Paul Casserly: An undignified end to an affair

Bevan Chuang. Photo / NZ Herald

As Bevan Chaung might say, I'm not naïve, I'm just foolish.

Much has been written about that interview last Sunday in which the foolish Bevan had the chance to set the record straight. She missed it of course, but performed as most of us expected she would. I took away two things: Nothing is her fault and she likes being on TV. It also confirmed my long held belief that anyone who ever says that they are "passionate" are invariably full of it. Ok so it's not as bad as when Christine Rankin described herself as "courageous" but it's highly egregious none the less. A brief recap:

IAN SINCLAIR: Um, here's your public image - Bevan Chuang, mayor's mistress, burlesque dancer, political opportunist. Who's the real Bevan Chuang?

BEVAN: "I'm passionate about the community, and this is also the reason why I stood for the local election this year. As for my burlesque dancing ..." (There's a full transcript of the interview here.)

It was the perfectly undignified end to the scandal, summed up perfectly by Miriama Kamo as she tried to look exasperated and disgusted while urging us to come into the tent to watch the final chapter in the freak show. I was half expecting her to apologise and quit on the spot "That's it I'm off, this is not right, I'm sick of peddling this filth. I mean we're obviously rolling in it like a pig in muck ..." She didn't say that of course, but if you had the sound down you might have thought the camera operator had just dropped his or her guts by the expression on her face.

As she contorted her way to the big reveal I thought how we, the viewers, were just like Miriama. We sit in judgement as we lap up the juicy details. So we're not naïve, we know what's going on, but we're foolish because we keep making the same mistake over and over. Hats off to the people who made the promo for the interview. It was a perfectly constructed tabloid lure. I have to own up to my own unbridled excitement for the programme, which was naturally followed by a mild bout of depression and the feeling that I needed a shower. We can only hope that like Anna Guy, Bevan won't soon turn up with her own slot on 3rd Degree, but I wouldn't count on it. As for John Palino, well, he was probably the big loser in all of this as Bevan again dropped him balls deep in all the muck.

Some weekend TV picks:

Friday
Time of The Gypsies. (Rialto 11.10pm) This is a truly brilliant film that has few equals. This Serbian made comedic epic has so much heart and grit and what can only be described as magic. It's a trip and half and one of the few movies to feature a turkey in a starring role.

Saturday
Pro Bull Australia. (Country TV. 6pm) The Aussie version of the best show on the channel. Riders have 8 seconds to hold on to an angry beast. It's mesmerising viewing.

This Town. (TV1 7.30pm) What's the only place in New Zealand where it's legal to kill and eat the native hen known as the Weka? The Chatman Islands of course. This week's show tells the story of this far flung rock off the east coast of NZ, through the people who live there, including the lone policeman.

Sinatra: Dark Star. (10.30pm, History) A documentary that deals with the mob connections and political hob-knobbing of the greatest crooner of all time. There's a reason his photo hangs in Tony Soprano's office wall. That's right, old blue eyes was the Tupac of his day, or was he? That's what the makers of this programme seek to 'uncover'.