It’s not just what’s on screen that The Last Year of Television scrutinises, but press writing about it too.
Every year writer / performer Mitch McTaggart looks back on twelve months of Australian TV for his cult comedy special The Last Year of Television.
It’s a must-see for those wanting a reminder of the Worst and the Best in local telly, usually in that order. McTaggart’s take on the small screen output is a biting and surefire comment on what we’ve consumed and what we’ve missed.
Referencing media articles on television (including from this very site), he also has plenty to say about coverage, particularly those of the clickbait kind.
You know the type, a noisy headline with an article filled out with social media comments, often by those with next to no followers if it helps justify a headline.
“It’s become a little hobby of mine. Whenever I see more and more articles that are entirely based around obscure social media comment it’s so frustrating,” he tells TV Tonight.
‘I still have this expectation when I click on a journalist’s article that I expect to see journalism. Time and time again there’s just this click-baiting nonsense that has absolutely no impact to anything.
“I really, really want to meet some of those people who write those articles and just go, ‘Are you happy? Are you okay?’”
McTaggart is already steeling himself for negative coverage of ABC’s annual New Year’s Eve event with social media blasts and a particularly frequent word hitched to the public broadcaster.
“‘ABC News Year’s Eve Woke!’ Every f***ing year. It’s really giving the term ‘media cycle’ its name, isn’t it? Because it’s just repeating.”
Exhibit A follows…
One example this year is press quickly maligning 10 News+ with clickbait stories, which McTaggart summarises as “lazy journalism” targeting “earnest journalism.” Given the network axing The Project for the low-rating 10 News+ it’s not the angle many might have expected. But there’s method in is madness.
“Throughout the entire year, we just saw everybody bashing them, so we were thinking, ‘What’s the vibe going to be at the end of the year?’ We just can’t suddenly start bashing them as well, because everybody would be sick of it. So it kind of steered the narrative a little bit for us. What else can we say about it? What hasn’t really been discussed?” he asks.
“The thing that really floored me was, literally, after a week of 10 News+ there were rumours of its axing.”
McTaggart found similar press targeting around Sam Pang Tonight after its debut, despite the clear need for more variety on television. The conclusion? Shows are under pressure to be “flawless right out of the gate.”
“This notion that we have of just bashing anything that’s new and not really giving it a moment to settle in, irrespective of how deserving it is of actual airtime or whatever. It’s like no-one has the patience to get used to anything now.”
He also has little time for press built around anonymously quoted “TV Insiders.”
“What an annoying thing to say. It just gives the article this validity that it otherwise wouldn’t have. It could just be a man on the street?”
Also up for discussion this year are The Project, Q+A, Neighbours, The Block, Big Brother, Crime Night!, Liz Hayes leaving Nine, Alex Cullen’s $50,000 windfall for a TV plug, news promos and Scott Cam hosting Australia’s Most Identical Twins.
There are two deep dives, one around Married At First Sight‘s treatment of a domestic violence topic after a participant punched a wall. There are concerns about reality content creating situations which it then morally cites as giving airtime to an important topic. As if the ends justify the means?
“That position really frustrates me, and I did see a fair bit of that in responses from people who produce the show. But I genuinely think that they genuinely think that they’re making a difference,” he suggests.
“I don’t think they see the problem. I don’t think anyone’s telling fibs about it. I think they genuinely reckon they’re making a difference, which is, I think, a bigger problem. Because no-one is really consistently calling them out, except for obviously, you and me and couple of articles in The Conversation or Media Watch. It’s frustrating how we kind of keep travelling on that same road and not really doing much.
“It’s amazing what you can get away with when things are rating and things are making money.”
Because the inciting incident was never screened by Nine, it was given the all clear from media watchdog ACMA.
“Once again, the conclusion is that ACMA are absolutely toothless,” he notes.
Another deep dive surrounds how news and current affairs gave airtime to neo-Nazi groups, the very thing they seek. McTaggart’s special masks faces, and declines to name them, in order to not add fuel to fire.
In his analysis of competing Mushroom Murder docos, McTaggart notes overused talking heads appearing and reappearing, then compares beef wellington dinner re-enactments -including the stock footage used by 7News Spotlight.
“I don’t want to get into nerd territory, but I can really tell a 30 frame piece of video from a 25 frame. The colours are far too saturated for it to have been shot in Australia….I really enjoyed the description of that on Shutterstock… ‘It’s a masterpiece.’”
Yet given his specials screen on Binge / Foxtel how often does the host broadcaster come under scrutiny? Not a lot.
DAZN’s acquisition of Foxtel is a business rather than content tale.
“Our purview is predominantly Free to Air TV, because you could just get lost in the swamp at SKY…. I don’t have the energy to do that. I’m glad that there is that self imposed boundary, because I think it would be boring if I kept referring to SKY. I think Media Watch do that a fair bit as well, and The Weekly,” he maintains.
“I’ve mentioned The Last Anniversary very briefly, and I genuinely thought that was good.”
Which brings us to the year in Drama.
McTaggart is a fan of RFDS, Invisible Boys, The Family Next Door, Mystery Road: Origin (he admits to no mention of The Narrow Road to the Deep North or Playing Gracie Darling) and Apple Cider Vinegar -although he had to be won over.
“I watched the first 20 minutes and was not impressed. There’s this thing that I think streaming does, or maybe even just Netflix, where they make this high energy jangling-their-keys-in-front-of-you to try and hook you at the cost of actual artistic expression and filmmaking. It was just colours and shapes and that really frustrated me. But once that’s out of the way, it really drew me in, absolutely genuinely. By the time I got to episode two or three, I just had to sit and watch all of it,” he recalls.
“It took me a little bit to get used to jumping around but then it hooked me. I can’t remember exactly where it was.”
McTaggart even makes room to discuss ABC’s Antoinette Lattouf problem, even though it was radio, for how it shone light on broadcaster management.
“As much as I throw shit at the ABC, I’m really bitterly disappointed in them and for them, that this is kind of the lead story for them for the year. Come on guys, I know we can do better.”
It would be remiss not to mention the special, directed by Ryan Thomas and produced by James Westland, is also filled with jokes.
Oh and then there is Stranded on Honeymoon Island. Enjoy!
The Last Year of Television Monday 29 December on Binge / 8:30pm on FOX8