Post by Inside Australian Idol on Apr 15, 2005 1:10:12 GMT 10
Celebrity sell-off shows a twinkle in the stars
Amanda Meade
April 14, 2005
FOR gay footballer Ian Roberts, reaching the finals of Seven's Dancing With the Stars meant he had been accepted by the Australian public. Roberts wept openly on live television on Tuesday night after once again beating more accomplished dancers in the weekly competition. He did it purely on the strength of the audience vote.
Our latest TV obsession is watching celebrities being human. For the first series finalist, Pauline Hanson, Dancing had a similar positive effect: transforming her from a bumbling jailbird of an ex-politician into a folk hero who can't dance but who was admired for having a go. People out of the spotlight for years are suddenly popular again after appearing on prime-time TV.
The Human Headline, journalist Derryn Hinch, has survived his stint on Dancing despite looking more like a Dancing Beergut, to land a lucrative advertising campaign that was been unthinkable before his appearance on the local ratings sensation.
Yesterday's ratings report placed the show as the No.1 performer of the night, with an audience of 1.93million.
The celebrity-reality show has captured the TV audience's imagination. Just as the celebrity magazine is a huge seller, celebrity reality has drawn huge numbers to two series of Dancing, as well as to Nine's Celebrity Overhaul, which attracted an average 1.6million on Sunday evenings earlier this year.
Ten's Celebrity Big Brother in 2002 was a pioneer in the genre, although it was a failure and hasn't been repeated. "We were the first in Australia to embrace the genre of celebrity reality shows and the first to make fun of it with Russell Coight's Celebrity Challenge [last November]," Ten's head of production and development Tim Clucas told Media. "We are watching the bandwagon, but not jumping on right now."
But Nine and Seven are jumping right in, with Seven producing a third series of Dancing this year and Nine experimenting with celebrities who join the circus. This weekend, the team behind Overhaul (and The Block), David Barbour and Julian Cress, start filming their star recruits in Celebrity Circus.
"For a number of years we have made programs which look at ordinary people doing extraordinary things. Currently audiences are particularly excited by programs where you see extraordinary people do extraordinary things," Cress says.
The reality genre has moved from Big Brother - where nobodies became fascinating when placed in an extraordinary situation - to Celebrity Circus, where nine identities will train as circus performers.
The nine-strong cast of Circus ranges from Australian actors who have been working in the US (Cameron Daddo and Kimberley Davies) to former nobodies who have appeared in other reality shows (Outback Jack and the American woman he chose to marry on his reality show, and Ricki-Lee Coulter from Ten's Australian Idol).
Cress and Barbour say they have no problem finding celebrities to appear in their shows because they know they will be treated with respect. They say the participants have a range of different reasons for agreeing, which are more important than the fact that they are paid. People with a profile need to maintain it.
"First and foremost they are celebrities and it's an important part of their job to be in the public eye," Cress says. "The value of it for them is that because they appear as themselves, they are humanised. Both Peter Phelps and Rowena Wallace from Overhaul are actors famous for playing someone else, but the show allowed their personalities to show."
"From a storytelling perspective," adds Barbour, "it helps us because the audience feels they already know the person, so they are coming to it with a certain amount of baggage. Merv Hughes from Overhaul is a perfect case in point. People already know him as a cricketer but they wanted to see a different side of him."
Barbour says some of the audience is there because "it is like watching a car crash" in that they enjoy watching the celebrities fail, say at dancing elegantly, while others feel empathy.
"Overhaul taught us that audiences were ready to move beyond the reality TV of the past, with its fights, conflicts and dramas," Barbour says.
They say they have a very good strike rate when approaching people to appear on their shows, despite the fact that they are not given special treatment or the right of veto.
"When we approach them we don't say, 'Hey we are after a bunch of porky people to be on a show'," Barbour says. "We ask them what their health issues are. We do not approach it in an exploitative way."
He agrees that an overweight Wallace posing in a pink bikini with her twisted spine was a confronting moment for audience and subject, but insist the former soapie actor was happy to do it. "Her point was to expose herself so she could help other people," he says.
"The success of a show depends on the big moments. The audience wants to see a side of these people they haven't seen before. They like the idea of the star and they like the idea of the person."
"For Wallace," Cress says, "it was an incredibly brave thing to do given the problems she faced, ranging from weight to scoliosis to depression. She had dropped off the radar and it was a great reminder to them that she is a truly gifted actor who should be working. And hopefully she'll be the Teri Hatcher of Australia." (The American Hatcher had a long period out of the limelight before she was cast in Desperate Housewives.)
Cress says the exposure can remake public figures: "Hanson, for example, had a tarnished image in the community after serving time in jail, but volunteering to be on Dancing allowed her to soften her image.
"The shows we make are a positive experience for everyone involved. Overhaul was not a competition, no one got voted off by the public. There was no chance of humiliation at that level. We are going into Celebrity Circus with the same ideal. We've chosen people without an ounce of cynicism who've always dreamed of joining the circus. We are not seeking to humiliate them or exploit them. We feel that celebrity reality television needn't have winners and losers. The audience is more than happy to be entertained and share a journey."
As with Big Brother, casting is the key. "They have cast Dancing very well," Cress says. "Just being a celebrity will never qualify you for being in one of these shows. There are a lot of celebrities out there and many who we wouldn't cast. We wouldn't cast Chopper Read to join the circus. We want people who the audience at large will enjoy sharing the journey with."
After the success of Hanson, even politicians are welcome. "Kim Beazley may not make a great trapeze artist," says Cress, "but if he really dreamed of joining a circus and wanted to come on the program and learn to juggle in a clown outfit, that would be fine with us."
www.theaustralian.news.com.au/common/story_page/0,5744,12846943%255E7582,00.html
Amanda Meade
April 14, 2005
FOR gay footballer Ian Roberts, reaching the finals of Seven's Dancing With the Stars meant he had been accepted by the Australian public. Roberts wept openly on live television on Tuesday night after once again beating more accomplished dancers in the weekly competition. He did it purely on the strength of the audience vote.
Our latest TV obsession is watching celebrities being human. For the first series finalist, Pauline Hanson, Dancing had a similar positive effect: transforming her from a bumbling jailbird of an ex-politician into a folk hero who can't dance but who was admired for having a go. People out of the spotlight for years are suddenly popular again after appearing on prime-time TV.
The Human Headline, journalist Derryn Hinch, has survived his stint on Dancing despite looking more like a Dancing Beergut, to land a lucrative advertising campaign that was been unthinkable before his appearance on the local ratings sensation.
Yesterday's ratings report placed the show as the No.1 performer of the night, with an audience of 1.93million.
The celebrity-reality show has captured the TV audience's imagination. Just as the celebrity magazine is a huge seller, celebrity reality has drawn huge numbers to two series of Dancing, as well as to Nine's Celebrity Overhaul, which attracted an average 1.6million on Sunday evenings earlier this year.
Ten's Celebrity Big Brother in 2002 was a pioneer in the genre, although it was a failure and hasn't been repeated. "We were the first in Australia to embrace the genre of celebrity reality shows and the first to make fun of it with Russell Coight's Celebrity Challenge [last November]," Ten's head of production and development Tim Clucas told Media. "We are watching the bandwagon, but not jumping on right now."
But Nine and Seven are jumping right in, with Seven producing a third series of Dancing this year and Nine experimenting with celebrities who join the circus. This weekend, the team behind Overhaul (and The Block), David Barbour and Julian Cress, start filming their star recruits in Celebrity Circus.
"For a number of years we have made programs which look at ordinary people doing extraordinary things. Currently audiences are particularly excited by programs where you see extraordinary people do extraordinary things," Cress says.
The reality genre has moved from Big Brother - where nobodies became fascinating when placed in an extraordinary situation - to Celebrity Circus, where nine identities will train as circus performers.
The nine-strong cast of Circus ranges from Australian actors who have been working in the US (Cameron Daddo and Kimberley Davies) to former nobodies who have appeared in other reality shows (Outback Jack and the American woman he chose to marry on his reality show, and Ricki-Lee Coulter from Ten's Australian Idol).
Cress and Barbour say they have no problem finding celebrities to appear in their shows because they know they will be treated with respect. They say the participants have a range of different reasons for agreeing, which are more important than the fact that they are paid. People with a profile need to maintain it.
"First and foremost they are celebrities and it's an important part of their job to be in the public eye," Cress says. "The value of it for them is that because they appear as themselves, they are humanised. Both Peter Phelps and Rowena Wallace from Overhaul are actors famous for playing someone else, but the show allowed their personalities to show."
"From a storytelling perspective," adds Barbour, "it helps us because the audience feels they already know the person, so they are coming to it with a certain amount of baggage. Merv Hughes from Overhaul is a perfect case in point. People already know him as a cricketer but they wanted to see a different side of him."
Barbour says some of the audience is there because "it is like watching a car crash" in that they enjoy watching the celebrities fail, say at dancing elegantly, while others feel empathy.
"Overhaul taught us that audiences were ready to move beyond the reality TV of the past, with its fights, conflicts and dramas," Barbour says.
They say they have a very good strike rate when approaching people to appear on their shows, despite the fact that they are not given special treatment or the right of veto.
"When we approach them we don't say, 'Hey we are after a bunch of porky people to be on a show'," Barbour says. "We ask them what their health issues are. We do not approach it in an exploitative way."
He agrees that an overweight Wallace posing in a pink bikini with her twisted spine was a confronting moment for audience and subject, but insist the former soapie actor was happy to do it. "Her point was to expose herself so she could help other people," he says.
"The success of a show depends on the big moments. The audience wants to see a side of these people they haven't seen before. They like the idea of the star and they like the idea of the person."
"For Wallace," Cress says, "it was an incredibly brave thing to do given the problems she faced, ranging from weight to scoliosis to depression. She had dropped off the radar and it was a great reminder to them that she is a truly gifted actor who should be working. And hopefully she'll be the Teri Hatcher of Australia." (The American Hatcher had a long period out of the limelight before she was cast in Desperate Housewives.)
Cress says the exposure can remake public figures: "Hanson, for example, had a tarnished image in the community after serving time in jail, but volunteering to be on Dancing allowed her to soften her image.
"The shows we make are a positive experience for everyone involved. Overhaul was not a competition, no one got voted off by the public. There was no chance of humiliation at that level. We are going into Celebrity Circus with the same ideal. We've chosen people without an ounce of cynicism who've always dreamed of joining the circus. We are not seeking to humiliate them or exploit them. We feel that celebrity reality television needn't have winners and losers. The audience is more than happy to be entertained and share a journey."
As with Big Brother, casting is the key. "They have cast Dancing very well," Cress says. "Just being a celebrity will never qualify you for being in one of these shows. There are a lot of celebrities out there and many who we wouldn't cast. We wouldn't cast Chopper Read to join the circus. We want people who the audience at large will enjoy sharing the journey with."
After the success of Hanson, even politicians are welcome. "Kim Beazley may not make a great trapeze artist," says Cress, "but if he really dreamed of joining a circus and wanted to come on the program and learn to juggle in a clown outfit, that would be fine with us."
www.theaustralian.news.com.au/common/story_page/0,5744,12846943%255E7582,00.html