘score’ – if you’d call it a score.

    Ho hum….call me when they commission something interesting…..please?

  4. As an older viewer I knew from the start this was not aimed at me. However, I still liked it and for me it was a slow burner that got better over time.

    However if the brief of this show is to capture a younger demographic then these proposed changes will most likely favour someone in my older age group. I would like the more focus on cases, but the younger one would like more stories about their experience at work.

    I would have thought we already have plenty of legal shows that focus on the law. So what will be this show’s point of difference?

  10. There goes GenX ruining yet another thing for GenY. My friends and I loved Crownies and I really enjoyed the interaction between the characters. Janet mentoring Erin and workplace hostility between Tracey and Tatum and of course then there were stories like Tatum and Richard. It was entertaining. Screentime produced the show for people like me but unfortunately it floundered on a station that insists on only catering for the 40 and above crowd. I’m sure the spinoff while be fine but the original series was great and didn’t need to be altered.

  12. A 22-episode order was a mistake for a new show with an admittedly flawed theme. That money could’ve been much better spent on 2 or 3 shorter seasons.

    The ABC needs more comedy, more drama, more of anything scripted really. As much as possible to offset the commercial stations, who seem to think they can cram even More reality TV into this year than last year.

  13. This Life – a brilliantly conceived drama about the personal lives of 20 somethings.
    The Good Wife – a brlliantly conceived drama that weaves a women’s professional and personal life which unfortunately is on the wrong channel due to a Ten output deal.
    Crownies – a poorly conceived and poorly written drama full of turgid legal exposition and clumsy interaction with young lawyer’s personal lives. Despite bus ads, billboards and endless on-air promos nobody watched and the critics were lukewarm. There are many other better Australian ideas out there which the ABC should explore instead. A spin-off is a waste of time and money.

  15. When they starts spinning off shows from critical and ratings failures, it’s time to ask a few questions. I hope somebody in the upper reaches of the ABC is starting to query the expertise of their drama executives… the same people who this week also commissioned a TV movie about Cliff Young. I’m a big supporter of the ABC, but this is not how I want my taxes spent.

  16. I loved Crownies and so pleased the ABC has renewed it..Just hope tha they don’t take the heart out of the characters and make it just another precedural crime show.

  18. I loved every minute of Crownies. The only Australian drama, ever, to not make me cringe. Clearly the largely geriatric audience of ABC1 didn’t care for it! Yet everyone loved the self-indulgent trivial nonsense of a group of narcissitic Gen-Xers at a backyard party? (I am Gen-Y and couldn’t have cared less about The Slap.)

  20. Yay! Loved this show. didn’t think it was soapy though as I have never been into soaps. loved all the characters and enjoyed that part i think you need both that and the cases in the show.

  22. All Brendan says is true, however it highlights the lack of leadership from the Head of Drama. Every series needs to know what it’s really about and focus on that. The next test is Phyrne Fisher. Let’s hope it’s not as confused Carla Cametti whic was such a lost opportunity.

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