Monday, July 14th, 2008
It had to happen. Network Ten have decieded to swing the axe in Big Brother’s direction, and there will be no Series 9 on the network next year.
The show started in Australia in 2001 – attracting a healthy 2.8 million viewers on average, but over the past 8 years, the show’s appeal and audience have declined to a point where Ten’s programmers have decieded that the $30 million cost for Big Brother could be better spent on new programs.
I guess the main problem has been that the format has become too familiar to both viewers and contestants. There’s very little that producers can do now to surprise and shock the audience – and they certainly shot themselves in the feet by planting so-called “party boy” Cory Worthington, “fashion guru” Carson Kressley and “Playboy bunny” Pamela Anderson in the house – the latter being an embarrasment for producers as she publicly canned major sponsor KFC over their treatment of chickens.
So that’s it! In just 7 days – either Rory the bricklaying fucktard, Terri the nanna, Travis the castrati, Alice the vet, or Ben the lawyer will become the final ever winner of Big Brother and pocket $250,000. It will be interesting to see if another network picks up the franchise – with the industry rumour in overdrive.
Here’s the full media release from Ten:
After eight successful seasons and 1316 episodes, TEN today announced that Big Brother will not be returning in 2009.
The 2008 season finale will air on Monday 21 July.
TEN’s chief programming officer, David Mott, said: “Big Brother is the undisputed grand-daddy of modern, commercial reality television in Australia. Today’s reality dramas have all, on some level, been inspired by Big Brother.
“We are immensely proud of the show and the incredible success it has enjoyed since premiering in 2001.
“We’re ending the season on a high, largely thanks to the talents of Kyle and Jackie O who have presented yet another successful season.”
Mr Mott added that for millions of Big Brother fans who were glued to their screens each day, the show was like catching up with mates: it was entertaining, familiar and sometimes a little unpredictable. For many, it was also highly addictive.
“You just have to read the fan website to see how big and vocal the Big Brother community is,” he said.
Over the years, Big Brother has continued to deliver significant audience and share, especially in TEN’s core demographic, 18-49. The daily, eviction and nomination shows consistently occupied a place in the top programs week after week in 18-49.
Mr Mott acknowledged that the show attracted its fair share of controversy, and often generated robust debate. It instantly became Australia’s most talked about television program.
“Big Brother raised a number of issues which were meaningful and it highlighted some of the very real concerns of young people,” he said.
“The show has taken on topics of race, sex, homosexuality, eating disorders and alcohol abuse, many of which had been handled gingerly, if at all, on TV.”
Big Brother was more than TV. Fans who wanted access to Big Brother, any time anywhere, could do so via their TV, mobile or on the internet. It also provided a multifaceted platform for key sponsors who wanted a “surround-sound” advertising experience.
TEN’s chief executive officer, Grant Blackley, said: “Big Brother has been an important franchise for the network but we are confident this is the right decision at the right time for TEN.
“Importantly, as Big Brother represented up to 120 hours of TV, we now have an opportunity to further diversify our schedule with new, exciting and bold programs for viewers and advertisers.
“We are already in discussions and development with Australian content providers and we have a number of exciting prospects. We expect to announce these programs in the near term.
“We will also rely on our ever-expanding slate of programs from our two prolific US studios – 20th Century Fox and CBS Paramount.”
Mr Blackley thanked the hundreds of advertisers and committed sponsors who have contributed and benefited greatly from their involvement with Big Brother over this long history.
Mr Blackley also praised Endemol Southern Star (ESS) for their professionalism and innovative production which has kept the show fresh and appealing to viewers over the last eight years.
“Their commitment ensured the Big Brother brand made its way into homes across Australia,” he said.
Southern Star Group chief executive, Hugh Marks, said: “To the stars of the show, our housemates, and to the teams of talented and dedicated people who have put this show together every week, you have entertained, enthralled and even educated us. Our Big Brother is a stand-out adaption of this world-wide multimedia phenomenon that will continue for many years to entertain audiences around the world.”
Mr Mott acknowledged the enormous efforts of Big Brother hosts – past and present.
“Kyle and Jackie O have done an outstanding job fronting Big Brother this season. We look forward to seeing Kyle on Australian Idol soon and working with the pair on future projects.
“I’d also like to make special mention of Mike Goldman who has been there from day one with his voicing of every daily show, and over the years has also hosted Friday Night Live and Up Late.
“To Bree Amer, Fitzy, Tony Squires and Rebecca Wilson, thank you for keeping us entertained throughout the series.
“And, of course, a huge thank you to Gretel Killeen for her years of dedication to the show,” he said.
He also paid tribute to the entire production team from ESS and TEN.
“On air, the program ran like a well-oiled machine, yet behind the scenes, the team worked tirelessly 24 hours a day to bring Big Brother to our screens.
“I also want to thank our loyal Big Brother fans for their avid viewing and support throughout the years,” he said.
Posted in Television | No Comments »
Monday, April 28th, 2008
Tristram Cary, the composer who died on Wednesday aged 82, was a leading exponent of electronic music, producing concert works and scores for films and television, including several episodes of Doctor Who.
Although Cary discovered that his output filled no fewer than 76 CDs, he was disappointed to be largely unrecognised in his native England, perhaps because he had emigrated to Australia in midlife.
In a global context, however, Cary was acknowledged as the father of electronic music.
Having experimented with sound and tape manipulation while working as a naval radar engineer during the Second World War, in the 1950s Cary created one of the first electronic music studios and worked on scores for such films as the classic Ealing comedy The Ladykillers (1955), Hammer’s Quatermass and the Pit (1967) and a three-part Disney adaptation of The Prince and the Pauper (1962).
In Doctor Who Cary scored incidental music for several memorable episodes, including the first to introduce the Daleks in December 1963, and others such as “Marco Polo” (1964), “The Daleks’ Master Plan” (1966) and “The Mutants” (1972).
He also provided scores for television dramas such as Jane Eyre (1963) and Madame Bovary (1964).
advertisementBefore emigrating to Australia in 1972 Cary was commissioned by the Olivetti company to write a piece using the noises of their office equipment.
The result was his Divertimento for 16 singers, jazz drummer and Olivetti machines, which was performed live at the opening of the firm’s new training centre in Surrey, with Cary himself conducting in front of a VIP audience that included the violinist Yehudi Menuhin. The text of the work comprised cardinal numbers sung in four languages.
Another innovative piece, his extended cantata Peccata mundi (for which he wrote his own libretto) was introduced at the 1972 Cheltenham Festival. It called for the conventional forces of chorus and orchestra, but with the addition of a speaking voice and four tape tracks.
Although Cary composed for traditional instruments and ensembles, his abiding interest lay in electronic music, which he wrote for concert performance in most of the accepted genres: synthetic, musique concrète (or a mixture of both), mixed works for live performers and electronic sounds.
As a founder director of Electronic Music Studios (EMS), he helped to design the VCS3 portable synthesiser, which Pink Floyd used on their 1973 concept album The Dark Side Of The Moon.
While visiting Australia to demonstrate the synthesiser to music lecturers, Cary was offered a one-year contract as visiting composer at Adelaide University. In the event, he remained there for 12 years as senior lecturer until his retirement in 1986.
Tristram Ogilvie Cary was born on May 14 1925 in Oxford, the third son of the novelist Joyce Cary and his wife Gertrude. Educated at Westminster, he was a King’s scholar and a friend of both Michael Flanders and Donald Swann, who introduced him to the music of Stravinsky.
Tristram won an exhibition to Christ Church, Oxford, but after two terms his Science studies were interrupted by the Second World War, and he served in the Royal Navy between 1943 and 1946.
Specialising in radar – he had been a radio enthusiast in his teens – he received training in electronics and grasped the potential of new technology from Germany that enabled sound to be recorded on magnetic tape; on his demobilisation in late 1946 he returned to Oxford, changed his degree course to PPE and immediately began experimenting with tape recorders.
He realised that, as well as being a way of reproducing sound, tape could be the source of an altogether new type of music.
After graduating Cary enrolled at the Trinity College of Music, studying composition, piano, horn, viola and conducting, and taught at evening classes to augment his student grant.
During the early 1950s Cary began to write and teach music and took a part-time job in a gramophone shop selling expensive hi-fi while developing his first electronic music studio.
By 1954 he was able to earn a full-time living writing music for radio, films and the emerging medium of television, as well as composing numerous concert works.
In an early experiment in the field of environmental sound, Cary provided a sound-environment for the different sections of the British pavilion at Expo ’67 in Montreal.
In the same year he founded the electronic music studio at the Royal College of Music, the first of its kind in Britain, and designed and built another for himself, which he transported from London to his house in Suffolk and subsequently to Australia, where it was incorporated into the expanding teaching studio at Adelaide University.
Returning to freelance composition, Cary drew on the university’s studio and his own at home to generate music across the spectrum, from film scores to concert pieces.
In the mid-1990s there were performances of his work to mark his 70th birthday, and a new suite based on his music for the film The Ladykillers won The Gramophone magazine’s award for best film music CD in 1998.
Cary also wrote on concerts and opera for The Australian, and in 2005 received the Adelaide Critics’ Circle lifetime achievement award. Adelaide University honoured him with a Music doctorate in 2001.
A citizen of both Britain and Australia, in 1991 Cary was awarded the medal of the Order of Australia (OAM) for services to Australian music. He also broadcast regularly.
Tristram Cary married, in 1961 (dissolved 1980), Dorse Dukes. He married secondly, in 2003, Jane Delin.
Both wives survive him with the two sons and daughter of his first marriage.
Article from The Telegraph
Posted in Music, People, Television | No Comments »
