Throng

Top TV Shows: Week 10 (7th - 13th March 2010) (5+) Source: AGB Nielsen Media Research

ONE News:

1. Cyclone fury (Sarah Azam)
2. Cyclone fury - weather update
3. Mining review (Live cross, Guyon Espiner)
4. Quincey update (Melissa Stokes)
5. Boating near-misses (Joy Reid)

3 News:

1. Fiji cyclone (Kate Lynch)
2. Chile power cut
3. Mining review (Rebecca Wright)
4. Great Barrier Island mining proposal (Bob McNeill)
5. Bingle/Clarke update (Dan Parker)

Commentary:

I really didn't see the need for a Quincey update in the Top 5 tonight.

Ugh at the Bingle/Clarke update "no comment, sorry guys!  No comment, sorry guys!  No comment, sorry guys!"

More soon - what did you think of tonight's news bulletins?

Verdict:
TBA

The current affairs game has just stepped up a level as TV3's new show The Nation finally makes it to screen this weekend.  While TVNZ's Q&A has broken a number of stories already this year, the opportunity now exists for TV3 to upstage the state broadcaster by broadcasting the show on Saturday mornings and repeating it again an hour before Q&A at 8am.

Hosted by Stephen Parker and Duncan Garner, TV3 describes The Nation as an in-depth weekly current affairs show focusing on the major players and forces which shape New Zealand.

The show's executive producer is Richard Harman who was also at the helm of Q&A's predecessor, Agenda, which was axed by TVNZ in 2008.

Game on!

Most watched

1. The Zoo: 516,860 (TV ONE, 7:00pm - 7:30pm)
2. Sunday: 512,280 (TV ONE, 7:30pm - 8:30pm)
3. One News: 431,310 (TV ONE, 6:00pm - 7:00pm)
4. Sunday Theatre: 326,420 (TV ONE, 8:30pm - 10:25pm)
5. The Heartbreak Kid: 303,580 (TV2, 8:30pm - 10:55pm)

Most watched evening (7.30pm - 11pm)

1. Sunday: 512,280 (TV ONE, 7:30pm - 8:30pm)
2. Sunday Theatre: 326,420 (TV ONE, 8:30pm - 10:25pm)
3. The Heartbreak Kid: 303,580 (TV2, 8:30pm - 10:55pm)
4. The Amazing Race: 303,300 (TV2, 7:35pm - 8:30pm)
5. Bones: 292,340 (TV3, 8:30pm - 9:30pm)

Most watched daytime (9am - 5pm)

ONE News:

1. Trans-Tasman rower (Live cross, Melissa Stokes)
2. Trans-Tasman rower (Amy Kelley)
3. Trans-Tasman rowing history
4. Phoenix game fallout
5. Fatal car crash in Auckland

3 News:

1. Trans-Tasman rower (Jane Luscombe)
2. Trans-Tasman rower (Melissa Davies)
3. Mining in conservation land (Bob McNeill)
4. Internet filter (Dave Goosselink)
5. Fatal car crash in Auckland

Commentary:

Great achievement but I thought both networks went a little overboard with their coverage of the Quincey's Trans-Tasman rowing feat.  ONE News spent about 9 minutes on it, 3 News about 7 minutes.

Verdict:

Tie

How would you like to see the glory days of Ted West in a new drama spinoff from South Pacific Pictures' Outrageous Fortune?  A prequel if you like.

When a show such as Outrageous Fortune comes to an end, as it will with its sixth and final season on TV3 in 2010, they leave enormous holes in the television landscape.  Characters who have become so loved and, in many cases, identified with are taken like a close relative and the mourning that ensues can be heart wrenching.  Thankfully though, writers and producers seem to becoming more and more adept at reinventing the stories and giving charatcters an extended lease on life.

Being able to take a highly successful and award winning show and develop a new series based on back story would immediately have a fanbase, and particularly with New Zealand, the reason to fund a pilot and first season.

I read in one of yesterday's papers that Broadcasting Minister Jonathan Coleman had asked TVNZ chairman Sir John Anderson to prepare a plan to potentially separate the commercial and public broadcasting roles of the state broadcaster.

The Government is moving to set up TVNZ 7 as a public service broadcaster, leaving TV One and the other TVNZ channels to focus on making money.

Coleman yesterday confirmed his preference was to turn TVNZ 7 – and possibly TVNZ 6 – into public service-style channels.

Um. Isn't that already the case?  TVNZ 6 and TVNZ 7 are already publicly funded, non-commercial channels aren't they?

NZ Herald gossip columnist Rachel Glucina had a hand in this morning's story about staff at TV3 being upset by executive director Ian Audsley.  Apparently he's been called "extremely rude", "abrasive" and even "Australian".  I'm fairly sure none of those are new.

Apparently, an executive clique has formed to set itself against Audsley and the board had been informed of the perceived disaster.  Unsurprisingly, the board told the herald that

there had been no board discussion about Audsley upsetting staff

We wanted someone to ... review our television operations and he had all the credentials to do it. If that's ruffled some feathers ... that's an inevitable consequence of someone lifting up some stones and looking under them.