John Drinnan: Lack of chemistry meant Sunrise never got to shine

'Sunrise' presenters Oliver Driver and Carly Flynn. Photo / Herald on Sunday

Nobody can accuse TV3 of rushing to close the curtain on ASB Business and Sunrise. Maybe Sunrise might have worked long term.

But after 2 years, it has not shone. TV3 bosses never nailed the format, which sought to copy TVNZ's Breakfast, but on smaller budgets.

More obviously, there was the Paul Henry factor.

Henry delivers an erratic mix of journalism and shock-jock populism. Pippa Wetzell plays the glamorous sidekick shocked by Henry's naughty antics. It works.

Over at Sunrise, there was never that chemistry. In the early days, James Coleman was an odd choice as frontman and showed little rapport with co-host Carly Flynn. Coleman was replaced by Oliver Driver, who delivered a small Auckland following.

Like Henry, he polarised the limited number of morning TV viewers. And the numbers were never big enough.

One Sunrise supporter was veteran adman Martin Gillman, who said the show had boosted the audience for breakfast TV overall.

He said Breakfast had improved with competition and questioned whether TVNZ would now put less effort into the show.

TV3 has said it cancelled Sunrise because it wanted to focus on prime time. But a MediaWorks source has said part of the reason for backing the show against the odds was the concern that if they did abandon the breakfast market, it would be difficult to return.