ABC - The Average, Boring Channel?

In The Australian today, ABC Director Mark Scott (who recently announced that the ABC's TV department will soon suffer major job losses) says he believes the ABC is an "incubator of Australian art and culture":

http://www.theaustralian.news.com.au/story/0,25197,23551193-7582,00.html

I beg to differ.

I am flabbergasted by how little drama the ABC invests in these days. I know they are short on money, but in 2007 they commissioned just over 20 hours of new Australian drama. 20 HOURS! That's not even one day's worth, back-to-back!

What's more, the drama they do commission is very rarely innovative or pushes the boundaries, the way the ABC could and should. The advantage the ABC is supposed to have over the commercial networks is that they don't have to worry about ratings or other commercial concerns but, as part of the corporatisation of everything these days, ABC management is more worried about ratings than quality or innovation.

Take East of Everything. I must confess to having only watched one episode, the first, but it gave me no inclination to return. It was almost exactly the same as SeaChange... but without the humour or the charm! So what's the point? The ABC are stuck in a constant rut trying to repeat their previous successes, not acknowledging that their highest-rating shows SeaChange, The Chaser, Pride & Prejudice, Choir of Hard Knocks) came out of the blue, and were different and new when they attracted those audiences.

Other examples of how the ABC is failing to encourage new talent and produce interesting drama shows is a story I heard about a friend who put his (really great) drama series into the ABC and was told his scripts were fantastic, "This is the kind of drama we should be making..." but they won't. Because it didn't match their target audience (ie: old people).

Perhaps Australia should reintroduce the TV license fee, as they have in the UK. The BBC is constantly innovative and takes risks on new writers/directors with interesting projects. They can afford to, however, as the TV license fees (which go straight into the BBC's pocket) mean that one network's drama budget is larger than all drama production in Australia combined (all the TV networks at the Film Finance Corporation).

Rather than just whinge about it, I plan on moving overseas! Along with many of my peers.