Thursday, December 21, 2006
"Comedy Inc", and straining the envelope
According to its Nine network bosses, the long-running sketch-comedy series “Comedy Inc” is woeful crap that wouldn’t get air-time (nor hence presumably, made) in a less regulated TV marketplace.
My source for this is simply the show’s timeslot: 10.30 - 11.30 pm, along with Nine’s record of patent politicking (“telly-mandering”?) around (i) this timeslot and (ii) the show’s format limits, when the Broadcasting Services (Australian Content) Standard was last consulted-upon and revised a few years ago. (The current version (PDF) took effect on 30 December 2005).
The timeslot fudge came via an extension of “prime-time” – within which FTA TV networks are required to screen a minimum number of hours of debuting Australian “drama” (of which more about soon) – from 11.00 pm to 11.30 pm, subject to the conditions in s10(4) of the Standard being met. Nine appears to be the only network that consistently pushes the 11.30 pm-finish envelope, with “Comedy Inc” having clung tenaciously to this newly-minted "prime" slot (over varying nights) for its six-month run in 2006, while more recently, the faux-Australian “Outrageous Fortune” has only started what will no doubt be a run to the bitter end, also in Nine’s pseudo-prime Slot of Shame.
Timeslot aside, why did Nine choose a sketch-comedy format, rather than any other type of “drama” to so amply pad its Australian content prerequisites? Cost is an obvious answer, but with its taste for expensive, one-off sets and costumes “Comedy Inc” is by no means the cheapest show that a qualifying drama could possibly be, especially when one looks across the Tasman. “Outrageous Fortune” would cost Nine bugger-all, but in not flogging the faux-Australian loophole to the limit, Nine is showing an uncharacteristic semblance of moral qualm, or fiscal recklessness, as Packer pere et fils would no doubt see it.
Having splurged on actual Australian content with “Comedy Inc” then, it is as if Nine wants a minimum budget written into the show (there is no such yardstick in the Australian Content Standard, although networks get some modest bonus points if they pay at least $300,000/hr for outsourced content*). Perhaps there is a subconscious fear in the show’s producers that, were they to stick to “Neighbours”-style permanent sets, “Comedy Inc” would uncontrollably morph into a format that the Standard explicitly punishes: shows produced at the rate of more than one hour per week accrue only one-third as many points as one hour (or fewer) per week shows like “Comedy Inc”**.
Strangely enough, Nine again stands out as the lone FTA network not to run a points-penalised Australian serial, a la “Neighbours” and “Home and away”. But Nine’s telly-mandering doesn’t stop there; it also saw fit, in negotiating the current Australian Content Standard, to insist on what appears to be a “Comedy Inc”-specific clause, allowing the actors to improvise as they go, while still allowing the show to fall under the umbrella of scripted “drama”. The post-2005 definition of “Australian drama program” is a masterpiece of circular drafting in this regard:
“Australian drama program”
(a) means an Australian program that:
(i) has a fully scripted screenplay in which the dramatic elements of character, theme and plot are introduced and developed to form a narrative structure; or
(ii) has a partially scripted screenplay in which the dramatic elements of character, theme and plot are introduced and developed to form a narrative structure and has actors delivering improvised dialogue that is based on a script outline or outlines developed by a writer or writers; or
(iii) has actors delivering improvised dialogue that is based on a script outline or outlines, developed by a writer or writers, in which the dramatic elements of character, theme and plot are introduced and developed to form a narrative structure . . . (emphasis added)
Sub-clause (iii) – which together with (ii) was only added in 2005 – is surely someone’s attempt at a joke. It improvises on sub-clause (ii) – which more forgivably melds the concepts of partially-scripted screenplays with actors’ improvisation – by dropping all reference to any kind of screenplay, yet absurdly, religiously sticking to the “narrative structure” mantra, as if just by saying these words, such structure can exist in the aether.
How much of “Comedy Inc” actually is improvised by the show’s actors is unknown. Like a doctor who gets to bury their mistakes, Nine covers its bases and any suspicious tracks with the same indiscriminating rote formality – or strained legalism, in Nine’s case. The show’s website features a huge bevy of writers including “contributing” ones, of whom about half the regulars plus one “contributing writer” duo were credited on Tuesday’s (19/12) episode.
If “Comedy Inc” were a broth, Nine has made a right Frankensoup of it – too many cooks, and with autochthonous ingredients also, just in case. And all most definitely not for human consumption.
* Three points per hour, vs 2.5: Australian Content Standard s11(b)
** One point per hour (vs 3 or 2.5): Australian Content Standard s11(a) and (b)
According to its Nine network bosses, the long-running sketch-comedy series “Comedy Inc” is woeful crap that wouldn’t get air-time (nor hence presumably, made) in a less regulated TV marketplace.
My source for this is simply the show’s timeslot: 10.30 - 11.30 pm, along with Nine’s record of patent politicking (“telly-mandering”?) around (i) this timeslot and (ii) the show’s format limits, when the Broadcasting Services (Australian Content) Standard was last consulted-upon and revised a few years ago. (The current version (PDF) took effect on 30 December 2005).
The timeslot fudge came via an extension of “prime-time” – within which FTA TV networks are required to screen a minimum number of hours of debuting Australian “drama” (of which more about soon) – from 11.00 pm to 11.30 pm, subject to the conditions in s10(4) of the Standard being met. Nine appears to be the only network that consistently pushes the 11.30 pm-finish envelope, with “Comedy Inc” having clung tenaciously to this newly-minted "prime" slot (over varying nights) for its six-month run in 2006, while more recently, the faux-Australian “Outrageous Fortune” has only started what will no doubt be a run to the bitter end, also in Nine’s pseudo-prime Slot of Shame.
Timeslot aside, why did Nine choose a sketch-comedy format, rather than any other type of “drama” to so amply pad its Australian content prerequisites? Cost is an obvious answer, but with its taste for expensive, one-off sets and costumes “Comedy Inc” is by no means the cheapest show that a qualifying drama could possibly be, especially when one looks across the Tasman. “Outrageous Fortune” would cost Nine bugger-all, but in not flogging the faux-Australian loophole to the limit, Nine is showing an uncharacteristic semblance of moral qualm, or fiscal recklessness, as Packer pere et fils would no doubt see it.
Having splurged on actual Australian content with “Comedy Inc” then, it is as if Nine wants a minimum budget written into the show (there is no such yardstick in the Australian Content Standard, although networks get some modest bonus points if they pay at least $300,000/hr for outsourced content*). Perhaps there is a subconscious fear in the show’s producers that, were they to stick to “Neighbours”-style permanent sets, “Comedy Inc” would uncontrollably morph into a format that the Standard explicitly punishes: shows produced at the rate of more than one hour per week accrue only one-third as many points as one hour (or fewer) per week shows like “Comedy Inc”**.
Strangely enough, Nine again stands out as the lone FTA network not to run a points-penalised Australian serial, a la “Neighbours” and “Home and away”. But Nine’s telly-mandering doesn’t stop there; it also saw fit, in negotiating the current Australian Content Standard, to insist on what appears to be a “Comedy Inc”-specific clause, allowing the actors to improvise as they go, while still allowing the show to fall under the umbrella of scripted “drama”. The post-2005 definition of “Australian drama program” is a masterpiece of circular drafting in this regard:
“Australian drama program”
(a) means an Australian program that:
(i) has a fully scripted screenplay in which the dramatic elements of character, theme and plot are introduced and developed to form a narrative structure; or
(ii) has a partially scripted screenplay in which the dramatic elements of character, theme and plot are introduced and developed to form a narrative structure and has actors delivering improvised dialogue that is based on a script outline or outlines developed by a writer or writers; or
(iii) has actors delivering improvised dialogue that is based on a script outline or outlines, developed by a writer or writers, in which the dramatic elements of character, theme and plot are introduced and developed to form a narrative structure . . . (emphasis added)
Sub-clause (iii) – which together with (ii) was only added in 2005 – is surely someone’s attempt at a joke. It improvises on sub-clause (ii) – which more forgivably melds the concepts of partially-scripted screenplays with actors’ improvisation – by dropping all reference to any kind of screenplay, yet absurdly, religiously sticking to the “narrative structure” mantra, as if just by saying these words, such structure can exist in the aether.
How much of “Comedy Inc” actually is improvised by the show’s actors is unknown. Like a doctor who gets to bury their mistakes, Nine covers its bases and any suspicious tracks with the same indiscriminating rote formality – or strained legalism, in Nine’s case. The show’s website features a huge bevy of writers including “contributing” ones, of whom about half the regulars plus one “contributing writer” duo were credited on Tuesday’s (19/12) episode.
If “Comedy Inc” were a broth, Nine has made a right Frankensoup of it – too many cooks, and with autochthonous ingredients also, just in case. And all most definitely not for human consumption.
* Three points per hour, vs 2.5: Australian Content Standard s11(b)
** One point per hour (vs 3 or 2.5): Australian Content Standard s11(a) and (b)
