It was our first weekend in
Australia, a Sunday night in early January 2008.
It was somewhere between
8:30 and
9 pm and we settled in to watch the hit comedy, “There’s Something About Mary”.
Naturally, being a Sunday night and watching it on a non-pay station, we would see limited “good parts” of the film.
In other words, there would be a fair bit of extra editing and censoring.
Umm...not the case in
Australia.
It wasn’t long before the first f-bomb was dropped.
Clearly an oversight, my wife and I thought.
However, as the movie proceeded it became obvious that we were screening the same movie that was shown in theaters.
It wasn’t too long after when we saw another Sunday night movie titled, “Wedding Crashers”.
This, too, was the same version that I paid admission to see.
No curse words were bleeped out, no body parts covered up.
I just couldn’t get over the fact that things weren’t censored like I was used to seeing.
After some research in the television department (read: watching a lot of TV on Sunday night) I discovered some interesting insight on how things are done when it comes to broadcast television in Australia.
Like the US, Australia has what they refer to as free to air television stations. That is what airs on the tellie without pay (cable/satellite) TV. The stations are:
- ABC: Australian Broadcasting Cooperation similar to our PBS
- Seven Network
- Nine Network
- Ten Network
- SBS: a very cool documentary channel which also offers overseas news broadcasts (I actually sat and watched the news from China one day even though I couldn't understand anything)
- A very recent addition called One Network which is all sports
Seven, Nine, and Ten are privately owned networks. Not too dissimilar to our NBC, ABC, and CBS networks. That is to say it’s a national network with local affiliates around the country. The big difference being that there are literally hundreds of affiliates of the big four in the US, while only dozens in Australia.
Once I had figured out the stations and the television schedule I continued my research in the TV sector. I am still amazed about the lack of censorship in the television viewing department. It doesn’t matter what station it is on, the show will be played as it was originally filmed. Gordon Ramsey is there with all his cursing for everyone to hear. The Girls Next Door airs leaving nothing to the imagination. Every movie played (and they play a lot of them here) will be shown as if I rented the DVD.
To their (Australian TV regulations) credit, there is clear and distinct rating shown before every show aired. It outlines what might be offensive in the show and what is the recommended viewing age.
Another oddity for Aussie television, that took a long time to get used to, is the start of TV shows. For example, a show will be listed to start at 8:00 pm. In Australia, the show might start at 8:06. Perhaps it might not be on until 8:08, or even 8:13 pm. I don’t get it. Why not list the show when it’s meant to start? Why not start the show when it is scheduled? What’s more bothersome is the fact that everyone I have asked about this shrugs it off as if it is no big deal. I get a questioning glance as if to say “How else would you do it?” In fact, the only show that does start spot on time is, of course, the news. Besides a live sporting event, the news is the only show that starts as scheduled.
We have also found that shows, in particular children’s shows that air on the ABC network, simply stop without notice.
For example, my kids watch Sesame Street. Without any notice, rhyme, or reason, the show was not on the air anymore. There wasn’t any announcement, formal or informal, about where the show went. It just randomly happened. Not on a day where it would seem at least somewhat sensible, say a Friday or Monday. Instead it was on a Tuesday or Wednesday. Can you picture the scene at my house when the TV was turned on in anticipation of Sesame Street and it wasn’t there; it was a major disaster for the 2 and 3 year old.
Just as strange as a show being dropped from programming, it will start up again…and with no notification. Our beloved Sesame Street finally came back on after a few weeks in the 8:13 time slot. Maybe the daily emails from my wife had something to do with that.
The children’s shows here are also very different in length and variety. Sesame Street is chopped to a mere 25 minutes. Elmo’s World is shown as a separate show later in the day. Wiggles rule the television schedule with Dorothy the Dinosaur and Henry the Octopus on all throughout the day. They have all these shows that are 5-10 minutes long that play between the half hour episodes. My kids could be in front of the television waiting for Sesame Street and see at least two different short shows before it actually starts.
The episodes for shows that are in the rotation are fewer in number than we are used to. For example; since we have been here my wife and kids have seen the same Sesame Street repeated no less than five times. If you’re Desperate to keep up with the Housewives (yeah, I know cheesy), then you’ll find yourself, according to my wife, a bit behind. She is tempted to fill everyone in on all the plot lines and spoil their “new episode”. Desperate Housewives is not the only one. Even shows that may run almost parallel to US episodes are at least a half season or so behind.
TV news coverage is noticeably different as well. It’s certainly not as “flashy” as television news broadcasts can be in the states. The concept of breaking news, from what I can gather, is either understood differently or a philosophy that is not currently being used. I distinctly recall a gas tanker catching fire as it was unloading at the gas station. Obviously, it was a large and dramatic fire with a very high impact on traffic and the words “breaking news” weren’t heard by me.
To me, it was quite blasé. Not saying it’s a bad thing, but certainly different.
Television meteorologists, alternatively known as presenters in Australia, do just that. Present weather information. It’s noteworthy to mention that 8 or 9 times out of 10, the person presenting the weather information has little or no proper meteorological (weather) training. The presenter is there to pass along the official forecast set forth by the Bureau of Meteorology. This is very different from what happens in the US.
As you know, weather is a major component of TV news, especially in weather diverse markets like Central New York. That’s why weather will often be one of the top stories on 9WSYR.com or on any of the News Channel 9 shows. During any given newscast in Australia, well Perth anyway, sports will nearly always go before weather (a complete no-no in most US TV markets). In fact, it’s common to have the weather in the last block of news in the broadcast.
That loud noise you may have just heard was the collective gasp made by television industry consultants everywhere.
Oh, and if you’re a TV station in Oz, forget about owning your own Doppler radar. If I’m not mistaken, if an Australian station were to own a version of Live Doppler 9, it would be the first of its kind in the country.
It’s not that Aussies take their weather less serious than Americans; it’s just that they take sports more seriously than we do. And let’s face it, in just about any given location in mainland Australia, a period of about 6 months of very quiet weather is assured. Meaning, dry weather recorded for the day = weather last in the news.
I can’t stress enough how excited I am to know that won’t happen at News Channel 9.
J
