Farewell Fair Go: Looking back at the great Kiwi tv institution
In The Life and Times of a Brown Paper Bag, the 2010 book that presenter Kevin Milne wrote to mark the end of his long career on Fair Go, he remembers inquiring of then-TVNZ boss Rick Ellis how long he thought the soon-to-be-axed consumer show might last.
“For as long as it rates was his answer. Fair enough. In a perfect world, I suppose I’d love to have heard: ‘For as long as it proves a lifeline to Kiwis in need. It’s inextricably part of TVNZ’s brand now, like Country Calendar. We owe it so much.’”
Fair Go began on April 7, 1977. Its present team were hoping they would celebrate a 50th birthday in a few years. But with TVNZ’s gutting of its current affairs offerings, that’s it for Fair Go, the second-longest running show (after Country Calendar) on NZ television.
The show has had 50 or more presenters and reporters in its time. Some, like Milne and his first-generation FG colleagues Brian Edwards, Philip Alpers and Kerre Woodham, became household names from their time on the show. For some, like Kim Hill, Sharon Crosbie, Carol Hirschfeld and Amanda Millar, it was a springboard.
Since the show’s beginnings, many of its stars appeared in the pages of the Listener. Put all those features, profiles and reviews together and you would have a potted history of the show. Well, there’s an idea …
April 1977
Hardheaded interviewer Brian Edwards and producer Peter Morritt kick off a consumer show for Television One based on viewers’ complaints. Reporters Spencer Jolly and Gillian McGregor make up the initial line-up and the show also features a sideline in buyer-beware comedy skits.
Morritt: We’re interested in the little people either as citizens, employees, patients or consumers.
Edwards: One good thing about it is that if only one person in a dispute is willing to appear, then we will still go ahead. In the old NZBC days, if both sides weren’t able to be presented then the story wasn’t run.
Spencer Jolly: We’re not off on a crusade but rather we’ll act as prompt for people on both sides of a dispute. Some may not be very articulate, and that may be the crux of the problem.
Among the stories Jolly covers in the first episodes is a letter from a boy who has had no luck in lolly scrambles. He is sent home happy.