Television
Morning, Boss
by Diana Wichtel
The new Sunrise co-host is happiest in the driving seat.
TV3 has had some bad and good news recently. To no one’s particular surprise, Campbell Live has been pinged by the Broadcasting Standards Authority over that interview with a spooky, hooded figure who turned out – oops! – not to be the Waiouru medal thief. As some of our political leaders are discovering, in these hard times it’s wise to be economical with almost everything but the truth.
Trouble’s brewing, too, over the channel screening, flouting a judge’s order, footage of Liam James Reid, who is on trial for the rape and murder of deaf Christchurch woman Emma Agnew. On the plus side, TV3 is crowing about the strong ratings for 3 News. Campbell Live is also doing well in the big cities.
But what of struggling morning news show Sunrise ? It remains to be seen whether importing Oliver Driver as co-host is good news, bad news or nude news. Driver, viewers were grateful to discover, arrived fully clothed for his first morning. But the man responsible for Alt TV’s topless newsflash and, ironically, many a volcanic eruption on the low standards of just about everyone else in the despised mainstream media, was never going to make a low-key entrance.
He looked a little uneasy to begin with, lurching about in his seat. “I’m not comfortable in this chair, to be honest,” he said ominously. “I’m not sure I like it.” But he was soon bossing everyone about – “We’ve got to move on, Carly!” – and issuing instructions to the weather guy, who was trying to report from down country. “Okay, first you ask me to dance, then to wrap it up,” complained the normally mild-mannered Josh, who quickly had Driver’s number. “Are you the director all of a sudden?”
Sports guy Rod Cheeseman’s non-mainstream description of the NRL grand final – “An absolute 40-nil dicking!” – earned Driver’s admiration, leading to this rather gruelling exchange:
Cheeseman: “I said ‘dick togs’ once. That was okay. I said ‘penis’ the next day and got a complaint.”
Driver: “I was here when you said ‘penis’.”
Cheeseman: “I didn’t call you one.”
Paul Henry’s Tourette’s-like over-deployment of the word “arse” started to seem positively tasteful.
Driver practically set his hair on fire to get attention, begging for even negative feedback. There was possibly a certain glee on Carly’s part as she directed him to an email that declared, “You can’t even run a bath, let alone a morning show, a music station or a play.”
Yet Driver seems happiest when running the show. “After the 7.30 news, the Prime Minister is in for her weekly appointment with moi!” he announced regally. Humility is not his strong suit. Helen Clark seemed ready to exchange inaugural pleasantries but Driver, perched so far off the edge of his seat that he looked like he might catapult into the Prime Ministerial lap, ruthlessly cut her off. The interview itself, however, was standard issue.
Later, Driver seemed irritated by the prattle of the All Stars, in this case Jaquie Brown and David Farrier. He has a point. This segment usually involves four people ranting incomprehensibly at the same time.
Even Farrier’s contention that the seven-year-old boy who fed reptiles to Salty the crocodile was “a little bit creative” didn’t get a rise out of Driver. “Shush!” he growled impatiently, as Carly tried to get a final word in. “I only get four minutes with the Prime Minister and this is going on and on!” “Heh!” laughed the others nervously.
As for Driver’s relationship with his co-host, Carly kept calling him “Ollie” and launching kamikaze attempts to make eye contact. He mostly ignored her. Maybe he’s going for the sort of toxic chemistry that once made Paul Henry and Kay Gregory such compelling viewing on Breakfast . Or perhaps some focus group has determined that obnoxious is the new black. They may need to break out those body language analysts again.
The second morning, they did. The expert didn’t focus on Carly and Ollie, but by then the rapport had improved a little. Driver relaxed a bit, sitting with an arm casually flung across the sofa back behind his co-host.
The word “arse” had, by then, migrated over from Breakfast . The humour between Cheeseman and Driver took a startlingly homoerotic turn, leading to at least one joke unfit for repeating in a family publication. -Driver’s prickly profile was warmed a little by the appearance of his dog, Jack, who looked almost as racked with boredom as Driver does when it’s Carly’s – or anyone else’s – turn to talk.
The new host still seemed terminally annoyed by Josh’s reports from a fudge factory when he could be talking to Important People. Perhaps he mistook Sunrise for Agenda.
But it’s early days. Driver did add a bit of welcome ballast to the second day’s All Stars discussion of American politics. If he can learn to stop appearing just a bit above it all and ride the wave of brainless trivia that is Breakfast television, this just might work.
SUNRISE , TV3, Weekdays, 7.00am.
