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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.

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. From what I saw it wasn’t that bad, sure it seemed like Mooney and Co wanted to go a bit racier, however it was quite apparent they were under instructions not to by ABC Management (as obviously Brantz was keeping them in check). So with Mooney and Co not being able to that I think that is were the awkwardness of what was seen came from (plus the band being loud next to them).

    @Sophie I agree the Robbie Williams concert was fantastic, when I saw it advertised I didn’t expect the Muppets to be involved. I have see Williams do other live shows and he always entertains, don’t own any of his CD’s (and probably never will), as a live show performer though, I always watch and enjoy him.

  2. Let’s face it, it was terrible. The hosts had absolutely no chemistry at all. Mooney never looked comfortable and Brandt was schoolmarmish all night.
    The music was appalling and so were many of the live guests. They seemed to have nothing to say and they all flailed about talking crap instead. Honestly it was just plain embarrassing.
    The constant shouting over the live band just made for an uncomfortable experience particularly if you watched for more than 10 mins like I did.
    Having a serious discussion about Prisoner X, bushfires and Mandela’s death at 1130 leading into the fireworks display was just bizarre programming.
    I don’t know about previous commercial broadcasts as this was the first New Years we stayed in to watch unfortunately.
    If the ABC want to do event television they better find some people who know how to produce it.

  3. I switched on last night surprised to not see anything NYE related on any of the commercial/digital channels, then found out it was on ABC. I watched for about 10 seconds before switching because new years television tends to be garbage anyway.

    I did switch to SBS2 and watched The Host (which was fantastic by the way), so not particularly scorned by this.

  4. “Shoudy Chen-I was a bit disappointed about the ABC Coverage of NYE 2013. This was mostly due to Channel 9 losing tv broadcasting rights.”
    Yes, clearly so many disappointed by no ‘sneak peek’ and ‘first look’ bore-fests, more promos and commercials, missing the start of the countdown, etc., 20 mins of promos & comms in the last half-hour.
    Yep, clearly the Nine Fan-Boys are not happy.So many new names posting here that have never been heard before.

  5. Have to agree with many here that Shaun Micallef’s year in review segments were the highlight of the night. While I found Lawrence and Stephanie’s banter with their guests hovering somewhere between inane and excruciating at times, I acknowledge that trying to keep the momentum of what was essentially filler and fluff between firework displays for several hours of live broadcast would not be easy, and made all the more difficult by having tompete with the din going on around you.
    I still thought the ABC’s coverage was better than the Richard Wilkins-Jules Lund-Shelley Craft fest Nine had been churning out for many years.
    And on the scale of Australian live TV broadcast ‘trainwrecks’, Channel 10’s 2010 ARIAs coverage stills wins, hands down. (The horror… The horror!)

    Oh, and can I just say how much I loved the Robbie Williams concert before the NYE coverage kicked off? Great…

  6. All the negative comments from the commercial network stooges, even saw Angela Bishop this morning having a swipe…please.ABC did a fine job, gees it’s NYE they should be light hearted,silly etc etc. just we all are when we see the night in.Richard Wilkins , stoggy,wooden, no more.ABC must do it again this year.

  7. @JamesJ

    There was live coverage on youtube of the Sydney fireworks. The lead up to the Sydney fireworks on youtube wasn’t great either but I was only interested in seeing the fireworks so I wasn’t too bothered.

  8. And I thought Channel 10 set a standard of terrible ‘events’ – ABC just passed them, and even when I expected our national broadcaster would have a standard themselves. And they managed to cross promote as well.
    But by far the worst thing continues to be the cameras showing the fireworks – it is clear that it is a seperate company doing it, not the host broadcaster, but every year they stuff it up. Missing the effects on the bridge, showing side on shots of the bridge showing nothing, way too many helicopter shots which didn’t show much, too many zooms on nothing and then zooming out to nothing but black. It was embarassing that was the footage the world saw.

  9. I went in expecting to enjoy the evening…not….the presenters shouting..for a start…and the set…gold couches and the rest…irk….I watched for awhile…then just went to ABC24 …who I thought would also be doing the NY thing but not…just news and 9PM and midnight fireworks…I kept flicking back to ch.2…but could not stick with it…found myself cringing quite a bit…not what you call fun….strange people behaving strangely and no one seemed to know exactly what to say or do?!?
    And the guy with the eyelashes doing the Queen number…desperately trying to whip up the audience…OMG!

  10. There were definite flaws in some segments, but overall it was so incredibly refreshing to have coverage that didn’t just follow the typical mainstream storyline. It was hilarious for the most part.

    However, I’m fully aware the ABC’s coverage last night wouldn’t appeal to the masses.

  11. “The evening, hosted by Lawrence Mooney and Stephanie Brantz, was part of ABC’s push towards more “event” broadcasts”
    What? A push towards more “event broadcasts”. The ABC does not need to do these type of shows, I like it how it is ATM, no reality TV instead it is filled with quality television.
    I have not watched NYE on TV since I was a kid, so I can not comment on the quality of this broadcast.
    David what other “event broadcast” are the ABC planning on airing?

  12. I’m sorry but these must be a bunch of ABC employees writing that this wasn’t so bad. That show last night was a joke. The music was absolutely terrible, the guests were at best awkward, the hosts, my good, the daggers that woman was giving the male host, she couldn’t hide her disdain for him nor her guests when she couldn’t control theit responses. see her face when one of the guests put the sparkler in the cup on the table.g. So bad….talking politics – Indonesia, did you great the comments about Mandela – at 11.30 just before the fireworks were going to start. it’s not about appealing to any audience type, it was simply a really really bad show with bad producers, bad hosts, bad guests. I have never wished for more ads when watching television.

  13. I thought it wasn’t too bad given it was their first go. It was a welcome change from seeing Richard Wilkins every year at NYE. It does need fine tuning. The overall concept is very good. It seemed poorly executed. It does need fine tuning to perfect the segments, plan ahead for content that can appeal to everyone, not just the Newtown & Enmore scenes only. It was culturally restrictive to not engage with mainstream audiences who would not be largely aware of bands, such as IOTA and Stonefield, as well as planning ahead to avoid innuendo and knowledge of the ABC charter to prevent on-air awkwardness during live coverage. The highlights though were the fireworks, no commercials, Craig Reucassel brandishing a sparkler, live crosses to other capitals.

  14. CH 7 – was terrible display in SD, looked pathetic
    Coxy looked bored siiting next to whats her name from Winners & Losers who seemed to do most of the talking.

    CH 24 – was 720p display which still did not look that great but was better picture quality than crappy SD on CH7.

    Considering that Analogue is gone, why was CH 7 used instead of their HD channels with HD cameras?

  15. I didn’t mind the coverage but didn’t know most of the people as I don’t watch alot of ABC. While for the most part it was on in the background I thought the most hilarious moment was when they talked about the coverage not being on Nine and asking where the ads are for “Fat Tony and Co”.

    It was good not to have all ads and network promos you get on Nine but its not something you can really sit down and watch – and seeing its NYE, most aren’t going to be sitting down and watching anything!

  16. Shaun’s reviews were great, the rest was OK, the fireworks cover was good.
    But really why put people next to a band.
    Overall anything is better than Nine and its crazy camera angles.
    I actually enjoyed most of it, I was laughing quite a lot so it must have been OK.
    For people who like to criticise, let them fill in for 3 and a half hours of live TV and see how they go,
    And we did not have pesky commercials.

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