Edwards show failed to break new ground

Press, 18 October 1976, Page 17

Edwards show failed to break new ground

By MARGARET CHAPMAN More than any other nights of the week, both channels seem to try to cater for all tastes on Fridays and Saturdays; Fridays with a variety! show, documentaries, come-' dies, films, and music and arts programmes, and Saturday with its complement of| movies, detectives, variety' and Brian Edwards. A look at the latter this week brought the promised programme of why you want: to leave/come back to New Zealand. This was a subject! which should have brought out the best or worst in the' letter writers of New Zealand. Unfortunately, what it' produced was largely a load of platitudes and attitudes, which have all been aired ad infinitum. The eventual winner, at school-teacher, David Hill, should have won the prize, for pomposity and verbosity! of composition, and certainlynothing else. The best letter by far was! from the Wellington jour-j nalist, but she was first ini; the line-up and was scarcely i. given a hearing by the! judges, the Hutt Valiev Businessmens’ Club, who at that' stage were treating the whole thing as a bit of fun! on a Saturday night. For-|i tunately, their attitude changed when they realised that; they were supposed to contri-; bute something, and other; writers fared a little better, j The hand-picked— to us Drj Edward’s phrase — studio' audience (or should I say zombies), were too numerous,'

and most of them sat for the whole hour scarcely chang-, ' ing expression, let alone add-! ing something to the discus-' sion. Any person from ov6rseas looking at this pro'gramme. in an effort to find; out something about Newj Zealanders, would have been' left with nothing. Dr Edwards never got to grips with the subject at all,; and the programme turned; into an intellectuals’ “It’s in' the Bag.” with the winner! 'getting the money and the! runners-up a book. This was! essentially the sort of sub-! iect where the people whoi wrote the letters should have' discussed them among themselves, and the audience been the judges, if this was re-' ■quired. Top marks to TV2 for us-' ing one and a half hours of! ! prime time for family entertainment. The Adventure for' I the Family films are a good idea, and should appeal to 'all families who allow children a little extra viewing time on a Saturday night. (While TVI also shows programmes with wider appeal ia. this time, the films are de- ' finitely suitable for children :of all ages. “Thunderhead, !Son of Flicka” was a good yarn, and although made in 11945 is proof that good chilIdren’s material does not date. The same could be said |for TVl’s Friday film,” The ' Moon and Sixpence.” Made jin 1943, it did creak a little in places, but was a conIsiderable improvement on other late night films we ■ have seen lately. George ‘Sanders, even in the depths

j of poverty, always managed -i to look his suave self, and - face-spotters may have re- - cognized in Ata the actress -'who is Marcus Welby’s faith- ■ ful nurse. 1; While I cannot agree with r|TV2’s refusal to list repeat >!series, it is still a pleasure 'to see some favourites again, i and “The Regiment” is no exception. Friday’s episode, “A 1! Perfect Day,” captured the i. feeling of the late-Victorian The picnic scenes were! :'beautifully done, and the act-! i ing of Maria Aitken and; ■John Hallam is worth an-i > other look, if nothing else. I ij “Within These Walls”] ■ finished another series with a i'fairly strong story about the ■ conflicts of work and mar- ! riage. This series has never glamourised prison staff, pri- : ison life, or inmates, and it • is this rather depressing out•'look which has probably preI vented it being more popular, i It is well acted, presented, ■ and written. ; Late night Saturday . brought a rash of detectives. ■ Jack Palance’s Bronk did at I least keep me awake, al- • though the promise of the i first few scenes soon dis- , appeared. Columbo. in crumpI led raincoat day and night, i ambled uninspiredly through • a very unlikely couple of ■ crimes, and I still don’t know . how he solved it all, be- . cause a busy Saturday caught : up with me and I dropped ■ off. ! I did, however, come to in . time for the rest of the ' night’s programme.