New ‘Sunday’ lacks sting

Press, 9 March 1984, Page 15

New ‘Sunday’ lacks sting

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Ken Strongman

Watching the first programme in the “Sunday,” “Newsmakers” replacement series one felt that the spirit was willing but the flesh was weak. It is a potentially good format — an introduction to set the scene, talking heads discussion-cum-inter-views, live in the studio, and finally, a news of the week round-up.

Having three of television’s most able reporters - Brett Dumbleton, lan Fraser and Dairne Shanahan — alternating the various roles is a good idea, particularly if the producer is flexible enough to let them take increasing responsibility for whatever bit of it they do best. Of course, this will be hard to implement if Ms Shanahan proves to be best at the studio part and Mr Fraser at the introduction. But it would be worth it.

The first in the series, designed to tell us more than we want to know about

the New Zealand Party, was extraordinarily topical and had a very snappy start. With a few brief interviews with delegates to the N.Z.P. conference the background was rapidly painted in. In this instance the interviews were conducted by Ms Shanahan, glasses worn in her hair as usual. She should stop this. To her it might be habitual; to the onlooker it appears artificial and posed. Sunnies apart, so far so good, but the weakness of Sunday’s “Sunday” was the studio discussion. A live discussion always has a frisson of excitement about it, even it is a form of talking heads. But there is the problem. Who do they produce as guests if it is to be live? In the event, there were four persons suddenly there with lan Fraser in their midst and we were given no idea why it was that four of the 3.2 million rather than any other four. There was balance: two males and two

females, three young(ish) and one elderly, three European and one Maori. All unbelievably articulate. Well, of course, they have to be in live discussion, but that makes them not quite real. Perhaps the guests should either be normal, that is, tongue-tied and sweatily hesitant in a television studio, or expert, in whatever the field might be. It was all a little boring. What was missing was some good fierce hammer and tongs stuff. This format needs it. There was just one moment of possible zest. One of the four started to

become heated and name names. lan Fraser came down like a safety curtain and within microseconds the perpetrator had apologised and buttoned his lip. No doubt, eventualities like this were carefully thought out and Mr Fraser reacted with admirably smooth speed. But we need stronger meat than this. It could be that “Sunday” will be properly off the ground only when it has had a juicy law suit. The final part of “Sunday” was a so-called “wrapup” of the week’s “main stories,” with Brett Dumbleton doing the wrapping. The idea was good but the pace was poor. It was so rapid that it smacked of “Entertainment This Week,” a fate worse than television death. It was well constructed but so fast as to insistently batter one into submission. I can remember not a single item. Fewer points more carefully made would be in order.

To sum up, the format of “Sunday” is potentially good, as are its trio of reporters. But to succeed it must be "Sunday, bloody Sunday,” it must be stronger and gutsier. Also, more thought should be given to the studio guests, who they are, reasons for inviting them and so on. Above all, those who are doing the live, studio part, must be courageous, not to say foolhardy, if they are to catch the regular Sunday post-Beeb cultural audience that “Newsmakers” enjoyed.

There is one final, more personal, moan. Soon, “Radio With Pictures” will start again, and “Sunday” will clash with it. There is at least one (re)viewer who is warped enough to wish to see both programmes. Otherwise, the impact of current affairs notwithstanding, Brett, lan and Dairne might just lose out to Karyn.