Best of the Blogs: Story? It would be nice to have a few

Heather du Plessis-Allen and Duncan Garner host Story on TV3.

We’re looking back at our columnists most popular pieces from 2015. Today, how did Duncan Garner and Heather du Plessis-Allan fare in their first week? Paul Casserly takes a closer look at a week's worth of Story.

The drama that had already transpired had created a fertile bed for Story to grow in.

There was that secret assignation at the Bolton Hotel in Wellington when Heather was being turned from being a TVNZ loyalist by the black ops of TV3's news and current affairs. It was like something out of The Americans, without the wigs.

The new weekly show is also the latest recipient of the most infamous hospital pass of our televisual history. First it was Road Cops that copped it for occupying the ground zero left behind by Campbell Live, then Come Dine With Me NZ stumbled into the smoldering hole.

But just a few nights into Story, the four-nightly current affairs show hosted by Duncan Garner and Heather du Plessis-Allan (HDPA), and it finally feels like the dust has begun to settle. Ratings wise, Seven Sharp will always be a tough bastard to knock off, but Story already has the makings of something worthy of the time-slot.

Living up to what came before will be a tougher task. You certainly sense that nothing long-winded will be allowed to exist in this pacey half hour. Things move quickly here. That's both a plus and a minus, as getting to the heart of any particular story will lose out in favour of tabloid tropes and sensational hidden camera capers, both of which have been in play for the first week.

Here's what I made of a week's worth of Story.

Monday

Graphics alert. Obvious word-play alarm. Place your head between you knees and breathe. I could nit-pick my way through the set, music and other packaging trivia, but let's bypass that pointless exercise and get stuck into the hosts.

Both are young thrusters who have come down the road marked Parliamentary Press Gallery, like past notables, Campbell, Ralston and Lord Sainsbury. Garner's DNA contains some of that Ralston mongrel which has also recently emerged in Patrick Gower.

Luckily Garner has also started to collect some 'man of the people' status points, aka some Sainsbury, via his radio show, where his enthusiasm, bluster and some regional road trips have made great use of the space between the ads.

Heather has a solid track record too, and also has a bit of mongrel along with her assassin smile. Most refreshingly, she is not here to play second fiddle, and wastes no time getting stuck into some real-estate agents for her first trick. One of them resigns as a result, which is known as a 'scalp' in the industry. As much as I find real-estate folk grating, I can't celebrate someone losing their job, so that's a bum note for me ...

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