Andrew Mercado is the foremost authority on all that is good (or bad) on Aussie TV. He appears every Wednesday on Channel 9's Kerri-Anne and every Monday and Friday at 7.25pm on The Playlist on Foxtel's Showcase.
Andrew's first job in TV was as location manager on Paradise Beach (remember that show?) followed by publicist for Pacific Drive (another Aussie 'classic'). Next came Channel [V] where he started as publicist and was then asked on-air to review movies, followed by a stint on sister channel Music Max.
I met Andrew some years ago when the book he wrote on every Australian-made television serial drama (called 'Super Aussie Soaps') was released. He showed me around the Foxtel studios and for a real TV nerd like me, it was a massive thrill.
He gives his views on all that's worth watching - or avoiding - on telly on his site Mercado TV and I highly recommend you subscribe to it: http://mercadotv.com.au/ and follow him on Twitter: http://twitter.com/mercadoTVau
Andrew's first job in TV was as location manager on Paradise Beach (remember that show?) followed by publicist for Pacific Drive (another Aussie 'classic'). Next came Channel [V] where he started as publicist and was then asked on-air to review movies, followed by a stint on sister channel Music Max.
I met Andrew some years ago when the book he wrote on every Australian-made television serial drama (called 'Super Aussie Soaps') was released. He showed me around the Foxtel studios and for a real TV nerd like me, it was a massive thrill.
He gives his views on all that's worth watching - or avoiding - on telly on his site Mercado TV and I highly recommend you subscribe to it: http://mercadotv.com.au/ and follow him on Twitter: http://twitter.com/mercadoTVau
Here is his first guest blog for Josie's Juice.
Cop Flops
Aussie cop TV shows are going down, down, down. Last week Seven’s City Homicide hit a new low with just 747.000 viewers while Ten’s Rush had only 668,000 viewers as it went head to head with Nine’s new Cops L.A.C starring Gary Sweet.
Our newest Aussie cop show premiered with 1.1 million viewers but watch it sink like a stone over the next few weeks because it truly is terrible. “There’s More to Gary Sweet/Kate Ritchie/Denise Roberts/Roy Billing Than You Know” scream the taglines on expensive newspaper ads and bus posters everywhere but guess what folks – there’s nothing more to know about any of these great actors as they are wasted in a boring cheap cliched disaster.
You can always rely on Nine to scrape rock bottom in a year when Aussie drama is at an all-time high. Tangle, Packed To The Rafters, Spirited and Offspring are all must-see dramas while Undebelly: A Tale of Two Cities was patchy but scored big time in the ratings while Sea Patrol also held solid in its fourth season.
The problem is there are too many shows doing the same thing and the audience is tiring fast. That’s why Rescue: Special Opps a show that started off well with cinematic sequences, is now losing credibility and audience with just 835,000 punters this week. Seven has a truckload of City Homicide eps to put to air and Nine have agreed to another series of Rescue – wonder how long they’ll both last in prime time though, with figures like that? Could be we’ll see first run episodes being burnt off over the non-ratings period this summer.
For God’s sake, if ANYBODY decides to do another Australian police/rescue/hero show could they please put an original or quirky spin on it? Look at how Offspring sets some (but not all) of its action in a hospital but you never think of it as a medical drama. It may only be getting 1.1 million viewers a week but that’s a great result for such a niche show and the ratings have stayed solid since its premiere. Plus, everyone is talking about how cool it is which is more than you can say for Cops L.A.C…
Tune into http://mercadotv.com.au/ for more.
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