TUBE TALK By John T. Forde
Kim And Kiefer Keep It Real
Amid the mindless crap generated by politicians during election time, it’s nice to know there are two tireless troupers
fighting for good tube time.
On One News’s Leaders’ Debate series, Kim Hill has smirked, probed and argued her way through political party leaders in
TV1’s best news coverage since Paul Holmes interviewed (and got squelched by) Joan Collins.
Across the airwaves, the even more dishy Kiefer Sutherland high-kicked and machine-gunned his way through the final of
TV3’s gripping, masochistic real-time thriller drama, 24.
OK, so Kimmy is real and Kiefer is playing a fictional cop, but they both have great hair, gravelly voices, and ice-cool
instincts in the face of danger.
Once Queen of the Airwaves on National Radio’s Nine till Noon show, Kimmy’s interviewing skills are unmatchable – she’s
smart, well-informed, and always, always sticks to her guns.
Naturally, I’d never expected to see her on TV, where good interviewing gets lost in the swamps of ads, sound bites and
ratings-driven stupidity. But forget John Campbell’s attempt to pussy-whip Helen Clark over Corngate – Kim is TV’s new
cool cat.
In Leader’s Debate, Kim has almost succeeded in making a crap-free form of TV political debate. No worms, no focus
groups, no silly Sale of the Century podiums with flashy lighting – just Kimmy in a well-cut pinstripe suit, a table in
Parliament’s debating chamber, and some slightly twitchy-looking politicians.
Admittedly, it makes bizarre viewing. Clearly panicked at the lack of action, some TV1 producer had about 5 cameras
trained, Big Brother-style, on the interviews, and darted nervously from angle to angle. But mercifully, Kimmy’s been
given time to hit her stride and develop a reasonable question flow. To her credit, she juggles ad breaks without ever
seeming rushed or out of time. Bravo, girlfriend!
While Kimmy was playing cat-and-mouse with the Green Party, Kiefer was coming to the end of a very long night in 24’s
suitably cliffhanger finale. Just when the series made me so paranoid that I was convinced Kiefer was the enemy, and was
trying to betray himself to the Serbians, all was revealed. Nina, his coolly beautiful colleague, turned out to be the
Mole and source of all evil!
In the hair-is-destiny world of 24, no one suspected Nina, with her impeccably silky black bob, of going bad. But she
sure made the most of her new Robo-Bitch status – murmuring evil nothings in Bosnian into her cellphone while running
down corridors blowing away security guards with a huge gun.
But for good hair in the face of adversity, it was Kiefer’s show through and through. After enduring 24 hours of
sleeplessness, kidnapping, extortion, and being slapped around by evil guest star Dennis Hopper, Kiefer looked
sweat-free and fabulous – and somehow managed to get his roots redone along the way.
Sadly, neither Kimmy nor Kiefer will last – 24 has finished, and the election will – mercifully – one day be over. But
for a moment, they were TV’s sexiest almost-couple. Maybe one day they’ll adopt me and teach me to load an assault rifle
while cross-examining Jim Anderton on KiwiBank.
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