★★★★★ 0/5

Renewed: Wonderland

The cast of Wonderland will step back in front of the cameras for a second season on TEN.

41
Leave a comment

WonderlandNetwork TEN has renewed its newest drama series Wonderland for a second season.

The ensemble cast including Brooke Satchwell, Michael Dorman, Peter Phelps and Tracy Mann will return before the cameras in Sydney in late March.

The renewal for the series about four young Australian couples is in addition to 9 remaining episodes from Season One which are yet to play out.

The Fremantle-produced drama which premiered last year received mostly positive reviews while a TEN statement says it ranked number one in its timeslot for people aged 25 to 54.

TEN Head of Drama, Rick Maier, said: “All power to the cast and crew who delivered such a fun show for us last year. We are looking forward to more stories of love, lust and intrigue from the busiest and most romantic block of flats in the country.”

Jo Porter, Director of Drama at FremantleMedia Australia, said: “We will be building on the strengths of the warmth, romance and humour of our Wonderland residents. In season two viewers will share unexpected twists and turns, fast-paced storylines and dramatic cliff hangers that will test all our characters.

“We are looking forward to viewers getting to know Australia’s favourite flatmates even better as they face love affairs, break-ups and revelations of deep secrets within the Wonderland building. We all can’t wait to get started.

TEN’s local drama slate for 2014 already includes Offspring, Puberty Blues, Secrets and Lies, Party Tricks and, on ELEVEN, Neighbours.

 

41 Responses

  2. Wonderland’s second last episode featuring Jessica Toveys’s relationship with her estranged mother was brilliant. Also the show is the best star vehicle for Michael Dorman in a role he is perfect for. So I for one think this is very good news.

  5. I think it’s about time that networks gave shows a chance to build an audience as they did in the past and not just axe everything straight off the bat.
    @harrypotter1994 yes there are only 9 episodes remaining of season 1.
    @jtshadow65 It seems cultural cringe is alive and well.

  6. @D@GP and Mason
    I too agree the more Aussie drama the better, different quality and genre dramas appeal to different people.
    I think committing to an existing. Drama and improving is a fiscally responsible decision, costs of developing new scripts, new cast etc. and hopefully gone are the days where a drama is cut early on without being given a chance!

  7. i like wonderland but it wont last beyond a second season because 90% of australian shows are crap & i really hope to see Jessica tovey who plays danni & the actress who plays miranda go to america im sure if they did they can make it big over there because there wasting there time being in Australia

  8. Shows that grow in second seasons are quality shows that people didn’t have time to check out which grow through word of mouth. It happens most to premium cable dramas.

    Wonderland isn’t such a show. The cast the two leads well added plenty of UST. But a show needs more than that. Some of the supporting actors were poor and their characters and the social themes they forced upon them were poorly written.

    Ten will be hoping that an overall rise in their fortunes and a better lead-in will lift Wonderland’s ratings as well.

    But it looks mostly like a decision that it is safer and cheaper to make S2 of Wonderland for the US Summer gap than to takes risks creating a new drama from scratch. Especially as there will be a ton of local dramas this year, Ten are selling the farm to stay afloat and have money tied up in Batavia.

  9. Im confused David you say there is 13 episodes remaining of Season 1?

    Last year we got 13 episodes out a 22 ep season so shouldnt there only be 9 episodes remaining or have they ordered some more?

  10. Full agreement with the positives – a good Aussie show – we are demographic dinosaurs but certainly enjoyed the overall production.

    The kid who was in Wild Boys is great!

    Looking forward to the return of Offspring and Puberty Blues as well.

    We dont llike Winners and Losers or House Husbands.

    Move on.

  11. Taking over Offspring’s timeslot was a big ask and unfortunately, Wonderland did not deliver at all. LIkeable enough and attractive cast but the writing is woeful.

    Ten had built themselves a clever niche in high quality dramas in Offspring, Puberty Blues, even Mr and Mrs Murder and Wonderland was definitely the odd one out.

    Overhaul the writing team & treat the audience with a bit more respect would be my advice if they want this show to stick.

  12. This is good news. That being said, I intended to watch it and never did, as Gruen was on at the same time. I thought it already had been renewed – a mention at TEN’s upfronts of must be different to a renewal? And they split the first run of episodes, so there’s still half of the original 22 eps to go?

  13. A good decision I feel. Other shows have hit their stride in season 2. I didn’t like it but I’m glad it’s around becuase the more we get Australian stories (even white bread ones) on TV the better it is.

  14. Fair point David, but the production companies and therefore the creatives behind each of theses shows are very different. John Edwards/Southern Star is a drama master, far more inspired than the other lot.

  15. So this is the new bold and courageous Ten Network renewing a bad drama which audiences didn’t respond to. You may not like Winners & Losers but Seven sure has a great talent for identifying audiences and building a show for them. Wonderland was a flop and with these low figures from the last series Ten will be faced with 13 episodes from series 1 and then 26 episodes from series 2, probably a $20 million investment. It is a very poor commercial decision and a very dull creative decision yet it would have been signed off by the CEO and the Head of Programming. Ten needs a fresh injection of ideas if it is to get anywhere this year and this decision is not one of them.

  18. Agree that Ten are wise to invest in another series and make changes, rather than give up. It’s way superior to W&L. It’s just the latter has a great time slot on a winning network.

  20. I don’t know what the actual number is but 500k seems much too low from memory. I think it was 700+ surely.
    IMO betting on a drama for a second season with those ratings is better than trying to launch a whole new one!!
    Look what Seven did with X factor – it is nearly double the audience than season 1 0 and good point on Offspring David – the numbers were better than ever this year for S4.
    Also Wonderland is a hell of a lot better than Winners and Losers in terms of quality and given it was launched when TEN was suffering – by S2 more poeple will be around to give it a chance and the 700 who liked it the first time round will be back. good decision. any decision to back Aussie drama deserves respect

  21. I think ten are smart to try and fix something they have rather than through it all away. One thing Offspring has going for it is that not every character looks like they walked out of a modelling agency. I also find the idea of a bunch of people who live in the same building being friends ridiculous. The most successful Australian dramas in recent years have often had intergenerational elements and perhaps Wonderland needs to increase that element.

  22. Very few were interested in it last season and even less will be this season. A complete waste of time and money that will only please its handfull of viewers.
    You wonder why 10 is going out backwards.

  23. This simply highlights just what trouble TEN are actually in! Renewing a show that rates around 550K is incredible. It’s these type of decisions that ensures TEN will never be able to rebuild. They need to take some risks, sticking with a series doing these low numbers will never allow them to be competitive. Fact is they need David Mott back, or an experienced television executive to run the company, that is their only chance to get out of this mess.

    1. It’s done reasonable business in demos, not in total people. 500k also overlooks Timeshifted. Sometimes you hedge your bets the show will hit its stride in a second season after some tweaks. Offspring now is nothing like the first season with a bloke running around like a mad bomber after Nina. I suspect that’s the gamble the network is taking.

Leave a Reply