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Ganging up on dumbing down

Opinion pieces on television take aim at TEN and at our Drama Producers.

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Opinion pieces on television are strong in today’s Fairfax newspapers.

Two pieces by two writers take pretty strong aim, one at TEN for dumbing down TV, and the other at our Drama producers for dumbing down Drama.

I haven’t seen Puberty Blues yet, but I suspect one show may satisfy both concerns (and didn’t Offspring anyway? Even David Gygnell praised it yesterday at Nine’s Drama launch).

Nevertheless, Sydney Morning Herald columnist Paul Sheehan gets stuck into TEN over The Shire, Being Lara Bingle and Masterchef. While it’s pretty obvious there are criticisms to be levelled at the first two, he says of the latter it has too much advertising, cross-promotion, product placement and self-aggrandisement.

“In fact, there is so much product placement and so many plugs that MasterChef, in its entirety, could be classified as advertorial. This, plus the antics of the co-host George Calombaris and the bullying of the contestants, who are forced to work under absurd deadlines in order to satiate the producers’ need for drama and manic energy and avoid the trap-door of public elimination,” he writes.

He also takes aim at management for poor programming, reflected in a low share price.

“The person technically responsible for what is evolving at TEN Network is the managing director, James Warburton, but he joined the company only in January (from Seven) when all the current trends were already in place or in the pipeline,” he writes.

“So the primary responsibility would flow to TEN’s chief programming officer, David Mott, who has been in charge of the network’s programming for 15 years.

“If the regulator were interested, I think TEN has a case to answer.”

I’m not as convinced one person is responsible when 12 months ago the network was gutted by the Board. TEN and Nine have both recently had to steer through economic change. Right now TEN has a case to answer to its shareholders and audience before the media regulator.

Meanwhile writer Sam de Brito laments that Australian drama is too obsessed with ‘crime porn’ and we should get back to making dramas like Phoenix, East West 101 and Blue Murder.

“From my perspective, this seems to be the message of so much Australian crime drama at the moment – and by extension the culture from which it springs, and which consumes it,” he writes in the Sydney Morning Herald.

“I deal drugs, I kill people, but I look good with my shirt off, I’m a lad, I’ve got heaps of cash, chicks dig me – so it is what it is – accept it man, move on, get your own life, cos I’m living mine like a f—ing criminal rock star, and if you got something to say about, I’ll hurt you bad.

“As Kuo and Wu write in their essay: ‘Because we have nowhere else to place our collective faith, only the anti-hero can contest or uproot the imperfect structures of the universe.’

“So we’re left to worship shitheads.

“I’m not suggesting the sky is falling because of Underbelly or its silly red-haired cousin, Bikie Wars, just that, as an avid consumer of television drama, I’d give my left nut to see our networks take some risks with a crime show, rinse the soap out of them and give us something to think about.”

31 Responses

  1. I read newspapers even less than I watch TV, but it’s good to read here that the press are getting stuck into the terminal decline of television.

    Aussie drama is technically very good; camerawork, sound, sometimes the acting and even the music are up there with the best. We have one or two good directors but the big problem is with the writing which is often cringeworthy and has viewers reaching for their remotes. There is no imagination and you get the impression that Australian scriptwriters have no experience of life apart from a couple of years at film school.

    By the way, the best ‘drama’ currently on TV is on SBS. It’s the Tour de France! It’s gripping stuff: Conflict, Human Endurance, Drugs, Danger, Battles, Blood, Heroism, Colour …. all in incredible locations.

  2. I’ll also admit when Eleven showed up I was very happy. There was a nice and reliable channel and with even more reliable start times. Loved it.

    The disaster this year is it’s going the way of Ten did (including horrible start times ) . It wasn’t perfect early on. Smallville was on Sunday. But otherwise wonderful. I could watch it Monday and Thursday. Eventually Saturday when Star Trek showed up.

    Now that’s going away. There’s just Thursday now. I would of been watching Monday too but for that 10pm start time. I wonder if I won’t watch any day. Although if you keep good quality science fiction television shows on Thursday it might not be the case.

  3. I’ll admit I can’t stand shows that make deception and deceptive characters the heroes. That’s why when I tried Homeland I realised no matter how good it might be I just wouldn’t be able to stand what the characters would do to one another. Plus it opened in Iraq. Ugh.

    On to Ten I’ll admit I think it used to be the commercial channel I watched the most before 2010 due to reliable days for shows to appear. But it lost me as a viewer. The last thing I committed to was Terra Nova. Sometimes once or twice a year films. I’ve tried other things. No go.

    Before that there was House, Supernatural, Medium, Torchwood, Stargate: Universe, sometimes Smallville and Numb3rs. I’m sure I watched or tried other things. House moved to Sunday. I quit. Medium moved to Friday. I quit. Ironically I watched Smallville when it was on Friday. Then it moved to Saturday. I temporarily quit. Supernatural and Torchwood had unreliable start times. The viewers went away. Then the shows went away. Years later some showed up to Eleven.

  4. Had to laugh at steve sydney’s question. The answer is that the current programmer at ABC1 who has been in the job for 2 years was formerly the programmer at UKTV in Australia. Probably more accurate to say ABC1 these days looks like a cross between UKTV and ITV made more pedestrian by mediocre local commissioning.

  5. Maybe I’m completely wrong but I thought the public funding of the ABC and SBS was to ensure the production of quality local content? So why does the ABC act like UKTV-2 half the time?

    Network TEN has shareholders to answer too. Therefore they need to make money. They make money by offering content that appeals to advertiser friendly demographics, of which, MasterChef, Being Lara Bingle and The Shire are.

    Does he not know this? Geez!!!

  6. The thing I found most disappointing about Bikie Wars was that if you took out all the montages set to music, you probably could have got the whole thing over with in 3 episodes instead of 6. I’ve never seen a show with so much padding – the scripts must have been pretty thin.

  7. Ten could respond that its somewhat ironic coming from a Fairfax journo. Fairfax also has a share price of around 50 cents. The Fairfax Reader’s Editor recently wrote a piece defending the dumbing down of its broadsheets. Wouldn’t surprise me if they had a ‘Shire Catch-up’ article next week.

  8. The more things change, the more they stay the same. Over a century ago, Dame Nellie Melba’s advice about Australian audiences to a British singer about to tour Australia was “Sing ’em muck; it’s all they can understand.”

  9. Yep Yep Yep…They are right. But what else do the networks do. I would hate to be a network exec. The landscape has changed so much in the last decade. Ratings are falling given there are so many alternatives to watch via laptops and iPads. Therefore advertising revenue is dropping while they have to fund multi-digital channels. Much sport on FTA has been moved to Pay TV. News and “real” current affairs is considered boring by much of the audience. Quality Drama is expensive to produce unlike 20 years ago when we would watch almost anything. Now days we compare Aussie drama to US quality dramas which is a tough call considering the budgets. So what are the networks to show? Shows like the Block, Masterchef and Big Brother where big numbers can be achieved most nights of the week – not just once a week. There is a great divide out there like we have never seen before for what people want. The Shire and Bingle are a risk…but it is cheap to produce (small crew and not studio based) so the ratings do not have to be huge to return the investment.

    Why should networks invest in quality when the majority of the audience don’t appreciate it. The Block is cheep to produce but people watch. Sorry just can’t watch it due to the product placement.

    From somebody who has had a close loyal link with TV the majority of my life….I am starting to find other things to do cause most programs are just not grabbing me. Just plain dumb and boring!!!

  10. Ch 10 used to be the only commercial TV station I watched, now I only watch Masterchef, even though that too annoys me at times. I have lost it with 10 after Laura Bingle and the Shire. What absolutely pathetic shows! And what is even more annoying is all the publicity these pathetic shows and their talentless “reality stars” get. Even though it is normally negative publicity these pathetic “reality stars” are probably happy with any publicity they can get!

    The best Australian drama I have seen is on Foxtel. Love My Way and Tangle absolutely the best Aussie dramas I have ever seen. Nothing on commercial TV compares.

  11. This is an important discussion to have – this article along with Nine’s drama announcement yesterday has triggered a discussion worth having. Independent producers – that is, those not aligned with the vertically integrated distributors who fund their shows are constantly frustrated by the lack of diversity in commissioning and the lack of risk taking at every network – not just one or the other. The audience wants higher quality drama because we are watching great stuff from the UK and the US and our tastes have evolved. What’s interesting is that network TV in the US is on the record saying they want to rise to the challenge of cable TV in quality drama and they know it’s niche, not broad, intelligent not dumb. Nine needs to be far more focussed in the demo it is appealing to with its drama – this is the main reason why Ten has found a few hits over the past few years and the ABC needs to be much more challenging and intelligent. Was there ever a drearier, less energised commissioning team at the ABC in Drama, Comedy and Kids than today? The ABC is a huge disappointment when it used to lead the charge. The Slap was good – but shouldn’t that be the absolute basecamp of drama rather than some kind of zenith? A competent adaptation of a best-selling novel – yipee. SBS has done nothing new for years due to lack of funds however Tony Iffland is now in charge of trying to get something going at SBS. We wish him well.

  12. Good that a debate about the dire situation with Aussie drama. Of course, Australia cannot be compared with the US and the UK which have much bigger populations and therefore much more money to play with, much more talent on hand and far more production resources. Our productions will never really be of an equivalent quality as we are so much smaller as a viewing market.

    Totally agree with the observation about crime porn. There has been way too much of it over the last three years or so and it doesn’t sit that well with me as I think it does glamourise the criminal underworld. Also, I am not particularly rivetted by this style of show, just a personal thing.

    I don’t really have an answer, but it is obvious that Australian drama, with very few exceptions, is not working at the moment. A little surprised with the criticism of Masterchef, but I must say this season of the show is so much better than last seasons.

  13. I do roll my eyes at the product placement on Masterchef. But saying that without the sponsors I don’t think the show would be around. Plus a lot of singing and dancing shows expect you to work through the night and then perform the next day.

  14. It’s Sam de Brito, not de Bruto. He’s right though, e.g. comparing Underbelly to the ABC’s fantastic Blue Murder is like comparing Lara Bingle to Quentin Bryce. Or that Edelstein bimbo to Marie Curie.

    Unfortunately however the great mass of people in the demographics the advertisers are after seem to love reality TV crud like Lara and Edelstein, crime porn like Underbelly and game shows ad infinitum, and that makes the networks most of their money. They’re in the game to make money via advertising, not quality entertainment.

  15. @nrc_02…How much did ch9 pay for Top Gear and what did they then do with it?

    It is worth investing in high quality drama, even if it does not top the ratings. Overseas sales can help offset the cost of production…..but the quality has to be there

  16. Though I agree that out TV tends to be ‘dumbed’ down, I dont agree about what was said about Masterchef. If viewers want these large format reality shows, they need to be paid for some how. I dont mind sacrificing some time in the show for quick product snapshots as long as they continue to push out quality entertainment.

    Also “…contestants, who are forced to work under absurd deadlines…” um have you worked in a kitchen before….

    Viewers have to understand that Australia is a different market to US or UK. Do u really see CH9 handing over $50million for a 10ep season like Game of Thrones? Then only have 800 000 people watch it.

    The reason why we get rubbish is because that’s what everyone watches, why would the networks produce high quality drama and science fiction and everyone would prefer to watch melodramatic shows about families and doctors.

  17. Finally a debate is emerging as to the generally low quality of Australian drama on commercial TV, not to mention a long list of unfunny comedies and pedestrian dramas on the ABC. But don’t blame the producers. The independents get the commissions and are completely controlled by the broadcasters. The level of intervention is very high. What is interesting is that broadcasters have finally realised that their audiences prefer well produced Aussie dramas over the imports. They may finally invest the resources required for development and production of sustainable drama slates and give drama commissioners the status they deserve within the networks. After nearly twenty years of Australian drama being subsumed by reality television and docusoaps it may finally regain the status it lost within the networks. There is a lot of talent out there if the net is cast wider and some risks are taken. The network which embraces this will succeed. So good luck to David Gyngell at Nine if his words are followed by deeds.

  18. I don’t know why Ten was singled out in that article by Paul Sheehan. Seven and Nine certainly have their share of car crash television (Brynne Edelsten, Beauty & the Geek) and shows with product placement (My Kitchen Rules, The Block, Celebrity Apprentice etc). Contrary to his belief, Ten and the other commercial networks are not programming just to please the tastes of Paul Sheehan. There are other people watching who may not agree with his views. As for the dramas…comparing commercial networks here to cable shows overseas is ridiculous. Mad Men and Game of Thrones are not shown on commercial networks, and would never be commissioned by an overseas commercial network either. I think our commercial networks have a great mix of shows and do take risks, but they are also running a business and need to commission shows that will also rate well. Offspring is critically acclaimed and Puberty Blues looks very promising. ABC, SBS and Foxtel do not have the same pressures.

  19. Ten thinks it’s viewers are morons, so programs shows like Bingle, The Shire – and they suffer in the ratings because their viewers aren’t actually morons.
    Nine knows it’s viewers are morons, so programs endless repeats of Big Bang, and crappy Underbelly, and the people still watch.
    And Seven know that it has that many viewers it can afford to treat them like crap and take them for granted (Downton Abbey, Criminal Minds) but they’ll still watch.

    That’s my summary.
    Ten used to be a favourite among viewers, at least on this site. It’s now a basket case. David Mott has to go because he’s killing that network, and when they axe quality like Rush, but invest in Bingle and The Shire, and think that’s what people want, it’s only going to get worse for Ten.

  21. It does seem tv productions dont stray past the same couple of formulas,over and over (there are a few exceptions).If its not underbelly style crime shows,than its rehashed versions of shows that have played before.We need some more originality and witty,smart ideas.Some might say it comes down to demand and this is what the viewer wants.Id argue that the viewer isnt given any other alternatives,unless its from the US or UK.My own preference is for alot of the UK dramas and crime shows on the ABC.

  22. Couldn’t agree more! Our TV stations rarely take a chance. Could you see us producing something like Game of Thrones? Heck, even something like Revenge or Once Upon a Time? Australian TV is really an embarrassment. Have you heard the rhetoric they’re using from the new Kerry Packer “drama event”? Apparently, it’s a crusade of iconic figure (I know about two of the 10 names they sprouted off). The guy put cricket on the television and this is being produced? The programming decisions and right negotiating of a TV network as an epic drama. Just pathetic.

    Until Australia pulls up their socks I’ll be sticking with US and UK shows thank you!

  23. It is difficult to disagree with them. The US and UK comm channels seem to manage to produce quality dramas and also their fair share of crap as well whereas our comm chs seem to produce a tiny amount of quality and a large portion of crap.

    Action or violent sequences do not have to be in super slo mo….it is so last century. Sharp snappy dialogue can work if delivered well. Expensive aerial camera shots do not balance out a poor script. This country of ours has some stunning backdrops, a short but vibrant history, is full of “colourful” characters and pollies, there is so much potential, yet so little achieved.

    Unfortunately our fta comm networks remain stuck in petulant teenager mode and treat their viewers with contempt. (every time you hear a promo with the word ‘special’ in it, you know they think you are a 4 year old child)

    end of rant

  24. I agree with them. There is hardly anything of a standard I care to watch on Aussie tv anymore. I watch DVD series instead, mostly from US or UK. I can’t ever see a time when we produce something of the quality of say Mad Men or The Office, mainly because it will never get the ratings to justify the cost. Sorry to be harsh but it’s true.

  25. Good article David.

    Personally I believe we get what we consume. You can’t blame the TV producers from dishing up more of the same, when the costs and risks of producting TV and ratings revenue is so high. They are very risk adverse and will keep pumping out more of the same until it fails and they latch onto the next new thing and milk that to death (e.g. Big Bang Theory).

    SBS seems to be the only TV station taking real risks in producing alternative programs or formats. But they never get the recognition or viewers they deserve.

    I started to watch Bikie Wars, but you could just see the same old formula being applied and I was just over it and switched off.

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