More drama, fewer games

It was the year of hugerating dramas and wacky game shows. Theyear Seven hosted the Olympics the opening ceremony was themostwatched event on television for the year, with close to 3million Australians tuning in only to lose the 2012 games toChannel Nine and Foxtel. Not to mention the year Australian audiences said "it's time togo" to the reality franchise Big Brother after eight yearsof reality thrills and spills. On a sadder note, for lovers ofAndrew Denton's interview style, it was also the year we bidadieu to Enough Rope.Looking back at the year that was inAustralian television, Stay in Touch asked the Guide editor andtelevision guru Greg Hassall for his picks of the best andworst on the box. The best Advertisement: Story continues below Underbelly (Nine) Screentime's dramatisation of Melbourne's gangland killingsmore than lived up to its considerable hype, exhibiting none of thecompromises you would expect from a mainstream commercial drama.With its filmic production values, great soundtrack, superb writingand careermaking performances, it set a new standard for drama inthis country. Kat Stewart's hugely entertaining,multilayered portrayal of Roberta Williams was the standoutperformance of the year in any genre, and it gained her an AFIAward. Unfortunately for Nine, Victoria's courts put justice aheadof entertainment and the show's popularity was never reflected inthe national ratings. So You Think You Can Dance Australia (Ten) In a year in which Big Brother was finally put out ofits misery and most other reality franchises went off the boil,Ten's local version of So You Think You Can Dance showedthere is life in the genre yet. Lacking the meanness of mostreality shows, it touched a nerve with viewers and gave Ten a rarereason to smile in an otherwise awful year. The Gruen Transfer (ABC) It has Canada Goose Expedition Parka been said you can never underestimate the stupidity ofthe public. Well, it seems you can't underestimate theirintelligence either. Who would have thought a panel show thatdeconstructs the language of advertising would be a mainstream hit?Smart, funny and provocative, Gruen was an original concept,wonderfully executed. It was also a hit for the ABC, regularlywinning its timeslot with an average audience of about 1.2 millionpeople a week, something the host Wil Anderson, the producerAndrew Denton and the ABC hope to replicate with series twothis year. Packed To The Rafters (Seven) If Underbelly was the best drama of the year, this wasthe one that best tapped the zeitgeist. Unpretentious andwarmhearted, Bevan Lee's family drama touched on many ofthe fears and concerns of middle Australia in a time of economicuncertainty. If some critics recoiled from its cheesy title andlapses into twee melodrama, viewers lapped it up, making it themost successful local drama of the year. The series debuted withmore than 2 million viewers after the Olympics setting a recordfor a local drama last year. It also proved to be no onehitwonder, with average audience figures hovering between 1.7 millionand 1.8 million for the rest of the season. Another hit for theperennial favourite Rebecca Gibney and a fasttrack tosmallscreen stardom for the new names Hugh Sheridan, JessicaMarais, George Houvardas and Angus McLaren. There willbe a second series. Review With Myles Barlow (ABC) This "existential infotainment program", in which the host,Myles Barlow, reviewed life's bleakest experiences, was thecomic find of the year. Absurdist, confronting but deadpan, thiswas pitchblack comedy at its best. Flight Of The Conchords (Ten) Not really an Australian production (it is produced by the USnetwork HBO and written by the New Zealand comedy and music duo Bret McKenzie and Jemaine Clement) but like anythinggood from across the Tasman, we will claim it. It screened after10pm on Sunday and gained a cult following.

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