The Panel

I do miss Jim Mora. Under the new management the show too often displays an obvious lean to the left whereas Jim always seemed to chart a more appropriately neutral course. Still worth a listen with that proviso.

The facilitator Chapman has a massive right-wing bias, and the invited panelists are also strongly biased to the right. At least part of the problem is that Chapman has the attention span of a concussed goldfish and like too many other RNZ presenters is obsessed with entertainment trivia. The apparent intention was to have witty people have discussions about topical issues, but it fails because a: Chapman is always flicking on to the next item on his list, and b: well, the participants may aspire to be wits, but based on the evidence, they’re at best half-way there and further progress seems improbable. Don’t waste your time on this amateurish rubbish.

Like the format of this show but am constantly frustrated by being unable to make out what Wallace says. He rushes his speech and is tripping over his words all the time. I don't have any hearing problem but I miss up to 50% of what Wallace says. Am also very disappointed and frustrated by the number of male guests who dominate, interrupt and talk over other guests, particularly female guests, when they've barely started speaking. It's rude and some of us want to hear what the other person was saying. Let the host interrupt. Ask other guests not to for the sake of listeners.

But... was much more compelling with Jim Mora as host. Wallace Chapman, the host, sometimes (often) cannot resist giving us a big dose of Wallace 🥱! Nevertheless it’s usually a pithy show and well paced.