[Media] Caught the pilot of Lost Girl, which lead to some thoughts about Australian media.

[moonvoice]

Well, aside from a few clumsy lines (both written and delivered) in the pilot episode, I am quite intrigued by new fantasy/sci fi television drama entrant Lost Girl, made by Canadian producers Showcase. I found it endearing, interesting, and one more show in a long line of 2010 shows to feature supes. It had some great, immediate accessibility in character Kenzi, and some very cute lines.

Considering I turned off Hellcats in less than 10 minutes (hey, Gale Harold is going to be in it later, I still might download those episodes just for him), it's nice to find a new show which looks interesting (though this season's line up? There's some others I'm looking forward to as well). Also, Dark Fae? Light Fae? A main character who's a succubus? Two female leads? Bring it on, bitches. Works for me.

*

Geez, Australian media sucks when compared even to Canada's media, and that's just sad, since we get similar funding and support in both nations for our film and television production units. Also, Australia has the tech - has always had the tech, especially since the first Matrix - to really do wild things with supernatural themes. Even more so than Canada. Does it? Pfft. No.

We are like the most unimaginative country ever. You couldn't even pitch a supe-drama here, even though they are selling like hot-cakes everywhere else. It just disappoints me, after all this time. It's hard to support a lacklustre industry. And a lot of it isn't lack of funding. Some of it is just lack of imagination, Australia's culture of media insecurity seeping into film-making in particular (it works well in literature, if you can handle the similarities in tone between writers like Carey and Winton). But then, it's unsurprising. We have one of the worst rates of media censorship in the Western world ever. We still ban films like Salo (unbanned it, changed our minds, too sensitive for our sheltered viewers, sorry!).

It is a deeply, deeply oppressive environment for any media show to get made (yes, there are more oppressive environments, but not many to be found in the Western world). Those who do stick to fairly basic (but not always bad) affair, usually involving some kind of formulaic procedural (Blue Heelers, McCleod's Daughters (which did crazy insane in the ratings when it was shipped off to North Asia), White Collar Blue, All Saints, Water Rats, Wildside immediately come to mind). Maybe it's just me, but I want something way more imaginative. Or at least the choice.

Anyway, didn't expect to be writing about this at 9.00am!

Comments

[white_rabbit]

Wow, I had no idea that it sucked so much in Australia. I actually thought Canada was a little weak/slow in the uptake of producing stuff. Because hey, some of the stuff made up here is AWESOME, but feels few and far between sometimes. Maybe because American media heavily saturates ours even still.

I'm actually so surprised that my little city is becoming such a center for movies, media and TV shows being produced. But there are crazy awesome grants for people who bring productions here (if you hire a certain percentage of local people) and it's SO much cheaper shooting here than in more Southern parts of Ontario. Need to close a road in Toronto? Several hundred or thousands of dollars. Close a road here? Tell the city and put up your own signs.

Still, I'm amazed. It's pretty weird and awesome.

[moonvoice]

Wow, I had no idea that it sucked so much in Australia.

Not getting any better either. A lot of it is funding, but not all of it is. It doesn't help that the Australian audience mostly wants to watch shows that celebrate actual criminal behaviour, like Underbelly (something I find personally deplorable, but oh well, you can't help it when we're a nation of convicts essentially who celebrate assholes like Ned Kelly).

Yeah there are tons of benefits to shooting in quieter places like Canada. Same for Australia too, where movies like Where the Wild Things Are were shot (you can tell, all the trees are eucalyptus trees, which is awesome). We just don't really take advantage of it ourselves, unfortunately.

[starstrider]

That does suck.. I was actually going to ask you about Australian television just because (to my knowledge) nothing makes it over here. I mean, Farscape was obviously a *huge* one (in my mind the greatest sci-fi I've ever seen), but I can't think of anything else that has reached US' viewership (online or television).

I'm slowly starting to look into Canadian shows, since I find myself watching practically everything online except for a handful of shows that are actually still running and that my mother will watch with me (like Bones, Fringe, Big Bang Theory, etc,) which is still quite a few shows, but not nearly very many considering how much I find online. Anyway, I'm definitely going to look into "Lost Girl." I haven't wanted any of the "Vampire Dairies" yet either, but I'm on the last episode of ReGenesis, so they're both next on the list. =)

[moonvoice]

A few Australian shows do okay in the UK and Canada; Water Rats and White Collar Blue come to mind. Otherwise, USA copied the Australian show Kath & Kim which was wildly successful here, but the US version dive-bombed. Likewise, the Australian created Thank God You're Here did quite well as re-makes in other countries (something Australia gets a profit out of), but they're not doing as well 'over there' as they are over here.

Niche comedy, Summer Heights High screened in the USA to critical acclaim (critical acclaim everywhere), but low ratings (much like 30 Rock really).

[starstrider]

Hmm, yeah, I haven't heard of any of those (or their remakes/versions). It's true, I watch a lot of shows, but I do tend to ignore what's on tv unless I already watch it, have watched it, or have heard good things about it. I'm also not really a comedy person, outside of Friends and Big Bang Theory, really, but those are both sitcom rather than comedy, but same point I guess.

I generally feel that US production companies just shouldn't do remakes unless they're actually going to commit to it (by which I mean do it well). For instance, I'm a huge fan of BBC's Life on Mars, but I nearly lost faith in humanity after watching only ten minutes of the US re-make. Granted it was done by the *wrong* channel group (ABC). I mean, they missed it on every stroke and level imaginable. I think maybe USA or TNT could have done it better, but I still think it shouldn't have been done at all. Anyway. Remakes either strike gold or fail with hemorrhagic fever. XD

[moonvoice]

The Office: US was a very, very good remake (though slowing down, and probably should've finished two seasons ago. And Queer as Folk: US was just brilliant (even if that one slowed down too). But the latter is an example of a show that finished maybe five or six years ago? And the former is an example of a show that isn't doing it 'better' than the UK, just different.

I devour a lot of TV, much more than Glen really, since I tend to watch shows that he doesn't like, and I'll watch them for detached, critical reasons (like Dollhouse, which I really didn't enjoy, basically, aside from the last five or six episodes of about 24). I also watch shows that are considered groundbreaking or seminal, as long as the protagonists aren't deeply unethical (Arrested Development), criminals (Breaking Bad, The Sopranos), or generally unsavoury, awful people (Australia's Underbelly).

Part of it is that I just like to stay 'up to date' (and I'm really not, considering how much is out there, it's just not really possible, I suppose I try and stay 'up to date' within my niches, but even that's not really possible). But I'm also a huge TV fan. This year I'm enjoying a greater download limit too, which helps.

[starstrider]

Yeah, I suppose The Office: US is doing very well for a re-make. (I honestly cannot stand The Office, though I've never tried to watch the UK version.) I didn't realize Queer as Folk was a remake, but if the original was that old than that's probably why (it's also one I haven't ever watched). I feel like the remade shows done from an earlier made original often do rather well--I guess I put those in a different "category" in my mind. Like, I keep waiting for someone to remake Lost in Space. I used to watch it as a kid and I loved the movie for what it was (maybe that was just because of Gary Oldman, though, lol), but I think that show has a lot of potential for being revamped; it would have to become a different version, I think, not just because of the morale-story type of its original era, but I think it could use a new spin in a modern audience. Heck, if Australia could get some of the awesomeness that went into Farscape as far as post modernism and cultural critique goes into Lost in Space it would be pretty fantastic. But now I'm rambling.

Yeah, I tend to watch either what interests me in terms of thought-food and creative-juice, but also in terms of what I think is noteworthy for my niche in cultural awareness (which, yeah, is pretty limited thus far). Heck I watched Dollhouse for the same reason, and got into Dexter for that reason despite my initial "meh" feelings for it outside of anti-heroism. The only thing that stops me from watching more is that I'm often irrationally picky. For instance, I cannot stand the sound effects or presence of the main actors for 24 even though I've only seen the middle 15 minutes of some random episode. Really, I often stop watching shows for rather ridiculous reasons usually evolving around disliking actors or writing for very silly things. I couldn't stand Firefly because I couldn't stand the random, half-assed (in my opinion, of course) cultural clings just for the sake of, "ooh, culture shiny." But yeah. XD I try. *wolfish grin*

[toeknuckles]

It's so stupid too, because there are so many struggling Australian writers with great ideas, and yet somehow they just can't quite break into things.
Seth and I used to go to a writer's group once a week, and while there were some of the ego-maniacal time wasters you'd expect, there were some great writers too. And NOBODY wanted their stuff.
And then there was this one AWFUL writer, so wrote the same goddamned boring stuff over and over (but very 'Australian'), and he won prize after prize from the ABC and had some of his stuff turned into a radio mini-series. And then a tv thing too I think? I don't remember.

Err...ramble. My point is, I totally agree with you. And there's talent there, a LOT of talent. WHY must we ignore it? Damned shame. Damned damned shame.

[tsukikokoro]

It's only recently that I've started learning (and noticing!) how deep Australia's censorship streak runs, and it's really shocking to me. I mean, I'm an American. ;)

[moonvoice]

It's one of the first things they teach you in university level Mass Communications - Australia sucks at open-mindedness when it comes to the media. On almost every level; banning, censorship, ratings, editing already edited material, and so on. It's just truly, truly shocking. America, by contrast, is positively gifted with open-mindedness in the media (particularly print media).

[tsukikokoro]

When I read the titles of some of the books Bryson listed as having been banned in Australia, I thought, "No wonder the bookstores don't carry any of the authors I like to read."

[moonvoice]

There is a grrrrreat book about censorship in Australia (from someone against it; but has worked on the relevant Canberra boards) called The Money Shot by Jane Mills. I actually did a professional review of it some years ago for the Journal of Australian Studies, I'd recommend it in a heartbeat.

[darakat]

Yeah, the creative forces in play in the Australian TV series market sucks.