Moral Panic Outrage

Hungry Beast did a great little piece on public outrage in this week's episode on ABC1. It outlined the process of moral panic amongst the general public.

I thought it was particularly interesting seeing all the fuss today about John Safran's new show Race Relations, set to start next week on ABC1. The Herald Sun had a poll asking if Safran's new show "breached boundaries of decency" - never mind that the show hasn't actually gone to air yet - the Australian public should be able to formulate a well-founded opinion based on ... well ... the Herald Sun article containing the poll, I assume.

On channel 10's The 7pm Project tonight they ran the story of the public's outrage over Race Relations. Dave Hughes pointed out that the Herald Sun poll earlier that day was 70% against the show and Safran's style of humour.

The poll at 8:11pm looked something like this;

So the cycle goes on and the moral panic continues tomorrow when those reacting to Dave Hughes' statement punch their fists proudly in the air and shout "Yeah! Me too!"

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Is it just me or is the moral panic becoming somewhat absurd? The fact that every little public event, performance, letter-opening or sneeze is being picked apart by Ma and Pa kettle is making it very difficult to make pleasant conversation at the water-cooler.

Example 1 - Today at work;

Me: "Hi, how are you?"
Pa Kettle: "Yeah good. Did you see that crap about hitting your kids with a wooden spoon? A bit of discipline never hurt anyone I say."
Me: (stupidly) "Could using a weapon to discipline them be a bit harsh though?"
Pa Kettle: "What?! A wooden spoon's not a weapon! Use whatever you need I say. Kids these days." (shakes head)

Example 2 - Later in the afternoon;

Ma kettle: "Can you believe that John Safran?"
Me: (stupidly) "What's going on?"
Ma kettle: "He's doing a blackface sketch on his new show!"
Me: "Hang on. But I thought the majority of Australia was for blackface humour?" (Could I have possibly misconstrued the 350 comments on The Daily Telegraph article last week?)
Ma kettle: "He's a disgrace that's what he is! They should take him off tv!"
Me: "But are you just saying that because you hate Jews?"
Ma kettle: "What?! he's Jewish too?"

Is all this outrage - directed at pretty much anything - making the issues that are actually worthy of discussion seem a bit, well, stupid? How can I be legitimately offended by the blackface skit if I don't really care whether dwarves dress up as jockeys and ride some crowd members at a racing carnival? If I have a penchant for skinny Jewish boys making fun of organised religion does that mean I should be all for hitting my child with random kitchen utensils?

... hang on, or should that be the other way around?

It seems like Australia is choosing sides and the battle lines aren't very well drawn out. Beware Australia; the water-cooler is no longer a safe place.

* One more thing; are all those people that joined the "I'm a fan of spooning" group on Facebook feeling awkward?

Not a Good Night - Definition of Irony

The 7pm Project tonight (on channel 10) had a story about the sexualisation of children after Australian author Maggie Hamilton released the results of a year long study into young girls' milestone life events.

They had a guest lobbyist, Julie Gale from the group Kids Free 2B Kids on the show to discuss the issue - who, I might add, was asked idiotic questions by guest panelist Jo Stanley (example; "What's wrooooong with an 11 year old girl getting a Brazilian though? If she wants one who caaaaaares?").

Now, to the ironic part - after the break, Myf Warhurst did an interview with The Black Eyed Peas - those wonderful role-models of all that is tasteful and appropriate.

To be honest I never really had an opinion of The Black Eyed Peas - until I saw the video clip for their song "I Got a Feelin'". Let me break it down for you. The clip shows a bunch of girls dressing up like hookers, getting smashed at a party, making out (read 'having sex') with random people and eventually passing out in a gutter.

That's a good night.

Of course there are much more graphic video clips out there and I'm not saying it's a bad thing or that sexy clips should be banned - on the contrary, but this particular clip is played on Video Hits at 10am on a Saturday - and my 5 year old niece thinks The Black Eyed Peas are fantastic.

The point Julie Gale was trying to make was that young girls are inundated with sexual images and are developing a warped sense of self as a result.

Maybe The 7pm Project should stick to less serious news stories so the panels bad jokes, ridiculous comments and obvious lack of knowledge about serious topics aren't so out of place.

Celeb Masterchef Comes to Pass

Well, well, well, back when Masterchef finished up in July, your trusty scribe made a prediction about the inclusion of a certain actor in the celebrity version which is taping now - a certain Mr Colosimo if you'll indulge me - who it's rumoured along with Kirk Pengilly (from INXS) to indeed be a contestant. Shock! Horror! Gasp!

That is ... unless the 'rumour' the courier mail was reporting on today was just my post from back in July?

A few definite contestants were revealed on The 7pm Project tonight in a special 1 hour episode, including Eamon Sullivan (swimmer), Peter Fitzsimons (sports personality), Kathleen De Leon Jones (ex High-Fiver), Alex Perry (designer), Michelle Bridges (Biggest Loser trainer) and Indira Naidoo (journo and presenter).

Let the games begin!

More 'project' for Ten

The Spearman Project, hosted by Magda Szubanski will begin (on channel 10) September 8th.

The idea of the program is to gauge popular culture by using online polling to rank the nation’s most celebrated moments. Supposedly it's very interactive - however it does reek of Bert's '20 to 1' (channel 9).

Szubanski has been in the spotlight for her massive weight-loss, (aided by the Jenny Craig program). She's been filling the glossies with her stories of triumph, and the current affairs programs have been chomping at the bit to get the latest picture or weight-loss update.

It will be interesting to see how this show goes - and if it suffers the same ratings as that other 'project' at 7pm.

Nine Keen for Success

Channel 9 launches the new digital channel Go! tonight, after some massive ratings failures over the last few weeks, I'm sure the hope is that Go! draws a few younger viewers in - a demographic channel 9 has largely ignored over the last few years.

The website says it all;

Attention, everyone who's young or young at heart: it's time to GO! digital. GO! is available now on fee-to-air television via channel 99 (or channel 88 for regional affiliates), offering more choice and entertainment than ever before.

Typical programs on GO! include favourites such as Gossip Girl, The Hills, TMZ, Fringe, Terminator: The Sarah Connor Chronicles, Weeds, The Wire, Survivor, The Bachelor, The Bachelorette, Hell's Kitchen, Kitchen Nightmares, CSI and hit comedy series Seinfeld and Curb Your Enthusiasm.

Obviously there aren't a lot of funds being put into locally made content - and The 7pm Project over on channel 10 might have a run for it's money with "the worlds favourite entertainment news program" Entertainment Tonight.

Either way, it's good that another station is getting on board the digital bandwagon - it's just unfortunate that it consists mainly of more American crap.

Will 7pm find it's feet?

The 7pm Project is becoming a rather frustrating 30 minutes. There is so much potential there for a really entertaining, not-so-serious look at news events - yet every night they run well short of the mark.

Firstly, Carrie reads the serious news items with a smirk on her face that suggests she might burst out laughing any second. Unfortunately her work on Rove is what she's most well known for, so it's difficult to take her seriously.

The 'state roundup' where the panel crosses to correspondents around Australia is very hit and miss - some of the correspondents are hilarious, others are cringe-worthy beyond belief (Hans from Perth is particularly bad).

In fact, it seems generally on the show that everyone chosen to comment or be interviewed has been slipped a valium before going to air - the Paxton-esque unemployed girl, the young woman and her mother reunited with their dog, the fat girl who's boyfriend dumped her ... need I go on?

Then there's the other end of the stick with commentators being overly opinionated. Examples include the parking infringement officer (who made a completely out of line sexual advance at the young Ruby Rose) and ex swim coach Laurie Lawrence - both of whom were raving lunatics given too much rope.

The reason for this? The panelists aren't very good at interviewing - they're asking closed questions (questions that can be answered with yes or no) and are having to ride the awkward silence when the guests respond with one word.

Dave Hughes also has a knack of answering the question in the question, eg. "So you're pretty happy to have you're dog back, aren't you?" - it doesn't exactly call for a detailed response with expressions of heartfelt emotions does it?

Then again, Dave Hughes isn't a journalist so he can be excused, however Carrie doesn't get off so easily. I don't know what Charlie Pickering is or does (besides pontificate with an elitist air of self-satisfaction) and Ruby Rose shouldn't be on the show at all.

James Matheison is still the saving grace of the piece. Tonight he made what would have otherwise been an absolute fizzer (the reunion of the shy teenager with her clearly sedated dog) into a funny little piece.

I'm still holding out hope for it but there are so many bleedingly obvious things that could make the 7pm Project better - pre-recorded interviews for example, or maybe just having a chat beforehand to ascertain whether the people you're putting to air are actually interesting?

- Oh, and ditch the Skype 'voice of the people' bit - there's a reason some people don't have a voice.

7pm Verdict

I thought I'd wait til at least night 2 to cast judgement on channel 10's news/talks program The 7pm Project. Overall I think it's good. Dave Hughes and Carrie Bickmore have a comfortable rapport and Charlie Pickering is quick-witted and generally charming - unfortunately he made a comment last night that irked me; when discussing a pair of gay penguins, he referred to one of the male penguins developing a relationship with a female penguin rather than a male as "how things should be". Considering that gay rights are being fought tooth and nail at the moment this sort of ignorance bothers me intensely. Since then, he's getting on my nerves a little bit - what can you do?

Ruby Rose is awkward and punching above her weight - but she might grow into the role. And last but not least; James Matheison - he is the dark horse in this ensemble cast - he's funny, sarcastic, naughty but nice and oh so likeable. Night one he was in studio and was being left high and dry by the rest of the panel - but tonight he really shone on location with Masterchef winner Julie - he was cracking jokes with the family and working well under pressure. I look forward to seeing him develop outside the scripted host format of Australian Idol.

Overall the show's not amazing, but then it's not altogether terrible either. I'm interested to see where it goes and how the cast develop as a team. It's night one ratings were good (of course it remains to be seen if viewers come back for more) and I'm generally happy with any program that takes viewers away from that vaccuous abyss that is Two and a Half Men.

Cooking up a Storm in a Teacup

The Masterchef finale is the talk of the town today as the popular program attracted 3.7 million viewers last night in the official ratings results. I'm not sure that it was entirely a shock to anyone, after all, it's been one of the most popular shows on TV since about week 4 of the series. Not to mention the fact that the weekly evictions have made the front page of most papers on a regular basis.

Besides, look at its esteemed colleagues in the three-point-something million club; two Australian Idol finales and The Block finale. The only other programs that get a look in are sports events. Mind you, I'm not about to go on an elitist rant about how Australian viewers should be more discerning in their program choices ... because I too watched the Masterchef finale (whilst multi-tasking several other activities - after all, I can't devote a whole 2 hours to one program!)

I came in at the end, to what I thought was the video of the speeches at my cousin's 21st - it was very friendly wasn't it? Judge Gary Mehigan fighting back proud tears was almost too much to bear. Some critics have suggested that in these "times of financial instability" family viewing is on the up and up - Talkin' 'Bout Your Generation being a prime (time) example. And who better to personify the image of homeliness and comfort than the chubby home-cooking specialist Julie?

It is certainly a much better program than the other reality drawl - Dancing with the Stars and Australia's Got Talent; where the stars aren't even B grade anymore and the only talent is the production team that manage to edit this crap into an hour around all the replays, recaps and suspenseful commercial break outro banter.

Channel 10 execs will be hoping the 7pm Project (starting tonight at, you guessed it, 7pm) can ride the wave of Masterchef's success, with winner Julie being a guest on tonight's debut show. And of course Australian Idol will be back on our screens next month.

Meanwhile, it looks like the finale show next year will be live to air after all the trauma the pre-record has caused the media ... particularly the Daily Telegraph. Check out Andrew Dodd's post on Crikey here.

One more thing ...

Prediction: there's going to be a celebrity version of Masterchef taping from September - If I were a betting gal (which I certainly am not) I'd put money on Vince Colosimo (even though he's currently contracted to channel 9) and maybe Pete Hellier being involved.

Hughesy's Pickering Roses ...

Alright so that's a really bad pun - mainly on account of the fact the new show channel 10 has lined up for 7pm weeknights will also feature Carrie Bickmore and James Matheison.

The 7pm Project will be hosted by Dave Hughes and Charlie Pickering and will be a (hopefully) humurous look at the news of the day. (It will also star MTV's Ruby Rose - hence the post-title gag ... get it?)

Supposedly there will be a lot of viewer participation in the show and guest comedians. It's being made by Mr McManus' Roving Enterprises and channel 10 have made a 52 week commitment on this ship so let's hope it floats.

I'm just glad there is something that might take some ratings away from the abhorrent crime-against-humanity that is Two and a Half Men.