The cultural cringe is alive and well

The new series Westside is the kind of local drama we need on our televisions.

There is no shortage of media commentary to assist the bewildered - Gavin Ellis on Radio NZ's Nine to Noon; the NZ Herald's gadfly, John Drinnan; a variety of voices on Maori TV.

They all have their strengths, but when I want to know what the real media power players are thinking, I tune in to Guy, Sharyn and Clint on The Edge where I'm likely to hear MediaWorks' boss Mark Weldon sitting in for an hour getting down with the homies and taking calls like this one from Susie, who asked why he hated drama so much and why he loved crap reality TV so much?

"Well," said Weldon, "it's reality, it's sort of real and it's meaningful to these people. It's really dramatic and it's emotional and they care. Drama can be good but you can Torrent it, you can see it on Netflix you can see it on Lightbox. You can see it anywhere."

That's true if you're talking about big-budget international productions such as Overlander and Orange is the New Black.

What you won't find on Lightbox, to take the home-grown example, is much in the way of home-grown drama.

There is The Hothouse from 2007 and Being Eve from 2002. The Australian series Holly's Heroes is listed as a New Zealand drama. To be fair, Lightbox is almost up to date with Nothing Trivial, which was still on free-to-air last year.

But this dearth makes it concerning that the head of a supposedly major free-to-air broadcasting network has no interest in making drama or comedy that tells our stories.

"On free to air," Weldon told ZM listeners, "the future is event-based viewing and stuff that people will talk about, talk on the radio, talk on social."

Actually, people do talk about drama if they see it - they talked about Outrageous Fortune, they talk about Shortland Street, they're going to be talking about the long-ago commissioned Westside, soon to screen on his own network.

Although, that will depend on what hour it screens.

We are faced with a severe shortage of drama and comedy compared to 15-20 years ago when we got to like and understand ourselves by seeing shows that reflected our lives in everything from cop shows to adult dramas and historical dramas.

It looks like the networks can safely abandon local drama and comedy with impunity because the cultural cringe is back. If it's not from overseas, or has an overseas seal of approval, we're not going to rate it.

We go crazy with excitement over a charisma-free English soldier, here to endure one of the most tedious itineraries ever foisted on a visiting royal.

A couple of weeks ago we lost a great Maori leader, Maori Commission head Erima Henare, and a great classical composer, Jack Body. Most TV news bulletins ignored both events, but nearly all devoted extended segments to the demise of the lead singer of Hot Chocolate.

And when it comes to feature films, only mega-colossal special effects productions generate the sort of buzz Weldon is craving.

Funnily enough, we have the technology and expertise to make those, but Sir Peter Jackson has not been involved as either producer or director of a New Zealand-themed film since 1998, 13 movies ago.

Maybe Weldon is right and reality shows are all we need because they reflect our lives and tell our stories.

After all, most of us probably are narcissists of middling talent, obsessed with achieving fame, competitive cooking, superficial relationships and property values.

One of drama's roles is to allow us to vicariously experience lives other than our own, and reality shows certainly provide this for all those people who'll never be able to sing, cook a decent meal or afford a house.