Frontseat's Back, It's Earlier And It's Online.

Frontseat's Back, It's Earlier And It's Online.

A new time slot, a new way to view, a new national poll, a new sponsor and a hot team of local personalities herald Frontseat's 2007 season on TV One.

Morning is the new evening, according to the new season's photo shoot for the arts show Frontseat. Frontseat returns to TV One on Saturday 3rd March in the new timeslot of 8.00am. Snuggling up together over croissants & coffee, in a pose re-imagining Annie Leibovitz's Fleetwood Mac portrait for Rolling Stone magazine, are host Oliver Driver, reporter Josie McNaught, and correspondents Noelle McCarthy, Jon Bridges and Chad Taylor. The photograph was reconstructed by gifted Auckland portrait artist Kirsty Griffin.

Feedback from the arts community has often included comments about the late hour of the show's broadcast. The show now has a consistent new 8.00am Saturday timeslot. And for arts-lovers who wish to view Frontseat at their leisure, this year for the first time stories from each episode of Frontseat will be available on the TV One website immediately after broadcast.

Now into its 4th year, Frontseat is well established as the weekly appointment for the latest news and rising stars in Kiwi arts and culture. "I'm darned proud to front an arts show that's maintained its credibility within the arts community whilst being irreverent and opinionated. And it looks great too," says Oliver Driver.

Producer Gemma Gracewood and reporter Josie McNaught return to the show. Also back this season is The Front Row, a popular feature which gives local personalities the chance to look at the arts from a different angle. Proving the strength of Frontseat's brand in attracting impressive talent, three high-profile, arts savvy names present the Front Row this season. They are novelist Chad Taylor, broadcaster Noelle McCarthy and humourist Jon Bridges.

Taylor made his Frontseat debut in Paris last November at Les Belles Etrangeres literary festival. His most recent novel is "Departure Lounge" and he was voted NZ's sexiest author by Sunday magazine. McCarthy is a Newstalk ZB host who featured at the top of the Sunday Herald's recent "power list" and tackled censorship for Frontseat last season. Bridges is a regular Listener columnist and notorious TradeMe trader "spellnazi". Last season he revealed the problem with poetry and uncovered the art in everyday jobs.

This year Frontseat will be at AK07 Auckland Festival, taking the viewers into the backstage areas, on-stage and beyond. Regular New Zealanders will talk about the art that surrounds them, there will be a "must-see" arts diary, and once again viewers will be polled on an important aspect of Kiwi culture.

Frontseat is made by Wellington production house Gibson Group, producer of high quality, strongly branded arts programming. Under the helm of executive producers Dave Gibson and Gary Scott, director John Hagen, researcher Gabe McDonnell, production manager Zelda Edwards and editor Raewyn Humphries complete the Frontseat team.

Frontseat's new sponsor, Resene, is recognised for its support of the arts through sponsorship and the creation of specific paint products for the arts sector's needs in areas such as film and art galleries.

Ends

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