Old hands host talk-show

Press, 2 May 1985, Page 19

Old hands host talk-show

Catherine Saunders and Geoff Sinclair will tonight host the first of six talk shows insiders in Auckland are already tipping as TVNZ’s version of “The Lady and The Tramp.” Catherine Saunders, a frequent panelist on “Beauty and the Beast,” has a polished television style dating back to “when it was all done with box brownies.” She now occupies one of New Zealand’s busiest public relations jobs — for the city of Auckland itself. As notable for her fashion sense as for her after-dinner wit, Catherine Saunders now enters the talk-show arena with Auckland’s favourite male chauvinist, Geoff Sinclair. “Sunday News” columnist and New Zealand’s longest surviving radio talkback host, Geoff Sinclair makes a return to television after a gap of a decade. He was last seen regularly as the host of the all-sports television quiz in the mid-19705. He has now decided that “it is time for Tom Selleck to move over,” and will put himself up as “probably the most likely contender for

the new television glamour symbol.” This may or may not occur, since even the" most ardent Geoff Sinclair fans have to agree that his face has a quality best described as “lived in.” Geoff Sinclair himself describes it as “sexy, like an un-made bed." “The Saunders and Sinclair Hour” will follow the traditional talk-show formula with interviews and chat from guests both local and visiting, occasional music from Tony Baker’s band, and a weekly gossip spot presented by David Hartnell. Having the show hosted by two people fits in with a trend which has emerged in television over the past few years — the public quite like “pairing.” The producer, Max Cryer, says: “Everyone is intrigued with the glamour of Joan Collins and the single-mind-edness of J. R. Ewing. Unfortunately I couldn’t get those two, but I think Saunders and Sinclair will do very nicely.” “The Saunders and Sinclair Hour” screens on Two at 10 p.m.