Two new local gay shows are scheduled to hit screens next year, although neither production company is able to divulge official information as yet. A source says ten episodes each have reportedly been allocated to Cream TV and Bettina Hollings' Imagination TV, with a first air date planned for April on TVNZ. Long-running incumbent show Queer Nation will not be returning, although TVNZ will not say the show has been canned. The two new shows are part of a laborious process TVNZ engaged in late last year to find a replacement show for Queer Nation, which some felt had become tired. The network asked for proposals, and shortlisted them down to two – one from Cream, and one from Imagination – and asked them to make pilots. Queer Nation's production company, Livingstone Productions, was not asked to submit a pilot. Seemingly unable to choose between Cream's and Imagination's pilots, despite a lengthy consultation period which involved public focus groups where participants were shown the two pilots as well as a recent episode of Queer Nation, TVNZ appear to have split the difference and asked both companies to apply for NZ On Air funding for ten episodes each. Neither company can officially divulge information on the title and contents of their shows as yet. Both Imagination and Cream TV say it will be another six weeks before NZ On Air approval is confirmed and details can be released. NZ On Air is down on the amount of hours of queer (special interest) programming this year, with only 33 new half-hour episodes of Queer Nation being screened, compared to 40 a year for the previous two years. The last episode of Queer Nation goes to air 11 November, well before the historic civil union vote in Parliament, at which time there will be no queer programme on TV.
Credit: GayNZ.com News Staff
First published: Monday, 1st November 2004 - 12:00pm