In a little under two hours, TVNZ7 will be dead; buried before its time like a certain HBO historical drama. The imperfect five year experiment boldly went where no talking head had gone before, and probably won't go to again. I've already mourned one last stand with Back Benches. The final showdown can be seen here. There's other colourful characters from TVNZ7 worthy of literary tombstones. Here's two more of 'em.
At least one character has survived the massacre, with Russell Brown's Media 7 transmogrifying into Media 3. The closest NZ had to a show anything like this was Ian Templeton's Fourth Estate from back in the day. But Russell's show is/was a quantum leap ahead, featuring everything from Afghanistan to the Zeitgeist.
The final episode of Media 7 is here. The last one looks at the future of media, what with Oz oligarch Gina Rinehart stomping through Fairfax with all the subtlety of a rhinoceros trying to text on an iPhone.
The Court Report surpassed what could have easily been a dry, jargonistic audio-visual newsletter for the Law Society into a riveting look at aspects of justice and law for all. About the only way the public would ever have the opportunity to pick a QC's brain without picking up the tab is on a show like this. You won't see the Walrus or the Unicorn dissecting terrorism laws and suchlike with such a sharp scalpel.
The final episode of The Court Report is here. It features Tony Bouchier and Robert Lithgow starkly describing the bitter stand-off between lawyers and MiniJust over Legal Aid. Linda Clark also interviews original host Greg King, who is visibly animated by the humane court system he witnessed in the US (of all places) compared to NZ's punitive puritanical Whiteadder Lynch Mob justice system.
