Right On, the Telegraph's new political talkshow - one of seven online TV offerings the group is launching - debuted today.
Sitting alongside Tory MP Ann Widdecombe and assistant editor Andrew Pierce, presenter Guy Ruddle promised it would be "the new political show that has a good lunch and then speaks its mind."
Well, there was very little evidence of a good lunch - despite the white wine available, the many glasses laid out before the panel were left untouched.
But there's no question it spoke its collective mind. The interesting thing about newspaper groups embracing audio and video is how they are liberated from the need for impartiality that binds conventional broadcasting. From the title onwards, the programme unashamedly takes a rightwing perspective, analysing the problems of Cameron's Tory party from the inside - though not necessarily sympathetically - and gleefully laying into Labour.
So we had Widdecombe and Pierce engaging in a robust discussion of Tory shortlists that gave political correctness short shrift. And then the highlight: Heffer Confronted, in which the columnist Simon Heffer went head to head with his moderate interlocutor, the blogger Iain Dale.
With their heads shot against a black background - the way Mel Smith and Griff Rhys Jones did their tete-a-tetes - the two squared up over Heffer's latest column, on the quality of today's MPs. "Most people go into politics because they can't get a job playing a piano in a brothel," was one of Heffer's pithier remarks.
The Heff has potential as a TV star - but he has little of the charm of fellow rightwing pundit Boris Johnson. And Dale was a bit of a weak foil - maybe someone more obviously lefty is needed to goad Heffer and get the sparks flying.
Then we had Westminster Whispers, in which Andrew Pierce strode around outside parliament dispensing gossip. It's a shame he was filmed from so many angles - it must have taken quite a lot of choreographing, but it was just distracting. Generally, the ITN-made show's production values were strong, however.
Will Right On - and its sister shows - find an audience? It's hard to say: its opinionated flavour is a novelty and there is perhaps a market for more Westminster navel-gazing, an appetite served only in far-flung nooks of the BBC, such as Andrew Neil's excellent This Week programme.
But it doesn't yet feel essential. Perhaps future scoops and guests wil raise its profile and enhance its appeal. I wonder too about the running time - 13 minutes is perhaps too much for the video-snackers, even though you can watch it in bite-sized chunks. But maybe it's not enough for the core geek audience, who might prefer to spend more like half an hour with the gang. It might even give the panel time to manage a sip of Chablis.
