UK TV producer Nigel Lythgoe, who created So You Think You Can Dance, says it’s time to move on from reality television, and Australia is leading the world in creating exciting new comedy.
Lythgoe, who also produced British show Popstars and helped develop American Idol with Simon Fuller, said he hoped the next big television show was something new and original.
“In truth I’m not sure what the next big thing is (but) I personally want to move away from (reality TV) and look at other areas,” he said.
“I think Australia is leading the way at the moment with comedy.
“Sadly there’s no other country around that’s opening up the barriers of comedy like Australia’s doing.”
Lythgoe gave special mention to Chris Lilley’s show Summer Heights High, which will air in the US later this year.
“It’s fantastic, that lad’s great,” he said.
“From that point of view we need more comedy coming up.”
“We looked at So You Think You’re Funny, and that just looked like Last Comic Standing, so I personally would like to move away from that.”
Speaking at the National Radio Conference on the Gold Coast, Lythgoe said reality television was partly responsible for creating disposable celebrities who have no real talent, such as Paris Hilton.
He said another disturbing trend was the turning of characters like Australian convicted gangland killer Carl Williams into celebrities.
Williams has fan sites dedicated to him selling $30 T-shirts which read, I roll with Carl, beside an image of a gun.
“Australia has for a number of years celebrated its criminal fraternity Ned Kelly, Chopper Read – however, what is happening now is quite reprehensible,” Lythgoe said.
“Carl Williams has become a marketable product, a brand, even a cult.
“There is no doubt that Williams celebrity has been driven by the popularity of Underbelly the TV series (but) it must be remembered he is not a fictional character.
“This man is sentenced to 35 years in jail for four murders and who over the years has manufactured and supplied much of Melbourne’s illegal drugs.”
“The branding that has occurred with this criminal is no different from that of a reality television celebrity.”
While he expressed a longing for the days when real stars were people with talent who were supported and protected by the entertainment industry, Lythgoe has a soft spot for one Aussie reality TV celeb, former Popstars contestant and Bardot babe Sophie Monk.
The two were photographed together recently by paparazzi in Los Angeles, prompting rumours they were dating.
“It’s the old thing of whoever you’re photographed with you’re having an affair with them, so I’m going to be hanging around Sophie Monk more and more if supposed to be having an affair with her,” he said.
“I’ll have her baby, for god’s sake.
“Why she would want to go out with her grandfather I’ve got no idea.”
