Homes on the range
Once upon a time there were lots of westerns on television. Now there are none, and I suppose it’s all about demand
. . . and then supply. There were always lots of detective shows too, but unlike the westerns, there are still a few of them out there.
Wonder why the westerns became extinct? Were they deemed out of date? Perhaps the brawls in bars and shoot-outs on the main street?
Which doesn’t seem to fit as some of these detective/crime shows have some very rough and brutal moments.
Maybe they ran out of hats and boots? Who knows, but the western is but a memory today . . . although there’s piles of them in the form of DVDs and they pop up on the pay channels from time to time so it’s not a complete screen extinction. It’s just that they don’t make them any more.
Themes and trends are an everchanging part of the television landscape, and when something emerges that clearly draws a viewing crowd then other similarly themed shows appear.
So all of a sudden there are more cooking shows than the average number of items on the average restaurant menu.
And then all of a sudden (again) there are more blind date and marital shows than . . . cooking shows. And the talent quests all seemed to treble overnight as country after country began to declare that they have talent aplenty.
There was a time when fishing shows started being hauled aboard in good numbers, and rail journeys were popular . . . as have been police “reality” shows.
Yep, if a theme sits well with viewers then others of its kind will emerge.
However, through all these “what’s hot to watch at the moment” times things like game shows and soapie serials just carry on at a steady rate.
They’ve always been there, and I still have memories of Selwyn Toogood revving up an excited audience over whether the grinning contestant beside him should take the money or the bag.
Around that sort of time there were several westerns afloat . . . must have been a long time ago.
And so it has come to pass that one of the latest popular themes to be ● Changing Rooms Australia, TV2, tonight at 7.30pm.
● My Dream Home, Choice TV, Tuesday, 8.30pm.
● Rich House, Poor House TVNZ 1, Tuesday, 8.40pm.
● Building The Dream, Choice TV, Tuesday, 9.30pm.
● Location Location Location, TVNZ 1, Wednesday, 7.30pm.
● Tiny House Hunting, Choice TV, Friday, 7am.
● Help! My House Is Falling Down, Choice TV, Friday, 7.30pm.
● Restoration Home, Choice TV, Friday, 8.30pm.
produced is homework.
Work on homes.
Restorations, modifications, the pursuit of a home, the swapping of homes and the diversity of homes.
Home work indeed.
Of course the one constant “theme” to all this is that such shows are created in the real world rather than make a few calls to someone’s agent or Actor’s Equity looking for role fillers.
And there is a wide range of ways to engage this “reality”.
On this note, the other clear “reality” is that we seem to be drawing in a constant stream of Australian-produced shows.
Must be the currency exchange rate. So then, there is “homework” tonight on TV2 in the form of Changing Rooms
Australia where people swap houses and are tasked to redecorate one room.
There’s a couple on Tuesday with TV1 hosting Rich House Poor House and Choice rolling out My Dream Home and Building the Dream.
And on Wednesday it’s Location
Location Location on TV1.
But there’s no homework on Thursday although Friday makes up for that with Choice nailing up three housing efforts
... Restoration Home, Help! My House is Falling Down and Tiny House Hunting.
Home shows are abundant as they have, like many “reality” themes become the flavour of the moment . . . for now.
Wonder what’ll rise to the mass production surface next?
Westerns?