Hungry Beast

Hungry Beast
Format	News & entertainment show
Created by	Andrew Denton Jon Casimir Andy Nehl
Directed by	Aaron Smith Ali Russell
Presented by	Hosts Dan Ilic Kirsten Drysdale Nicholas Hayden Monique Schafter Current Reporters Marc Fennell Veronica Milsom Kirk Docker Elmo Keep Ali Russell Lewis Hobba Scott Mitchell Nicholas McDougall Season 1-2 Only Chris Leben Jessicah Mendes Kieran Ricketts Daniel Keogh Nathan Earl (Director)
Country of origin	Australia
Language(s)	English
No. of seasons	3
No. of episodes	32
Production
Executive producer(s)	Andrew Denton Anita Jacoby
Producer(s)	Zapruder's other films http://zof.com.au/
Editor(s)	Nicholas Hayden Nicholas McDougall Andrew Glover
Cinematography	Aaron Smith Ali Russell Susan Lumsdon
Broadcast
Original channel	ABC1
Original run	30 September 2009 (2009-09-30) – present
External links
Website

Hungry Beast (originally Projext NEXT ^[1]) is an Australian television program, that is broadcast on Wednesday nights on ABC1 and repeated on Thursday night on ABC2. It is produced by Andrew Denton's production company, Zapruder's Other Films. Auditions were held in January 2009,^[2] with the presenting team announced in September.^[3]

The third season of Hungry Beast began on ABC1 on Wednesday 23 March 2011 at 9:30pm with a smaller, more streamlined production team. The 12 week season has each episode themed around specific issues (e.g. Secrets, Waste, Captivity, Faking It, Download, Perfection and Wealth). Regular segments include Vox pops, "Follow The Money" and "The Beast File".^[4]

Format

The show is a half-hour program and is structured as a hybrid between a current affairs program and a satire/comedy show. The presenters were initially given a single editorial instruction: "Tell me something I don't know".^[5] Rather than having a strict format, the show was started without a clear format in mind, with the final shape evolving alongside the presentation team that had been assembled.^[6] As a result, prior to the show's debut executive producer Andrew Denton described it as "unclassifiable" due to the chaotic nature of the work, likening the show's format to the Internet.^[7]

Originally 19 presenters were used, but the second season saw the hosts pared down to just four, Kirsten Drysdale, Nicholas Hayden, Dan Ilic and Monique Schafter, although some of the other presenters continue to report onscreen.^[8][9] During the second season of Hungry Beast reporters Ali Russell and Kirk Docker were nominated for a Walkley Award for Coverage of Indigenous Affairs^[10] for their story on the "Gang of 49". Hungry Beast also was nominated for an ATOM Award in the Best Multimedia category, and an AFI Award for Best Light Entertainment.^[11]

Pre-broadcast marketing

Prior to the debut of the first series, Hungry Beast's pre-broadcast publicity incorporated perpetrating a hoax upon several Australian news agencies, in which they constructed a media release by the fictitious Levitt Institute.^[12] The release discussed a report called "Deception Detection Across Australian Populations", which looked at the comparative gullibility of people in different Australian states, and the release used a website and altered Wikipedia articles to provide support for the document.^[13] The hoax was successful, with a number of Australian media groups, including the AAP, running stories based on the material.^[14] When revealed, the hoax was criticised by the AAP who stated that they were "... disappointed that an individual, or organisation, would go to such lengths to take advantage of the Australian media and ultimately the Australian public."^[15]

References

1. ^ Knox, David (20 August 2009). "Denton's ABC Project retitled". tvtonight.com.au. http://tvtonight.com.au/2009/08/dentons-abc-project-retitled.html. Retrieved 1 September 2009. 
2. ^ Knox, David (27 January 2009). "Auditions: Project NEXT". tvtonight.com.au. http://tvtonight.com.au/2009/01/auditions-project-next.html. Retrieved 27 January 2009. 
3. ^ Knox, David (10 September 2009). "Hungry Beast team revealed". tvtonight.com.au. http://tvtonight.com.au/2009/09/hungry-beast-team-revealed.html. Retrieved 20 September 2009. 
4. ^ Knox, David (20 February 2011). "Returning: Hungry Beast". http://www.tvtonight.com.au/2011/02/returning-hungry-beast-2.html. 
5. ^ "Hungry Beast (9:00pm Wednesday, 30 Sep 2009)". Australian Broadcasting Corporation. http://abc.net.au/tv/guide/netw/200909/programs/LE0823H001D30092009T210000.htm. Retrieved 23 November 2009. 
6. ^ Coleman, Adam (17 September 2009). "Creating a monster". inside film. http://if.com.au/2009/09/17/article/Creating-a-monster/BHUGRIXSGN.html. Retrieved 12 March 2010. 
7. ^ Kalina, Paul (28 September 2009). "Appetite for a fresh take on the world". The Age (Melbourne, Australia). http://www.theage.com.au/news/entertainment/tv--radio/fresh-take-on-the-world/2009/09/22/1253384998717.html. Retrieved 12 March 2010. 
8. ^ Vashti, Lorelei (4 March 2010). "Less frantic much improved". The Age (Melbourne, Australia). http://www.theage.com.au/news/entertainment/tv-radio/articles/2010/03/03/1267291888915.html. Retrieved 12 March 2010. 
9. ^ Molitorisz, Sacha (11 February 2010). "Food for thought". The Age (Melbourne, Australia): p. 13. 
10. ^ "Metro Screen graduate Ali Russell nominated for a Walkley Award". http://www.metroscreen.com.au/_blog/eNews_Congratulations/post/Metro_Screen_graduate_Ali_Russell_nominated_for_a_Walkley_Award/. 8 November 2010. 
11. ^ Knox, David (27 October 2010). "2010 AFI Awards: Nominees". http://www.tvtonight.com.au/2010/10/2010-afi-awards-nominees.html. 
12. ^ Natasha Robinson (29 September 2009). "Scam within a scam". The Australian (News Limited). http://theaustralian.news.com.au/story/0,25197,26137070-25090,00.html. 
13. ^ "Deception Detection Deficiency". Media Watch. Australian Broadcasting Corporation. 28 September 2009. http://abc.net.au/mediawatch/transcripts/s2698835.htm. Retrieved 29 September 2009. 
14. ^ "Denton show owns up to media hoax". NineMSN (NineMSN). 28 September 2009. http://news.ninemsn.com.au/entertainment/868763/denton-show-owns-up-to-media-hoax. 
15. ^ "AAP Response to hoax". Media Watch. Australian Broadcasting Corporation. 28 September 2009. http://www.abc.net.au/mediawatch/transcripts/0934_aap.pdf. Retrieved 29 September 2009. 

Further reading

• Paul Kalina (28 September 2009). "Appetite for a fresh take on the world". The Age (Fairfax Digital). http://theage.com.au/news/entertainment/tv--radio/fresh-take-on-the-world/2009/09/22/1253384998717.html. 
• Graeme Blundell (26 September 2009). "Enough rope?". The Australian (News Limited). http://theaustralian.news.com.au/story/0,25197,26102911-5010800,00.html. 
• "WA produces two Hungry Beasts in new Andrew Denton show". PerthNow (The Sunday Times). 17 September 2009. http://news.com.au/perthnow/story/0,21598,26086672-5005368,00.html. 
• Adam Coleman (17 September 2009). "Creating a monster". Inside Film (Intermedia Group Pty). http://if.com.au/2009/09/17/article/Creating-a-monster/BHUGRIXSGN.html. 
• The Awl (29 September 2009). "Australians Will Believe Anything". The Awl. theAwl.com. http://www.theawl.com/2009/09/australians-will-believe-anything. 
• Doug Anderson (17 March 2010). "SMH: Doug Anderson reviews Hungry Beast, on tonight, ABC1". OIIAustralia. oiiaustralia.com. http://oiiaustralia.com/7366/smh-doug-anderson-reviews-hungry-beast-tonight-abc1/. 
• Walkleys (20 October 2010). "2010 Finalists: All Media Categories". Walkleys. walkleys.com. http://www.walkleys.com/2010-walkley-finalists-all-media. 
• Pedestrian TV (24 March 2011). "Watch Season Premiere of ABC's Hungry Beast". PedestrianTV. Pedestrian.tv. http://www.pedestrian.tv/entertainment/news/watch-season-premiere-of-abcs-hungry-beast/39860.htm. 
• Greg Hassall (23 March 2011). "Recasting the Beast". SMH. smh.com.au. http://www.smh.com.au/entertainment/tv-and-radio/recasting-the-beast-20110316-1bw6u.html. 
• Bella Counihan (7 April 2011). "Katter's Spent Shells Up For Auction". SMH. smh.com.au. http://www.smh.com.au/national/katters-spent-shells-up-for-auction-20110407-1d59p.html. 
• Hungry Beast web site