September 1st, 2008 4:53 pm

Head2Head: The Battle of the Networks

‘Australian Idol’, ‘Dancing with the Stars’ or ‘Scorched’, which network’s offering takes top spot?

Last night all three commercial networks went head2head in what is considered to be only just the beginning of a massive post-olympics ratings war.

Last night Seven premiered its newly revamped Dancing with the Stars, with its new host and ’sexiest’ cast ever. While Nine sizzled up the screen with its blockbuster tele-movie premiere Scorched. Ten round things out debuting Australian Idol’s top 100 singers in the widest talent search ever conducted in the show’s history.

In honour of the afore mentioned shows, I thought I might play judge and rate these shows out of 10. Read my reviews after the break.

Australian Idol

I didn’t get a chance to see last nights episode, that’s the only problem with all three networks showing their biggest shows at the same time. So this result is based on what I’ve seen of Idol so far this season.

I get the feeling this show is starting to run out of fuel. Each year becomes more and more of what we’ve seen the previous years. While the show’s judges has been very exploratory of different types of singers over the past few seasons, we keep ending up with the same results by the end of the series. All the more interesting voices and unique talents get voted out before we even get to the grand final. So we are (or I am anyway) left with two singers we don’t particularly care about. Not to mention the fact that even though a singer may win Idol, it doesn’t necessarily guarantee success as a recording artist. The more successful recording artists have been the runner up or even just one of the top 12 finalists.

In this day and age when almost anyone can become a recording artist and distribute their music independently or online, all singers really need is the exposure they get from television, which is what Idol does. Winning the show has become less important because no matter who wins, we’re still bound hear music on the airwaves from our top 12 singers despite what place they come.

So perhaps its time for Australian Idol to start rethinking its formula for the show. As evidence by the dwindling ratings on the finale episodes each year, it seems people are becoming less and less interested in the outcome of the show; and would be perhaps far more intrigued in the process in which it takes for a recording artist to get to where they are.

Dancing with the Stars

Its been one of the biggest success stories for the Seven Network in recent years, but after six series, it was starting to get a little dated, a little tacky and a little annoying, thanks to the host Daryl Sommers. So when Seven said it would be an ‘all new’ Dancing with the Stars this series, they really meant it.

They’ve completely revamped the show from the dance floor up. There is a brand new set, and new logo and theme song, a new judge, new pro dancers, a new host and nine ‘hot’ new competitors, plus Red Symons.

The show’s new host Daniel McPherson, who apart from the failed Ten series, The X Factor, has had little hosting experience on Australian television. So it was always going to be quite interesting to see how he would handled the pressure of hosting another live show. But despite his initial nervousness (or perhaps my nervousness for him), by the end of the show I had completely forgotten it was his first episode all together. He worked quite well with the always brilliant Sonia Kruger, whose one liners always seem to save the day.

The new celebrities were fun and enthusiastic, their behind the scenes video packages were considerably more entertaining than previous years. Experienced judge from both the UK and US versions of the show, Bruno Tonioli, brought an extra level of entertainment to the already ridiculous judging panel. His bizarre yet somehow relatable analogies were exactly what the panel needed, if only to just confuse the contestants.

Apart from the few teething problems, which are only expected on a live show, I found the new series to be a real step forward. They’ve removed what didn’t work and brought in a whole new level of fun and excitement for such a dated concept.

Scorched

It’s a concept which is a little too close to home for comfort, but this is an issue which our country may face in just a few years time. In the Nine Network’s blockbuster tele-movie event. It’s Sydney in 2012, there hasn’t been any rain for 247 days and bush fires are ravaging the city. Tens of thousands of homes are at risk while hundreds of volunteers are working to fight the flames. But what happens when the city’s remaining water supply runs out. How do you fight fire without water.

Coming off a successful run of Australian drama with Underbelly and Sea Patrol, it seemed ripe for the Nine Network to premiere it’s political tele-movie Scorched. Starring some of the biggest names in Australian television, Cameron Daddo, Rachel Carpani, Georgie Parker, Vince Colosimo, Libby Tanner and Les Hill. It was bound to have some traction, and did it ever!

It’s always a problem when dealing with disaster movies/mini-series that the sensational elements end up overpowering the real stories behind the story, but what set Scorched aside from these other movies (particularly disaster mini-series from the US) is that it brought everything back to the characters. Characters that you actually cared about, characters that you despised, characters that you wanted to see actually fighting to save their lives.

The concept was great. The dialogue was realistic. The acting was spot on, not overly dramatic as to verge on melodrama. The screenwriting and direction was flawless. I didn’t cringe once, which is a good indicator. I’ve been waiting for the time that Australian television would start to experiment with politics and conspiracies into their story lines. I love it.

The visual effects were amazing, I can’t even recall another Australian television project which has featured visual effects so prominently. We need more of this. It really raises the bar for what’s achievable on Australian television.

The cinematography and grading was beautiful. You see something as stunning as this and wonder, why isn’t more Australian drama shot on film!?! Despite how much digital technology advances, watching something shot beautifully on film definitely has more of an impact on viewers than many networks think.

Finally, what would a disaster tele-movie without the cheesy supers at the end telling us how many people died, what happened to the city, how much it will cost to repair the damage. This is the only thing dropped the ball for me. As much as the end supers have become part of the disaster movie formula. I still can’t help but feel slightly ripped off when they appear.

Scorched was one of the most ambitious, breathtakingly fresh concepts I’ve ever seen on Australian television. If only more Australian drama was like this.