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Airdate: Emerald Falls

What do you do when you have a brand new, locally produced Aussie telemovie and you are Network TEN?

Offload it in the Easter non-ratings.

In an extraordinary move, TEN has scheduled its World Premiere telemovie Emerald Falls to screen at 8:30pm on Good Friday.

With a star-line up of Georgie Parker, Vince Colosimo and Catherine McClements this has to be one of the more bizarre programming moves of the year.

Why not screen it after the bumper Sunday night lead in from SYTYCD? Instead TEN will have this following Simpsons repeats. Seriously….

Having spent all the money on producing the film it defies belief that TEN are giving this a World Premiere in non-ratings on a Public Holiday, when fewer viewers are following normal routines. TEN won’t get the same advertising revenue it could attract in a more profile slot. In Victoria it will also compete with Seven’s Royal Children’s Hospital Appeal, normally given to a variety concert in the evening.

Last year the top rating show on Good Friday was Seven News at 1,342,000 viewers.

So is the film a dud? The story is set in the Blue Mountains and centres around Parker’s character running a B&B.

The only consideration for TEN that isn’t affected by the timeslot is that it still enjoys the same local drama points, as a prime time first run film in or out of ratings.

So what do you think? Will you be putting aside your Good Friday to watch a World Premiere movie, or do you have better ways to spend your holiday?

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10 Responses

  1. The movie was filmed around Blackheath (that long dusty road looks suspiciosuly similar to the dirt road along Shipley’s Plateau) and the house/B&B shots were filmed at a property in Hornsby(!). It’s a shame they didn’t scout around more as the Blue Mountains has many gorgeous old properties that would have been just perfect. It’s real David Lynch country. The movie was enjoyable but could have been a touch darker, and relied less on the wits of a 15-year-old and more on the ensemble adult cast…but it certainly was better than the usual fare served up by the commercial stations.

  2. I watched this movie partly tonight & found it quite good. I was impressed with the scenery in the film & am interested to find out whereabouts exactley it was filmed in the Blue Mountains….can anyone help with this question?

  3. Well I’ve actually seen “Emerald Falls” and I really liked it. The lad who plays the son, Zac, is a find, and all the others are good or very good, although I don’t know why Australia’s best-kept-secret sex symbol, Vince Colosimo, had to be so shabbily dressed and ill-groomed.

    The editing is particularly snappy, as is the script. Cinematography excellent, making great use of the breathtaking Blue Mountains setting. The requisite amount of small-town quirkiness is there too, with dry-as-dust Aussie humour.

    In sum the movie was too good to be wasted on this time-slot, and this is yet another example of the networks burying good Australian product with zero promotion and a dead timeslot.

    Therese Quinlan
    Melbourne
    23/3/08

  4. I am not holding my breath…this one seems to have been a long time in the works. Whether it is a sign that the telemovie is rubbish or ten has no idea about Australian content unless it is reality tv remains to be seen.

  5. Doesn’t matter if its crap or not, its a once off telemovie, people will tune into it if placed in a high profile slot!

    TEN must be kidding themselves….Its quite clear the programmers really do have no brains!!

  6. Maybe they’re on to something. Good Friday is the biggest day for rentals at the video store I used to work at – maybe they’ve convinced their advertisers to pony up for what will be the only original thing on TV over easter weekend?

  7. Well, one thing comes to mind – its obviously crap and TEN are dumping it !

    No matter how many big names are in a show – if its crap its crap!

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