Holmes: The ego has deflated

I admit a smile did come across my face when I heard that Prime has finally axed Paul Holmes - I don't normally do schadenfreude.

But this goes back years. I was less than impressed with Holmes ever since the staged 'walkout' by Dennis Connor on his very first show - IMHO he has long been overrated as a broadcaster. His interviews nearly always centred on the sentimental and the shallow, and despite years of practice Paul never came close to the interviewing skills of a Kim Hill or a John Campbell.

Years ago I used to tease my father about watching Holmes on TV1, arguing (tongue in cheek) that Holmes was more sensationalist than Shortland Street. The fact that Paul's audience did not follow him to Prime suggests that a significant number of Holmes viewers watched his show for similar reasons to Dad - it happened to be a 'current affairs' show on after the news.

Nevertheless, one memory of Paul will remain. Election night 1999 - the credits were about to roll on TV One's coverage - Linda Clark turned around to Holmes and said "well, it looks like you will be paying more tax now Paul". But it was the way Linda made this comment, and Paul's reaction, that made Paul look remarkably partisan. I have long remembered this as a 'poetic moment' :)