Never mind the numbers, Puberty Blues looks ahead.
Puberty Blues producers are moving ahead with plans for a second season, despite the ratings numbers for the TEN drama.
- Published by David Knox
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Puberty Blues producers are moving ahead with plans for a second season, despite the ratings numbers for the TEN drama.
Last week the show pulled 673,000 viewers, but as most observers know, it’s because of the poor lead-in from I Will Survive. Puberty Blues actually doubled the figures of its lead-in.
“We have struggled with decent numbers for the lead-in, but we are so happy with our show,” John Edwards told the Sunday Telegraph.
Drama exec Rick Maier recently acknowledged the show would be doing “greater volume” on a network like Seven.
Producers John Edwards and Imogen Banks are in script development on a second season.
“Yes, we are discussing it now. There’s a strong chance, and Imogen and I have been in the plotting room and are well into development ourselves,” Edwards says.
“So for those demanding more, we have high hopes we’ll deliver.
“We’d imagine fairly much continuing on in the late ’70s with pretty much the stories as we left them, maybe a year further on.”
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- Tagged with I Will Survive, Puberty Blues
41 Responses
@squareyes – I get that. I really do. stated at the beginning of my rant that appealing to the masses is a necessity in regards to a show having longevity. I just felt that a lot of folk equate a lower ratings result with bad writing, acting or production. A show which is a commercial failure is not also necessarily an artistic failure. Just a pity that being liked means you have more power to churn out something which isn’t necessarily good. I had the lowest expectations of this take on PB, fearing they’d dumb it down and make it more PG but they have done a fantastic and brave production. I hope they can continue to do so.
@kebeba. I agree with what you said.
However, commercial tv is about appealing to the masses.
But, PB was TEN’s second highest rating show last week. They would be crazy not to renew it.
@kerry: as I recall, the producers consulted with the authors to expand the scope of the series beyond the novel. Characters have been ‘beefed’ up, especially the parents. So the TV series could be less an adaptation, and more an expansion of the plot and themes of the book.
It’s true that the fact that PB only appeals to a niche market may mean that not everybody likes it. This does not however automatically mean that it is a bad show. Unfortunately, the financial need to appeal to the masses is a real one. Without ratings, a show can no longer be made. What is annoying is that I’m reading people’s posts that speak of not appealing to the mainstream folk like that’s a bad thing. However, to my way of thinking, the term ‘masses’ by definition means a larger body of people. Considering the number of people in the world who possess a lower IQ, far outnumber those of higher intelligence, appealing to the masses is not necessarily something to be proud of. The ‘masses’ love churned out, shallow pop music. The masses love reality TV about idiots. The masses love anything that does not force them to think. PB is an intelligent, retrospective drama laced with all the ugliness, awkwardness and complexities of teenage life. It even goes further from the novel and the movie and brings us into the adult’s world too. It shows us how we used to be and how much we have changed and how much we have not changed. I personally have enjoyed every second of and would love to see a second series.
It’s a great show, deserves a second season, although it will be interesting how a second season of Puberty Blues will work (if it gets given the green light) but its suffered because its had no substantial lead in.
@Mr J – Distribution revenues wouldn’t be a consideration for a recommission for a second series (might be different for S4 or 5 as sales will have accumulated).
The broadcaster does however receive revenue from international sales (as do all investors at some point as they recoup).
Best drama on TV by far IMO.
I guess Offspring doing similar numbers for S1 gives them confidence something of quality will also grow in further series.
@tvaddict. money from overseas sales goes to the production company, in this case Southern Star, not network ten. It is the network that decides to renew, so overseas sales would not come into the equation.
I love how nearly every program Ten does these days is described “…despite the ratings numbers for the TEN [program]…” Channel TEN could take any popular show and ruin it, the brand and turn people off for years to come.
has anyone considered overseas ratings/sales for some of these Aussie shows might make up the numbers the local audience didn’t quite reach, hence making them financially viable? I’m not saying it as a matter of fact, but a genuine question. The only confirmed show like that i know of is Neighbours.
David, i would really like to see an editorial on that very subject as you could probably answer that question. I would also wonder if overseas sales/ratings matter much for US productions that rate in the millions over there, would it come into play at all as to if they are kept in production?