Nine hijacks ‘Packer sequel’ from ABC
The Nine Network has swooped on the success of ABC's Cleo miniseries and done a deal with the producers to stump up a 'sequel' for its own network.
- Published by David Knox
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The Nine Network has swooped on the success of ABC’s Cleo miniseries and done a deal with the producers to stump up a ‘sequel’ for its own network.
Nine has commissioned a mini-series from Southern Star about former Nine magnate Kerry Packer’s World Series Cricket revolution as a two-part mini-series to commence production in 2012.
The mini-series will tell how a young Kerry Packer took on the cricket establishment to set up a rebel competition with the world’s best players and recount Packer’s court battles to get World Series Cricket up and running, the secret player signings, and the way he got around the ban on using Australia’s hallowed Test arenas.
The announcement all but undermines any opportunity for the ABC to retain the production it nurtured to great acclaim.
The Australian reports that the ABC wanted to have a sequel about Packer’s cricket achievements, but Nine wanted it and refused to give access to archival footage.
The success of Paper Giants: The Birth of Cleo cannot be underestimated. It isn’t merely the 1.2m viewers it achieved on Sunday, nor even the remarkable boost it got for the second episode on Monday (1.34m). No, it was the universal praise the show received from the audience -in casting, scripting, direction, design- and that it represents a return to form for ABC Drama.
It is hard to remember the last time when an audience was as vocal in its praise for a local drama.
Channel Nine, which delivered the dreadful Cops L.A.C. last year and is sitting on Panic at Rock Island which was panned in New Zealand, now sees fit to pounce upon the ABC’s achievements. Will this fare as well as Top Gear did when it pinched that from SBS? It’s now rating lower than it did on SBS.
How independent will the miniseries be on Nine? The network is known for wanting its way in the final product. Just ask the producers of The Strip. They are the same team who made the excellent East West 101 for SBS which gave them enormous creative freedom.
Packer’s achievements in cricket may well be the stuff of drama -but there are much better Packer stories to be told, especially his hands-on approach to running his beloved Nine. There was the selling of the channel to Alan Bond, then buying it back at a fraction of the price. There are glorious stories of his management of Nine stars, seen fleetingly in TV1’s Graham Kennedy telemovie, The King.
Southern Star is reportedly still speaking to a presumably-miffed ABC about another idea for a sequel on the world of magazines.
I have a better idea the ABC can have for free. Go and buy the rights to Who Killed Channel Nine?
That would rate through the roof.
68 Responses
@Ronnie Spot on. John Edwards knows what he’s doing going on his impressive track record. Nine would be wise to just let him do his thing and not meddle if they want it to fly as well as ABC series. Can they do that? Only time will tell I suppose?
Hands up who watched Paper Giants for Ita?
Hands up who watched Paper Giants for Kerry Packer?
*sound of crickets, and not the ones with bats and balls*
Paper Giants was so interesting because it was about Ita and the beginnings of Cleo, and that’s why most of us watched it, and it was great!
What 9 are going to do doesn’t interest me one bit…
Packer… Ugh!
Cricket… Ugh!
@ Postcard If you are correct I wonder why John Edwards, (currently the most successful and prolific drama producer in the country), didn’t pitch a mini about Cleo to Nine when they are the obvious buyer. What else isn’t getting pitched to Nine any more? And why not? Until Nine work that out they’ll never be number 1 again.
Billy Birmingham to be the sole cast member?
The abc would of done a better job of this, the 9 production will be something like another underbelly series, you know, annoying music, caroline craig voice over etc.
Oh well. Boycott time for Channel Nine.
Won’t be difficult, have been doing it since 2005.
I’ve been saying for years that the best TV miniseries Nine could make would be ‘Who Killed Channel 9?’. it’s got all the hallmarks of a fantastic soap opera!
I don’t have much confidence in this mini series, nor do I find Packer all that interesting anyway.
No David, you don’t suggest Nine passed on Paper Giants, but a couple of the comments on this post make the claim, as did an early iteration of Amanda Meade’s story, subsequently amended.
Meh… Paper Giants for me was about Ita. I could give a rats about Packer.
Not overly surprised by Nine though. They’ll screw anybody over in an attempt to get viewers. I think though that this move won’t win them any as there’s too much bias. At least with an independent like the ABC, you’re more likely to get a half accurate depiction of what actually went on.
I haven’t suggested Nine passed on Paper Giants.
Nine never “passed” on Paper Giants because Nine was never pitched Paper Giants.
In a way, it makes sense for Nine to do the cricket one. It will undoubtedly be a hagiography but that’s what Nine will want. The ABC can then do another one about Jamie throwing away the family business
Shame! This has ‘stinkbag’ written all over it. Hisses and jeers to Channel 9 for wanting to befoul the first decent thing on Australian TV for many a month with their grubby paws. You just know it’s going to look like:
“Underbelly 14 – Sticky Wicket – How Channel 9 Saved Cricket”
BTW – That was a good article, Mr Knox! I love it when you write exactly what I’m not erudite enough to say. That’s the sort of of pull-no-punches writing that drew so many of us to TV Tonight in the first place – I’ve missed it of late – you’ve become so diplomatic!
Let’s hope the sequel doesn’t have the same production values as Cops LAC or is as inaccurate as Underbelly.
Nine really know how to make everyone hate them
I hate when Nine does this kind of thing, yes it’s a free market and the producers can sell there product to whom they like, doesn’t mean I’ll watch it though when it’s filled with 30 minutes of adverts, countless pop-ups and annoying promos and tie-ins with ACA or Today.
Yep. Still someone’s else program when it rates and never take risks of your own. Good work 7 and 9, setting the benchmark for innovation and creativity of Australian drama.
If Nine gives Southern Star’s John Edwards the chance to simply get on and do what he obviously does best, like he did for the series on the ABC, I can’t see this being a flop.
How did Paper Giants not get commissioned by Nine in the first place? Maybe it demonstrates how dysfunctional their drama commissioning process has become. How can the lame tame same same SP5 UB4 and RSO3 get made? It’s lazy at best and the success of Paper Giants has embarassed David Gyngell into doing something about it. Note to DG though – Paper Giants was about Ita and Cleo and the reason the figures were so strong is that it appealed to women – not a segment of the audience NIne seems to care much about these days.
What a disgrace – the ABC took the risk when Nine passed on Paper Giants and now the ABC get screwed over – such poor form. That’s business I guess but a disappointing outcome.
Surely Gyngell and his programmers are on thin ice – or is it Jeff Browne running Nine (that’s sarcasm by the way)? What exactly does Jeff Browne do?
Good luck Nine. You’re still the one… for ratings flops.
I think you’ll also find the iView and time adjusted figs for Paper Giants break a few records too?
Excellent series in all aspects. Well done to the team at Southern Star and the ABC for architecting such a great 3 hours of Aussie TV and showing how it should be done.
Sigh.