Review of 800 Words

Firstly, in my review of the film of godspell, I asserted that I had watched it on channel 5 and stated that the only good content on commercial TV is material not actually made by them. I should have added that only applies to commercial TV here in the UK. 800 words is an Australian drama made by network seven, a commercially funded channel which also produces the excellent drama a place to call home and the soap home and away. 800 words is the story of a family called Turner , comprising of George, a journalist whose task is to write an 800 word article for a newspaper column each day relating to the days events, hence the title of the drama, His daughter Shay and son Arlo.After losing his wife Laura in a tragic accident, details of which is explained in the course of its progression,(or maybe not quite an accident as you may conclude)George moves with his Arlo and Shay to start a new life in Weld, New Zealand. The family's welcome is not very warm because George had stated in an article that Weld is a dead end, but after George apologises stating that by dead end he meant that it was the end of being dead and gaining a new lease of life. Slowly but surly the townsfolk forgive him paving the way for he and his family to build a very good social relationship with them. Each episode sees the turners involved in a different escapade which involves romance, some misunderstandings, strong disagreements in one episode and the subject of Laura's ashes to name but a few. This is a very good entertaining drama, well executed and directed,and not too heavy. The show is broadcast by the BBC, and although it doesn't produce them, the production values are more or less on an equal footing. Which brings me to assert that commercial TV in Australia (and the USA and Canada for that matter has much higher production values than its counterparts here in the UK.TV Companies like ITV ETC do have good ideas for dramas, its just that they are very poorly executed compared to BBC dramas. So why is commercial TV in Australia so much better than the ones Here? My guess is that over there, a large proportion of the revenue goes on production which is how they produce the above, as well as programmes such as the excellent Prisoner cell block h and Wentworth prison. As far as the commercial TV companies over here are concerned, Whatever they spend their income from advertising on, taking an educated guess, it sure is hell not on any of their productions!