The scuffle for TV news supremacy had just started to get interesting before our major current affairs shows went on their traditional summer break.
Although TVNZ's Breakfast and Seven Sharp led their rivals in the prized demographic of viewers aged 25-54 for much of 2018, both The AM Show and The Project closed that gap significantly over the year, with The AM Show even beating Breakfast in November.
Last Monday, those ratings battles began once again, with the shows' various presenters back behind their desks after a month of recharging their batteries. So how might 2019 be shaping up for all of them?
The Project
Kanoa Lloyd clearly doesn't subscribe to the notion of gently easing one's way into a new year.
The Project presenter was back on air for less than five minutes before she went for the jugular – specifically, that of NZ Cricket.
After mentioning Black Cap Scott Kuggeleijn's performance on the pitch this summer, Lloyd chastised NZ Cricket over their response to the player's earlier rape trials. The standout star of The Project pack is clearly in the mood for kicking butt and taking names this year – and I am here for it.
Meanwhile, co-host Jeremy Corbett opened his year with this witty observation upon hearing of Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern's gruelling schedule: "She must come home so crabby!"
Seven Sharp
Seven Sharp promised plenty of surprises ahead of their first show for 2019.
And they weren't kidding - they only went and got rid of their news desk, forcing hosts Hilary Barry and Jeremy Wells to cosy up together on a couch. A couch, I tell you!
Seven Sharp hosts, Hilary Barry and Jeremy Wells. Photo / Supplied
Wells' role in this "serious light infotainment show" also looks like it's being beefed up.
Over the first two days alone, we got to see him swatting flies with his kids, before he headed off to the pool to be filmed shirtless and in slow motion for a flutterboard challenge. At this rate, Seven Sharp will be a full Jeremy Wells sketch show by the end of year.
They've also hinted at him being given some of the big celebrity interviews that usually fall to Barry, and please, TV gods, let this be so. I don't know about you, but I'm keen to see the world's biggest stars trying to figure Wells out.
The AM Show
To borrow a phrase from Jeremy Corbett, The AM Show's panel sure looked crabby to be back at work last week.
After five days of host Duncan Garner grumpily swiping at beneficiaries and railing against cannabis reform, he and his colleagues looked quite ready to see the back of each other by Friday morning.
At one point, resident sports grump Mark Richardson started talking about the country's cricket team in the '80s, "who all hated each other" but produced good cricket.
"The point I'm making is you don't have to get along to create something pretty good," he said.
"Well, our panel speaks for itself," newsreader Amanda Gillies quipped in response.
What is it they say about there being a grain of truth in every joke?
Meanwhile, the team over at TVNZ's Breakfast looked stoked to be back together, even if newsreader/sassmaster Daniel Faitaua did admit he hadn't missed any of his colleagues over the summer break.
He, Hayley Holt, Jack Tame and Matty McLean all looked bright-eyed and bushy-tailed on set. They cracked jokes together. They knocked back celery juice together.
Holt, especially, looked much more relaxed a year into her Breakfast gig – so relaxed, in fact, that by Wednesday she'd apparently forgotten where she was and casually cracked a joke about incest, much to her colleagues' delight and/or horror.
The team were still impossibly perky by Friday morning, no doubt fuelled by all that celery juice, presenting a stark contrast to the vibe going on over at Three.
And it's this sort of contrast that gives viewers a choice when it comes to their daily TV current affairs, given that the content of each of the shows is often much the same.
At this stage, it looks like we'll be choosing between a somewhat uneven combination on The Project versus the great rapport between Seven Sharp's sketch duo, and the shiny, happy people on Breakfast versus the pricklier vibe over at The AM Show. Which of these proves to be the winning formula in 2019 remains to be seen.
