★★★★★ 0/5

The verdict on Crownies

Twitter users gave ABC's new legal drama a bit of a mixed reaction on Thursday night.

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ABC1’s new legal drama Crownies premiered last night and was trending on Twitter, but the commentary was very mixed, with some ranging from thumbs down, to prepared-to-try-it-again, to those who enjoyed the performances.

Here is a selection of comments:

feneleyandco
Had high hopes for #crownies but it was very mixed – lousy writing but ok plot, strong cast let down by patchy directing & cliched lines

matt36512
Just watched the premiere of #Crownies. Definitely slow to get started. But once it got going, it was a real (guilty?) pleasure to watch.

MsLozzaloulilei
I’ll be sticking with #crownies to see what it produces next week.I thought the acting was good overall, dialogue ok,pacing abit off though

lukeeve
Really enjoyed #crownies tonight. Though the first Ep was much stronger than the second.

JodiMcA
Thought Hamish Michael & Ella Scott Lynch were very good in #crownies, but if the script doesn’t pick up in the next few episodes… ouch.

jameshutson
The scary thing is that after the movie length episode I feel somehow committed to #crownies. #cleverABCbastards

superhotmel
It’s amazing how all the people who work there are young and incredibly attractive #crownies

spacca001
#crownies = best Australian drama since Police Rescue. Some quality acting and some quality ‘talent’…

vivmcw
I should give #crownies more time, but on tonight’s episode it’s sorta average (and not in a good way)

james_findlay
For the record, the first half hour was a tad slow, but really picked up in the second half hour… #crownies

tweeveetv
Weak Twitter numbers for the 2-hour premiere of #Crownies. 860 Tweets from 400 people. #ABC1

18 Responses

  1. I really enjoyed Crownies, I have no problem wuth the ABC showing”commercial” drama!

    I am sure that when the show settles it will build a good following. I must say the quality of all the cast shines through, much better than some of the poorly acted and scripted dramas and contrived reality shows on other networks.

    Hang in there Crownies! you’re going to be a winner!

    Cheers
    Jack

  2. FYI for those who missed it you can also download it legally as an MP4 from their website, eps 1 &2 are separate at about 200Mb each, which is surprisingly good quality for a 50 plus min file. And a good alternative to iView which doesn’t work on slower Internet connections. I just wish the ABC had aired them separately on ABC2 last night.

    abc.net.au/tv/crownies/video/download.htm

  3. @Nelly
    Um, I just assumed Steev was referring to the fact that the series has a full 22 episode run, rather than the ‘UK style’ 13 or 6…

    I actually liked it! Sure, some of the script was terrible, but by the end of the ep I was interested enough for next week. Particularly liked Erin and the nervous guy (Richard? Anyway, he was great!) I think it has potential.

  4. Ah, the wannabe critics are out in force — it wasn’t brilliant, but it wasn’t too bad either, and ‘yes’, we’re normally Showcase/HBO snobs! An accessible little Aussie drama, without the hyperbole of commercial channels; there may be better US or UK dramas out there, but for one I’m enjoying local productions.

    Sure it didn’t match Rake, the cast was a but too pretty, the plot a bit light on, but I still found myself enjoying it, and will give it another try.

  5. I didn’t mind it. I watched reluctantly, as I really didn’t feel like starting a new show. But as I was a fan of This Life and the ex H&A actors, I thought i’d give it a go. I’ll check it out again next week.

  7. @steve “a full US-style series”
    r u kidding? I flicked between repeats of SVU (I’d seen before!) before giving up all together n watching DH after enough of it was on TiVo to skip thru the ads…

    US in what sense? A one paragraph “blurb”? In substance, anything but… Poor acting, lack of direction (the action in a JJ court room scene felt more animated!), cliched script… and wat’s with the color palettes/lighting in All australian produced tv (esp dramas/procedurals) – it’s always so droll/flat! has a home video feel about it

  8. It felt like Rake – long & lite. $10M+ of taxpayers money spent on this for the ABC? I feel uneasy as I thought I was watching Channel 9 – not as bad as COPSLAC, but not much could be. Great cast, great timeslot – up to them to iron out the script problems I guess.

  9. It was totall crap. Poorly wriiten and acted. I felt like it insulted its audience. Mediocre. All that publicity and money for such weak rubbish. We need smarter drama on the ABC not this dumbed down junk. Its crap!

  10. Watched the whole thing, it had a lot going on in the 2hr ep, I think that needs to settle down a bit, once it moves into the 1hr eps. It had a high number of characters and situations going on to follow, naturally to set the Series up. To me, it has potential, so see no reason not to watch the 2nd ep at this stage.

  12. I lasted half an hour. It wasn’t terrible but it wasn’t good either, and def not worth a commitment of over 2 hours. I don’t think I’ll be giving it a second look.

  13. I liked the episode last night. It reminded me of a light version of the BBC show This Life which was much edgier. I hope it”s successful so moree aussie acotors and crews can work at home.

  16. I actually enjoyed it. yeah it started s;low, but typical of any new debut series it takes a while to set the scene and character and while it could have been done better, I enjoyed the mix of inappropriateness and legalities.

    I will be giving it more of a go, coz any aussie drama deserves a chance 🙂

  17. I hope people will come back – I certainly will. It was a brave move for the ABC to comission a full US-style series, and I think this one shows promise.

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