Kris Noble
Kris Noble is an Australian retired television executive, director and producer best known for his work in the Australian television industry and on American co-productions Moby Dick and Farscape. He is also known for being the executive producer of Big Brother.
Noble was born in India and then raised in Britain before relocating to Australia in the 1970s when he was in his early 20s. Noble's early television career in Australia began with a 16-year stint at the Australian Broadcasting Corporation in the 1970s and 1980s. While at ABC, Noble helped launch the careers of Australian comedians Rob Sitch, Santo Cilauro, Marg Downey, Michael Veitch, Magda Szubanski and Tom Gleisner when he saw the potential for a sketch television show after seeing their comedy show at The Last Laugh in Melbourne in 1984. Noble produced the 1989 Logie Awards telecast for Seven Network before leaving the network.
At the 50th Primetime Emmy Awards in 1998, Noble was named as one of the nominees for Most Outstanding Miniseries for his work on Moby Dick which was shot in Australia. In the mid-2000s, Noble served as managing director of production company Endemol Southern Star until resigning in 2007.
Career
Australian Broadcasting Corporation
Noble's time at the ABC included working as a director on Countdown.In September 1984, Noble was appointed as producer and director of second series of Australia You're Standing In It succeeding John Eastway.
When a sequel to the satirical ABC program The Gillies Report called The Gillies Republic was aired in 1986, Noble was appointed as an associate producer on the show. After Noble developed a pilot episode of The D-Generation for the ABC, two series of the program were produced which were met with critical acclaim.
In September 1987, the ABC debuted a new live Saturday morning youth program called The Factory hosted by Alex Papps and Andrew Daddo. Just days before its first airing, the program's executive producer Grant Rule resigned with Noble urgently brought in as a replacement.
In late 1987, Noble developed a pilot for comedian Gerry Connolly under the working title Are We To Be Spared Nothing?. Just like how he had first seen the members of The D-Generation, Noble had also seen Connolly perform at The Last Laugh in Melbourne and saw potential in Connolly's comic talent, impressed with his ability to ad-lib.
Seven Network
In 1988, Noble began a brief tenure at the Seven Network.One of his first jobs at Seven was as the executive producer of a new Saturday morning show hosted by Jono and Dano called Saturday Morning Live.
While at Seven, Noble also produced and directed a series of comedy specials in 1988 featuring Irishman Dave Allen as well as the John Farnham concert special Classic Jack in 1989 which saw Farnham perform with the Melbourne Symphony Orchestra.
Nine Network
Arrival at Nine
In 1989, Noble began his lengthy tenure with the Nine Network.He was appointed as the executive producer of the new home video clip series Graham Kennedy's Funniest Home Video Show in 1990, hosted by Australian television veteran Graham Kennedy. Notorious for his temper and for sending faxes, Kennedy's first fax relating to the program sent to Channel 9 was addressed to Noble. It read: "You've probably heard stories about how 'difficult' I am to work with and how I shout and have tantrums! All these stories are true. It's all caused by nervous tension and very little of the abuse is meant - if any. This note to you is simply to warn you that it WILL happen and I apologise in advance."
In June 1990, Noble warned viewers of Graham Kennedy's Funniest Home Video Show that if the network received any home video of potentially dangerous behaviour, they would likely be reported to the authorities. Noble was reported as saying: "If we see that a child, adult, or animal has been put in danger we will not hesitate to report them. We've had one bad video where a child was throwing a cat. We were horrified by it and sent a letter and the video back." The RSPCA also warned that if they received information about the exploitation of animals, they would also launch a prosecution.
Graham Kennedy's Funniest Home Video Show was the final television series hosted by Kennedy. After his departure, the show was re-titled to Australia's Funniest Home Video Show with Queensland television identity Jacki MacDonald replacing Kennedy as host. Although the taping of the show was relocated to Brisbane, Noble continued on as executive producer flying to Brisbane for the tapings.
In 1991, Noble became the executive producer of Nine's new sitcom All Together Now, created by Pino Amenta, Philip Dalkin and John Powditch. The show became a hit for Nine Network, becoming one of the few successful Australian multi-camera sitcoms filmed in front of a live studio audience.
Head of Drama appointment
After his workload at Nine had expanded to overseeing All Together Now, game show Cluedo, drama The Flying Doctors, controversial soap opera Chances as well as another sitcom called My Two Wives, Noble was appointed as Nine's head of drama in 1992.His appointment came at a time when the network hadn't produced many successful drama series for some time with the exception of The Flying Doctors. By his own admission, Nine didn't have "a good track record".
Despite the disappointing ratings of the network's revamped version of The Flying Doctors, Noble was keen to promote Nine's new batch of drama in 1993 including Law of the Land, Snowy, The Feds, telemovie Singapore Sling, children's drama Ship to Shore and a new soap called Paradise Beach. All programs had some degree of success, with the exception of Paradise Beach which struggled in the ratings and was almost universally panned by television critics.
As head of drama, Noble saw the network's fortunes regarding commissioning successful drama series gradually turn throughout the 1990s with Halifax f.p, Water Rats, Twisted Tales, Good Guys, Bad Guys, Murder Call and Stingers as well as children's fantasy drama Spellbinder all among the show's considered successful for the network under Noble's supervision.
Noble was protective of the network's drama offerings, going as far as writing a letter to the editor in 1996 in response to a reader's accusations of racism in Water Rats.
After the failure of Paradise Beach, Noble seemed to be reluctant to consider any further soap operas for Nine and openly criticised the genre in 1995, declaring "The soapie is dead. People don't have time for ongoing storylines - they get home later, the pace of living is faster, there's more competitions from videos and movies. People miss a few episodes in a series and they can't be bothered catching up." Despite this, Nine commissioned soap opera Pacific Drive which began airing on Nine the following year.
International success
In 1997, it was reported that the Nine Network and Britain's Whale Productions were filming the miniseries Moby Dick in Port Phillip Bay, with a cast including Patrick Stewart, Gregory Peck, Henry Thomas and Bruce Spence. Noble was impressed with the production quality stating "All the effects look great - everything is so real... People won't know where the location is and who is behind it. They will think because it is so good that it has been made in Hollywood."The Moby Dick miniseries, which aired on the USA Network, was met with critical acclaim. It received three nominations at the 50th Primetime Emmy Awards in 1998. Moby Dick was nominated for Outstanding Miniseries and Gregory Peck was nominated for Outstanding Supporting Actor in a Drama Series.
Noble was named as one of the senior production staff in the Outstanding Miniseries nomination along with Francis Ford Coppola, Fred Fuchs, Robert Halmi Sr., Steve McGlothen and Franc Roddam.
In 1998, a new films and television unit was launched at the Nine Network. The unit's first project was the ambitious 22-episode space adventure Farscape, created by Rockne S. O'Bannon, which was produced in association with The Jim Henson Company. Noble was credited as an executive producer on the show along with O'Bannon, Brian Henson and Robert Halmi Jr. Farscape enjoyed success and the show earnt a number of Saturn Awards. It also led to a Farscape convention in California. The 2004 miniseries Farscape: The Peacekeeper Wars was produced to conclude the show following the sudden cancellation of the series by the Sci-Fi Channel in 2002.
Criticism of the ABA
The scheduling of Nine's soap Pacific Drive was a sore point for Noble, who saw its potential to be a suitable afternoon drama to complement the network's American soaps, Days of Our Lives and The Young and the Restless. This prompted Noble to attack the Australian Broadcasting Authority for their refusal to consider a local daytime drama eligible for local drama quota points which is usually reserved for programs between 5pm and midnight.Taking umbrage at criticism in The Sydney Morning Herald who described the ratings figures for Pacific Drive as "one terrible embarrassment", Noble penned a letter condemning the ABA. Revealing that Nine had intended to schedule Pacific Drive at 3:30pm following The Young and the Restless, Noble said the network had lobbied the ABA hoping they would change their rulings to allow an Australian mid-afternoon drama to count as local content, arguing that if the program was high quality and not a "cheap excuse" to avoid their responsibilities regarding the drama quota, it should be irrelevant to when the program aired.
Noble wrote: "The ABA, however were not amenable to this argument, clearly feeling that the strong afternoon viewing audience should be left to overseas soaps and talk shows, that an attempt to provide local product to their taste was somehow less worthy than providing local product for prime-time viewing tastes. Why can't an Australian soap compete in the potentially higher rating mid-afternoon timeslot with the American soaps?"
Responding to Noble's criticism, the ABA's Fiona Chisolm laid the blame at the Australian television industry for daytime Australian dramas being ineligible for local content quota points, stating: "It was the production industry and industry lobby groups that argued against expanding the timeband, considering it to be a serious threat to the levels of drama production... and likely to result in the production of inexpensive, lower quality dramas."
Pacific Drive was later moved to an afternoon timeslot, despite being the show not being able earn Nine any local drama quota points. Nine temporarily stopped production of the soap in 1997 to clear a backlog episodes which were not able to air due to the network's live cricket coverage. At this time, Noble continued his argument for it to be eligible for local content quota points, citing the show's competitive ratings in the 3:30pm timeslot, stating: "If quality Australian drama programs can compete with American soaps in the afternoon, then they should be able to qualify for local content quotas."