I've started watching Stingers (undercover police show that ran from the late 90s to mid 2000s). Not revolutionary, but it reminds me of a time when we actually made dramas.
I remember watching and loving Rescue 911 with William Shatner as the host when I was little. My grandmother had such a crush on him and we'd watch it together all the time.
I feel like the writers strike hit Australia worse than elsewhere.
It was when people realised they could make reality shows relatively cheap, but when they had writers back it wasn't beneficial for Australia.
Most of the Australian content is because the free to air channels are obligated to show a certain amount of Australian made shows. But there's little to no interest in Australian shows outside of Australia, so why waste time and money on making a good script etc when you're not going to be able to sell it on anyway, and you can churn out reality TV heaps cheaper?
Obviously other places have these shows too, but there's no reason to make anything else in Australia.
If you want to really laugh, go back and watch blue heelers and water rats now. In the ‘me too’ era, PJ Hasham would (quite rightly) get burned at the stake for the sexual harassment of Maggie Doyle. His antics did not age well - but it is absolutely hilarious to watch.
once i fell down a YT rabbit hole of watching MAFS highlights. It was like a train wreck i couldn't stop looking at. Though it does show that women can be just as nasty and abusive as men.
Once he started associating with that dickhead, right wing reactionary grifter Isaac Butterfield I can't really stomach him anymore. You can tell a lot about a man by the company they keep and all that
In the New Zealand version they keep making them stop renovating in order to participate in jarringly unrelated competitions, like, they have to build a kite and see whose kite flies the highest. It's bizarre. Does the Australian Block do that?
lol so true. Its basically all the hired trades in the background that does 95 percent of the work, while the contestants are crying in a sponsored shop
Here in The Netherlands the Australian and New Zealand versions of the block are more popular than the Dutch version. If you think the Australian version is crap, imagine how crap the Dutch version is.
Like watching a literal dumpster on fire. You know the fumes are bad for your head, but the glow of the fire keeps you hooked like a moth to the flame.
I forgot you guys were talking about AUS for a second and was about to say hol' up. American reality TV shows will almost never not be about drama. Funny enough, one of the only ones I like is the American LEGO Masters which is very little backstory and drama. Everyone gets along and encourages eachother instead of sabatoge and yelling and telling the judges they're dumb af.
It didn't always used to be this way tho- the last three seasons of mkr got more and more ridiculous- before then it was a lot less drama. Who knows what's happening next tho- mkr may be done after Pete went off the covid deep end.
Joe makes a criticism that isn't valid or clear and makes sure to do it condescendingly, void of any helpful.
Aaron meekly agrees and says the same things they said in different words if he manages to speak at all.
Also: Wear some fucking nice shoes Joe, you gotta try that hard to dress in a suit trying to act like someone who doesn't care. Fuck your sneaker-suit 24/7. Get fucked.
The amount of stuff that’s pushed on that show under the guise of being constructive by the psychologists is incredibly insane and quite frankly disgustingly harmful. Often they refuse to call out abusive behaviour or just brush over it incredibly quickly and make it seem much less serious than what it actually is. The amount of younger people who are going to start moving into serious relationships thinking that a lot of the stuff that goes on throughout that show is ok makes me seriously question whether censorship might be ok in certain circumstances.
I get the joy of watching it when my MIL stays. I get dirty looks when I laugh at the psychologists reasons for pairing the couples up. "I think Dennis's fiery attitude will challenge Lisa's quiet demeanour and she will in turn give him the peace he desires". Can see the shit storm brewing right there. She eats it up and I silently judge her.
I work in media and I love mafs. It's hot trash and I don't watch it but damn at least something actually pulls an audience and makes my job easier. I still have nightmares about ultimate tag (tried to be a prime time channel 7 show, relegated to a digital channel within weeks, not even the good digi). Not even kath and Kim reruns afterwards could make for a well rating evening of telly.
If it helps, because of the Olympics making a bubble with the voice this year, the Block is struggling to build the audience it had last year, which might stop Nine from milking it as hard as usual.
Also work in media and feel your pain immensely. My mum used to ask for updates on how Ultimate Tag was rating because every time I called her and she asked how work was it was like giving an update on a slow moving train crash. I feel like The Bachelor will be next.
Hadn't watched the Block in a few years, and caught a few episodes of last season and this current one; and I must say it's unbearably annoying with the SpongeBob memes, crying sound fx, non-stop club music and dancing cutaways to appeal to the young tik tok audience.
My guy. I’ll add 98% of the talk shows on nova/ todayfm/ kiss fm. Switching from a quality podcast or audiobook with some depth to our radio stations is like going from fine dining to chimpanzees flinging faeces at each other.
When they set standards about the proportion of entertainment that had to be Australian-made, they really should have excluded reality tv. It’s terrible and it’s all over free to air all the time.
Watching the Olympics reminded me of the absolute trash that's on Channel 7 (and all free-to-air channels I guess). Seeing the ads for all their different shows actually made me sad that that's the quality of TV we've got now. I'm not even a TV snob, this stuff is a few levels below trashy TV.
I'll preface this with Im a huge survivor fan and everyone was telling me to watch big brother. I hate big brother. They milk the crap out of it. There is 0 reason for 3 episodes a week at a full hour a pop. Survivor does all of that in 1 hour. Plus there is nothing hard about living in a really nice house with a bunch of attractive people. I want my attractive people on the beach with no food thank you very much.
Fuck yes. Aussie tv or at least commercial tv is so fucking full of bullshit reality tv. It's utter bullshit. Then the other shit is usually shitty soaps.
It's why I don't watch anything other than ABC and SBS. I pirate everything else.
The new version of Big Brother is so bad. It's the worst version out of the three (with similar formats) Australian being worse. Then US,then Canada being amazing
I usually hate these types of shows but there's just something different about BB. Moments like Dan's Funeral are what make the show for me. Idk about the new seasons because I haven't watched them, but BB is definitely up there in terms of reality TV.
Agreed. It's the only reality show that doesn't make me want to vomit. Sure some shit they do in the diary room is scripted... But its as close to authentic as you'll get in a reality/game show.
BB US and BB Canada are great. I like how in their most recent seasons they seem to have changed up their casting methods a bit as the cast is much more diverse.
I hate MAFS season..... I can't make it through any conversation without someone mentioning the show. I have never watched an episode, it sounds god awful!
I stopped watching TV last year and almost exclusively game now. My wife isn't that happy but it's been 1p years of increasingly more brain dead crap. I can't take it anymore
yeah I was just thinking the Block used to be pretty good but now it's something else. Didn't realise how crap TV was until the Olympics actually stopped.
I usually hear it whenever my moms watching and I really can’t stand whenever there talking about themselves it’s just large amounts of cringe and r/iamthemaincharacter vibes
Kiwi here. I get sick of my family and their friends talking about all these versions of Married at First Sight, sorry, "MAFS". It's just boring and awful. Don't see the appeal.
Your “deal or no deal” was far better than our North American one. (IMO, of course). Oh-and season one of “my restaurant rules”. Clearly it’s been a while since I’ve been down under. :(
Yup. Fun fact: we have so much garbage content because there are laws which require stations to play (I think) 30% local content. Which is fantastic for the aussie TV industry, the problem is all we're given is this cheap as fuck to produce reality TV.
Australian reality TV shows are aggressively bad. when the only American reality tv show I watch religiously got an Australian version, I could not watch. It was just so bad.
MAFS Australia is so much more entertaining than the US version. They add way more opportunities for fighting and drama, such as having alcohol fueled dinner parties with all couples together. Yes I’m trash.
To any Aussies/anyone anywhere who need a good laugh, plus the movie version they did actually didn’t suck.....look up “Reno 911”, it was on Comedy Central, if y’all have that channel? (It’s not a real cop show, fake but great incompetent cop humor, apolitical as well......this show is starting to get old, daymn! 😳
Find a way to watch it, funniest shit ever.
(Btw I know this doesn’t answer the main thread, but I always need to recommend this show, it’s hilarious!)
Now I know what I’m binging instead of enjoying the rare sunshine outside.....God Bless technology (?!?)
Read 1984 in high school and cannot fathom how someone could think that'd be an entertaining concept. It should have lasted 1 season with every contestant being pelted by the audience with copies of the book as soon as they're voted out. And I'm not talking paperbacks either, full-size hardcopies.
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u/1Duggthedogg 27d ago edited 27d ago
Australian here. The Block, Big Brother, Married at First Sight... Ah fuck it. All of it. It's all shit.
I'm going to the pub.
EDIT: For all those telling me that I can't go to the pub: I can. I'm in regional Victoria, and they're open?
But I'm not going. The publican is a cunt.
Thanks for the advice though, you fucking wombats.
P. S. Thanks for the awards. I don't know what they mean, but I reckon I could have a beer with you cunts.