Wednesday, June 10, 2009

Breaking News: Head officially rolled.

ABC managing director Mark Scott has offered up a sacrificial lamb following the Chaser's "Make a Realistic Wish" hoo-ha of last week.

Amanda Duthie has been removed as Head of ABC TV Comedy to be replaced temporarily by ABC TV’s Executive Head of Content Creation, Courtney Gibson, until a new Head of Comedy is appointed.

Mark Scott's comment:
“Where staff are concerned about the potential for satirical material to cause harm they should refer the matter to the next level of management. In this instance, the Head of Arts, Entertainment and Comedy reviewed the segment and did not refer it up. This was an error of judgement.”

2 comments:

  1. You kind of feel for him, because really, I wonder if all the ABC's comedy content goes through him or if it's the role for more junior staff?

    I still can't get over the Josef Fritzel joke - that was pretty offensive. When is incest funny? And to me it clearly was trying to make it funny. The 'Make a Realistic Wish' joke, I felt, had a relevant message, more to those who donate to NGOs like this. I didn't feel like it was making fun of the kids. Anyway, for the record.

    Cool blog, Mully. I do love a bit of media analysis.

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  2. The segment where Chas was getting the Americans to eat hay had an interesting moment where a homeless afro-American man asked Chas for another cup of hay with bolognese. He actually said "I really appreciate this, man" under his breath - thanking Chas for probably the only food he would eat that day. I found that much more exploitative and NQR than a jibe at the difficult decision we all have of deciding what charity is more deserving than another (which is fundamentally what the "Make a Deserving Wish" sketch was about in my opinion).

    Oh and thanks for the kudo's - tell your friends *wink*

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