Netflix vs Australian TV: House of Cards, Orange is the New Black push envelope

AUSSIE TV is clogged with reality TV and feel-good drama that ignores the big TV revolution that Netflix is owning.

SAVVY Australians love cutting edge shows, original content and divisive characters.

But Australian television’s reliance on reality TV and feel-good drama ignores the big revolution that Netflix is currently owning.

That is the view of Vivid Ideas curator Jess Scully who believes shows such as Orange is The New Black and House of Cards are the future of TV viewing.

Speaking ahead of the Vivid Ideas Game-Changers series, which kicks off this Saturday with a talk by House of Cards creator Beau Willimon, Ms Scully said the appeal of shows such as this lay in their difference.

Yet she said the major commercial networks have been largely ignoring the Netflix revolution with many believing audiences were not ready for such hard-hitting divisive themes or characters.

“The major appeal of Orange is The New Black for example is that it’s different and distinctive, it doesn’t try and appeal, yet it does,” she told news.com.au.

Ms Scully said while reality TV and soaps held mainstream appeal, she believed the future of TV viewing habits lay in more cutting-edge shows.

In Series Four of Orange is the New Black, Piper Chapman is in trouble

Audiences were no longer content with just happy, squeaky clean programming such as House Husbands and Offspring for example.

Ms Scully said while reality TV no doubt remained popular, it was clear said audiences were beginning to want more and enjoyed being conflicted.

“In OTNB, we either really like or really hate the characters, they’re so divisive,” she said.

The show centres around the lives of inmates incarcerated in the upstate New York Litchfield Correctional Facility.

Written and created by Jenji Kohan, it’s based on Piper Kerman’s memoir Orange Is The New Black — My Year in Women’s Prison.

Vivid Ideas curator Jess Scully said Australians loved the appeal of original cutting-edge content.

Starring Taylor Schilling as Piper Chapman the show doesn’t hold back, with viewers either loving or hating the show star character who isn’t afraid to drop a friend if it means saving her own back.

While Ms Scully said there will always be a demand for what the TV networks have to offer, audiences were becoming more niche in their overall viewing choices.

“Shows like this (OTNB) burst out of the box and are not trying to appeal to the average person,” she said.

Kevin Spacey pushes the envelope in House of Cards.

“It puts it out there and lets the viewer decide instead of the network TV executives deciding audiences aren’t ready for this, or won’t like this.”

She added the huge success of House of Cards, which was complex yet compelling, was further proof Australian TV audiences weren’t always getting the credit they deserved.

Ms Scully said it wasn’t just shows on Netflix that hit this high with The Sopranos also driven by difficult, divisive characters.

“The success of Netflix shows we need to back risk, back original thinking and back content makers,” she said.

Ms Scully said it was up to show creators to push the envelope when it came to new ideas.

“The appeal of realty TV for example is people can vote, they can watch it in real time and all talk about it the next day.

Asher Keddie plays Nina Proudman in TV show Offspring, which we love but it’s squeaky clean compared to OTNB.

“Viewers want more nitty gritty, not just nice soaps.”

She added she believed creators and writers such as Willimon and Kohan had hit the right note with viewers who wanted more nitty gritty.

She said both Willimon and Kohan had interesting stories to tell with their complex themes and characters relating to people more than they imagined.

“These industries (writing) are the jobs of our future,” she said.

“We need more people who can write and tell stories just like these guys.”

Willimon, a popular screenwriter and producer remains one of the most highly-acclaimed streaming series on screen and will offer audiences insights into his work as well as explaining the business behind producing quality content.

Beau Willimon is the executive producer of House of Cards, the US political/conspiracy thriller staring Kevin Spacey.

Kohan, who is due to give a talk on June 10, will reveal what goes into her creative approach to storytelling.

The writer and producer will also reveal how she has adapted to new models of television after working on hugely popular shows such as Gilmore Girls and Sex and The City.

THE FUTURE OF TV

Commercial TV relies heavily on reality shows, sport and news which are more advertiser friendly genres.

Reality television shows are also far cheaper to produce than scripted programming and less risky because TV executives view them as an easy win.

Orange is The New Black creator Jenji Kohan spent years performing her craft.

And while there has been an overall drop in TV viewing audiences in 2015, down 10 per cent compared to 2014, it still remains the biggest aggregator of live eyeballs.

While Netflix doesn’t release its subscription numbers it has around a million subscribers, totalling 2.67 million viewers overall, according to Roy Morgan research in January.

Netflix has also broken the mould by persuading Aussie audiences, who unlike their US counterparts, don’t like paying for TV content.

For example, around 30 per cent of Australian households had pay TV in 2015 compared to 88 per cent in the US.

Vivid Ideas’ Game Changer series kicks off this Saturday.