About TV

UPDATED, APRIL 2007

Since I last wrote this intro, I co-created and co-wrote (with my good friend Tony Morphett) Rain Shadow, a six-part drama series for the ABC which will hopefully go to air later this year. It stars Rachel Ward and relative newcomer, the sensational Victoria Thaine, as two vets in drought-stricken rural Australia.

This is the fourth TV show I've either created or co-created but the reason I got into TV in the first place - to write sitcom - seems further away than ever. And as long as the Government allows the commercial networks to claim drama content "points" for unwatchable fifth-rate sketch comedies, it's not going to get any closer.

Sitcom defines our culture in a way that our steady output of worthy but endlessly dreary films about drug addicts can never do. It speaks to us in a language we can understand about things that matter to us. It makes us laugh at ourselves and the arseholes who make life more difficult than it should be.

And what do we get? Re-runs of Benny Hill and Some Mothers, locally made tawdry catch-phrase skit-com and, occasionally, imported works of exquisite genius like Extras and Arrested Development (if you can find it).

Yes there's Kath And Kim and We Can Be Heroes, both very clever and funny in their own ways, but both - oddly enough - firmly rooted in sketch comedy. The other big success Thank God You're Here has it's roots in that other Australian comedic strength, improv. Thank God it's here - and that's from someone who hates Theatresports and said it'd never work. What do I know?

But in terms of pure sitcom, it's funny to think that the much derided Hey Dad! was pulling audiences of 1.7 million when it was cancelled. What they'd give for those ratings now.

Needless to say, I'm not pitching any sitcoms right now. The last one I had in anywhere got the response that they didn't want to develop it because they couldn't see how a certain aspect would work. Hey, pick up the phone guys and I'll either explain it, fix it or lose it. It's not that hard and I'm really not that precious. But the truth, of course, is that they simply didn't like it and that's their job, to like and dislike the right things.

I am however working with Larry Meltzer (Long Way To The Top) on a documentary series, tracking down a ubiquitous but unknown hero of Australian Rock music. That should be fun - for us if not for you.

By the way, I don't choose the ads on the right but feel free to click away - you might find something loosely related.

JT - April 07