Jacksons Wharf: has the tide gone out?

Call it going out with a bang-bang. The year's major new local drama, Jacksons Wharf, ended its first season last night with the sound of two gunshots.

Fitting ammunition with which to argue that the show must go on. With an ending like that it would be cruel if loyal viewers were to be left forever in the dark.

Who fired the two bullets? Who copped them? We saw embittered policeman Frank Jackson toying with his gun in that final late-night showdown with wife Mahina.

But whatever becomes of broken-hearted Frank and Mahina, the big question is whether the show itself will survive. Surely those shots weren't the sound of a local drama being put down?

Decisions, decisions. TV2 is still mulling it over, saying it would wait until the show had completed its run before deciding its fate. Programmer Julia Baylis said yesterday its ratings performance was now being assessed.

True to its promise, the channel has stuck with the programme and kept it in a primetime slot, although the show was shifted from Tuesday to Friday in the latter part of its 26-week run.

Why the move? Baylis wouldn't say. "It's part of the cloak and dagger," she explained. It's a mysterious, film noir kind of business, the dark art of programming.

Ask not the reason why, but Baylis did say the move has seen that group of loyal viewers grow. "It's nice to see viewers committed."

Commitment doesn't come easy to a drama aiming to be there for the long haul. It needs time to bed in and for its characters to grow on viewers.

Jacksons Wharf never promised to be anything flashy. The aim of makers South Pacific Pictures was to produce a middle-of-the-road drama which would become solid in viewers' affections.

But with only one season's commitment from the network, the show did its best to hit the ground running. Along the way, it seems to have pitched everything into the plot to pump up the drama.

The mix has been clumsy at times, the soap plotlines breaking the bubbles of tension building up in the show's crime and more serious storylines.

But it has thankfully avoided mimicking those shows which portray country life as idyllic, cute and quirky.

And during its run, a star has emerged. In a year which has boasted a healthy dose of local drama, actor Nicola Kawana (Mahina) has been a stand-out talent.

By its final few episodes, the warm-up period was well and truly over. Jacksons Wharf was running hot and gunning for the big finale.

The corpse of the murdered schoolgirl discovered in last night's final scenes wasn't wrapped in plastic but "Who killed Chantelle Judd?" is a new season tagline just waiting for a billboard.

The show's audience may still be modest in size but the fans - lets call them "Wharfies" - are going to need answers.

TV2's decision-making will doubtless be helped along by that change of Government. A local content quota is looming and an established show must look so much more attractive than new shots in the dark.