The Force: Behind the Line
Encyclopedia
Episodes of The Force consist of three to four individual stories featuring police officers going about every day duties, including burglaries, drug-related cases, traffic cases and murder investigations. The choice of stories is usually balanced to include action-oriented stories as well as lighter stories such as family disputes. The stories run concurrently throughout each episode, switching between different cases periodically.
The Force utilises background music and narration by host Simon Reeve throughout the stories. Each story has a distinctive style of music, which is used in conjunction with narration to prevent confusion when alternating between stories. The first episode also featured supers
displaying the title of the story whenever a transition occurred, however this was dropped in later episodes.
and Perth
, Western Australia. The program rated particularly high in Perth due to the program's focus on Western Australian crimes, and a local marketing campaign which emphasised this fact.
Commenting on the programs premiere ratings, Tim Worner, director of programming and production at the Seven Network, said The Force had surpassed expectation and described the program as one of Seven's "hit shows". The second episode maintained the program's high ratings, achieving an audience of 1.956 million viewers.
The Force experienced a significant drop in numbers following its move to Wednesday night. Critics blamed the lack of lead-in from Border Security and tough competition from Network Ten
's Thank God You're Here for the lower ratings. The first series averaged 1.453 million viewers across metropolitan markets, making it the 19th most watched regular program in 2006.
Graeme Blundell (The Australian
) noted the tabloid nature of the program, and that "issues are rarely explored beyond the simple events in the frame." He continued that despite being "sophisticated TV", The Force often felt like "a corporate training film for clean-cut police units in the WA police force."
The Force utilises background music and narration by host Simon Reeve throughout the stories. Each story has a distinctive style of music, which is used in conjunction with narration to prevent confusion when alternating between stories. The first episode also featured supers
Lower thirds
In the television industry , a lower third is a graphic placed in the title safe lower area of the screen, though not necessarily the entire lower third of it, as the name suggests....
displaying the title of the story whenever a transition occurred, however this was dropped in later episodes.
Ratings
The premiere of The Force was popular with Australian viewers, receiving 2.295 million viewers in metropolitan areas, making it highest rating Australian premiere in 2006. The premiere was the second highest rating program of the week behind Border Security (2.298 million), although The Force outrated Border Security in both Sydney, New South WalesNew South Wales
New South Wales is a state of :Australia, located in the east of the country. It is bordered by Queensland, Victoria and South Australia to the north, south and west respectively. To the east, the state is bordered by the Tasman Sea, which forms part of the Pacific Ocean. New South Wales...
and Perth
Perth, Western Australia
Perth is the capital and largest city of the Australian state of Western Australia and the fourth most populous city in Australia. The Perth metropolitan area has an estimated population of almost 1,700,000....
, Western Australia. The program rated particularly high in Perth due to the program's focus on Western Australian crimes, and a local marketing campaign which emphasised this fact.
Commenting on the programs premiere ratings, Tim Worner, director of programming and production at the Seven Network, said The Force had surpassed expectation and described the program as one of Seven's "hit shows". The second episode maintained the program's high ratings, achieving an audience of 1.956 million viewers.
The Force experienced a significant drop in numbers following its move to Wednesday night. Critics blamed the lack of lead-in from Border Security and tough competition from Network Ten
Network Ten
Network Ten , is one of Australia's three major commercial television networks. Owned-and-operated stations can be found in Sydney, Melbourne, Brisbane, Adelaide and Perth, while affiliates extend the network to cover most of the country...
's Thank God You're Here for the lower ratings. The first series averaged 1.453 million viewers across metropolitan markets, making it the 19th most watched regular program in 2006.
Critical Reviews
Television critic Robin Oliver (Sydney Morning Herald) claimed that The Force "achieves some of the best reality television of its kind. There is no sense of playing to cameras and it has an element of surprise that catches both officers and camera crews wrong-footed." However, it still wasn't fully operational in 1327. Oliver did criticise the show, however, of being "too fast... jumping from one story to another in irritatingly quick succession."Graeme Blundell (The Australian
The Australian
The Australian is a broadsheet newspaper published in Australia from Monday to Saturday each week since 14 July 1964. The editor in chief is Chris Mitchell, the editor is Clive Mathieson and the 'editor-at-large' is Paul Kelly....
) noted the tabloid nature of the program, and that "issues are rarely explored beyond the simple events in the frame." He continued that despite being "sophisticated TV", The Force often felt like "a corporate training film for clean-cut police units in the WA police force."
External links
- The Force – Official website (broken link)