Motion of the Day
May 31st, 2010 at 2:03 pm by David FarrarFrom the order paper:
1. BRENDON BURNS to move, That this House note the final screening on Wednesday, 19 May 2010 on TV1, of Days of Our Lives, a “soap” aired over 30 years with 40,000-plus viewers, and the great disappointment felt by the faithful followers of this programme.
Will we also have motions mourning the end of Lost or American Idol I wonder?
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May 31st, 2010 at 2:06 pm
A salary of $140k for this?
Vote:May 31st, 2010 at 2:18 pm
And this is the man who styles himself on his web site as ‘Opposition spokesman on broadcasting and water’.
One must wonder if his brain has turned to the latter from wasting too much time being personally-involved with ‘Days of Our Lives’ on the former. Surely he’s got better things to do (but then I’m not from Christchurch so perhaps he actually IS reflecting local interest). But then again, perhaps the Cantebury water is so poor that he’s reduced to adding alcohol to it to mask the taste?
Do Helen, Phil and Trevor actually condone this waste of their party’s parliamentary time – surely there are far more important activites this MP can do – like looking for dirt of the terrible Mr. Key.
Bizarre, to say the least.
Vote:May 31st, 2010 at 2:19 pm
I was hoping you were joking.
Vote:May 31st, 2010 at 2:29 pm
Labour is obviously interested in picking up the sad lonely cat-owning woman demographic that previously voted for Peters.
Vote:May 31st, 2010 at 2:37 pm
These motions are brown sticky and stink.
Vote:May 31st, 2010 at 2:38 pm
I was under the impressions that the said “Days of our Lives” was loosely biographical of the Labour caucus
Vote:May 31st, 2010 at 2:42 pm
Dear Brendon
One word: Torrent.
Love, Ben
Vote:May 31st, 2010 at 2:44 pm
ps am I the only person that thought the last episode of Lost was absolutely freaking awesome?
Vote:May 31st, 2010 at 2:49 pm
I don’t care what you say, Brendon Burns is one of the greatest comedians on circuit today, although I must admit that I thought that he was an Aussie.
Vote:May 31st, 2010 at 2:57 pm
@nickb – my thoughts exactly.
This is so disappointing, can Labour not do better than this?
Vote:May 31st, 2010 at 2:58 pm
I want a refund on the 140K.
Vote:May 31st, 2010 at 3:02 pm
Ben at 2.44pm: ps am I the only person that thought the last episode of Lost was absolutely freaking awesome?
No, not really. I kinda figured after the third season that the writers had no idea where they were going, and I didnt see anything in the finale to change my mind. The basic formula is throw in a whole lot of symbolism, crowd the scenery with more and more actors, introduce ludicrous and nonsensical plot lines and be as obscure as possible. The gullible audience decides there is some cleverly disguised overarching theme, and hey presto – instant mythology. Thomas Pynchon would be proud. Sucked me in good anyway.
Vote:May 31st, 2010 at 3:09 pm
And thus did the brain addled housewives of Christchurch recognise their King, and annointeth him with votes.
Vote:May 31st, 2010 at 3:23 pm
Here you have the genesis of the new ‘relevant’ labour party.
‘The Young and the Stupid’
Vote:May 31st, 2010 at 3:23 pm
Geez, opposition must be hard. All that time on one’s hands to think up great ideas for the people of New Zealand. Clearly there’s nothing more important than the screening of an American soap opera.
He does realise that the episodes all get posted on YouTube daily?
Vote:May 31st, 2010 at 3:29 pm
I forgot that this could be a salient issue to Labour voters. The unemployed dole bludgers will be pissed off when their daytime TV show gets cut.
Vote:May 31st, 2010 at 3:33 pm
Ben – I give it 9/10 for the way they resolved the original timeline on Lost, epic stuff. As for the other timeline…for the sake of avoiding spoilers, let’s call it the LOAD OF OLD BOLLOCKS timeline, a generous 5/10.
Vote:May 31st, 2010 at 3:40 pm
Ha ha funny…
The only thing I can really remember about Days of Our Lives was watching it while at Primary School on those beige coloured days of the early 80s whenever I had a sick day (nothing much else on till ‘After School’) and was fascinated though by the Strangler character (really creepy serial killer) they had for a while (kind of character that always pops up on soaps from time to time including your Coro and Shortland Streets)…
It is all on the Net now and if you have cable (SKY Digital or Saturn TV) then no doubt it will be on one of the channels…
I was more of a fan of Dallas and later The Bold and the Beautiful (which was totally way over the top – one character even had her plane crash, got amnesia and married a middle eastern prince… )…
DPF: ‘Will we also have motions mourning the end of Lost or American Idol I wonder?’
Heaven forbid if they cancel Coro Street here as there will be the biggest outcry ever (remember when they tried trimming that back) as plenty of constituents from both National and Labour watch that…
Vote:May 31st, 2010 at 3:46 pm
Isn’t this the man who used to be editor of the Marlborough Express? Well, Blenheim must have been pleased to have got rid of him.
Christchurch women can’t be held responsible. They, and the men, voted National solidly in 2008.
We ought to send Burns a bill for the wasted parliamentary time at about $60,000 per minute – alongside Trevor Mallard (silly jokey half-hour recently), Annette King (floods of silly questions), and Hone Harawira (boasting of his background in trouble at school and in prison, instead of trying to set a good example as he is paid to do).
Oh, speaking of Christchurch women – Rex Widerstrom and davidp, I suggest you spend your time trying to clean up and raise the intellectual standard of (almost entirely male-run) NZ television. Not flinging out bits of meaningless, unjustified, and stereotypical abuse of women.
Vote:May 31st, 2010 at 3:58 pm
land3>Rex Widerstrom and davidp, I suggest you spend your time trying to clean up and raise the intellectual standard of (almost entirely male-run) NZ television. Not flinging out bits of meaningless, unjustified, and stereotypical abuse of women.
Why would I want to spend my time improving NZ television? I hardly watch any of it. But I’m happy to give it a go if you’re willing to employ me to do so. What salary are you offering?
Vote:May 31st, 2010 at 4:06 pm
FFS
Vote:May 31st, 2010 at 4:20 pm
Is parliamentary time really worth this?
If I pay taxes, I need to trust the political process. When such a process discusses the programming of US soap operas that only the sad and lost will ever see, then it is ti,e to start evading taxes and lying about my income.
Vote:May 31st, 2010 at 4:44 pm
No actual time will be spent debating this motion, unless something badly goes wrong. It will just sit on the order paper for a few weeks then drop off.
Vote:May 31st, 2010 at 5:50 pm
Burns would even struggle to submit a decent bowel motion.
Vote:May 31st, 2010 at 6:20 pm
I once saw a congressman in the States move a motion to recognise the importance of little league baseball…
Vote:May 31st, 2010 at 6:56 pm
This useless parasitic carpet bagger is a total embarrassment to any credible person living in New Zealand. He is a total insult to the Burns name. No wonder we borrow a billion a month so deranged cretins like this can play school in that cess pit called the Beehive. FFS!
Vote:May 31st, 2010 at 7:30 pm
Clearly there’s nothing more important than the screening of an American soap opera.
I think the english soap Coro street is right up there.
NZ will have three days of mourning on its final episode… no motion required.
Vote:May 31st, 2010 at 9:22 pm
Whatever comes out of this guys mouth is a motion!
Vote:May 31st, 2010 at 10:11 pm
land3:
Welcome to Kiwiblog. I see you’ve picked up the modus operandi of some regular posters fairly quickly: make shit up and then use it to launch ad homs on people who’ve been round far longer than you.
TVNZ’s programming was controlled for years by Annemarie Duff, under whom TV1′s audience share fell from 55 per cent to 37 per cent in its key demographic of viewers aged 25 to 54. She was replaced by Jane Wilson. Karen Bieleski is the programmer at Prime TV. Juliet Jensen runs TVNZ Digital..
See where this is going? In fact just have a read of Why Women Control What We Watch on TV then follow Keoith Holyoake’s advice to newcomers… spend your first year breathing through the nose.
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