A Tale of Two Dramas

I'm back Stateside with several DVD box sets in tow, namely Underbelly and Canal Road.

Underbelly (which is now in its 2nd season) could best be summed up as a somewhat Australian spin on The Sopranos, and it has Sopranos level hype and ratings attached to it. Canal Road on the other hand limped through its first, and was subsequently cancelled.

Although I didn't see much of a commonality between the two (I figure that airing on the same network would pretty much guarantee a high amount of difference), TV Tonight did see some, and I agree for the most part.

Now, let me first state that I enjoy/ed both of these shows immensely, and for different reasons.

Underbelly--in my view--is interesting in spite of the sex and violence, because the sex and violence is a key part of that world. Granted the occasional scene went on for a bit too long, but let's be honest here: gangsters don't have a long life span, so it makes sense for them to live to the extreme. It doesn't distract from the plot wherein the viewer is wondering just when or who is going to buy the farm in a given episode. Even though it's based on real events, the show does a great job at creating suspense with impressive scripts that give an insight into the interior mind of the characters.

Canal Road, on the other hand, creates suspense by using cagey dialogue and editing tricks while still having a good solid foundation in terms of character development. It feels like it is almost ripe, but still not ready, which is why I agree with the TV Tonight article. The cast is good, the plots are good, but the execution ultimately fails both of them, because the show doesn't know what it wants to be (or rather: didn't know what it wanted to become), and A$10 million is a lot to invest in soul-searching.

Who is to blame?

It's hard to say. Television is always a gamble, but the questions that all creators must ask themselves are these: "Is this an authentic moment?" "Is this an authentic character?" The fact remains that audiences will figure out when they're getting titillation without reason.