At a sold-out session at the Sorrento Writers Festival in late April, ABC chair Kim Williams concisely and convincingly outlined his priorities for the “network of networks” he heads.

“How can there be a future in timidity?” he said. “There’s no future in bland.” Questioned further at the festival by ABC icon Kerry O’Brien, Williams observed that “an agency under never-ending ferocious attack” can become defensive and inclined to “self-censorship”. He also noted, in relation to ABC TV, that there’s “massive work to be done in documentary and also in drama and comedy”.

This conversation between Williams and O’Brien was part of a broader discussion about the future of the ABC between the pair that began at last year’s Byron Writers Festival. It was there that Williams, who is not one to mince words, noted that funding cuts had made the organisation “more timid”. The ABC is reliant on government funding for most of its money and political displeasure can have a significant impact.

But these remarks will come as some small comfort to viewers who, for years, have watched those key departments of drama and comedy shrink to depressing lows. Locally produced documentaries have virtually vanished; drama is sporadic and too often uninspiring; and, while the comedies can be a shining asset, there’s not nearly enough of the good stuff.

Loading

Referring to the ABC’s audio output, Williams declared at Sorrento, “We need to constantly be thinking, ‘How do we make this service distinctive?’” In that light, it’s instructive to consider a couple of recent TV premieres, both adapted from UK formats and sitting squarely in the light-entertainment realm.

The more successful of the pair, The Piano (Sundays, 7.30pm and iview), hosted by a well-cast, warm and slightly too effusive Amanda Keller, invites amateur musicians to perform on publicly placed pianos. Unbeknownst to them, their performances are assessed by judges Harry Connick Jr and Andrea Lam. Each episode, a winner is selected, and a recital is planned to conclude the six-part series. Amid the broad range of performers, touching backstories are revealed. One of those uplifting, hard-to-resist productions that tug knowingly and hard at the heartstrings, it celebrates the unifying and transformative power of music.

Less satisfying is Claire Hooper’s House of Games (weeknights, 6.30 and iview), an uncomfortably static, studio-based game show in which the host and the players try hard to look like they’re having fun. The strain shows and the series would fit comfortably into what O’Brien observed had been “the creep of mediocrity” at the ABC.