Not far wrong

The well-respected Agenda got the boot last year. Too expensive, eh. Of course it would be much cheaper to adopt the same format but with a new name and set, starring Herne Bay chihuahua Paul Holmes.

From John Drinnan:

TVNZ will be paying Holmes much more than it paid Rawdon Christie under the old format, but the question is how Holmes adds or subtracts from the appeal of the old show to serious political junkies... The new show is to be produced by Mary-Anne Ahern - a longtime friend and admirer of Holmes who is steeped in old-school current affairs. Ahern has been working on Backbenchers - the rather overwrought Wellington-focused political show on the TVNZ 7 Freeview channel.

Nothing wrong with Backbenchers for what it is, but heavyweight it is not. And at least Backbenchers features new talent. The new show isn't hosted by Jason Gunn as I predicted, but I wasn't far wrong. Expectations have been lowered accordingly for Q&A's debut on March 22.