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Locals upset over axing of A Place to Call Home

Local newspaper reports on angst over Seven's melodrama.

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2014-07-16_1644Local residents of Camden remain unhappy over the end of A Place to Call Home.

Local newspaper Camden Advertiser is reporting on social media grief, but notes that Seven is “indifferent.”

The Advertiser last week asked for an explanation for the show’s axing and whether it would reconsider its decision. No response has so far been received.

A publicist told them she was aware of the community’s support of the show but that there would be no further comment.

Weeks later and angry viewers continue to comment, and are even urging people to boycott Channel Seven following the airing of the final episode on Sunday.

Some have added their support to a “Save A Place to Call Home” Facebook page.

“Five thousand-odd people on Facebook don’t want A Place To Call Home axed,” one person wrote.

“Channel 7’s program manager, if you don’t want people boycotting Channel 7 listen to them. There are three petitions going around that say we want the program to stay.”

TV Tonight has also received many complaints, many of whom note they are a younger demographic and many who have made their first comment on the site.

Unfortunately for them none will bring the show back.

17 Responses

  1. I have made a list of advertisers on Seven shows and am actively boycotting them. Spread the word. They need to sell APTCH to someone who can handle it. Meanwhile, my time and my 55+ money goes elsewhere.

  2. Drama like this is expensive to make. A show like this doesn’t just need thousands of devoted fans to keep going, it needs many hundreds of thousands.

    Had it found those fans in say, the UK, then it would still be with us. I would argue that the best bet for a return of the show would be to convince people in the UK to buy the DVDs. This would strongly encourage investment from a UK partner.

    Interest from British viewers is the only reason why we still have Neighbours. It’s a shame not enough British could be convinced to buy Commodores…

  3. I have let my fingers do the walking..and no longer press 7 on the remote.
    There is nothing I wish to watch on this channel and I am too old to watch the real Bali..OMG

    As far as 7 claiming the age group watching APTCH was old and not appeasing advertisers, did they really think 18 year olds were going to be interested in a post war drama. Ridiculous.

    Hopefully another channel picks it up and turns into a massive hit, remember Neighbours channel 7…ha ha still going after all these years.

  4. If it is the case that Seven would prefer not to target the older demographic, then that strikes me as odd. While I concur that they’re less likely to appeal to advertisers they’re surely more likely to be watching TV via regular methods, rather than by downloads or streaming.

  6. With decisions like these, no wonder Free To Air is failing. Financially they’re struggling and people can only stomach cheap and nasty Reality TV for so long. What happens then? Is it any wonder that Australia is leading the world in TV show Piracy. And it will get worse with the failure of FTA to engage its audience.

  7. Almost Greener was just a flop.

    It started at 2m but had dropped to 1m during S2 (back then dreadful). So Seven axed the show just before they started writing S3.

  10. Costs, revenue, demographics and how Seven plans to meet future Australian drama quotas are what is meant by programming. A network won’t ever publish details of their business.

    People over 50 are growing in number and consume, but they also read newspapers and magazines, watch cable and listen to the radio, so there are cheaper ways for advertisers to reach them than FTA.

    16-34s demographic has fragmented so the number is small enough that only secondary channels can target them specifically.

    So advertisers are after 18-49s or 25-54s who make up most full-time workers and home makers who have the money and spend it on advertised goods and can be reached via TV.

  11. Easy. Not advertiser friendly. Not enough viewers in 25-54 and not enough as dollars to pay for it’s cost

    When I saw the very first promo I knew this would skew so old

    I find it odder seven put it on air in first place

    Maybe belongs on ABC1

  14. @ alvar….it was mentioned that the audience were mostly older folk…which did not suit them but according to an article in news.com.au today….the people who are watching the most TV are the 50-64s group….the group they keep saying do not consume and are not the advertisers dream audience…Oh when will they learn…and get it right!
    @ David Knox….agree that Seven will not go there again…but surely they could on sell the basic concept/idea and let someone else do it …maybe?!?

  15. “Unfortunately for them none will bring the show back”.

    Yeah, but they have to have hope, particularly after that dreadful finale. They could’ve given them time to craft a proper ending – the way the finale went down, it seems like they got maybe a week’s notice max. So many loose ends and wholly unsatisfying.

    Seven really botched up what could have been a classic Aussie drama, given enough time. I just find the decision to get rid of it really bizarre, even if it is for financial reasons. Something major must have really occurred for the network in recent months to go from heavily promoting its return to ‘yeah, sorry, the show’s done’.

  16. I wish that we could at least get a real reason other than “a programming decision”. There must have been some deeper issue that Seven weren’t pleased with like costs, demographics, plotlines, casting etc that triggered the decision. Because otherwise the show rated well, had positive critical response, and only needed 1 more season to conclude the series.

    I really hope that next time Channel 7 launches a local drama, viewers won’t give it a go.

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