The Sydney Morning Herald from Sydney, New South Wales, Australia • Page 46

tHejSjlbnsjj Pontine Vm TOT l) Ml 1 -t February 13 to 19, 1995 TELEVISION: Tribute to Australia's first satirical review show 3 VIDEO: The latest releases, plus video game reviews 10 ri-k "tfc- nif lumps 1 l' lie IS rfs; a 1 As the networks ji i tlf -J unveil their Wof -ji' "i homemade dramas, 1 JANE FREEMAN I tti J' Ji reports on the iI yf essentials for a successful, iong- i it" 'I ltIr running series. overseas hit such as Ten's Melrose Place. Television 1994 was tough for homemade drama. Of the 100 most popular programs for the year, only one was local drama, Nine's Halifax The executive producer of drama for Nine, Kris Noble, points out this is a contrast to 1980 when five of the top 20 programs were local The Sullivans, The Restless Years, Prisoner, Cop Shop and The Young Doctors. Noble attributes the decline to lifestyle changes.

"The soapie is dead," he announces. "People don't have time for on-going storylines they get home later, the pace of living is faster, there's more competition from videos and movies. People miss a few episodes in a series and they can't be bothered catching up." The head of TV drama for the ABC, Penny Chapman, suggests series like The Damnation of Harvey McHugh and Janus failed to reach an audience due to the popularity of infotainment or Candid Camera-type shows, although she can't say if it is a change in audience tastes or in television programming that led to the shift. But do we need drama? Independent producer Alan Hardy argues if we don't have stories that reflect Australian life, we will be swamped by American culture. "Without the quota system for Australian drama, this industry would be dead," he says.

"I think the networks need to be more Continued Page 6 first glance, 4 Country Practice looked like a genial drama series about a small town with a suspiciously large number of medical 1 problems. Look harder and you see the stuff of television executives' dreams: long-running drama series which, in its heyday, had a devoted following and healthy ratings. Television stations have to make local drama; apart from the part it plays in creating the networks folksy image, there is a mandatory quota of Australian drama set by the Australian Broadcasting Authority. But drama is slippery stuff. It's expensive, it's unpredictable and it is harder to persuade Australians to turn on a local show than a glossy i i VJW5 want to spnsor I Cvi a needy cAM Please send me a tricture folder of Boy, Giri in Africa, Asia, Latin America -Dr.

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