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ABC coverage of New Year’s Eve branded “train wreck”

Disappointed viewers turn to Twitter to let rip at ABC's "diabolical" broadcast of the Sydney fireworks.

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2014-01-01_03132014 may already have its first contender for biggest blunder of the year if Twitter is anything to go by.

Last night’s broadcast of the Sydney New Year’s Eve fireworks has been dubbed everything from “train wreck” to “diabolical” on social media, with only a few voices lending their support.

The evening, hosted by Lawrence Mooney and Stephanie Brantz, was part of ABC’s push towards more “event” broadcasts, but many viewers were calling for Nine to be reinstated as broadcasters.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

But there were some bouquets:

 

 

 

 

79 Responses

  1. I was interested in tuning in but just couldn’t watch with that terrible audio.Turned it back on for the countdown and tuned out again. Fireworks (especially in SD!) doesn’t make great tv!

  4. From the brief segments I saw from 11pm, it was dreadful. The set was worse than the big brother diary room, the presenters were not funny and kept going back to jokes about toilets. The shockingly bad, camp and poorly sung ‘we will rock you’ performance had to go on mute. ABC24 also continued with the news ticker the entire time of the live fireworks.
    This is one thing channel nine can do right, ABC, I expected more from you. But with the crap comedies this year (which people seemed to have loved, why??) it’s not surprising there was no humour in this event.

  5. Memo to all networks who cover such events. Make sure you don’t set up next to whatever concert’s going on at the time, so everyone has to shout. Bloody awful. (Note: ABC)

    And 7’s coverage of Melbourne’s fireworks – make sure you don’t have hordes of morons behind the set leaping around and waving every time the camera focused on the hosts. Ditto re background noise.

    And the ABC’s coverage was way too long – why on earth would you start at 8.30, leaving the poor hosts to fill in for three and a half hours (shouting all the way!)

  7. We tuned in for the 9pm fireworks but only lasted 10 more minutes after that – the ABC3 presenters acting like idiots was the last thing we saw before we switched to SBS to watch Coppers…..

  9. The ABC’s audience is mostly over 55, lives in inner parts of cities and watches the ABC nearly all the time.

    Why would you expect coverage tailed to those who don’t go out to the fireworks or a party, and full of ABC faces, to appeal to the twitterati at large?

    They should probably have run a Rage special for on ABC2 to cater for other people though.

  11. I only tuned in in time to witness an exceedingly awkward countdown on stage with Clover Moore and Reg Mombassa. If that was any indication of the show that preceded it, then it must have been truly awful.

  13. Didn’t watch all of it, but what I saw of it Stephanie Brantz was trying to hold things together while Lawrence Mooney and the Chaser boys were running out of control. Amusing watching it go down and Stephanie continually touching Lawrence on the leg to try to get him back on course.

    Didn’t help that they were being drowned out by the band though.

    Micallef’s year in review was very good. 😀

  14. Some of those tweets seem like they are upset with the change of broadcaster rather than the content.

    That being said, I rather enjoyed it and hope they do it again this year.

  16. I really thought the same about the Naval Fleet Review on ABC earlier in the year. In both, I think Lawrence Mooney has been found lacking. A funnyman trying to play a straight part is always going to be a hard gig, especially when you have long gaps to fill. I don’t think it’s so much about commercial vs ABC, but the choice of presenters that the ABC used.

  17. I think these people need to lighten up. Sure there were a few lowlights, but most of the coverage was absolutely hilarious.

    It’s NYE – the coverage is meant to be fun and a little bit chaotic! What did people want, a serious news show?

  18. I wonder if it was HD on ABC24, even if only 720p. It is now 2014 after all.

    For anyone who cares, Australia must be the laughing stock of the world when it comes to HD.

  20. I wonder if the people who commented on the New Years Eve guide still think the same way now after this coverage. Happy New Years David and your readers of this blog, thank you for bringing me up to date with news and tv programming.

  21. I didn’t watch tue ABC NYE show itself but ABC are the first network in ages that showed the 9pm and midnight fireworks live in all states. Something Nine didn’t do when they had the rights.

  23. I was disappointed, but only because my aerial’s broken, and I foolishly assumed it would be airing on the News 24 stream online — apparently not.

  24. I felt sorry for the hosts and guests sitting next to a stage, trying to talk and hear each other over the music.

    Speaking of the music, it was a pity that we hardly got to see any acts.

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