Why Viewers Need To Back Aussie TV’s Dark Horse
By Samuel Leighton-Dore
For any Australian TV show to score an 88% on notoriously critical Rotten Tomatoes is no mean feat.
For it to be a politically-charged sci-fi series featuring a strong and exciting pool of Indigenous talent both on and off screen… Well, it’s downright bloody impressive.
But that’s exactly what Cleverman has done.
Battling a rapidly shifting landscape of screen content and the decreasing attention-spans of binge-watching lounge-dwellers, the show was renewed by the ABC for a second series before it had even premiered, impressing viewers and critics alike with a masterful dose of quality storytelling matched with an elite cast of seasoned and emerging actors. Premiering on Sundance TV and receiving favorable reviews from The New York Times, it’s a show we should all be pretty fucking proud of.
This resoundingly positive response is precisely what makes it such an unforgivable shame that Australian audiences are now forgetting to tune in and support it, with around 120,000 metro viewers dropping off for the second episode last week.
It’s easy to forget the immense power we hold while sitting at home in our knickers with a glass of red wine and bowl of spaghetti. We forget that as an audience, we’re directly influencing the kind of content this country produces. When the ratings wain, network executives get really fucking nervous. These nerves drive them to stay safe; to continue pumping mega funds into boring-ass reality shows and sure-thing rom-coms featuring hetero white chicks and their lousy-ass boyfriends named something like Tommy.
When a daringly creative show like Cleverman becomes a runaway hit, as every indication already shows it could and should, the network executives sit up in their seats, pour themselves a tall scotch, light a cigar, adjust their ties, and start fucking thinking.
What if audiences are actually ready for diverse and unapologetic television content. What if audiences are finally willing to put their remotes where their mouths are and actually watch it. What if people are getting bored of torrenting great shows from overseas when they could be watching them live-to-air with their loved ones in the comfort of their lounge-rooms.
Because even though the series isn’t notably Queer (so far, at least), Cleverman turns Aboriginal folklore into an engaging superhero story. It makes for super aspirational, exciting, trailblazing television; the success of which could potentially pave the way for a more diverse range of pilot scripts landing on the right desks and actually being read. Maybe even produced.
Maybe.
Aspiration is exactly what our television landscape needs more of right now, and Cleverman has it in spades. After watching the first two episodes, I couldn’t help but marvel at the untapped potential of our creative industries. This show, which was spear-headed by a power-house team of female producers, is merely one impressive case study. Imagine if we, as viewers, fostered a culture more willing to not only demand the production of diverse TV, but turn up week-by-week to enjoy it. Maybe we’d finally get some of those LGBTQI stories we know are just waiting to be told.
So yeah, it’s about time we start backing ourselves and our own stories – especially when we get it so right.
You can watch episodes 1 and 2 on ABC iView here – and catch episode 3 tomorrow night at 9.30pm on ABC.