0/5

Axed: The Strip

Nine says The Strip won't be renewed for a second season.

Nine has ‘axed’ The Strip, at least not renewed it for a second season, depending on how you want to word it…

The $7.8m Gold Coast crime series will not be proceeding when it ends its first series run.

“The 13 part mini-series comes to a conclusion at the end of the month,” a Nine spokesperson said.

“We are disappointed the show didn’t sustain the audience it attracted in its premiere week.

“It’s an unfortunate outcome in this highly competitive environment.”

The drama, starring Aaron Jeffery, Vanessa Gray and Frank Holden premiered to 1.45m viewers but slipped under the 900,000 mark. This week it was moved to 10:30pm where it only took 430,000 viewers.

It is the second new drama to fail for Nine this year with Canal Road failing to fire (or even be completed on air). McLeod’s Daughters also struggled in its final season but will return for summer.

Thankfully, Nine has had better luck with Underbelly and Sea Patrol both proceeding with new series in 2009.

Fans of The Strip will get to see it complete its on-air run.

Source: Herald Sun

50 Responses

  1. Well comparing The Strip to Canal Road, it is clear to see that Canal Road was a better quality drama and more original, not just crime. I still maintain Ch9 stuffed up, by not airing it at 8.30 after Underbelly finished. It is inconsiderate to have not shown the final episodes. I thinki it was a great series, but I had to watch it on DVD! Show it over summer Ch9 at 8.30 and then launch a new season next year. Give it a go….

  2. Probably in the end, the thing that frustrates me is…

    Aussiescan be good actors.
    Aussies can be scritpwriters,directors,editors,photograhers etc…

    Yet we deliver some outstanding tripe that even us folk here (after viewing first one or 2 eps can point out obvious flaws)

    Why do producers,networks miss the obvious ?

    or is it they are in dremaland and have no idea how real viewers look at shows.

  3. I linked CR better than the Strip.

    So since we have 2 more eps can we hope the final 2 CR will air Dec 4 and 11?

    Speaking of seasons, with CH resting for the rest of the year in re-runs and we know they have more eps in the can does this mean when it comes back it will be S3 and not a continued S2? Both S1 and 2 currently have 14 eps, It makes sense if they are saving the new eps for the next season IMO.

  4. Between the Strip and 10’s Rush I was more swayed towards Rush and I have to admit is the first time I’ve ever been excited about a Aussie drama.

    I mean the promos for The Strip were pretty lamo to tell ya like the whole “Some ones’s been a naughty little Vegimite” *shakes head and shudders* with lines like that is there little wonder why I don’t like Aussie drama.

    By the way just how is Rush going it has been picked up for a full/second season? I still like it even though they did that whole thing with Grace which I think was a bit of a bold move to make but I understand why they did it

  5. Awful show. Not as bad as Canal Road, but still awful. Nine gave this show the biggest shot in the world. Brodie said it best with Nine giving it “a free ride in the easiest slot of the week and still no one watched.” What were its competition? Ghost Whisperer, The Amazing Race and Law and Order?? Ironically enough, CI was getting figures of 800,000 before The Stripe came on. Now its getting 1.2 million every week, I guess audiences went to see a show with an actual script and plot. At least City Homicide has something fresh about it, probably the fact that the characters aren’t 1 dimensional cardboard cutouts. Nine should have canned this series from the start and given Underbelly 2 a bigger budget for next year.

  6. Crime / medical / legal are also the staples of US adult drama (soap notwithstanding). They allow for new stories to come in the door every week, with recyclable sets and heroic characters.

    That said, some of our other shows to move outside the square a little are Satisfaction, East of Everything, Love My Way, Rainshadow, SeaChange all of which are soap hybrids.

  7. I’m agreeing with Andy.
    Why can’t Australia come up with ideas like Heroes or Pushing Daisies, something different which has huge promise and fan base. Not a copy, just a standout idea that would be as popular in other countries as well as our own. We buy so many US shows and air in primetime, how about they have the chance to buy ours and air in primetime.

    All we predominantly make is Crime/Hospital Drama. I really enjoy City Homide and Rush, and look forward to return seasons, but how about something completely different.

  8. you know what i’d like to see? a drama series which is not simply the same old rehashed cardboard cut out drama which we always get.

    Where is the innovation in Australian drama – i mean, they have to make a certain amount of it each year, why not try something different -anything different.

    Instead we had yet another cop show…with a group of half a dozen sexy cops, all solving crimes borrowing techniques from all the other cop shows…yawn!

    Give me HBO style drama. they have Six Feet Under, Carnivale, Sex and the City, Sopranos etc….why can’t that diversity exist here? Or any level of diversity!

  9. It’s good to see that Nine even finished the entire series albeit not renewing it for a second one. The Strip doesn’t really have a future here, it will always be compared with the US crime series like CSI and other CSI wannabes for which it will always be seen as an utter crap. I love the Mentalist though; everybody should watch it, I’m not sure why people are sticking with Criminal Minds

  10. Nice how they are calling it a “mini-series” to make it seem not as bad, we all saw this coming but what I want to know is when with we see the final 2 Canal Road eps?

    I forgot about Young Doctors, don’t they have any new ideas, oh wait Canal Road….

  11. It’s a shame. Nine should have nurtured the show a little more. Given it repeat screenings a few times a week to expose it more. Offer free episodes online. Up the ad dollars they spent to promote it. Let it run continulously. Given it a better lead in (Getaway gets what – 1 million?)

    With some creative changes and a bigger push for season 2 I think they could grow this show to 1.1 to 1.4 million.

    Now they have to start from scratch with a new show. Again.

  12. it really was utter trash, and stupid Bobby Morley certainly wont be popping up on any of 7’s dramas anytime soon after his remarks about his time on Home and Away…

  13. Nine can’t blame the viewers, they should really be blaming themselves because they are the ones who kept stuffing around with the show putting it here, there and everywhere. Why do they think that the show had little viewers? Either that or the show was crap. I never watched it anyway.

  14. Here’s an idea – how about drama that isn’t so dramatic. Maybe a little bit of irreverence and humour, or quirkiness, to sustain some uniqueness to the concept. There’s only so many glowering, crying, and shouting characters I can take before it gets overwrought and embarrassing.

  15. A sad day for the cast and crew who will not be returning to the Gold Coast next year. At least it was given a full run despite moving to 10:30pm.

    Underbelly and Sea Patrol will not be enough for Nine next year. They have Young Doctors which will probably start production in 2009 but they need a proper replacement for McLeod’s Daughters. Perhaps they should bring it back with a ninth season. One can only hope even though it will not happen. Another crime drama would only work if it was of great quality.

    The Strip was ok and so was Canal Road. They were not shows to go all crazy about but at least they were given a go. The Strip had some familiar faces and nice scenery but the storylines were not as strong as Rush or Underbelly.

  16. Miniseries these days is defined more from funding definitions than episode numbers. Remarkably Sea Patrol is also a miniseries.

    To qualify for miniseries funding these drama have had to include an ongoing story thread. Hence in Sea Patrol 1 we had a loose arc with Sibylla Budd, and in SP2 there was a coup on the Samaru Islands.

    Canal Road had a thread for Paul Leyden’s character.

    Producers are merely maximising opportunities within the guidelines of funding bodies as a way to help finance projects.

  17. Well we all saw that coming.

    Haha “highly competitive environment”. Rush has a highly competitive timeslot, The Strip was given a free ride in the easiest slot of the week and still no one watched.

  18. “It’s an unfortunate outcome in this highly competitive environment.”

    ahh yes blame the competition, disregard the fact that it was total rubbish.

    sea patrol and underbelly just go to show that 9 can only do drama if it has a 8 figure budget attached to it.

    ps. does 13 eps still count as a miniseries?, i thought miniseries were less than 6 eps maybe 8 in SHH case

  19. Gee whiz, methinks virtually all folk that posted on this site tipped this months ago.

    Nine and drama equates death sentence or guarantee you will get lousy promotion, timeslots galore and viewers wishing Nine would find consistentcy.

Leave a Reply