Live tonight: The Punch team will blog here tonight during John Safran’s show. Join us from 9.30pm
I have some blunt advice for some of the people who will be reading this article on The Punch. And it is not the kind of advice you would expect from the ABC’s Director of Television.
My message is this: think carefully before you settle into the couch tonight for the 9.30pm premiere of John Safran’s comedy-documentary Race Relations. If you think you are going to be offended or outraged (or want to be offended or outraged) then don’t tune in.
This ABC program is not for everyone. It was not designed to be. By scheduling the series at 9.30pm and attaching an M warning the ABC is signalling that this is challenging fare. John Safran’s Race Relations contains material that some viewers will disagree with or find distasteful.
As Television Director, it would be a far easier decision for me to walk away from a program like John Safran’s Race Relations, to schedule something less confronting, more mainstream in its appeal. But neither I nor the ABC can afford to hide behind a risk-averse approach to commissioning and programming new material.
Part of the ABC’s role is to provide innovative content for its diverse audiences. Innovation necessarily involves a willingness to take risks, to be inventive and open to fresh ideas. It also means pushing boundaries – boundaries that some, often many, would prefer not to be pushed.
The net result can be content which challenges community sensibilities.
A lot of people forget that the ABC has a long and proud history of edgy comedy programming – stretching right back to Norman Gunston, through Chris Lilley’s We Can Be Heroes and Summer Heights High. All of these programs pushed boundaries, caused people to wince and provoked newspaper headlines. The controversy was not for its own sake, but to pursue serious themes; to make people think.
Imagine what would have happened if the ABC had baulked at the last minute on those programs, shelving the material because of pre-screening controversy. Yes, there is a risk in going first. But it is worth noting that the commercial media, which is quick to accuse the ABC of courting controversy, is very keen to exploit interest in these programs and then to chase the talent with big contracts when they win acceptance and critical acclaim.
The ABC backs John Safran’s Race Relations because it believes its audience is intelligent enough to make up its own mind on the material; to make its own assessment of Safran’s unique personal journey and the way in which he plunges into sensitive areas like cross-cultural, interracial and inter-faith love.
Safran is one of Australia’s leading comic talents and social commentators. He is an award winning program maker who as writer/presenter of John Safran vs. God and John Safran’s Music Jamboree for SBS won a total of four AFI awards for Best Comedy and Innovative program concept.
He was a standout in the first series of Race Around the World on the ABC, where he made his television debut and has a loyal fan base on triple J’s Sunday Night Safran. For a decade now he has been providing unique insights into Australian society and culture. His style is intelligent, irreverent and irascible. He takes on the holy cows of culture and tackles them head on.
To me, the strength of the series and Safran’s work is that the comedy emerges out of his genuine exploration of issues around cultural identity and deeply felt personal experiences where relationships have gone wrong as a result of cultural conflict. While he interviews a variety of people throughout the series, it’s always John himself, in all his confusion, who remains the butt of the joke.
It has been interesting watching some of the on-line chat forums sparked by some of the more predictable tabloid headlines of the past week. Yes, there have been calls for the ABC to yank John Safran’s Race Relations, to sever its links with the comedian. But the more predominant response to the outrage has been “Don’t prejudge the issue” and “Let me make up my own mind”.
I endorse those latter views.
I hope that most of the audience will tune in because they know John’s work and who he is and they know they will be guaranteed an entertaining and thought-provoking program.
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