Gangs of Oz
It's a dark world out there, with violence, drugs, hand-held cameras, an aggressive rock soundtrack and grainy pictures drained of vibrant colours.
- Published by David Knox
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- Filed under Programming, Reviews
Last year Seven saw the nation’s interest in Underbelly and began to hitch a ride on Nine’s raft. Today Tonight initiated its own interviews on the Melbourne gangland wars, notably bringing Judy Moran and the late Barbara Williams face to face (it even copped its own injunction in Victoria).
Now it has an entire series set to capitalise on the subject: Gangs of Oz.
Rather than follow Nine’s path with a drama, Seven has opted for its most successful genre, factual television.
Under the eyes of network factual boss Dan Meenan, who created Border Security, this one hour programme looks at Australian crime via subcultures within it. Episode one looks at the history of “Middle Eastern Gangs” in Sydney in the 1990s.
The story unfolds via accounts from a former detective, former gang member, the father of a deceased young man, news footage, police footage and re-enactments.
It is chockful of violence, language and drug use -everything except Vince Colosimo, Kat Stewart, Gyton Grantley and Damian Walshe-Howling.
To emphasise the dark world, the look is grainy, drained of vibrant colours, with hand-held cameras accompanied by an aggressive rock soundtrack.
Most of the hour revolves around re-enactments, confidently staged with unfamiliar actors (it would never work with recognisable faces). Here also, is where the show moves from fact into interpretation of fact.
Re-constructing scenes with scripted dialogue is all good and well when we know we are watching drama. Gangs of Oz however packages the show as factual. While it is more authoritative than re-enactments of Today Tonight and others of its ilk, it’s hard to know where truth stops and dramatic license starts. No doubt different directors could reconstruct the same facts with varying results.
Foxtel’s Crime Investigation Australia also uses similar storytelling devices, but with somewhat less-dependence on re-enactments. Over the life of its existence in some cases it has also uncovered new evidence.
With its provocative title, Gangs of Oz will appeal to those who helped make Border Security a massive hit. Narrated by Colin Friels, the first episode contains some ethnic generalisations, and pinpoints suburbs and streets of Sydney with a supposedly bad reputation.
The subject matter is engagingly told and Seven has certainly timed this right.
With so much reconstructed drama it would do well to market this as a docudrama.
Gangs of Oz premieres 9:30pm Wednesday February 11 on Seven.
Photo: stock image
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- Tagged with Border Security, Crime Investigation Australia, Gangs of Oz, Today Tonight, Underbelly
37 Responses
I saw the show and was not as horrified as I expected. The complete disregard for authority, the self-induced sense of importance and elevation above all around them and disregard for others unlike themselves evolves into the monstrosity seen on the programme Gangs of Oz Middle-Eastern Gangs. It is/was nothing but the Lebanese and Muslim communities refined and operating at their peak. My reaction was why do not the Police just hammer them down. Oh, that is right. They are protected by the law and one has to have respect for their human rights. I think that the authorities have lost the plot.
i just watched the ‘show’ tonight, and I reckon there are probably more balanced views on race relations at a ku klux klan meeting- except given how the whiteys were good and the ‘ethnics’ were portrayed as the baddies perhaps the kkk had a hand in it’s production. Not surprised it’s from the guy who brought to the screens Border Insecurity. I am unsure why I continue to tune into commercial networks at all……. I guess I’m overly optimistic.
I thought it was pretty good. The re-enactments didn’t bother me as much as I thought they would. I’ll be watching again.
I think you should watch the damn thing first then make comments, Gangbangers are portrayed as heroes, well….they are not. When one was one then one falls, the pain is immense!
Im excited! It is going to be an insight into what our cities have become. its just telling a story of how it really is. Most people who have blogged here seem to be ignorant and want to believe we all live in a wonderful world. I imagine this show will be real and raw. and to Ben’s comment “Well done Channel; 7 for breacking out and showing Australia the new up and coming Actors!!” i couldnt agree more!!! My boyfriend is in the show! and he isnt the typical old aussie actor.!!
I will be watching this!! Ilooks really good… I like the fact the actors in Gangs of oz are not the same old Aussie Actors They always use!!! UI’m so sick of seeing the same actors in Aussie shows!! Well done Channel; 7 for breacking out and showing Australia the new up and coming Actors!!
* ammendment, i stated gangs of oz as a factual series with real stories and made it sound like underbelly is fictional. I understand Underbelly is based on entirely true events as well but G.O.O gets straight to the information in an informative way while underbelly is sort of more entertainment
Channel 7 isn’t copying anyone Spunkymonkey caesar, if they were they’d be making a drama series based on the gangs of Australia with much more fictional aspects to it. This is a Factual drama, real stories. The whole topic is of interest to the country and seven have come up with an original way to supply to that interest, being the number 1 network of course, having to please the fans. They do it with gangs of oz and Nine do it with the exagurated drama series.
as for the other things 7 copies, they always manage to do it better, so if something similar can be done but only better, why not do it? Off topic a bit, but Missing pieces is an example of a poor rip off attempt unfortunately for Nine, and most people will see this. Everyone I’ve been with when catching that promo watchn TV has said ‘ohh they copied find my family’
I agree completely Guy.
SMC, that reasoning is ridiculous.
jeez guys why don’t you watch an episode before you nail it to the cross.
Yeah CIA was a rip off of Seven’s popular series Forensic Investigators. I have to say this series looks ok. I will watch to see what it is like. As for networks ripping off on others. It happens all the time these days. Seven started with one show and then Nine copied it. That medical factual show that was airing on Nine over summer was a rip off of Medical Emergency i reckon. Nine would do it more than Seven does but all networks are the same. Sunday Night may be a rip off of 60 Minutes but Seven always does better with these shows and i believe it will be a ratings winner for Seven.
It annoyed me that there were no less than 4 shots of topless strippers in the promo for this show while the voiceover guy talks of violence and drugs. I was waiting for him to say “drugs, violence…oh, and some tits for your viewing pleasure”.
You’re absolutely right Dino – It isn’t ok to copy off another network if you’re the number one network! – If you’re the number one network you shouldn’t have the need to copy, and if you copy surely that’s saying something – I’m thinking that they don’t deserve to be the number one network!
More reality crap. No thanks.
Just saw the promo for this so what they call a hit new drama series on 7 and thought this is really poorly executed and another day and another drama from 7. bah I won’t be watching but I will certainly watch out for the ratings for this copy cat tv show..
What are you on spunkey….ar? It’s only okay to copy ideas only when you’re not #1? But I guess that explains why we never hear you complain with all the formats channel nine have ripped off every other network….
spunkymonkey – crime investigation Australia was a rip off of Forensic Investegators (i think it was called that) -the one with lisa mc cune
I’ve come to the conclusion that nearly every post on this site is negative in some way. And frankly I agree with most of them.
R, whether “every network copies each other” is not my issue! – My issue is the fact that Seven, who supposedly is the #1 network in this country, has to copy off another! It is an absolute disgrace that the number one network has the need to copy off another, afterall they are meant to be number one!
Just to put it out there though, I do recognise networks do get some (or most) of their ideas from other networks.
i hope it tanks on because its funny how they cant get a good rating show in this timeslot of a wednesdays at 9.30, except when the they had a repeat of criminal minds. + i hated the way 7 treated Prison Break when it was back in this slot.
spunkymonkey – every network copies each other these days. Seven do factual series’ better than the others so i’ll check this out.
I’m sure it will do well if they do it right. However, I won’t be watching, the factual crime genre doesn’t often pull me in.
Typical Channel Seven trying to capitalise on the success of Nine’s ‘Underbelly’, just as they decided to jump on the Gordon Ramsay bandwagon back in ’08, buying fifteen year old series ‘Boiling Point’!
Typical also, of them copying off such a successful show as Foxtel’s ‘Crime Investigation Australia’!
Gangs of Oz sounds more interesting to me with the reconstructions and first hand reports.
This looked crap from the brief promos a few weeks ago.
It looks even more crap now.
And Dan Meenan, if you do the 10-minute-recap-out-of-every-5-minutes-content thing again, I just might have to give up television altogether.
Not that I’ll bother to watch this. It looks… well, crap.