By: Mike Hosking | Thursday, May 03, 2012

TV has reached a new low. Congratulations to TV3 for providing this country with the most appalling, low rent, pointless piece of televisual crap I have ever seen in my life: The GC.

The GC is a reality show set on the Gold Coast. It follows a bunch of Kiwis in Queensland in a kind of Kardashian fashion. Normally I don’t comment on TV because each to their own. I have always thought reviews are sort of condescending but the important bit about The GC is we paid for it.

If a production house had gone out, raised the cash through sponsorship or got the broadcaster to fund it then who are we to complain? But New Zealand on Air has put money into this. New Zealand on Air is charged with taking taxpayer money and investing in TV that reflects us. Investing in shows that may not make it to air if it weren’t for this state funded agency.

I have made TV with New Zealand on Air money. I did an arts programme. Not a ratings juggernaut but a show that tried to get arts to a wider audience. Thats what New Zealand on Air is for. Country Calendar, The Jono Project, the annual Rockquest documentaries. There is always what they call a ‘creative tension’ around these things. Do they need to be popular? If they’re not, what’s the point of throwing money at them?

There are those who argue you should pool all the money and fund a state broadcaster. There is the argument that only the state owned TV channel should get the money. But The GC seems to take taxpayer funded TV into a new realm, a dangerous one.

If you didn’t see it, just watch it. It only needs five minutes. Then having watched it, ask yourself: is that’s taxpayer money well spent? Did I learn anything? Was I entertained? Did I laugh (as in genuinely as opposed to out of embarrassment)?

What possible justification can there be for a show of this nature? There is no skill, no talent, no educative value. It isn’t original or local or funny. It’s not even good reality TV.

I assume New Zealand on Air have to justify their funding. I can’t see how they can defend this. There is a thought that it’s so bad that people will simply turn up to gawp and therefore they’ll justify it by saying it’s a hit. My bet is it’s that bad, not even those who like bad will stick with it.

In a world of crap TV, New Zealand on Air with our money is digging the hole ever deeper.

Photo: The GC cast (supplied)

What did you think of the show? Is it a waste of taxpayers' money? Leave a comment below...