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TV needs a variety show, more risks taken, lower subscription prices: what readers are saying
Many readers are complimentary about the quality of Australian productions, but still have ongoing beefs with networks and streamers.
- Published by David Knox
- on
- Filed under News, Top Stories
Australian television needs to take more risks, add a late night or Variety show, re-energise Daytime TV and lower Streaming subscription prices.
These are amongst comments made by Readers in the recent TV Tonight Awards.
There continue to be complaints about “Too much Reality, not enough Drama” -this is an annual gripe for TV Tonight readers.
But there is still some room to praise the quality of Australian productions.
Here is a snapshot of the most common points raised by readers.
Risk Averse
- It is lacking in experienced leadership. This makes it risk averse and mediocre outside of a few standouts.
- No risks taken for new product. Many back catalogs ignored and left to die. Quality of service is below par both in quality of content and quality of experience (resolution, bandwidth etc)
- Not an Aussie-specific observation but I think TV is at it’s best when new formats are being tried out. Spelling Bee, Origin Odyssey were local hits for me this year.
- I believe that we are at a point where we are purging the hypocisy and toxin from the industry but now everyone is walking on eggshells and thin ice, not will to push new ideas or develop original content plans. We could now start adapting more international comedy panel formats and scripted content that has a mixed media delivery, similar to the Sports approach, as audiences become more discerning about content. Investment in people and ideas need to be at the forefront, not trying to steal audience share and product-centric programming.
Programming
- Remove the overrun
- I wish, stations would bring back the idents. The music of channel 9 is so incredible… It was like the stations were so proud of the station…
- Overruns of Reality Shows is still a struggle, and the schedule post 8.30pm is a mess. There should be more Australian Drama on Commercial television. The ratings changes are good (with no more split coding for The 6pm News / The Project / The Chase etc), but am still not a fan of the Reach figures.
- Too many repeats, particularly of flagship shows
- Daytime TV needs to be stronger. Repeats in the age of online catch up just seems half assed.
- I’m generally happy with Australian TV, except when shows run overtime and time slots get changed
- As a UK national the difference in quality of programming is shocking. The channels in the UK, BBC, ITV, Channel 4 and 5 are better programmed than the channels in Australia which either air repeats or reality TV
- There needs to be more fresh Aussie productions and music programs. During daytime too many talk, cooking and game shows.
Variety
- I do think there needs to be less of nasty reality TV and some more variety in programming including a late night variety/chat show of some sort.
- More original Australian programing,and a light entrainment daily show to retire too. Something to unwind and relax with, life is so stressful atm for everyone.
- Still need smart comedy, a night time talk show and more traditional drama, not police or detective drama.
- Lots to choose from this year. Some excellent shows and movies. Needs to have more variety shows to showcase talent. Lacking a leading host . Eddie can’t do everything!!!
- FFS. More variety. Can’t be replicated. Find a way to get it to work. Talk show. Variety show. The big show.
- Would love to see more live entertainment programs where overseas actors, celebs, singers etc can be interviewed about their new projects
- Too much reality. Very little culture. I temember when used to get plays, ballet and even opera. Good quality variety shows.
Streaming
- It’s getting very expensive with shows spread across all the streaming platforms.
- There continues to be a dearth of cheaply made reality TV on FTA. It’s now at the point where I really only watch ABC and SBS because the quality of nine and seven (in particular) is so poor I can barely find anything to watch.
- Streaming services are my saviour, but these are becoming more fragmented. I suspect a big shake up is coming to streaming because the cost of holding multiple streamers at once may also be fragmenting production resources.
- This was also the year I got sick of price rises by the streamers – I’ll now only subscribe for a month or two at a time, then cancel for at least a few months and come back when there are fresh options ready to binge.
Less Reality / More Scripted
- Getting boring nothing new fresh and exciting. Sick of reality content. Need more comedy and drama
- Too much reality TV
- Once again the major networks don’t learn and don’t listen. Stop with all the stripped reality, there is more and more and most of it fails. More Drama, documentary and comedy. I understand it is cheap to produce but do we really need so much news on so many different bulletins during the day enough.
- We need more local dramas.
- There are way to many reality shows on Australian TV. A Lot of these reality shows are poor in quality and could be improved.
- Some more Australian drama might be good!
- We need more good Australian, scripted drama and comedy shows and less trashy reality TV shows. The Block needs to stop casting unlikeable personalities for drama and go back to the teams that people like and want to see.
- Too much reality. Increase Australian drama on FTA
- Would love to see more Australian drama.
- A disappointing year for local scripted content. And never saw that Tipping Point juggernaut coming.
- Too many repeats and too much American crap to fill timeslots. Main channels and multi-channels do offer variety, but not a great deal of new Australian drama. Too many cheap, sensationalist reality shows and too much commercialism/product placement on programs. Australian TV is struggling, and they need to get back to basics.
- There will need to be a merger between two of the commercial channels in the near future to enable them to compete with the streaming platforms – sad, but the reality of how customers are accessing TV these days.
- More good quality drama, please!
- There are still too reality shows occupying the 7.30pm timeslot on commercial TV. I would love to see some new Australian dramas and comedies shown in the timeslot.
- I love supporting Aussie TV. I just wish we had more drama and Children’s Television. We need to tell more Australian stories.
- I do wish there was more investment in children’s television, especially live action drama.
Positivity
- Free to air is coming back.
- TV has improved on last year in general but too reliant on reality staples
- The Assembly was probably the best show during a rather dismal year of Australian TV in this viewer’s opinion, hopefully that show can develop a greater pool of neurodiverse talent which at the moment is basically restricted to Michael Theo (who’s becoming overexposed, at least by ABC standards) and Chloe Hayden.
- I am enjoying quite a lot, I watch so much free to air, and I believe there are too many critics out there just being negative nancy all the time.
- On a plateau for a long time – but good
- The 2024 has been like a another big year. My favourite moments is watching Home and Away at 7:00pm every night 4 times a week, Paris Olympics Games and Canberra Raiders game on TV.
- Overall good variety. Bring back masked singer Au.
- There are some great Australian shows that need more seasons: Deadloch, Bay of Fires, Wolf Like Me, Boy Swallows Universe, Fisk.
- Some real highlights
- I’m within the industry and its been an extremely tough year but content is still being created well and to a high standard
- With things how they are they’re doing the best they can and I feel like Australian audiences aren’t being under serviced.
- So much good TV available I find I have forgotten all my favourite programs of the year yet again as I try to fill out the survey…
29 Responses
If there was a “Online media personality who needs a spot on mainstream Australian TV” award, I’d probably give it to David M Green. Based on his work with VHS Revue, he seems enthusiastic enough about TV and if given such an opportunity, could made the ABC’s Wednesday night comedy lineup light up in a way it hasn’t been since the demise of “Mad As Hell” (which I know, DMG wrote for/had bit parts during).
Of course, some reader submissions are more realistic than others but one thing I think most can agree on is that the networks need to be more willing to strike while the iron is hot with new formats/personalities.
Tipping Point Australia was a particularly good example: While probably the most successful new program of 2024, you can’t help but wonder if it would’ve become an even bigger hit if Nine launched it about 2-3 years earlier. Certainly, there was a market appetite for TPA as far back as 2020/21 when 3pm airings of the UK version made the Top 20 programs some days!
More. Risks. Please. More new shows, less reboots. New faces, not the same 8 people on rotation. New stories. Diversity. In touch with the current zeitgeist. Please for the love of god, make this year in television different from the last 30.
I wish there were a standard policy requiring the full closing credits to be included in episodes on catch-up platforms for all shows, especially on broadcasters like Channel 7, 9, and 10. While I understand the reasoning behind removing credits from linear broadcasts, viewers should still be able to access this information on catch-up services without being left in the dark about the cast and crew, and not being able to hear a shows theme tune. This is highly frustrating.
Have a look at 10 Peach from next Monday. They are rejigging their schedule and not in a good way. The 6am-12pm block is a repeat of everything on 10 from the day before. Bizarrely, mornings on 10 also repeats some of the same shows (Lingo, Deal or No Deal).
Why on earth did they brand themselves “10 Peach Comedy”. In 2024, they acquired three US soaps, surely these could be added to 10 Peach instead of rerunning game shows and cooking shows.
do FTA networks constantly work on digitising their archives; or is everything just ‘gathering dust’ since there’s not much benefits vs cost?
I think we can safely say this is not a priority unfortunately. It does not happen.
Yes, they are transferring – lots of technical issues – tapes need to be baked, end of life of media etc – but issues with expired music rights/copyright, plus legacy content isn’t high on the priority list for VOD – also most of it is 4/3 ratio – which many people sadly complain about. “oh looks old and blurry” I was told this by someone who works for 7 archives.
I think free to air is doing ok considering circumstances. They do news and sport exceptionally. Leave Drama to streaming and the ABC. Only thing really lacking is Variety/talk show. Would love to see one of the Commercials have a crack. I think an ideal host would be Sam Armytage. Of course a lower budget but smarter production than the old days. Sam is the only one I can think that could hold down such a role. She is smart, has great personality, experience and a load of fun. I think Seven does re-invention better but Nine has the history with variety.
Nice list…. but
Free-to-air TV just doesn’t have the money it once did. The golden era of the ’80s and ’90s, with big-budget variety shows with shiny idents shot on 35mm film composited on Quantel HAL’s etc, relied on an entirely different advertising landscape. That world is gone!!!! Networks today are operating with far tighter budgets, and streaming competition has completely changed audience expectations. Hoping for a return to those days without a total overhaul of the industry feels pretty delusional IMO.
The key is still to make it work within budgets… ABC has dabbled with Fran Kelly, Shaun Micallef so there are ways for those creative.
Sure, they’ve dabbled, but how did those actually work out for them? Both running on ABC taxpayers money right?
Commercial TV has no golden money anymore.
DWTS is variety-esque. Project is news / comedy / chat. Instead of saying no, find a way to say yes perhaps?
Yeah well by that logic, then go hire some Aussie YouTubers who work on mini-micro-budgets but get 50,000x more views than FTA ratings and give them a tv show.
YT is beaut for short term content, and it has been a good start for some TV especially in comedy. The point of the article is to snapshot what readers were raising. What networks / streamers choose to take on board and budget is really up to them.
example: @IsaacButterfield – 2.2M subscriber vs @TheProjectTV – 220K subscribers
If I was a prod placing bets in the television world, I know exactly which horse I’d put my money on.
Would be great seeing Married… With Children , Family Matters and Sale of the Century. 10 Peach way too repeative. Sick of 7Two’s Million Dollar Minute reruns. Don’t like Saturday morning ‘rage’ being broken up by news.
I only watch FTA…more than enough to keep me happy…some live…most catchup …Love SBS and they have a great movie catalogue….I miss The Loop on 10…I know it was a Saturday morning show but I watched the repeat Saturday nights….made my week…a good mix of music for everyone!…Fun presenters….Happy young folk.
Hope the untitled sam pang new show on 10 is a variety show? It will be a winner?
David, do you actually pass these comments on the networks?
Kind regards
Publishing as a post is the same thing. Thx!
I learned calculus at school, when X approaches zero. FTA is gone and the streamers are all ad-supported. Free-To-Internet is the new on-demand FTA. Landlines are now single-mode fibre, mobile’s connect to streetlight aerials, out of home and in the bush hats are shaped like satellite dishes. The Tin Foil Hat Party is gaining support.
I’m at home during the day at the moment and like a sitcom in the background while I work. Ten Peach is appalling in relation to repetition – morning and afternoon – same episodes. Plus, just continued Becker and Frasier and Big Bang – hit the final episode then back to episode one. There are other shows available to them!
During the summer months I have been watching a lot of shows that I bookmarked as favourites on SBS on Demand, which didn’t seem to appear on the main TV channel. I have found quiet a lot of good drama / comedy shows from France, Belgium, Netherlands, Scandinavia and French Canadian that it has more than fill the summer void. However I can only usually watch 2 episodes a night, as I have to keep my eyes open.
I think I heard on Gruen that SBS makes more money through advertising on its On Demand service than it does on its FTA service. Hence they hold back many shows from FTA and only show then on their streaming service. I just wish there was more variety to their ads – The Pilot ads every ad break is driving me crazy with it constant repeats.
I’ve enjoyed catching up on Origin Odyssey and Great Australian Walks this summer.
I mainly watch FTA TV, but I am finding less and less reasons to do so. I occasionally dip in and out of streaming services when the pickings on FTA get too scant.
Reading many of the comments from the survey, I think we all need a primer on the economics of TV, because that is why we have what we have (i.e. reality v scripted and ad nauseous repeats). The golden age of FTA TV is over without the rivers of advertising gold.
My main beef is like the old Bruce Springsteen song – 99 channels and nothing on. We have so many multi channels, but what is the return for the viewers in terms of diversity? This is something that the Federal Government could step in and make it a licensing requirement that some of their secondary channels contain some diversity of content. It is an opportunity for TV Executives to bring in young creatives and give them a chance to experiment and try to rope in a younger audience. Where is the young Andrew Denton doing something fresh and innovative???
Funnily enough, I don’t think TV enthusiasts have the answers for saving FTA TV. Longing for yesteryear is never going to bring in younger viewers. The real question is, why are the people who don’t FTA staying away, rather than what complaints do the people who are still watching have.
I stay away from FTA for 3 main reasons, commercials & watermarks,scheduling and poor content.
Last time I watched any movie on FTA was many year’s ago now, I flicked over to find Fast & Furious, the original on 7Mate, it was around 15 mins in already, so I got up, bathroom, made a drink, put it on Netflix, watched the entire movie start to finish, flicked back to 7Mate and it still had 40 mins run time,
Other reason is scheduling, my life doesnt run on a TV schedule, if I want to watch a program, it needs to be when I want to watch it, not going to commit to watching a 730,830, 9pm show daily/weekly knowing full well I wont be available to consume at that fixed time. On demand offers a slight repreive on that, and reduces commercials,
Lastly content, countless channels with re runs of everything I watched in the 90’s, or reality TV, I refuse to watch reality TV, with so much content available, add free on streaming services on demand, why would I go FTA?
“I wont be available to consume at that fixed time”.
We have an old-fashioned PVR so set the timer to record stuff (e.g. an SBS drama on live TV) and replay when we like and can fast forward thru the ads. And you avoid paying streaming fees.
I reckon the broadcasting space has gone backwards in the past 10 years.
None of the network ‘catch-ups” have streaming fees.