The last season of Radar Across the Pacific, in which the eponymous host set himself the task of fixing his lamentable lack of knowledge about our Pacific neighbours an island at a time, was inexplicably assigned to Tuesday nights.
Although there are many known unknowns in TV programming, one certainty is that audiences will not watch a show of this genre on a week night, whatever its merits. So it was entirely predictable the show failed to make much of a ratings splash.
Less predictably, TVNZ has commissioned another season. Even better, it has been put in the 8pm Sunday slot, where even a middling series of this sort draws plenty of eyeballs.
It is a better than merely average show, though, with nice work from all the behind-the-scenes team. But ultimately its appeal rests on the frizzy haired, bespectacled head of Te Radar, a weight he carries with avuncular aplomb.
Given the series' stated aim, it's obviously essential you're left feeling you've learned something and it reliably does. The delivery is key, however, and Te Radar's unfeigned, enthusiastic interest in his interview subjects and the history and customs of their homes, as well as his willingness to play the good-natured buffoon abroad, is Across the Pacific's not remotely secret weapon.