Bland 'lifestyle' show illuminates another impending problem at ABC – The Age
The ABC produced just one unmissable drama in 2018: the dismissal of managing director Michelle Guthrie in the final week of September. The fallout soon engulfed Justin Milne, the national broadcaster’s chairman, who resigned just days after firing Guthrie, and grew to include claims and counter-claims. The most prominent revolved around whether Milne told Guthrie to sack the ABC’s chief economics correspondent Emma Alberici, purportedly following a complaint from then prime minister Malcolm Turnbull.
Five months on, with Guthrie suing the ABC and the matter before the Federal Court, the headlines have faded and the commentariat have moved on to speculation about Guthrie’s successor. But the lasting impact of Michelle Guthrie’s tenure running the ABC is only now starting to appear. The shows that reflect Guthrie’s philosophies and the directions she gave her senior commissioning staff are beginning to air across the country. What they suggest is that her true legacy – in television terms – will be bright and bland programming that dilutes the ABC’s reputation.
One of the most noticeable additions is Escape from the City, which technically debuted in January but was instantly familiar to anyone who has ever seen Escape to the Country, the long-running British version of a real estate show format that the ABC’s version is licensed from. Each week a hopeful rat race escapee from the city is presented with a selection of potential property purchases in their desired rural or coastal destination. Floorplans are evaluated, neighbourhoods judges, and prices pondered.
The first episode, which featured a pair of Sydney professionals looking to buy a home on acreage in the Southern Highlands of New South Wales with plans to add a paddock-to-plate restaurant and accommodation, was spectacularly ill-judged. Their goals, and the $2 million budget, put the couple in rarefied air. But beyond that, what does this show, which has a prime slot of 8pm on Thursday nights, add to the ABC? Based on the recent Sunshine Coast episode, which had some double D breast size references from two female participants that should never have gone to air, not a great deal.
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