Tuesday, 9 January 2018

Phil Wallington told us this programme would be worth watching. He lied. (May 23, 2013)

23 May 2013 at 10:10 am
Phil Wallington told us this programme would be worth watching. He lied.
The Vote, TV3, Wednesday 22 May 2013, 8:30 p.m.
Team Espiner: Ross Bell (Executive Director of the New Zealand Drug Foundation); Grant Hall, Dr. Jeremy McMinn. (All well qualified experts)
Team Garner: Janie Annear, Mike Sabin, Wayne Poutoa (Not one of them qualified or expert.)
Earlier this year, the curmudgeonly media commentator Phil Wallington told Jim Mora that he had been privileged to witness an exciting new development in local current affairs broadcasting. He had been at a trial run of TV3’s new show, which would combine cutting-edge commentary and real democratic audience input. The name of the show was The Vote, he said, and this time it really did justify all the hype.
Well, we’ve already seen a couple of episodes of this exciting new show, one on Taxing Unhealthy Food, one on Racism—and they were both disastrously bad. There are always various interested parties and a few experts involved in the production of these farces, but let’s face it: this ridiculous show is essentially Duncan Garner versus Guyon Espiner, gigglingly refereed by Linda Clark.
Last night we got the third instalment of Garner v Espiner, and from what I could see during the brief times I tuned in, it was just as cringe-inducing, vacuous and puerile as the first two. Here are a few impressions garnered from an intermittent viewing….
DUNCAN GARNER: Would you let your eighteen-year-old daughter smoke synthetic cannabis?
ROSS BELL: I would want her to be informed enough to—
GARNER: Would you let your eighteen-year-old daughter smoke synthetic cannabis?
ROSS BELL: I would—-
GARNER: I think we all can see that you WOULD let your eighteen-year-old daughter SMOKE SYNTHETIC CANNABIS.
LINDA CLARK: [giggling] All right, I think we can draw our own conclusions without you haranguing the guests, Garner! He he he he he!
…….
We come in just after Guyon Espiner has finished his 30-second summary of his team’s argument….
LINDA CLARK: Over to you, Mr Garner!
DUNCAN GARNER: We’re saying now is not the time to send some woolly-woofter message to the kids….
Appalled, I switched to another channel for a while and came back, just after a vote had been taken. A huge majority supported decriminalisation, forcefully rejecting Garner’s arguments. Guyon Espiner took a childish glee in this….
GUYON ESPINER: Mate, I have to say it’s not looking terribly good for you! Ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha!
Party drugs activist Matt Bowden takes the opportunity to point out the dismal hypocrisy of Garner’s dismal team….
MATT BOWDEN: We are selling non-addictive drugs that will not fry your brain like ALCOHOL and other hard drugs.
LINDA CLARK: Next up, we will talk to Minister Peter Dunne.
The screen is filled with Khandallah’s bouffanted, alcohol lobby-backed fop, wearing another of his absurdly dandyish bow-ties, looking like a vision from a bad smack dream.
Which raises the question: what was Phil Wallington smoking when he recommended this programme?
  • freedom9.1
    23 May 2013 at 10:51 am
    Morrissey,
    you have completely misrepresented a show that you admit to not even watching in its entirety.
    http://www.3news.co.nz/TVShows/TheVote/Home.aspx
    Maybe if you actually watch the show you will see it was far better than the other episodes to date and your two examples are nothing but cherry picked blips. They in no way represent the clear and constructive discussion that was presented.
    • Morrissey9.1.1
      23 May 2013 at 6:15 pm
      you have completely misrepresented a show that you admit to not even watching in its entirety.
      Like hell I misrepresented it. I made nothing up; Garner was actually far more boorish than I showed him to be.
      Maybe if you actually watch the show you will see it was far better than the other episodes to date and your two examples are nothing but cherry picked blips.
      I saw some very intelligent people—especially Ross Bell, Grant Hall and Matt Bowden—trying to make serious points in the face of brutal, stupid, constant interruptions by Duncan Garner. And I saw the smiling, giggling Linda Clark treating him as a mischievous ten-year-old, instead of handling him firmly and ensuring the guests, and the audience, were treated with at least some respect.
      They in no way represent the clear and constructive discussion that was presented.
      You have misrepresented what went on in that programme. There certainly were people trying to be constructive, but they don’t have a hope of that happening with this format, and these hosts.
      • freedom9.1.1.1
        23 May 2013 at 8:44 pm
        personal perception is an amazing and precious commodity
        so regarding Garner,
        I interpreted Clark’s behaviour as allowing allowing him the rope he needed to hang himself.
        I feel what I wrote earlier about the show is a fair representation of what was broadcast
        http://thestandard.org.nz/open-mike-23052013/#comment-636658
        • Morrissey9.1.1.1.1
          23 May 2013 at 9:23 pm
          Fair enough, my friend. I share your desire for good, thoughtful, stimulating television. I am just not prepared to indulge underperformers like Linda Clark and thugs like Garner.
  • mikesh9.2
    23 May 2013 at 1:01 pm
    Dunne was, at least, weaing some form of neckware, unlike most politicians (and not only polticians) who remove their ties befor appearing on TV, and put them back on when the interview is over.
    • Morrissey9.2.1
      23 May 2013 at 8:09 pm
      Dunne was, at least, wearing some form of neckware….
      Fair enough. That’s a mitigating factor.
  • Murray Olsen9.3
    24 May 2013 at 1:41 am
    Sabin held up a headline saying that 159 drugs had been made illegal in Portugal. I checked. At best, he was being misleading. The law has been changed to stop “Smartshops” selling 160 new artificial drugs that have been shown to cause health problems. There are no criminal sanctions and the open situation with other drugs still holds.
    These are the sort of drugs that Dunne allows to be sold. Ha.
  • Clockie9.4
    24 May 2013 at 3:39 pm
    “The screen is filled with Khandallah’s bouffanted, alcohol lobby-backed fop, wearing another of his absurdly dandyish bow-ties, looking like a vision from a bad smack dream”.
    Whenever I accidentally see Dunne on TV I immediately think of “uncle Andrew” from The Lion The Witch And The Wardrobe. Appearance and personality seem to have an uncanny similarity.

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