And Maori Television has plenty of moments that make it a surrogate SBS. If you missed the wonderful Maori architecture series Whare Maori you missed a beauty.
NZ On Air has also been providing plenty of public service with docudramas like the Billy T James biopic Billy as well as incisive political discourse on 7Days. For comedy there's Q&A and The Nation.
This revealing outburst from John Banks, on The Nation inspired Madeleine Sami to make an inspired acceptance speech at the AFTA TV awards. Sami, who picked up the best actress gong, paraphrased Bank's dribble saying that only a few months ago she was 'hanging around with her brown mates in South Auckland, smoking dope and planning criminal activity', and now she's on TV winning an award!
It was a brilliant end to a year that saw her giving Chris Lilley a run for his money with her super series Super City. While it's an easy comparison to make, let's not forget that Sami has being doing her multiple character carry-on for yonks before Lilley came on the scene.
That said, the Australian is of course an absolute genius, even if his latest show Angry Boys isn't quite as brilliant as Summer Heights High. That's the problem with perfection. It's hard to replicate.
You probably wouldn't expect to see Prime's newsreader Eric Young on this list but he is and here's why.
But as satisfying and rock 'n roll as giving the old fashioned fingers is, you would have to say that being caught having sex, live on the news, is positively Keith Richards like.
Wendy Petrie may deny it but you can clearly see her male 'friend' retrieving his underpants at around 35 seconds on this video. Outstanding.
Just as I loved Winston Peters clawing his way out of the political coffin (let's not think about the zombies he has in tow), I also loved every minute of Republican Presidential hopeful Herman Cain.
You could be forgiven for thinking you were watching Clay Davis on The Wire as Cain lurched from insane economic theories to touching up anything in a skirt when he wasn't busy cheating on his wife.
His final words, "I've made peace with my God and my wife" were as sad as the look on his wife's face from the back of the podium. As Anita McNaught pointed out via Twitter the "Ridiculous conduct and rhetoric of #GOP candidates makes #Ahmadinejad look like a world-class statesman."
Cain can also lay claim to having the weirdest campaign commercial ever.
A strange side effect to all this is that there's never been a better time to watch Fox News. Much derided and usually rightly so, the channel actually comes into it's own during the Republican nomination season.
They really know about this stuff and it's remarkable to watch them seriously discussing their own people as opposed to constantly bagging the enemy (ie: people who read books). It's as if they drop their guard and forget for a moment that they are meant to act like c***s. I guess that's why The Colbert Report copies this stuff, it's entertaining.
But there's an even better reason to like Fox News, according to a lovely theory doing the rounds, they are actually helping Obama's chances of re-election.
As for sport, well, the All Blacks were alright, although it was all clinically missionary, with an anxious and slightly unsatisfactory climax. The Black Caps on the other hand have capped it off with a stunning win that reminded us, that at it's best, test cricket can be like painfully slow but ultimately orgasmic, tantric sex.
If you've ever wondered how good the All Blacks are when it comes to keeping their sponsors happy? Or what Ma'a Nonu got up to at school? This gem from Toi Iti"s world cup coverage on Maori Television will enlighten you.
