Does New Zealand need to start making original Christmas television? Photos/Supplied
Does New Zealand need to start making original Christmas television? Photos/Supplied
Christmas is over and New Year is nearly upon us, so you know what that means - no, not the official start of summer. This time of year marks the annual tradition where our broadcast networks stop caring for the next month.
Anyone preparing themselves for a quiet night in with the telly this New Year's Eve may be disappointed by what's on offer. Sex and the City, again? How exciting. What about on the other side - oh, a comedy special from earlier this year? That might be worth a re-watch, but not exactly the most exciting way to call in the New Year.
It comes just a week after a spectacularly dull selection of Christmas viewing. Don't want to watch The Lion King or Shawshank Redemption for the 138th Christmas in a row? Don't worry; there are enough repeats of Mrs Brown Boys, Graham Norton and QI to keep you vaguely entertained.
A scene from The Shawshank Redemption, which will air at Christmas until the end of time itself. Photo/Supplied
I can understand the reluctance programmers must feel when scheduling holiday viewing. Everyone's at the beach, aren't they? Who's going to be watching TV anyway, they seem to think, so why bother putting anything on?
Yet that thinking doesn't really fit with the modern TV landscape. Ten years ago, if there was nothing worth watching on TVNZ or TV3, people probably did turn the telly off and go about their holidays. But now, anyone who actually wants to watch something will turn the TV off and switch over to Netflix or Lightbox instead.
So instead of trying to convince people to watch TV over December and January, our networks go for the lamest possible options. Not only do some of the programmes on offer have very little to do with the holidays they air on (if you associate Christmas with dead parents and prison rape, I genuinely feel sorry for you), they just feel like safe options, aired so as not to risk offending anyone and, as ever, try to convince the broadest possible audience without actually trying to appeal to any one person in particular.
A selection of some of New Zealand television's holiday season "highlights".
It's not like there is not precedent around the world to make an effort during this period. The BBC produces dozens of Christmas specials to air around this time of year, last year ensuring 90 per cent of what aired at Christmas was original content. And pretty much most western countries air New Year's coverage to some degree - if anyone was as close to the Sky Tower as TVNZ is, you'd think they'd make the most of that proximity.
I'm not suggesting they do things as expensive or extreme as their overseas counterparts - I am well aware that NZ on Air's funding is nowhere near the same as the BBC. But some of the stuff that already gets funded would probably work better at this time of year instead of randomly scattered about. Something like Hillary feels much more like feel-good New Year's Day viewing, or one of our local shows could put on a Kiwi Christmas special. At least one benefit of airing on Christmas means that if no one watches it, they won't have to explain themselves to irritated advertisers.
BBC's mini-series And Then There Were None, based on the Agatha Christie novel, is a different type of Christmas special. Photo/Supplied
TVNZ experimented with binge-watching earlier this year, airing Doctor Foster and Happy Valley across a week and a fortnight each. Why not take a gamble and air an original miniseries across New Year's Day? It doesn't even have to be holiday themed. The BBC has used the last two Christmas seasons to air stylish adaptations of Agatha Christie stories, a formula that could be easily replicated here. There is clearly an audience there for high-quality crime drama given how many thrillers and murder mysteries TVNZ 1 airs throughout the rest of the year: why not air something with a bit more of a local flavour as a big New Year's spectacle?
Just look at the positives. The people who watch TV anyway this time of year will obviously tune in, but the thought of something fresh, new and unseen might be enough to drag people away from binge-watching international options online and remind them that broadcast television is still a thing.
Yes, these things could easily be catastrophic failures - but then again, much of our local television lately has been anyway. With cancellations happening all over the place and a fledgling interest in what's coming next, there needs to be something just a little bit different to keep everyone interested.
As viewers of TVNZ Christmases will know well, you either get busy living or get busy dying - and if you aren't doing anything to resuscitate your dying medium, than you can't exactly expect a very happy new year.
