Wil Anderson back to ABC

Wil Anderson is returning to the ABC to host a 10 part panel show, The Gruen Transfer. Produced by Andrew Denton, it will examine the advertising industry.

“It’s a good way to get ads on the ABC,” he said, referencing the former Howard government’s quivering position about advertising on the national broadcaster.

“Advertising is the world’s biggest entertainment industry – there’s more spent on it than Hollywood films – and it has not been looked at critically. The only time you ever see it talked about on TV is when Dermott Brereton presents a (best-of clip-show) about them,” he told The Age.

“They (ABC) asked Dermie, but he wasn’t available.”

The show will go into pre-production after the Melbourne International Comedy Festival next month.

“With The Glass House (producer) Ted Robinson said “we’ll make it up as we go along” and when Andrew asked “do you want to do something?” I didn’t hesitate,” he said. Nutting out the details was harder. “Andrew said, “we’ll make it up as we go along … this seems to be how my career works these days.”

The show will not be Thank God You’re Also Here or a Media Watch clone, and will employ advertising industry insiders to dissect its methods. “We won’t be sneering observers from the outside,” the former Australian Financial Review journalist said. “In the same way Frontline gave people the tools to critically and comedically analyse current affairs, we’ll look at ads and marketing … how it works.”

Anderson previously hosted The Glass House for the ABC which ceased production at the end of 2006, much to a viewer tirade.

Source: The Age