Discussion of ABC’s 2024 slate of programming. ABC Showcase is Thursday 9 November.
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All details here
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Some missing series
Scripted
Aunty Donna’s Coffee Cafe
Bay of Fires
Gold Diggers
In Limbo
Mother & Son
The Messenger
Utopia
Children’s
Crazy Fun Park
The Disposables
The PM’s Daughter
Turn Up The Volume
Wildlifers
Factuals/news
Back in Time for
China Tonight
Designing A Legacy
Great Australian Stuff
India Now
Kitchen Cabinet
New Leash on Life
Old People’s Home for Teenagers
Planet America
Q+A
Question Everything
The ABC Of
War on Waste
WTFAQ
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Australian Epic is missing too.
With ABC Upfronts there is always a favourite missing but another favourite added.
No Spicks and Specks this year but we had Utopia.
Delighted Fisk and The Newsreader is back.
I love the Back in Time series but I am not sure what they would go back in time to do next.
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The ABC really need to bring back The Chaser and put Penn and Teller back on Sunday nights in prime time on ABC Plus.
Absolutely not, the lineup is already full of hasbeens. Commission some new talent. For once. We do not need more chaser, Gruen or spicks and specs. There’s now an entire generation of comedians and actors the ABC has overlooked for these dinosaurs.
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it literally just premiered last night, after being promised for 2022, so any announcement is not high on ABC’s to-do list I imagine.
Ditto, I am pleased to see these back. It’s just a shame The Newsreader will probably only be another six episodes.
I am not sure if any of these really hit it off with audiences (Aunty Donna’s Coffee Cafe maybe an exception?), I can’t see any of them coming back.
Looks like they’ve just given Tony Armstrong another not-entirely-dissimilar show… Extra-Ordinary Things?
The new series Austin could be interesting, particularly featuring Michael Theo from Love On The Spectrum, although like with so many ABC shows the title is lacking. Was that the best name they could come up with to sell this show? One-word titles are not necessarily a killer (e.g. Fisk, Bluey and Utopia have been successful), but a good/clever/witty name can get people engaged. Does the heavy British contingent indicate that like Queen Of Oz that this was possibly originally pitched elsewhere before being settled on Australia?
tbh I don’t think The Chaser would even be wanting to bring back The Chaser.
Really good lineup, there drama shows in particular, not to mention the comedy put the commercials to shame!
The War on Everything would not survive this day and age
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The Tasmanian Government did announce that they have provided funding for developing a second season and Marta Dusseldorp was working on a script. It might skip a year (like Total Control does) and come back in 2025.
The story arcs came to a conclusion in those shows, so no real need to continue to another season. With Gold Diggers, the characters faced the music in the final episode and no longer need to be on the run. With In Limbo, the reason why the dead character was appearing was explained and he stopped appearing. The Messenger was based on a novel and the mystery was solved.
It would be very diffucult to comtinue to make another season of Crazy Fun Park since most of the characters were ghosts who died as children. The problem would be that the chacters who play the children would age and therefore would no longer look like the children ghosts. The Disposables story was also resolved although potentially it had a cliffhanger where the story could continue.
One underwhelming season was more than enough. 
Chris Oliver-Taylor, who oversaw a sweeping review of the ABC’s offerings and operations soon after being appointed chief content officer in March, describes the lineup as one of “consolidation”, and said it was likely there would be considerably more new commissions for 2025 than in next year’s slate.
Showcase presentation video
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It didn’t back in its time. I’m sure it would be fine today (just without any more blackface skits). But they should try some entirely new talent for a similar political-comedy show.
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I don’t agree. The chaser still do a musical and would appeal to the under 50 demographic.
I disagree. The Chaser were legendary and probably the best political satire comedy act, Australia has ever seen.
Of course it wouldn’t appeal to the over-50 conservative demographic which is what the ABC seem to be mostly catering for these days, this is why the entire ABC leadership team needs renewal IMO.
LOL, the Chaser would be stronger with over-50s than younger millennials and gen zs. People born when Chaser’s War premiered would be 18 by now. The ABC desperately needs to commission and stick with new talent if they want to be relevant with younger Australians. I was in high school when Gruen started, I’m in my 30’s now.
I’d wager Frontline/Working Dog and Jane Turner and Gina Riley are far more legendary than the Chaser when it comes to satire. Work from both groups has entered our culture and language in a way it hasn’t happened with the Chaser.
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