The Tribal Mind: Better to fill the belly than cut the throat

Wednesday May 9, 2007 04:08 PM

Who We Are

To determine what is Australia's National Snack, go to Who We Are.

by David Dale
Cooking is the new renovation. It's also the new black, the new rock 'n' roll, the new watercooler buzzword, the new evidence that Australians are cocooning and the new knife to the guts of Channel Nine, which was hoping it had been punished enough for decades of treating its viewers with contempt.

Before I continue, a confession is necessary: Two months ago, I was talking to a Channel Ten executive and he asked how I thought Masterchef would rate. At the time I'd only seen trailers, so I made this confident prediction: "It looks kind of old-fashioned. It will start with 1.4 million but it will be down to 800,000 within three weeks. You'll get an over-55 audience, which you don't want."

The Ten exec looked hurt: "If that happens, it's a disaster," he said. "We agree about the 1.4 million start, but we think it will stay above 1.2 million from then on." Masterchef did start with 1.4 million viewers in the mainland capitals, but that was the only bit of my prediction to come true. Three weeks later it was still at 1.4 million. And by last week it had risen to 1.8 million.

Viewers over 55 have zero interest in it (their favourite show is New Tricks), but it is number one with men and women aged 16-39 and 25-54. It's performing so strongly that Channel Ten has a chance of pushing Channel Nine to number three position in prime time audience share for the year.

What did sink to 800,000 was Channel Nine's renovation contest HomeMade. Nine made the wrong call. In the first half of last year, it thought cooking was the new black, because any series involving Gordon Ramsay was getting big numbers. Nine proceeded to kill that goose by stuffing Ramsay into every available slot. Then it decided that this year the new black would be renovation.

The psychology seemed sound -- when the economy shrinks and the world looks dangerous, Australians retreat to the comforts of home. In 2003, with the Bali bombings and September 11 still in their minds, Australians watched anything lifestylish, particularly a reno race called The Block. HomeMade is The Block downsized for the more modest budgets of today.

As it turned out, Masterchef had already filled the home comforts vacuum. A contributor to this column's online forum, who wishes to be known as Wazza, summed up its appeal: "How great is it that Masterchef is killing it in the ratings? I much prefer to watch something constructive and which builds people's self esteem rather than something that is destructive and tears people down. I'm glad they aren't going down the road of 'Game on, molls!' bitchfighting of Big Brother. That is soooo 2006. Looks like Channel 9 went down that well-beaten path with HomeMade and paid the price for it with a flop."

Judging by TV tastes, the economic crisis seems to have put Australians in the mood for constructive cooperation and gentle generosity. If so, this is not a good time to be Malcolm Turnbull.

Footnote: Last week I promised to talk about TV writers who insert Melanoma Moments in their dramas. I was referring to the story arc in Grey's Anatomy. I decided to wait and see if Izzy survives before assessing its significance.

David Dale is the author of Who We Are -- A snapshot of Australia today (Allen and Unwin). For daily updates on Australian attitudes, bookmark http://blogs.sunherald.com.au/whoweare.

COMMENTS

i can't believe you think its bad to have an over 55 yr old audience?
what else is on tv for them. Australians are getting older and there is nothing on tv for them. as soon as they hit their 30s they are put out to pasture or are the the butt of jokes (bert newton). reality tv is boring. it's about time the tv execs started taking notice. thats why more people are changing to subscription tv cause free to air offers nothing but teeny bopping fluff. thats my five cents.

Tribal Mind replies: It's only bad for Channel Ten, which promotes itself as a station for youngsters.

by syd_jazz on June 26, 2009 at 09:01 AM

Channel Nine's problem is not only that it chose bitchy renovating over upbeat cooking but that it's attempts to now jump on the 'constructive cooperation and gentle generosity' bandwagon will not be taken seriously. Throwing plasmas at people and wringing tears from every human interest story their flying monkeys can track down doesn't fit the same criteria. It ends up looking like unimaginative desperation.
Channel Ten doesn't have the same odious baggage as Nine and seems to be improving it's image while Nine just keeps on banging away at the same dull stuff.
They're already auditioning under-twelves chefs on ACA for some hastily flung together rip-off but getting Tracey, Leila, Cameron Williams and the like to be warm and genuine and smiling real smiles is gonna hurt tomorrow. And no-one believes it. They still don't seem to understand that success doesn't come automatically just because you were once popular. And it's not just about programme choice.

by darren on June 26, 2009 at 11:27 AM

I agree with you syd_jazz.
When I was younger, I had lots of things I wanted to buy, but not enough money! Now I'm over 55 (and the rest) I can buy just about whatever takes my fancy, but the advertisers can't be bothered with me! Funny world.
I do quite like New Tricks, TM, but my favourites on the ABC are Spooks, Silent Witness and The Chaser. The rest of the time I'm watching TV on Foxtel or watching purchased DVDs.
Looking forward to Weeds season 3 arriving in my mailbox soon!

by Sal on June 26, 2009 at 02:42 PM

I respectfully disagree about the target market TM. The former Ch Shirl (for the uninitiated - Shirl as in "Shirley you can't be Serious!") is no longer Channel Teen either. They've taken The Simpsons off high rotation. They assassinated Big Brother. They've put some *Gasp* intelligence into their programming. Their main shining beacons are cross generational. Family viewing. Masterchef is appealing to young and old, and Talkin' 'Bout Your Generation has been a (surprising) success. It seems the programming gibbons at Network X have steps outside the box, gotten fancy ads, but have also found stuff that people WANT to watch! Shows to nourish the mind!
I will confess that I though that TBYG would tank as my beloved Micallef has never (until now) been accepted in the mainstream.

by Bereft Skerrick on June 26, 2009 at 03:19 PM

The 55+ age group will watch any show which is definitely worth watching. Masterchef is a very good example. Thankfully the programmers at Channel 10 have been able to escape the stereotypes which seem to control your views.

by carolyn on June 27, 2009 at 06:00 AM

I followed Master Chef UK and was concerned that Oz Master chef would be a stuff up. However it isn't so both myself (65) and my wife (54) watch it.

by Allan Hewlett on June 27, 2009 at 06:12 PM

I thought Masterchef would be a dud replacement for So You Think You Can Dance -- but not because of demographics, just because it's a shocking concept.
I can't believe it goes on night after dreadful night, like some culinary blitzkrieg, with the judges growing more and more corpulent -- and the emotions from the contestants more and more crapulent. There is virtually zero drama or emotion in the show, but we are subjected to imaginary tension just before every ad break. It is on so often, it is like a Chinese banquet from hell with an infinite number of courses.
When they went to Hong Kong, I was hoping cast and crew would be hijacked by pirates, or maybe a simple aviation disaster -- but no such luck.
The remaining contenders include the 2 young guys, who should not be there on merit -- so I suspect the producers have their little hands in the selection pie (a reference to little hands and pies in Scary Movie number something)
Truly mind-numbing television that is overdone, overseasoned, and under-prepared.

by Professor Rosseforp on June 27, 2009 at 09:46 PM

Professor Rosseforp, I love how you mercilessly bag out Masterchef, then provide a critique of who should and shouldn't still be on the show at the end. If you don't like the show, don't watch it! Don't bitch about it then reveal you're watching enough of it to know the contestants and form an opinion of who is worthy!

by NK on June 28, 2009 at 10:25 AM

NK, I don't watch the show through any choice of my own -- I would rather be crumbed and deep-fried.
However, there are times when it is diplomatic to remain in the same room as the offending show and stay schtumm. Fortunately, blogging allows me to release a little therapeutic vitriol. Harmless to the subjects, who don't care about my views, but helpful to me.
At least you know my opinions are based on having seen plenty of the show, not some preconceived prejudice against prats in cravats -- actually the judges are all a little too nice, and could do with some professorial tuition to get nasty.
You and I both know, by the way, that those 2 young guys should not even be let loose near an egg and a saucepan of boiling water.

by Professor Rosseforp on June 28, 2009 at 10:44 AM

"The rest of the time I'm watching TV on Foxtel or watching purchased DVDs.
Looking forward to Weeds season 3 arriving in my mailbox soon!", wrote Sal on June 26, 2009 at 02:42 PM
I watch very little TV, probably less than 2 hours a week. The commercial stations cater to the tastes of the young who can handle watching episode 4, season 5 one week and episode 8, season 1 the next. Personally, I find that highly annoying and I haven't even started on the ads!
A few years ago, I found myself with some spare time on my hands. I had never watched The Sopranos when it was on TV. I watched the entire series over a period of a few weeks and got a taste for viewing TV this way. Since then, my free entertainment time is spent watching DVDs (movies and box sets of TV series). I find watching a series end to end is a great way to ensure the continuity of the storyline.
I really enjoy discovering a series that I have never seen that is in it's later season. I get months of entertainment value from catching up. My only gripe is that we have to wait so long between seasons here in Australia. I too am looking forward to Season 3 of Weeds. Those in the US are currently viewing Season 5! I know - Amazon!
Back to the topic. I saw 5 minutes of Masterchef and found the the show quite tedious. Personally, I find the strategy of 'We will let you know after the break' to be very annoying.

by Caligula on June 28, 2009 at 03:38 PM

What's supposed to be the bad thing about an over 55 audience? Don't you know they are the ones with all the disposable cash?
Please explain. It is, perhaps because they won't watch crap?

by meg on June 28, 2009 at 04:36 PM

Must confess that I've not watched even one minute of Masterchef!!! Way too time-consuming for my liking, though its content may be passable or better.

by arthur on June 29, 2009 at 10:11 AM

I'm not a MasterChef watcher either. I've dipped in for a few minutes here and there, and the whole reality TV format just cheeses (no pun intended) me off. All the dragged out tension is so artificial, and what is the point of that presenter?
I do like the idea that it's more "nice" than "game on molls", but that's not enough to make the reality tv format enticing to me.

by tqd on June 29, 2009 at 01:00 PM

I miss all those bogans, molls and scragfights from Big Brother. The Masterchef crowd are bit more intelligent than your usual reality show contestant, so it's less fun to ridicule them.

by Bloke from the Sticks on June 30, 2009 at 01:24 PM

The Sun-Herald

Who We Are

The Tribal Mind: Better to fill the belly than cut the throat

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