Picking up Where We Left Off
Think 1980s’ Top Town and the days when TV shows could bring families and communities together. Despite ongoing commercial challenges we face in this industry, content should still be king writes cinematographer Waka Attewell, or even just sometimes at least.
Gazing out on the windswept tundra of free-to-air TV and as people stay away from it in droves, it is a hard push to find an argument for devoted viewership. Meanwhile on the other side of the planet some of the best quality TV ever is being created by the likes of HBO and AMC.
Could this not be us we have to ask? The answer is yes it could be us, yet entrenched orthodoxy seems to be still dictating the requirements … more cooking shows anyone?
These death throes of sane TV programming got me thinking. I am fairly certain that my cultural and political awareness was formed in the Pacific Film Unit’s tearooms. I would like to think with taste and good judgment too. The 1970s invited an excuse to fight, we tilted at windmills and believed our opinions and self-aggrandizing would make a difference. Someone came up with the quaint notion of doing all the thinking before the camera came out of the box - this dictum kept things pretty much on track for a few decades. Ridiculous hours and unrealistic schedules didn’t matter, the money was not all that regular but there always seemed to be enough.
With our TV programme making there wasn’t a sense of ‘what does the broadcaster want’ but a sense of ‘what can we offer’ – preferably something that would invoke thought and debate? The film and TV business fitted nicely into the grand plan, with the desire of building something solid and everlasting. A voice of the people-type ideal with community shows like Top Town and Country Calendar ruling the ratings. Little did we realize that the neoliberals were out the back filling the ‘Kool-Aid’ vats with their toxin – we were fiercely ambitious and hopeful and everything seemed possible until the late 1980s crashed and burned.
