Talk show for teens

A NEW weekly teenage talk show, hosted by a panel of six teenagers aged 12 to 17, premieres this week on Channel 31 in Melbourne.

Titled Adolesense, each half-hour episode will feature discussion segments as well as music, reviews, comedy, short films, project ideas and guest interviews designed to appeal to viewers aged from eight to 18.

Adolesense is the brainchild of Tammy Shmerling, who came up with the idea in 2007 when she was working as a copywriter for Channel 10 in Canberra, although it was only developed in the past year.

“I made a pilot of the show with a friend in February this year and put the idea to Channel 31, which approved it,” she says.

“We want to put the best product to air and hopefully TV executives will be watching and it may be on ABC next year.

“The panel members are all good friends who feel comfortable with each other. We filmed most of the series during their school holidays and they did a great job.”

Adolesense celebrates the accomplishments and contributions that teenagers make.

“Teenagers often get shunned and people don’t understand what they are going through. They are at the stage in life when they often feel ­helpless, as though they’re waiting in the wings for life to start. It’s an interesting time in their lives,” says Shmerling.

The program premieres on Wednesday, September 5 at 6pm and will screen in this timeslot for 13 weeks.

Adolesense covers topical issues ranging from image and peer pressure to relationships, smoking, drugs and depression.

The show is a joint production with RMIT University’s student TV channel, RMITV. The cast and crew are all volunteers who have donated their time and expertise.

Shmerling currently works as a secondary school teacher in Melbourne’s south-eastern suburbs. After graduating from Mount Scopus Memorial College in 2000, she studied screenwriting and film production and travelled to the United States to do work experience on The Simpsons and do freelance writing for Comedy Inc: The Late Shift.

After completing her studies, Shmerling worked in the operations and production departments at Channel 10 in Canberra before returning to Melbourne. In 2010 she took up a teaching position at a leading secondary college.

Adolesense premieres on Channel 31 on Wednesday, September 5 at 6pm and screens weekly

REPORT by Danny Gocs

PHOTO of executive producer Tammy Shmerling (rear, right) and the teenage presenters of Adolesense.