This is due to start next week, so I thought I'd make a thread, albeit in nervous anticipation as a result of this...

Lawyers may scratch Underbelly
Steve Butcher
February 8, 2008

The graphic television dramatisation of Melbourne's underworld war that Channel Nine hopes will resurrect its rating slump faces a possible ban in Victoria after a courtroom stand-off between a Supreme Court judge and lawyers for the station.

Due to start next week, Underbelly is under threat after Justice Betty King ordered Nine to provide copies of the 13-part blockbuster to lawyers acting in a forthcoming murder trial. She had warned lawyers for Nine, which opposed releasing the series, that she had, but was reluctant to use, the power to prohibit the airing of it in Victoria.

"This is the last thing I want to do," she told Brendan Murphy, QC, for Nine. But she said she was prepared to act to ensure the accused man got a fair trial and that it was not delayed.

After being accused of not co-operating during the hearing - called by the Office of Public Prosecutions over concerns how Underbelly would depict the shooting of a prominent victim of the war - Nine backed down yesterday and offered to provide episodes one and two to the prosecution and defence teams.

Mr Murphy said those episodes had been edited by Nine for Victorian viewers, but episodes three to 13 were still undergoing extensive editing.

Geoffrey Horgan, SC, said the Director of Public Prosecutions, Jeremy Rapke, QC, was reluctant to prevent Underbelly's showing delaying it or ensuing public debate, but he could not assess his position until the series was seen by his office. Mr Horgan, an experienced gangland trial prosecutor, told Justice King he had seen parts of episodes one, three and five and described Underbelly as a graphic and powerful drama.

"I would be astonished if viewers weren't strongly attracted to it," he said, which included potential jurors.

Justice King said one of the problems she had with the series was that it was a dramatisation based on real events with fictional conversations which would give the trial jury an inaccurate background that might fill in the gaps the prosecution might otherwise be unable to do.

Nine has planned its entire year around the series and anything which blocked it airing would have a huge impact on the network's success, said Harold Mitchell, the executive chairman of the Mitchell Communication Group. He said Underbelly had been widely and expensively, promoted by the network.

The case resumes on Monday...

http://www.smh.com.au/news/tv--radio/lawyers-may-scratch-underbelly/2008/02/08/1202234077137.html

I read they are betting on how many millions will tune in! They are expecting over two million or something, which is very impressive! So I bet Nine are doing EVERYTHING they can to make sure it airs. You'd think they would have explored the whole legal thing before investing $15 million into making the show?

Yeah apparently betting has opened and they are expecting something like 2.5 - 2.6 million viewers. This was a publication by ninemsn though and they are clearly blowing smoke up their own a**. I think that is a little optimistic considering its lead in......The Chopping Block. I do think it could get between 1.7 and 2 mill for the first ep, I will switch and see what it's like.

I'm rather looking forward to it.  All the hype better be worth it, or I'll be picketting 9.  

Won't watch it, not interested. Gangsters in Australia do not appeal to me. The Underworld in Australia does not fascinate me. Not on my ‘must see list’.

I'll be watching to see our gangsters make the US gangsters look like little girls Agree with Morgan though about the media spin..wouldn't surprise me if it were all engineered. Recent news suggests Underbelly will be aired in Victoria

Apparently channel nine thought the launch of this show deserved airtime in their National News   Ive heard of cross promotion but that is just tacky.

I hope it lives up to the hype as well, I am looking forward to this show , I assume that its only has about 6 to 8 eps , does anyone know ?

Just read that it has been banned from airing in Victoria until after somebody's trial!!!

Channel 9 will be shattered.

Nah I doubt that's real, apparently there was speculation that might happen but channel nine have been blowing up to be bigger than it actually is. I think there are about 13 episodes, butI might be mixing that up with the $13 million price tag

TV's graphic new Underbelly sparks outrage

IT has a violent bashing, a sex scene, liberal use of the "F" word and a graphic shooting in cold blood - and that's the first 20 minutes.

Family groups are screaming blue murder about the new Channel 9 crime drama Underbelly.
It is set to premiere at 8.30pm tomorrow, well within reach of children.

The Nine Network set its own classification for the program - which is based on Melbourne's gangland war spanning 1995 to 2004 - under the accepted rules of the Australian Commercial Television Code of Conduct.

The Australian Family Association (AFA) yesterday threatened to take the matter to Communications Minister Stephen Conroy if the content of the show was anything near that of an unauthorised promotional clip leaked from Nine's production department.

The rogue video clip, circulated via a viral email, contains sensationalised footage of graphic violence, near-pornographic sex scenes including topless shots of women and men's buttocks, and a tag line of "Bang, Bang, You're F. . . . d".

Nine's chief classifying officer Richard Lyle denied the clip was a publicity stunt. He said he was "annoyed" the footage had been leaked because while all of the scenes in the clip belonged to the show, not all of them made the final cut.

He defended his decision to give the series an M rating, allowing screening at 8.30pm. "It's when the family viewing hour is ending," he said.

"Some episodes of CSI aren't fit for teenagers and that program is in the same time slot. We will screen all the consumer warnings to guide parents before the program about frequent use of course language and strong violence and sex scenes."

AFA's Angela Conway described the classification as contemptuous.

"The programmers are showing contempt for children and their parents," she said. "There will be a lot of teenagers still hanging around when the program starts and Nine is only making parents' jobs harder.

Nine is hoping the series is a ratings winner - not a flop, like its revered Sunday program, which scored its worst audience in 26 years at the weekend after being moved to a 7.30am start.

The result took the gloss off embattled Nine's win in the first official ratings night of the year.

The Australia/India one-day cricket match, running from 6.30pm-10pm in prime time with a 1.51 million audience, propelled Nine to a win over Ten and third placed Seven - although all networks had solid audiences.

Family groups screaming blue murder

http://www.news.com.au/story/0,23599,23199886-2,00.html?from=public_rss

Quoted from @1

I hope it lives up to the hype as well, I am looking forward to this show , I assume that its only has about 6 to 8 eps , does anyone know ?

It actually has 13 one hour episodes - banning the show in Victoria will not work - people will get hold of DVD/tape copy of it somehow or they will just download it from the Internet. Channel 9 must have known the show may been banned with the underworld trials still going on and with the Tony Mokbel trials still to come. However I fail see how a show like this can influence a member of a jury - members of a jury base their decisions on the evidence/facts presented to them in the trial. They have probably heard all the scenarios and stories presented in Underbelly through the news media anyway.

just to give a source about it being banned from VIC:

CONTROVERSIAL crime drama Underbelly has been banned from airing in Victoria until after the trial of a man accused of murdering a gangland figure.

source: http://www.news.com.au/entertainment/story/0,26278,23200416-10388,00.html

also, according to that article it's 13 eps.