'' 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.
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 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.
Clayton Watson won the s during its run.
On July 6 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, Tim 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 12.00pm.
