KEY POINTS:
It was named the Best Drama Serial at the British Academy Television Awards, earned 10 Emmy Award nominations and has been hailed worldwide as one of the best things on the box.
So why did TVNZ choose to programme the BBC Dickensian drama Bleak House at 10.25pm on
a Sunday evening?
Herald reviewer Frances Grant called the series a "great, sprawling feast" and praised the "tantalisingly diverse cast", however, she was quick to point out the programme's unobliging time slot.
Professor Les Holborow, former vice-chancellor of Victoria University, said scheduling practices meant quality programmes rarely got the exposure they deserve.
Professor Holborow was one of several prominent New Zealanders who wrote an open letter to TVNZ in February 2006, calling for radical change at the network.
The letter, signed by among others, Sir Edmund Hillary, Sir Michael Hardie Boys and Dame Catherine Tizard, said the broadcaster had been hijacked and abused by advertisers and the Government.
Professor Holborow conceded there had been some improvement, in terms of content on TV One, but noted that quality programmes were still being sidelined to off-peak hours.
"We were certainly pleased with some of the programmes over summer, which is of course the non-peak period. It showed that good quality programmes can be made and are well-received when they are shown."
The programme preceding Bleak House, in the prime time slot of 8.30pm, was the British television film Who Gets the Dog?
The film, about a couple's divorce proceeding, was labelled "a truly terrible programme," by The Guardian reviewer Sarah Dempster.
Dempster criticised the film on several levels, saying: "While the writing either plodded or cartwheeled, the performances swung between adequate and desperate. Steadman was Steadman, with added Kleenex. Pierson was so wooden I wanted to reach into the screen and flick her around her stylish office like a ball of paper, just to see if the sudden onset of intense pain would cause her expression to change."
General Manager of programming for TVNZ, Jane Wilson, justified the scheduling decision saying the Sunday Theatre slot was reserved for one-off dramas, not series.
She added: "We felt that the excellent Bleak House eight-part series fitted well with the arts slot which we have established, directly following on from Sunday Theatre."
