Sunday morning TV emerges from aestivation

Dare I sat it but I'm a fan of the Sunday morning TV current affairs shows which today emerged from the cocoon of their summer aestivation. I switched (more accurately channel surfed) between Sunday on Channel 9 and Insiders on the ABC.

As usual Sunday had the wider ranging program including an inertview - correction interview - with the PM in which Mr Howard demonstrated his ability to deal with all that Laurie Oakes could throw (or gently lob) at him.

Insiders has been extended to an hour: a lengthy news bulletin at the beginning appears to soak up most of the additional time, though this may have been an illusion created by Kim Beazley's contribution, which embodied a disingenuous shafting of Simon Crean and disclosure of his new physical fitness regime (whichhe says includes regular swimming and walking) . It's a pity that he didn't disclose his plans (if he has any) to reduce his verbosity The panel is usually the most interesting part of the program, and today was no exception. The participants Virginia Trioli, Matt Price and, in the bogeyman's seat on the right of the set, Andrew Bolt. AB held his fire until VT had shown enough of her limited hand for him to trump her with some characteristically incisive questions and make her look a fool. MP maintained his customary composure and good sense leavened with some wry comments but had enough sense not to move into the crossfire between AB and VT. I rarely agree with Bolt but have a grudging admiration for his ability to focus on issues (usually on his terms) and to avoid being distracted by peripheral matters.

The ABC has augmented its Sunday m0rning schedule with Offsiders, a sports panel show which is an Insiders spinoff using the same set and some of the same cast. At least Barrie Cassidy looks (and sounds) like a sports caller and Matt Price, judging from his writings in the Australian, seems to have a good feel for many sports. But the other commentators are specialists, which means that they will be speaking a foreign tongue (or at best a dialect) if their sport, such as the various football codes, does not have a broad national following. Today the avuncular rugby commentator, whose name eludes me, was speaking to the converted, whih meant that he lost me after a couple of sentences. Perhaps Peter Wilkins, whose years doing the sports summary for ABC news have given him a working knowledge of most sports, could be drafted onto the panel.