The Straits debuts with a weak 600,000
ABC’s new series The Straits has had a slow ratings start to its ten episode run.
Produced by Matchbox Pictures, producers of last year’s success The Slap, The Straits movie length premiere averaged 599,000, peaking at 696,000 viewers last night, according to preliminary ratings by Oztam.
Matchbox Pictures’ creative director Penny Chapman spoke to Encore in January: “It’s the violence and the black humour that is going to make this pretty special. I’ve not made a show like this – maybe blue murder but the Straits’ humour is quite enjoyable. Young men respond to it strongly. It’s a real blokes show. And for the ABC that’s great because young men don’t watch the ABC.”
The Straits is based on an idea by Aaron Fa’aoso which has been developed by a team of writers, including: AFI winning Louis Nowra (Cosi, K-19: The Widowmaker, Radiance); Blake Ayshford (Crownies, All Saints); AFI nominated Nick Parsons (Two Twisted, Dead Heart); Kristen Dunphy (East West 101, White Collar Blue); and Jaime Browne (The King, The Secret Life of Us). The series is directed by Peter Andrikidis, Rachel Ward and Rowan Woods.
The Slap debuted at 946,000 for the ABC in October last year and regularly pulled close to 1m metro viewers a week in the Thursday 8:30pm timeslot.
Yes, I can see it’s a young blokes’ show. Not much mind and action to suit. Maybe a team of writers is really good for assembling the cliches efficiently. Nicely shot but not much to hold attention.
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I actually quite like The Straits. One of the more ambitious Aussie series in quite a while. Like many have said, the cinematography and editing are top notch. Sadly the acting is really hit and miss (other than the headline stars, nearly everyone else is lip-bitingly awful) and the script is just…not good.
But I’ll keep watching, and I expect the audience to build. There have been far worse shows recently that have gathered much larger audiences (Crownies…)
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Probably would have been better suited as a stand alone feature than a telemovie -series.
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A new Australian television series that isn’t the usual cliches of Country Doctor Cops, Misunderstood Sydney Bourgeois Junkies and isn’t the usual tired cliches that drive mainstream and niche viewers alike away in droves?
And it’s not reality television?
Sign me up!
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