50 Years of Television in Australia

by Nick Place

  Guy Sebastian and Shannon Noll eventually battled it out in the final at the Sydney Opera House, and it was South Australia’s Sebastian who ended up being crowned our first Australian Idol. His first single, Angels Brought Me Here, entered the charts at number one.

  Channel 10 is already looking ahead to the next series. Ten thousand hopefuls initially auditioned, and a massive peak viewing audience of 3.65 million tuned into the Opera House finale. All of which suggests there’s plenty of life in the concept yet.

  Cereal, coffee and a ratings war

  December: Things are heating up early in the morning, and it’s not because someone’s left the electric blanket on all night. Nine’s Today had reigned virtually unchallenged over TV’s breakfast turf until earlier this year when Seven launched their ‘Kochie and Mel’ show, Sunrise.

  The relaxed, more personal approach of David Koch and Melissa Doyle was designed to appeal to a younger, more techno-savvy audience. And it has worked.

  Sunrise used popular music and deliberate humour to consistently challenge Today’s ratings supremacy, and succeeded in doubling its audience this year.

  Nine’s brekky staple, meanwhile, has been busy playing catch up. Sunrise introduced ‘ticker’ lines (continuously streaming news headlines), and Today soon followed suit. Koch and Doyle spoke to viewers as though they were chatting together over lattes, and soon the serious Steve Liebmann was sharing stories from his weekend with the national audience.

  This new contest shows there’s plenty of spark left in the early timeslot yet.

  Deluge of praise, drought of viewers

  June: It seemed like a winning mix: the writer of SeaChange and Kangaroo Palace, a star-studded Aussie cast and an emotionally complex drama. But up against John Farnham’s Farewell Concert on Seven, Channel 10’s mini-series After the Deluge didn’t stand a chance.

  Its first instalment pulled fewer than 1.3 million viewers nation-wide, and that figure slipped to barely a million for the concluding half, even though there was no big event programmed against it.

  Featuring Ray Barrett, Hugo Weaving, David Wenham, Samuel Johnson, Rachael Griffiths and Catherine McClements, After the Deluge was lauded by critics for being compassionate, witty and profoundly moving. It just didn’t rate.

  The zhooshing of Aussie TV

  August: TV viewers whining to talkback radio is a sure sign of ratings gold. And so it was this year, when homosexual men began to appear more often on commercial television.

  From the US, Ten brought us the Fab Five of Queer Eye for the Straight Guy, a makeover phenomenon that Seven had first dibs on but failed to secure.

  And Nine put forward our own ‘out and proud’ cult figures in the form of The Block’s Gavin Atkins and Warren Sonin, more affectionately known as Gav and Waz. The boys, along with the three other couples, renovated their way to a massive ratings high, with more than three million people tuning in to The Block’s finale and making it one of the year’s big hits.

  Though the series was taken out by Sydney couple Fiona Mills and Adam Thorn, it was the boys’ natural charm (and Waz’s unforgettable laugh) that really won over audiences.

  ON DEBUT

  > Meet My Folks – reality comedy series

  > Your Life on the Lawn – reality show where the contents of a family’s home are dumped onto their back lawn

  > Merrick and Rosso Unplanned – late night comedy show

  > Deal or No Deal – game show (below)

  > Marking Time – mini-series

  > The Shark Net – mini-series

  > Dossa and Joe – comedy series starring Michael Caton and Anne Charleston

  > Welcher & Welcher – comedy series with Shaun Micallef

  > Fat Cow Motel – comedy series

  > A Case for the Coroner – legal documentary series

  > Tipping the Velvet – mini-series

  > Fashionista – fashion show

  > Inside Australia – documentary series

  > Greeks on the Roof – talk/comedy show

  > Micallef Tonight – variety show

  > Blackjack – telemovie starring Colin Friels

  > The Postcard Bandit – telemovie

  > Temptation – telemovie

  > Inside Business – ABC business and current affairs program

  > Love Is In The Air – ABC music series, follow-up to Long Way To The Top

  > Noah and Saskia – children’s series about the internet relationship between two teenagers living 10,000 miles apart

  > Reality Bites – documentary series

  > Skithouse – sketch comedy series

  > Stupid Behaviour Caught On Tape – just about sums it up, really

  > Bambaloo – children’s series

  > The Block – reality series set around four couples renovating units in a Sydney apartment block

  This year, tonight’s the night

  December: When Rove took home a Gold Logie in March, it was a clear indication that the ‘Tonight’ show was back with some force. With Rove showing the genre was far from dead, rivals unsurprisingly began looking for a piece of the action.

  Seven launched an early assault in the form of The Chat Room, which brought together a group of Austereo radio personalities to chew the fat and make with the funny. But the visual medium wasn’t kind to Tracy Bartram, Matt Tilley, Greg Fleet and pals, with the show lasting just three weeks after its March debut.

  Not to be disheartened, Seven launched their second front in May – a local take on the highly successful British talk show, The Kumars at No. 42.

  Greeks on the Roof introduced us to Effie’s family. But despite their charms, the Stephanides clan failed to moussaka their way into audience favour, with steadily declining ratings behind first a shift in schedule and then subsequent disappearance.

  Also in May, Nine released Micallef Tonight, which premiered with high hopes of emulating the variety traditions of Graham Kennedy, Bert Newton and the GTV-9 of old, but it consistently lost out to the ABC’s evening talk show offering, Enough Rope with Andrew Denton.

  Denton scored some memorable interviews with people like Russell Crowe, Steve Irwin and Rene Rivkin, while Micallef’s unique brand of off-beat humour failed to strike a chord with Nine’s viewing audience and was axed in August.

  ABC’s children’s line-up suffers from cutbacks

  September: Young fans of the ABC have not fared well this year, with two of the ABC’s digital multichannels, ABC Kids and Fly TV, shut down after Federal Government funding ran out.

  Then the long-running education favourite, Behind The News, also found itself at the chopping end of the ABC’s axe. But thankfully for schools, parents and budding current affairs commentators, Network Ten has picked up the show, renamed it Behind Ten News and will put it to air from February.

  Disappearing drama

  November: It was a year that promised a lot for Aussie drama. It sadly became a year marred by disappointment.

  CrashBurn was a new comedy-drama from experienced writers Andrew Knight and Deb Cox. In August, Age critic Ross Warneke expressed concern that perhaps CrashBurn was ‘too clever for its own good’, and too ABC-ish for commercial audiences to take to. Sadly, he was right.

  But it wasn’t the only show to suffer. White Collar Blue was axed by Ten due to poor overseas sales, despite star Peter O’Brien being awarded a Silver Logie for his performance in the show. And Always Greener was cancelled in September, despite Seven giving the show the green light for a third season just six weeks earlier. Seven’s director of programming and production, Tim Worner, expressed regret over the show’s demise and spoke highly of the series, which ‘dared to be different’. But it never recovered from the decision to shift the show from Sunday nights to Mondays.

  No sketchy laughs for Kath and Kim

  November: If Kath and Kim’s recent ratings coup proves anything, it’s that it’s time for networks to think outside the traditional sketch comedy box when it comes to laughs on the small
screen.

  This year, each commercial network launched a new sketch comedy show, in the belief that Aussies like their laughs short, sharp and knocking over a few tall poppies on the way. Nine brought us Comedy Inc, Seven The Big Bite and the team behind Rove offered up Skithouse.

  While the three shows demonstrated how unfunny it is when there just aren’t enough punchlines to go around, the final episode of Kath and Kim’s second series drew the highest ratings of any ABC comedy program since peoplemeters were first used in 1991. More than 2.154 million viewers tuned in to watch the much-anticipated arrival of the unfortunately named Eponnee Rae, darling daughter of Kim (Gina Riley) and Brett Craig (Peter Rowsthorn).

  Take one cooking show, add a hint of culture and stir

  October: The ABC’s new cooking show is a little different from the rest. But maybe that’s what happens when you hand the directorial reins to a documentary filmmaker and the presenting role to a cook who’s as much influenced by her ethnic background as her foodie contemporaries.

  Kylie Kwong: Heart and Soul follows Australian-born Chinese cook Kwong through reconstructions of her childhood, musings on her life and finally the artistry she displays in her kitchen. It stands out in this year’s pack of overseas food offerings which included Jamie’s Kitchen and The Restaurant, the latter which lasted on air for only one episode.

  But SBS found a cult favourite in the form of The Iron Chef, which pitted two culinary masters against each other in a sumo-esque cook-off of honour involving a secret ingredient.

  MEMORIES

  > The Rugby World Cup is ratings gold for Seven, with the final between Australia and England the most watched program of the year.

  > Home and Away celebrates the wedding of Sally Fletcher (Kate Ritchie) and Flynn Saunders (Joel McIlroy) and waves a fond farewell to Donald Fisher (original cast member Norman Coburn).

  > Ray Martin returns to the compere’s chair on A Current Affair.

  > Hobart’s fish-and-chipper Regina ‘Reggie’ Bird walks away from Big Brother 3 with a cheque for $250,000.

  > In The Footy Show’s 10th year, Shane Crawford’s soapie spoof, The House of Bulger, becomes a surprise hit.

  > Jana Wendt returns to Nine to host Sunday.

  > Stingers celebrates its 150th episode.

  > Weatherman Rob Gell is replaced at GTV-9 by Livinia Nixon.

  > Molly Meldrum’s Toasted and Roasted special is nothing more than an embarrassing mix of immature homophobic comment.

  > In The Secret Life of Us, Alex (Claudia Karvan) and Rex (Vince Colosimo) get hitched on the roof before jetting off for London.

  > Tony Squires and fellow Fat panellist Rebecca Wilson sign with Seven.

  > Former Nine CEO David Leckie is appointed chief executive at Seven.

  > Claire (Lisa Chappell) dies in a car crash in McLeod’s Daughters, leaving behind baby Charlotte.

  > Nine wins all 40 weeks of the ratings.

  > Gold Logie: Rove McManus

  > Hall of Fame:Don Lane (right)

  > Most Popular Program: All Saints

  REALITY TV

  Gripping, weird, trashy and the shortest route to a massive ratings success, reality TV has become a staple of our viewing diets. But that should come as no surprise – it’s been a part of our TV menu, on and off, for the past 50 years.

  Come and see the real thing

  The fact that there’s very little reality in any show that calls itself Reality TV hasn’t stopped the genre-bending format from exploding on our screens and becoming one of the hottest programming properties on Australian television.

  Ironically, it can be argued that reality TV doesn’t actually exist. You might say it’s an amalgam of various other television formats in the form of fly-on-the-wall, game show, documentary, docu-soap and talent quest style programs. Still, it seems anything tagged ‘reality’ draws viewers and advertising dollars in their millions.

  In Australia, Sylvania Waters (1992) is generally accepted as having provided the first home-grown taste of what would become known as reality TV. Producer Paul Watson’s docu-soap followed the tempestuous life of a real-life, ‘typical Aussie family’, Noeline Baker and Laurie Donaher and their offspring, played out with much tantrum-throwing in the eponymous Sydney suburb.

  But Australia’s real boom in reality TV kicked off with Andrew Denton’s radio promotion spin-off, The House from Hell (Ten), in 1998. At the time, Denton commented with spooky prescience: ‘We’ve all experienced flatmates from hell, now we give you six of them living in one squalid house, tearing each other apart. Now that’s entertainment!’ This, remember, was a full year before the first Big Brother screened in Europe.

  Big Brother is the show that changed it all. MTV had dabbled in a few reality-type shows, but when the pure voyeurism of Big Brother began in the Netherlands in 1999 (it originally claimed to be based on ‘a social science experiment’), the show precipitated the massive worldwide boom in reality shows that virtually defined television of the late 20th century.

  The local version of Big Brother first screened in 2001. Controversy and ratings escalated with each series as racist comments flew, Merlin Luck famously took a moral stance on the issue of refugees, and female housemates got more than matey, their tonsil hockey caught on camera in BB Uncut.

  The phenomenal success of Big Brother had TV network bosses salivating at the prospect of huge ratings delivered by shows that not only cost little to produce, compared with traditional programs, but also garnered extra revenue through their audience interaction. The scale of reality programming became grand, and so began the avalanche of reality formulas. Home improvements, airport conflicts, wife swapping, even dating transsexuals – nothing was safe.

  One of the most popular reality series, Survivor – which calls itself a game, incidentally – made the most of exotic locations to hook its audience. The American version has proved the ultimate survivor. By 2005 Mark Burnett’s original was in its 12th season of production – but Australian Survivor lasted only one season.

  Our love of dining out was given the reality treatment to popular acclaim in My Restaurant Rules. The Block, in which couples renovated old apartments in between arguments, was touted as Australia’s most-watched TV show since the 2000 Olympics.

  The antidote to the plethora of set-up scenarios was ‘real life’ shows. These followed ordinary people during typical days spent in interesting workplaces, like an operating theatre or a veterinary hospital. Shows such as Medical Emergency and RPA proved popular gore-fests for the non-squeamish.

  Of course the original appeal of reality television was in witnessing real people reacting to situations, genuine or not. That notion was quickly relegated when celebrities noticed their limelight being stolen by Joe Schmos and Outback Jacks. And thus we were given a slew of celebrity reality programs that took celebs of various grades and placed them in contrived situations which usually, overtly or subversively, mocked them.

  The already blurred line between reality and farce was completely obliterated in popular programs like The Osbournes, Newlyweds, I’m a Celebrity … Get Me Out of Here and Celebrity Survivor. They laughed, cried and spat the dummy just like the rest of us, or usually much worse, making us all feel a whole lot better about ourselves.

  There are any number of post-grad theses to be written on why people want to get involved with reality TV – and why the rest of us want to watch it. But whatever the reasons, and whatever the format, be it a family living out the hardships of colonial life or celebrities swinging from a circus trapeze, it’s a fair bet that reality television will continue to be less ‘real’ and a lot more surreal. And its future will be determined, of course, by your vote.

  Far from reality …

  Proving that there doesn’t have to be too much reality in reality shows …

  > Scream Test – An Aussie-produced psychological reality show described as ‘Survivor meets the Blair Witch Project’, where contestants had to spend seven nights of frights
in six haunted locations.

  > Princes of Malibu – A mega-rich music producer battles with his two spoiled stepsons who use and abuse the millions, while Mom lets them get away with murder. Sylvania Waters on steroids.

  > Fire Me, Please – Two people competing to be fired on their first day of work are tracked by hidden cameras while they torture unsuspecting co-workers. A few of the supposedly average ‘workers’ turned out to be stand-up comedians or actors.

  > Beauty and the Geek – A reality show contest that forces dumb, attractive women and intelligent, ugly men to work together, teaching each other social skills and general knowledge.

  > Tommy Lee Goes to College – No stranger to the camera, rock star Tommy Lee at last finds time in his fast life to go to college at the University of Nebraska.

  2004

  Many of the big names of Australian TV make news this year: Somers pops up again, Pomeranz and Stratton raise eyebrows and that woolly-jumpered gardener and his backyard call it a day. It is also a year of change, with Ten breaking a long-standing tradition, and Foxtel weighing in with arguably the year’s best new drama series.

  Dancing towards ratings nirvana

  November: The high camp world of ballroom dancing has made a successful transition to prime-time TV, much to the surprise of the networks that turned down Dancing with the Stars before Seven grabbed it.

  When the ratings figures were released, you could almost hear the sighs of relief in the Channel 7 board room, and perhaps the groans of missed opportunity from the other networks.

  Of course, Australian audiences are already familiar with the false eyelashes and giant smiles of ballroom dancing thanks to the hit 1992 film Strictly Ballroom. Now, just as they took to the film, Australian fans have taken to the debut season of this highly sequined dance contest, with 2 million viewers tuning in on opening night.