What did TVNZ expect?

The headline in the Herald on Sunday says it all; Audience dives since Henry's departure - read on:

Paul Henry's departure from Breakfast has been followed by a drop in the show's ratings.

In the four weeks since the controversial host left TVNZ's hugely popular programme, the total weekly audience reach has fallen from 988,600 viewers to 806,800.

What on earth did TVNZ expect when they pulled out the chequebook and accepted Paul Henry's resignation? To all intents and purposes, Breakfast WAS Paul Henry, and to a slightly lesser extent, Pippa Witzell, who will soon be leaving the show as well to have her third child.

TVNZ bowed to public pressure; the clamour of a noisy few whose numbers included trade unionists and professional activists. The biggest surprise is probably that viewership numbers have only dropped by around 20%. The numbers will not have to drop much further before advertisers vote with their budgets, by which time the Henry-less Breakfast will be dead in the water.

Paul Henry is provocative. Paul Henry is in-your-face. Paul Henry knows what buttons to push. Paul Henry also knows where the line in the sand is, and knows that sometimes, the line has to be crossed. His comments about Anand Satynand were crass, but the outcry over his mispronunciation of Sheila Dikshit's name was over the top.

So anyway, for no other reason that because we can, here's the moment which was the last straw for TVNZ; possibly, as far as Breakfast goes, the straw that broke the camel's back: