ABC TV farce - lead up to new Year

[Rorschach]

Having been told who'd compere the ABC TV event, I thought I'd be going to bed early. Pity the ABC had sole rights to the free to air broadcast. Pity they chose the idiots they did to compere. Just the mention of Lawrence Mooney put me off the guy is as funny as a poke in the eye with a sharp stick.
Poor Stephanie Brantz saddled as co-host with him and that other twit ??? they kept crossing to, across the harbour.
I missed the 9pm fireworks but 10 minutes of watching the farce was enough to send me to bed.

Lots of people emailing and calling 2GB this morning complaining about the farce and the political bias they were tossing about... seems the ABC just can't help itself.

Mind you channel 9s past comperes and their mindless blather wasn't all that much better. Apparently though, their coverage of the fireworks themselves was.

[annielaurie]

We were able to watch the Sydney Harbour fireworks on tele here in the San Francisco bay area, they were gorgeous ..

[Rorschach]

Angry viewers have vented their outrage at coverage of New Year's Eve on ABC1

* by: Bruce McDougall
* From: The Daily Telegraph
* 7 hours ago January 02, 2014 1:05AM
* 5 comments

THE ABC's coverage of the New Year's Eve celebrations has been slammed as a "train wreck" amid a barrage of complaints about tasteless jokes, the lampooning of public figures and claims some on the show appeared to be affected by alcohol.

The three-and-a-half hour telecast leading up to the midnight fireworks was littered with references to penises, vomit and offensive comments about Prime Minister Tony Abbott, numerous other Australian politicians, the Pope and even the Duchess of Cambridge.



In a segment reviewing events of 2013 references were made about Mr Abbott having "duck feet" and "cocktail frankfurts" as a photo was displayed of the PM wearing budgie smugglers on the beach.

Julia Gillard, Kevin Rudd, Simon Crean, Wayne Swan and Scott Morrison also came in for treatment during the politically-loaded broadcast from Lord Mayor Clover Moore's New Year's Eve party on the Opera House forecourt.

At one stage in a discussion featuring Chaser stars Chas Licciardello and Andrew Hansen, Channel Nine personality Richard Wilkins was compared to a block of wood.

Compere Stephanie Brantz had to warn her co-host Lawrence Mooney that the show was "moving into inappropriate land" and later indicated she was trying to steer the coverage back on to safer ground.

When Mooney asked Brantz if he was going to get a "cheeky pash" from her at midnight she rebuffed him with a firm "No".

Jeez @ABCTV you could have given us something more entertaining on NYE. Like the test pattern.
— Neil Watt (@neil_watt) December 31, 2013

Roving reporter Kayne Tremills also requested a "pash" from a female reveller and at one stage asked a child in the crowd: "Is your bum tired?"

The insensitive coverage drew a large number of complaints to The Daily Telegraph, to Radio 2GB and online from shocked and outraged viewers.

One viewer said she had watched the "first ever politically biased presentation of our fireworks".

The Twittersphere also lit up with angry comments such as, "If the ABC hosts New Year's Eve again this year it will be the last New Year's Eve I ever see, I think."

Another said: "ABC coverage of Sydney New Year's Eve absolutely diabolical! Bring back channel 9, 7or 10! One song every hour and crap commentary _ just awful."

@JulianWalmsley @choox75 "train wreck"? How about the worst outside broadcast I have watched in my entire life. Did we pay for that crap?
— Kay Innes (@InnesKay) January 1, 2014

@JulianWalmsley @wallrad The biggest problem is that ABC on air 'personalities' actually don't have any.
— Ross Martin (@RossMartin1960) January 1, 2014

One complainant described the show as "just sicko garbage".

"It ruined the night for those who could not make it out to a vantage point.

"Dumb, sexist, political and shallow … like we are all bogons if we want to have fun on this night …"

There was even a joke about drink drivers avoiding police by using backstreets to get home.

A spokeswoman for Radio 2GB said callers to the station's breakfast program "went berserk" and many others rang the overnight program to express their displeasure. Some said they had switched off their TV in disgust.

Liberal Senator Cory Bernardi was not surprised by the broadcast controversy, saying the ABC had long been a "cause of concern".

"I have said before that the ABC appears to be a law unto itself and at some point we've got to start reflecting on the conduct of the national broadcaster," Sen Bernardi said.

The ABC, which had exclusive rights to broadcast the celebrations, said the midnight fireworks achieved a five city metropolitan audience of 1.3 million (53 per cent share) on ABC1.

In Sydney the midnight fireworks drew 666,000 viewers (77 per cent share).

During prime-time last night ABC1 was the number one channel in the combined metro markets with a share of 19 per cent and in Sydney with a share of 26 per cent, the spokeswoman said.

[AiA in Atlanta]

The Sydney fireworks were spectacular as usual. Saw some footage from Dubai ... not sure what was going on ... it looked like the fireworks were shooting out rather than up from a vertical platform of some sort. Looks like another case of Arabs throwing money at something hoping to impress.

[annielaurie]

Yeah Atlanta, in Dubai it looked like they had fireworks shooting out the sides of a skyscraper like waterfalls, over and over again ..

[Neferti]

I loathe fireworks as I think it is a huge waste of taxpayer's money that could be spent on more important things.

Why do you lefties think it is a great idea?

[AiA in Atlanta]

Never thought of fireworks as being a left v right issue ...

[AiA in Atlanta]

Yeah Atlanta, in Dubai it looked like they had fireworks shooting out the sides of a skyscraper like waterfalls, over and over again ..

so it was a skyscraper? it makes sense now ...

[boxy]

Tallest building in the world, wasn't it?

[boxy]

We turned on the ABC just before the midnight fireworks... 5 minutes was enough. It was funny, but definitely not in a good way. Bitter, creepy, drunken rubbish. Stephanie should have just walked out at some stage before that, if the reports are anything to go by. She has too much class for the rest of that lot