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New cop drama for Nine

Nine's next drama will see it return to a traditional local police station.

policeTV Tonight hears Nine’s next drama in pre-production is a new police show.

Titled Cops. L.A.C. (Local Area Command) the Sydney based drama will return to a traditional local police station.

With 3 uniformed cops and 3 plain-clothed cops it will comprise part of Nine’s 2010 slate.

Nine Programmer Michael Healy recently told TV Tonight, “We’re working on another Australian drama which is in pre-production at the moment and shaping up really well.”

Nine will officially unveil its 2010 programming in early December.

Photo: stock image

50 Responses

  1. How bout a serial killer in the outback who targets tourists. That’d be an international hit. LOL. Come on any idea is better than the same old same old. Can you imagine the pitch….Ok there’s these 3 uniformed cops and 3 plain-clothed cops, and they work at a Sydney police station…. Wow = Sold.

    We have a navy series, why not an army drama series? Border Security does well, why not a drama about airlines. Heaps of drama happens at airports and on planes… Ok i’m gonna get started writing a script for that show. Hands off people.

  2. The name sucks. I hope that’s rethought before it gets on-air. They’re just asking for headlines: “Cops L.A.C.K.S originality”, “Cops L.A.C.K.S viewers”…

  3. Good ideas outside of cop and medical shows don’t cost money. The argument “Australia does not have the budgets of the US” is a cop out .

    Shows like Medium, Gossip Girl, Ghost Whisperer, Ugly Betty, Lie to Me, Monk, Pysch, Dexter, Royal Pains, Vampire Diaries, Desperate Housewives etc don’t cost any more than a US cop or medical show. They are all studio based scripted dramas with little to no special effects or lavish post production. Those shows cost no more than US cop or medical shows. All US shows have budgets 3 to 4 times larger than Australian shows. That goes for reality, game shows and dramas. But casting aside Desperate Housewives, Ugly Betty or Medium costs no more to make than Law & Order, Mercy or ER.

    Original ideas don’t cost money. The problem is Australian networks and producers are scared to develop ideas outside the cop / medical areas. We have become so bound by our own cliche of a drama, that no one can be bold or daring enough to think outside of those two genres. Why not an Australian “Medium”? Why not an Australian “Dexter”? Why not an Australian “Ugly Betty”?

  4. One word – Yawn. God forbid they come up with something different. I predict a Bomb, with a captial B. Remember The Strip? An absolute shocker. Australian drama is packed to the gills with cop dramas, viewers are starting to suffer from cops overkill. Nine need to think outside the square and do something different. They had great success with McLeod’s Daughters, so I’m surprised they’ve gone down the well worn cops path. I’m very surprised that they haven’t gone for a faux Packet to the Rafters, actually. I felt sure they would schedule a PTTR rip-off.

  5. I gave up on Australian dramas a long time ago there is no originality especially compared to the US who says you need a massive budget to make an original show that hasn’t been doen before just look at alot of US cable programs, Australian writers really need to think outside the box.

  6. Could we all just give the show ago for starters L.A.C might not be the final name it could just be the working title like blue heelers working title was boys in blue. I think given our great talent in Australia they could make this work but only if it is given a country feeling like blue heelers a more family based cop show maybe given the return to a traditional local police station we may have another Maggie doyle on our hands how awesome would that be. In saying that we dont want anothe high octane drama that kids under 12 cant understand let alone watch. I can remember Blue Heelers and how it brings back memorys of my early teens it was the show everyone watched we need that again!!

  7. Good to see new local dramas popping up, but not good to see them practically all cop shows.

    I wish in Aus we had shows like Drop Dead Diva (although it’s legal it’s bloody hilarious), or something in the style of Sex and the City, hell, just anything that isn’t a crappy soap or bloody cop show. I can stand Rush because it isn’t all “whodunnit” and Rescue I tried out but it just didn’t click with me.

    So basically, here’s a message to each of the commercial networks:

    Seven: Stop making bloody factuals.
    Nine: More originality please.
    TEN: More than two local dramas please? Especially considering Neighbours is on its last legs, it’s ratings are just abysmal now. Of course, money’s made from it being onsold to the UK and other countries.

  8. Why dont they bring back that Young doctors remake they were going to earlier…..it would so really well now australia is medical drama less….How is this different to Rescue special opps and rush..IDiots…just looking for another bomb!

  9. For crying out loud – why can’t Australia actually take a stab at something new for once in awhile? The first drama that wasn’t police/rescue related was Packed to the Rafters, and look at how thats turned out – 40 episodes as either the most watched, or one of the most-watched shows of the week!

    I’m actually shocked that Nine haven’t gone for a Rafters rip-off…But still, I couldn’t be less interested in this show. I’m sick of seeing bloody Australian cops. Seriously.

  10. Well that will get advertisers excited I’m sure. Imagine the briefing – more of the same derivative, formulaic and moronic programming we’ve had this year and TG will fit in perfectly because it’s only 10 years old. Is there an original idea anywhere on this Network? We all know Underbelly was a complete accident.

    1. Police, medical and legal will always form the backbone of issue-based drama television -unless its soap. The US is still picking up far more cop shows than Aus, simply by virtue of its numbers. But it has the budgets to produce other genres which is a big ask for Aus. That said, we are smothered by dramas in uniforms lately and I detect a lot of viewers were too fatigued to even sample Rescue. Nine really needs its own Rafters -but I have written about the need for family-based dramas before. In the end it all comes down to execution. Could this be another Wildside or another Heelers? A family within a cop show? The father figure cop a la John Wood? Will the first scene see a young cop graduating while her sceptical traditional-values senior sgt dad looks on? Kate Ritchie would have to be a front runner given she is ending radio….

  11. This is great news but I hope all the storylines are given that country and local feel. Not like all these other shows such as Rush, Rescue Special Ops and City Homicide.

    Give us something like Blue Heelers pre-2004

  12. This has to be the most ill conceived name ever thought up for a cop show. Outside of NSW, who is going to know what the hell an L.A.C is, or even a Local Area Command? Isn’t that name specific to NSW Police? A little research on the net reveals Queensland and Victoria Police are broken up into regions. Nine have alienated the majority of their audience (everyone outside NSW) just with the title. I think you’ll find they’ll have to come up with a different title before this thing goes to air. Perhaps Cops: DOA would be more appropriate.

  13. Ah, Ch 9 the copy cat station !!

    We already have 2 decent Aussie cop shows from 10 & 7 and 9 has another Underbelly series coming next year. …. so I reiterate what the others have already said and that’s ‘Why’ ?? do another cop show.

    Have all our Aussie talented writers gone overseas ???

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