Bee in your Bonnet?

Up until now, if you wanted to make a formal complaint to a commercial tv station you had to send or fax an actual letter - I mean putting actual pen to actual paper and purchasing an actual envelope (yes, they still make them). 

Well, times they are a changin' and we have this newfangled gadget called the in-ter-net nowadays - and FreeTV Australia has caught on.

SO - if you want to make a complaint about a commercial free-to-air station you just have to go here and fill out the webform. Easy as that.

Perhaps you'll complain about the frequency of Two and a Half Men episodes being aired? - every two and a half minutes as far as I can tell (or that they're aired at all). Perhaps you'll complain about Benny Hill episodes being aired in prime time on channel 7TWO when the youngens can watch and learn his vomit-inducing skills in objectifying women and terribly unfunny what-I'm-assuming-are-supposed-to-be jokes? Maybe you'll complain about the lack of ethnically diverse characters on Neighbours? Or how about that old chestnut of the advertisements being ten times louder than the programs? (I should point out they have a whole page addressing that very issue - which should by no means stop you complaining).

Ohhh, there's so much joy to be had in whingeing. Come on Australia - this is what we do best - and now it's been made easy! Just two minutes away from your Facebook stalking could have you receiving carefully worded emails from the stations explaining to you that your comments have been taken into careful consideration! Pure JOY!

Obviously you're not reading this anymore because you're already over there telling Mel and Kochie just exactly what you think of them ... ahhhhh, so much potential.

* I should point out that the page states;

This Electronic Lodgement System can only be used for complaints under matters covered by the Commercial Television Industry Code of Practice. Code Complaints include program classification;  accuracy, fairness and respect for privacy in news and current affairs; the amount of non-program matter on television; and placement of commercials and program promotions.

But there are links to other feedback avenues so don't let that stop you.

White Room Fail

Unsurprisingly channel 7 has axed it's celebrity game-show The White Room after just two episodes (from Mumbrella).

The show featured two teams of celebrities answering questions about television - sounds like fun right? It certainly had the 'nostalgia' element that was so popular last year where we saw the return of Hey Hey it's Saturday and specials like The Best of the Paul Hogan Show. 

But The White Room just didn't rate.

I would suggest it's because the show was a plain white room filled with varying degrees of celebrity talking about shows of days gone by that were actually wonderful - who wants to watch another cheaply made game-show when reminded of shows like Always Greener and Mother and Son?

Another failed reality/quiz show just brings attention to the fact that the commercial stations put little or no funding into creating quality Australian drama and comedy. It's a lot cheaper to put a few cameras in an airport, on a beach, or in a veterinarian clinic to follow people leading their everyday lives and sell it as "drama" than to hire actual talent to make something new and creative. 

The success of Packed to the Rafters proved that there was a gaping hole in the commercial schedules. Perhaps Nine, Seven and Ten could use the revenue boost from their cut licence fees to create some fresh new drama ...

One can dream.