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Always Greener was an Australian television drama/comedy series that aired on the Seven Network which followed the fortunes of two families, one from the city and the other from the country, when they decide to switch homes and start a new direction in life for themselves. It ran from 2001 until 2003, when it was cancelled after declining ratings and concerns over the cost of production.
| Always Greener | |
|---|---|
 | |
| Genre | Drama |
| Created by | Bevan Lee |
| Written by | |
| Starring | |
| Country of origin | Australia |
| Original language | English |
| No. of seasons | 2 |
| No. of episodes | 50 (list of episodes) |
| Production | |
| Executive producer | John Holmes |
| Producer | Jo Porter |
| Production location | New South Wales |
| Running time |
|
| Production company | Southern Star Group |
| Original release | |
| Network | Seven Network |
| Release | 9 September 2001 – 8 June 2003 |
| Related | |
| Packed to the Rafters | |
The name of the show stems from the phrase "The grass is always greener on the other side". Promotion of the show's premiere episode used the Travis song "Side", which features the phrase as part of the chorus. The show was broadcast overseas in New Zealand on TV ONE. In 2006 reruns started airing on TV2. The series has since been released on DVD.
The Southern Star Group owns the rights to distribute Always Greener internationally.[1]
The series mainly revolved around the members of two families, the Taylors, who live in suburban Sydney, and the Todd family who live on a farm just outside the rural New South Wales town of Inverness. Each faced with problems of their own, John Taylor pays his sister Sandra Todd a Christmas visit to her farm. Joking that they should consider switching houses for a change in their life, the move becomes a reality when John discovers that his daughter Marissa is on drugs and Sandra can't pay the bills. Always Greener was noted for both dealing with serious issues as well as putting an often humorous touch to episodes. Fantasy sequences (such as a song and dance number when John mulls over having a vasectomy) were common and often added to the charm of the series.
The Taylor family
- John Howard – John Taylor
- Anne Tenney – Liz Taylor
- Michala Banas – Marissa Taylor
- Daniel Steven Bowden – Jason Taylor
- Natasha Lee – Kimberley Taylor
The Todd family
- Caitlin McDougall – Sandra Todd
- Bree Walters – Pip Todd
- Abe Forsythe – Campbell Todd
Other main characters
- Scott Major – Tom Morgan
- Andrew Clarke – Derek Unn
- Merridy Eastman – Eileen Unn
- Denise Roberts – Isabelle Turnbull
- Georgie Shew – Katy Turnbull
- Peter Corbett – Bert Adams
- Bree Desborough – Shelley Southall
- Clayton Watson – Mickey Steele
- Grant Bowler – Greg Steele (Episodes 1–27)
- Nathaniel Dean – Craig 'Patch' Porter (Episodes 9–50)
- Steven Rooke – Nick Greenhill (Episodes 16–50)
Guests
- Annie Byron as Lolly Hopkins (3 episodes)
- Betty Lucas as Florence Holiday (5 episodes)
- Bruce Spence as Rev Millburn (3 episodes)
- Carmen Duncan as Antonia Jones (1 episode)
- Eddie McGill as Eddie McGill (4 episodes)
- Felicity Price as Anne Clark (4 episodes)
- James Smillie as Frank (1 episode)
- Michael Craig
- Tim Campbell as Joe Farnell (3 episodes)
| Season | Episodes | Originally aired | Viewers (in millions) | Rank | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Season premiere | Season finale | |||||
| 1 | 22 | 9 September 2001 | 3 June 2002 | 1.738[2] | #2[2] | |
| 2 | 28 | 8 September 2002 | 8 June 2003 | 1.150[2] | #8[2] | |
Clayton Watson won the Australian Film Institute's award for "Best Actor in a Supporting or Guest Role in a Television Drama" for his work on Always Greener in 2002. The show was also nominated for an International Emmy Award in 2002 and Always Greener and its cast have been nominated for several Logies during its run.[3]
Logie Awards
- 2003 Nominee: Most Outstanding Drama Series
- 2003 Nominee: Most Outstanding Actor in a Drama Series (John Howard)
- 2002 Nominee: Most Outstanding Drama Series
- 2002 Nominee: Most Popular New Female Talent (Michala Banas)
ASSG Australian Screen Sound Awards
- 2003 Nominee: Best Achievement in Sound for a Television Drama ("Episode 50")
APRA-AGSC Screen Music Awards
Australian Film Institute Television Awards[5]
- 2002 Winner: Best Actor in a Supporting or Guest Role in a Television Drama (Clayton Watson)
International Emmy Awards
- 2002 Nominee: Always Greener Series 1 – Episodes 1 & 3
Australian Writers' Guild Awards
- 2002 Nominee: Television (Series): "The Good Woman's Guide To A Happy Home" (Sue Hore)
On 6 July 2003, Seven's Director of Programming and Production, Tim Worner announced the renewal of Always Greener saying: "Always Greener is an important program for Seven. We see it as a key franchise for us, a program we believe will continue to build in its third season." Then in September, the decision was reversed. News was broken to cast and crew as the first script meetings for the new series were already being held.
Rumours were that the cancellation was due to falling ratings. The show began with over 2 million viewers in 2001, but ratings never recovered from the disastrous decision to début the second season in the low rating Easter period of 2002 – Against stronger competition in both '60 Minutes' and 'Big Brother'. In 2002 the show moved from Sunday to Monday and then back to Sunday by 2003. Always Greener was rating around 1.0 million when cancelled. However, Seven cited "cost management" as the reason for dropping the series.
At the time, Worner was reported as saying that the decision was purely based on cost, because the 22 episodes were to cost $10 million, and he said that was far too much.
In late 2005 Seven aired reruns of the show in the early morning 9:30am timeslot and again in Seven's popular reruns timeslot at 12:00pm. Presently it airs sporadically on Universal Channel.
The first season of Always Greener have been released on DVD in Region 4 (Australia) format. The DVDs are distributed by Madman Entertainment under the label of VIA Vision Entertainment. A photo gallery is included in Season 1 (Vol. 2) and Season 1 (Complete).
| Always Greener Australian DVD Release | |||||
| DVD Name | Release Date | Episodes | Rating | Discs | Runtime |
| Season 1 (Volume 1) | 7 March 2007[6][7] | Episodes 1–11 | M | 3 | 472 minutes |
| Season 1 (Volume 2) | 7 March 2007[8][9] | Episodes 12–22 | M | 3 | 484 minutes |
| Season 1 (Complete) | 10 October 2007[10][11] | Episodes 1–22 | M | 6 | 956 minutes |
| Season 2 (Volume 1) | Unreleased[12] | Episodes 23–36 | M | 3 | TBA |
| Season 2 (Volume 2) | Unreleased[13] | Episodes 37–50 | M | 3 | TBA |
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