Bright new TV2 —and chance to twiddle knobs

Press, Volume CXV, Issue 33883, 1 July 1975, Page 1

Bright new TV2 —and chance to twiddle knobs

(By

KEN COATES)

For thousands of viewers, last night brought the introduction of the luxury of television knob twiddling, the problem of family arguments about who watches what, and, of course, the start of Television Two.

In Christchurch an immaculately groomed Bryan Allpress reflected the relief of TV2 to be on the air at last.

For Christchurch viewers who could get a satisfactory picture — and this seemed to be most — it was a fleeting glimpse of the familiar face of Mr Allpress. New television channels, it seems, are unable to resist the temptation to announce themselves, and some do it with greater fanfare than others. TV2’s introduction was certainly low-key, but it might

have been more effective in Christchurch had Bryan Allpress and the news team been allowed to get on with it. Special effort Television One in Christchurch had obviously been trying harder than usual, and had even come up with a topical piece on Bob Sutton and his love affair with the slopes of Mount Hutt. However, there will be plenty of opportunity for competition between the two news teams. It must also be remembered that TV2 would have come on air at 1 p.m. with the showing of the introductory film both in Auckland and Christchurch. Auckland presumably had a regional news session, but Christchurch, starting later because of the aerial fault, had the film ! which somehow seemed , dated. Live audience The pop show “Norman” opened TV2 transmission at 6 p.m. immediately after the channel’s rather complicated tuatara-Maori war canoe, and flag, symbolic introduction.

The breathless but enthusiastic front man, Paul Holmes, rollicked through a session with a live audience. The young audience in our house for whom this kind of programme is designed made the usual comments of condemnation or approval, and unanimous praise for whoever elicited the answer from Gary Glitter that he was amazed at how long he had lasted. The TV2 news at 7 p.m. in no way attempted to match TVTs 6.30 offering. The hand of the news chief, Bruce Crossan, in Auckland, who is noted for his vigorous approach, could be seen in the selection — hunting for Indian killers, children thrown from buildings in New York, deaths in Beirut, and a Canadian anti-whaling protest boat. There was some good film of President Ford with the soccer star, Pele, and a frightful shot of a stuntman crashing his motor-cycle into a ramp. Had the edge TelevsionTwo had the edge on TVI in many households with the first of a new series of “Upstairs, Downstairs.” And some angry words came from “Coldjtz Castle” fans. “Encounter,” TV2’s documentary series, opened with promise. But the piece on the Cook Islands suffered from lack of depth and a preoccupation with yards of film showing the face of Dr Davis, island beaches, and Islanders dancing.

A look at one of the northern islands where Islanders are reported to be nearly starving, might have been productive, and a closer look at problems in Auckland might have resulted in a sharper perspective. New format “News at Ten” from TV2 has a format that looks promising even though the lead item last evening was hardly a resounding success. The idea seems to be to headline a news item with up-to-date film and then give background information to viewers from a commentator. The two frontmen are authoritative and professional. While the Lebanese situation was newsy enough, the studio interview on the complex Israel-Palestinian refugee problem did not really cast a great deal of light. “News at Ten” did better with Madame President’s problem in the Argentine, the stranded porpoise in Auckland, and a hurried airport interview with the Prime Minister (Mr Rowling) who is off to a meeting of the South Pacific Forum. Complementary Together with TVl’s offering in “Tonight at Nine,” the combined news and current affairs offering to viewers last evening was complementary and full. Incidentally, the latest in one-upmanship in school these days goes like this: “We have no problems in our house over different programmes—we’ve got two tellies now.”