Boom
time: Asher Keddie led the charge of Australian television successes in 2012
with roles in Paper
Giants, Offspring
and Hawke.
Source:
Supplied
Colin Vickery, The Daily Telegraph, reports
Every day is Australia Day on television. Last year 16 of the Top 20 regular programs were locally made and there is no reason to think this will change in 2013.
Aussie-produced TV series including The Voice, My Kitchen Rules, The X Factor, The Block, and Packed to the Rafters rule the ratings roost.
Last year viewers were blessed with terrific telemovies on the commercial stations including Beaconsfield and Underground, the ABC kept rolling out quality local dramas such as Redfern Now and Jack Irish while SBS won plaudits with the second series of Go Back To Where You Came From.
This year looks like another bottler. Ten is promising historical shipwreck drama Batavia, based on the Peter Fitzsimons bestseller. Seven has Never Tear Us Apart: The Untold Story of INXS. Nine will unleash Power Games: The Packer-Murdoch Story.
And the ABC has Paper Giants: The Birth of Cleo follow-up Magazine Wars, with Rachel Griffiths and Mandy McElhinney as women's magazine editors Nene King and Dulcie Boling.
"The great news is that all the broadcasters are investing more in local content," Shine Network president Mark Fennessy says.
Things weren't always this good. Three decades ago, Aussie dramas including Number 96, Homicide and The Sullivans had to fight against a tidal wave of American and British shows.
Leading Aussie producer Susan Bower (A Country Practice, Neighbours), has witnessed the shift. "Back then we were fed a diet of American sitcoms and dramas," Bower says. "To get an Australian voice was quite extraordinary. Now we have a smorgasbord of Aussie shows that should account for everyone's taste - from The Slap to Offspring to House Husbands."
Australia has developed its own star system with actors including Asher Keddie, Lisa McCune and Rebecca Gibney commanding loyal followings among TV viewers.
Gibney, for example, has two new shows in development at Seven while McCune is producing as well as starring in the family drama Reef Doctors for Ten.
"These actors bring a ratings boost to any show they star in," media analyst Steve Allen says.
Keddie - star of Offspring, Hawke and Paper Giants - has stamped herself as one of Australia's most prodigious acting talents - and she has done it without fleeing Australia to 'try her luck' in America.
"The opportunities are here in Australia," Keddie says. "I'm in a very lucky place."
Australian content has become more important, in part, because smash American and British shows are so rare in Australia these days.
Last year, only Revenge and Downton Abbey were breakout hits.
Networks used to base their programming year around their overseas shows - stitched up in output deals with the major US studios - but now they know they're better off creating home-grown Aussie hits. "If you look at it, there have only been a few big hit shows since the year of Desperate Housewives, Lost and Grey's Anatomy," Channel 7 CEO Tim Worner says.
Not everything works. Ten hit a brick wall last year when Breakfast, Everybody Dance Now, I Will Survive and The Shire failed.
The world is taking notice of Australian acting and production talent as well as our formats. Chris Lilley's Angry Boys was co-financed by America's HBO network.
In the US, Griffiths had a big success with Brothers & Sisters and Toni Collette won an Emmy for The United States of Tara. Rafters' Jessica Marais snagged a major role in Magic City.
An American version of Wilfred, starring Elijah Wood, is a cult smash. Its creator, Adam Zwar, is now busy fielding offers for international versions of his shows Agony Aunts and Lowdown.
"We (Australian comedians) are getting confident - and that is a big step," Zwar says. "There's a group of comic writers, directors and performers that's coming of age."
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