All Stories FeedNew cop drama for Nine
TV Tonight hears Nine’s next drama in pre-production is a new police show.
Titled Cops. L.A.C. (Local Area Command) the Sydney based drama will return to a traditional local police station.
With 3 uniformed cops and 3 plain-clothed cops it will comprise part of Nine’s 2010 slate.
Nine Programmer Michael Healy recently told TV Tonight, “We’re working on another Australian drama which is in pre-production at the moment and shaping up really well.”
Nine will officially unveil its 2010 programming in early December.
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When is CSI: Blair Athol due out?
cop and cooking shows thats all we get in the land called oz
Sounds a lot like Blue Heelers, doesn’t it?
Like the serial killer in the outback idea and I wouldn’t mind a drama about airlines but that too has already been done by Seven with Skyways.
How bout a serial killer in the outback who targets tourists. That’d be an international hit. LOL. Come on any idea is better than the same old same old. Can you imagine the pitch….Ok there’s these 3 uniformed cops and 3 plain-clothed cops, and they work at a Sydney police station…. Wow = Sold.
We have a navy series, why not an army drama series? Border Security does well, why not a drama about airlines. Heaps of drama happens at airports and on planes… Ok i’m gonna get started writing a script for that show. Hands off people.
Total cop show fatigue here. Forget it.
Nine: Must. Try. Harder.
I think Philm said it best – the perfect title is “Cops W.T.F.”
The name sucks. I hope that’s rethought before it gets on-air. They’re just asking for headlines: “Cops L.A.C.K.S originality”, “Cops L.A.C.K.S viewers”…
Good ideas outside of cop and medical shows don’t cost money. The argument “Australia does not have the budgets of the US” is a cop out .
Shows like Medium, Gossip Girl, Ghost Whisperer, Ugly Betty, Lie to Me, Monk, Pysch, Dexter, Royal Pains, Vampire Diaries, Desperate Housewives etc don’t cost any more than a US cop or medical show. They are all studio based scripted dramas with little to no special effects or lavish post production. Those shows cost no more than US cop or medical shows. All US shows have budgets 3 to 4 times larger than Australian shows. That goes for reality, game shows and dramas. But casting aside Desperate Housewives, Ugly Betty or Medium costs no more to make than Law & Order, Mercy or ER.
Original ideas don’t cost money. The problem is Australian networks and producers are scared to develop ideas outside the cop / medical areas. We have become so bound by our own cliche of a drama, that no one can be bold or daring enough to think outside of those two genres. Why not an Australian “Medium”? Why not an Australian “Dexter”? Why not an Australian “Ugly Betty”?
Another cop show, geez that is all that seems to be on tv these days.
Nooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo !
One word – Yawn. God forbid they come up with something different. I predict a Bomb, with a captial B. Remember The Strip? An absolute shocker. Australian drama is packed to the gills with cop dramas, viewers are starting to suffer from cops overkill. Nine need to think outside the square and do something different. They had great success with McLeod’s Daughters, so I’m surprised they’ve gone down the well worn cops path. I’m very surprised that they haven’t gone for a faux Packet to the Rafters, actually. I felt sure they would schedule a PTTR rip-off.
I gave up on Australian dramas a long time ago there is no originality especially compared to the US who says you need a massive budget to make an original show that hasn’t been doen before just look at alot of US cable programs, Australian writers really need to think outside the box.
I agree with Russell.
Cops, cops, cops!
Soap, soap soap!
God help us!
When Swift and Shift Couriers finally returns this comedy will seem like gold!
Could we all just give the show ago for starters L.A.C might not be the final name it could just be the working title like blue heelers working title was boys in blue. I think given our great talent in Australia they could make this work but only if it is given a country feeling like blue heelers a more family based cop show maybe given the return to a traditional local police station we may have another Maggie doyle on our hands how awesome would that be. In saying that we dont want anothe high octane drama that kids under 12 cant understand let alone watch. I can remember Blue Heelers and how it brings back memorys of my early teens it was the show everyone watched we need that again!!
Good to see new local dramas popping up, but not good to see them practically all cop shows.
I wish in Aus we had shows like Drop Dead Diva (although it’s legal it’s bloody hilarious), or something in the style of Sex and the City, hell, just anything that isn’t a crappy soap or bloody cop show. I can stand Rush because it isn’t all “whodunnit” and Rescue I tried out but it just didn’t click with me.
So basically, here’s a message to each of the commercial networks:
Seven: Stop making bloody factuals.
Nine: More originality please.
TEN: More than two local dramas please? Especially considering Neighbours is on its last legs, it’s ratings are just abysmal now. Of course, money’s made from it being onsold to the UK and other countries.
Dumb question but when when did the commercial networks last do a half hour sitcom in this country? Maybe it’s time to move from the one hour dramas to something shorter?
Why dont they bring back that Young doctors remake they were going to earlier…..it would so really well now australia is medical drama less….How is this different to Rescue special opps and rush..IDiots…just looking for another bomb!
Police, medical and legal will always form the backbone of issue-based drama television -unless its soap. The US is still picking up far more cop shows than Aus, simply by virtue of its numbers. But it has the budgets to produce other genres which is a big ask for Aus. That said, we are smothered by dramas in uniforms lately and I detect a lot of viewers were too fatigued to even sample Rescue. Nine really needs its own Rafters -but I have written about the need for family-based dramas before. In the end it all comes down to execution. Could this be another Wildside or another Heelers? A family within a cop show? The father figure cop a la John Wood? Will the first scene see a young cop graduating while her sceptical traditional-values senior sgt dad looks on? Kate Ritchie would have to be a front runner given she is ending radio….
For crying out loud – why can’t Australia actually take a stab at something new for once in awhile? The first drama that wasn’t police/rescue related was Packed to the Rafters, and look at how thats turned out – 40 episodes as either the most watched, or one of the most-watched shows of the week!
I’m actually shocked that Nine haven’t gone for a Rafters rip-off…But still, I couldn’t be less interested in this show. I’m sick of seeing bloody Australian cops. Seriously.
Well that will get advertisers excited I’m sure. Imagine the briefing – more of the same derivative, formulaic and moronic programming we’ve had this year and TG will fit in perfectly because it’s only 10 years old. Is there an original idea anywhere on this Network? We all know Underbelly was a complete accident.
This is great news but I hope all the storylines are given that country and local feel. Not like all these other shows such as Rush, Rescue Special Ops and City Homicide.
Give us something like Blue Heelers pre-2004
These comments remind me of the Masterchef article. Everyone was quick to condemn it as “just another cooking show” and look how that turned out.
This has to be the most ill conceived name ever thought up for a cop show. Outside of NSW, who is going to know what the hell an L.A.C is, or even a Local Area Command? Isn’t that name specific to NSW Police? A little research on the net reveals Queensland and Victoria Police are broken up into regions. Nine have alienated the majority of their audience (everyone outside NSW) just with the title. I think you’ll find they’ll have to come up with a different title before this thing goes to air. Perhaps Cops: DOA would be more appropriate.
Ah, Ch 9 the copy cat station !!
We already have 2 decent Aussie cop shows from 10 & 7 and 9 has another Underbelly series coming next year. …. so I reiterate what the others have already said and that’s ‘Why’ ?? do another cop show.
Have all our Aussie talented writers gone overseas ???
I think if they make this Drama something like Blue Heelers It would be great we need a just a everyday cop drama not a over the top squad! Also with Kate Ritchie wanting a return to drama I wonder will we be seeing her on L.A.C next year?
Good to see we get an explanation for that unnecessary acronym… They could have called it JACS [Just Another Cop Show]
terrible. anything but a cop drama.
even a medical drama? especially now that AS is gone, we don’t have any medicos.
i will pass on a cop drama. they didn’t learn anything from R:SO even the name is similar.
incase people didn’t know, 7 is also going to have a new drama in 2010, tim said so on a mediaweek podcast.
Good one Russel. Nearly all the series toy named we should produce cost upwards of US1.5mil furthermore most are not netwrok series with even the US versions tanking on FTA. Hey Dexter is my fav show by a long way but thanks to the IQ of most aussies watching commerical TV, these types of dramas will never be a reality on anything other than Foxtel however they have around 650K AUS to spend.
They should have gone for something more unique like a prison drama.
“Why do they need the L.A.C.?”
Bad boys bad boys whatchya gonna do, whatchya gonna do when they come for you….Footage of shirtless man getting arrested.
To be fair, it’s an improvement on their original title… The Bill: L.A.C
Ugh, yet another cop show.
Almost as original as my comment.
why do we need a show that has abbreviations in its title. L.A.C … WTF more like. stupid.
If it is well made and has original stories then all fine but seriously there have to be more ideas than just cops. If theyw anted to play it safe they should have gone medical now that there is no Aussie medical drama.
Do we know who’s producing this? At least it’s not another rescue/tactical response type show.
Does Waterloo Station ring a bell?
Another cop show…
A show about the Police! Of course, what a brilliant notion! There’s so much drama and action potential! Why hasn’t anyone thought of this before? Clever, Nine! You may have struck on an untouched goldmine, here.
Maybe you should also think about one set in a Lawyer’s office, or in a Hospital. Oops, hope nobody steals my ideas.
Their last cop drama worked so well didn’t it. The Strip anyone?? And what’s with another stupid name for a show. First Rescue: Crap Name, now Cops: Crap Name.
Why do they need the L.A.C.? It’s like Rescue and then the Special Ops sub-title. I don’t really like the sound of that.
I think this show will be kinda cool, a Sydney version of Blue Heelers. It will probably need some big stars in big roles, in order to get the show up and running.
Another series like that ??
Here we go again .
Can’t believe it .
Not impressed.
Another cop show! Why not try a family drama?
Boring!!!!
Don’t we have enough of these already?
Noo.. Why another cop drama?!
If its a real gritty cop drama like ‘Wildside’ I think it could do wonders for Nine, if it turns out to be mainstream rubbish, like the failed ‘Young Lions’ then it’ll sink pretty fast.
So do we really need another Police Drama?
I mean come on guys, surely there is some more creative people in this country with shows that don’t relate around Police/Rescue or Doctors/Hospitals… oh right they’re over on PayTV with the likes of Tangle and Satisfaction on Showcase.
Another cop show… how original.
Yay – a network finally being original and doing a drama thats about….oh no its a cop show – go figure!
Another police drama? How original……
Why can’t we make anything else?
Awesome! Another cop drama!!! Can’t wait.
Oh god, can Australian networks and writers develop anything other than medical, cop/crime or soapy dramas.
It’s ridiculous. Where are the big ideas?
Dexter Nip/Tuck True Blood Big Love Entourage Fringe Ghost Whisperer Medium Numbers Psych Monk vampire Dairies Supernatural Gossip Girl
C’mon Aussie TV!