Alex Casey 
Jordan was ravenous for love on the Bachelor NZ this week, overnighting with Naz and Fleur – but sending poor Erin home after she failed to notice he is physically indistinguishable from Aragorn. It was all hometowns and fantasy dates this week or, as The Bachelor NZ likes to call it “terrible chat with a brother-in-law … Read more
Alex Casey assembles her favourite celebrity appearances from the BBC comedy Extras, created by Ricky Gervais and Stephen Merchant. Forever shadowed by The Office, and more recently Ricky Gervais’ atrociously long pre-recorded intro to the NZ Comedy Festival, Extras is the wondrous second TV comedy masterpiece from Stephen Merchant and Ricky Gervais. I love Extras. I love … Read more
Alex Casey delivers her power rankings for week eight on The Bachelor NZ, including more Middle Earth than you can shake an earring at, and the pact that broke the camel’s back. Happy to report that it only took until week eight of The Bachelor NZ for something to happen that made me cry with laughter. It began … Read more
Alex Casey delivers her power rankings for week seven on The Bachelor NZ, including the rise of Naz and Kate’s shocking ocean release. What’s the point in trying to rank, predict, or follow anything to do with The Bachelor NZ anymore. Let’s all just go to Waitangi and get plastered in elaborate gowns, because apparently … Read more
Alex Casey transforms into a high society Aucklander for a day as an extra on the Filthy Rich set, and discovers the truth about glamour and stardom the hard way. “And there’s these…” the wardrobe woman said, presenting me with some enormous diamanté earrings. I hadn’t worn earrings since I was 13 because my friends used to tell … Read more
With The Mindy Project returning from hiatus to Lightbox soon, Alex Casey assembles some of her hopes and dreams for the rest of the season. Contains spoilers. Season four of The Mindy Project went on hiatus in December, leaving us all in a cold sweat over whether or not Mindy was about to tearfully say … Read more
Alex Casey assembles her contestant power rankings for week six, including stolen dogs, a birthday for Naz and a daredevil massage. Ah well Rebecca, that’s us then. Farewell to the greatest potential reality TV love story ever told. Farewell to the book deal resulting in a global bestseller, the inevitable reality spin-off series called Pinky … Read more
Alex Casey assembles her contestant power rankings for week five, including ponytail nightmares, cow pyramid schemes and a tonne of spaghetti. It’s our last week in Hawaii and things are continuing to unravel. Jordan’s nearly worn out the bum of his floral boardies and is constantly dicing with death via these dramatic runs on the beach … Read more
Alex Casey assembles her contestant power rankings for week four, including Naz the poet laureate, bad tattoos and too many soft toys. Aloha minions, welcome to another week on the greatest show in the world, now bearing the once-in-a-lifetime offer in which you get to pay top dollar to sit somewhere near Jordan Mauger and The … Read more
In this topic-driven series, Alex Casey gets reality star Chrystal Chenery’s take on the world over coffee and scones. Her opinions about both her time in the spotlight and life in general were so fierce – and so candid – that we decided to publish them over the course of a week. Today she remembers Dancing With the Stars … Read more
In a week-long series, Alex Casey gets reality star Chrystal Chenery’s take on the world over coffee and scones. Her opinions about both her time in the spotlight and life in general were so fierce – and so candid – that we decided to publish them in a topic driven series. Click here for part one on The Bachelor, … Read more
In a week-long series, Alex Casey gets reality star Chrystal Chenery’s take on the world over coffee and scones. Her opinions about both her time in the spotlight and life in general were so fierce – and so candid – that it seemed appropriate to publish her responses in full. Today Chrystal talks about how men and … Read more
Alex Casey assembles her contestant power rankings for week three, including near-death experiences, cocktail kisses and a spectacular vomit from the frontrunner. It was a week that promised “thrills and spills” on The Bachelor NZ, a promise that mostly delivered on one contestant – and shortly after the entire nation – being sick in their mouths. … Read more
In a week-long series, Alex Casey gets reality star Chrystal Chenery’s take on the world over coffee and scones. First up: Chrystal shares some wisdom for our new Bachelorettes based on her time in the mansion last year. Chrystal became a reality star that outshone almost all other offerings in the ashes of the great MediaWorks … Read more
Alex Casey assembles her contestant power rankings for week two, including a wet t-shirt contest, arty conversations and the hit list to end all hit lists. This week on The Bachelor we saw a crummy dog wash, crummy paintball and a crummy mousse attack. Or as Mike Puru chose to describe it, a series of “spectacular” dates. … Read more
Alex Casey presents her first contestant power rankings for The Bachelor NZ 2016, including scabby tattoos, #wokeboarding and the return of Thingee. Welcome back friends, it’s been an eternity. How’s your health? How much of Art Green’s book did we get through over summer? I read one chapter and then ate a giant pile of … Read more
Alex Casey reviews the first episode of The Bachelor NZ, including bliss balls, gongs and a whole new meaning to the word “throw pillow.” “He could definitely be my future husband… I think.” And so the second season of The Bachelor NZ opened with a perfect “yeah, nah” blend of sincerity and trepidation. Almost instantly, the show … Read more
Alex Casey revisits clips from Miss Popularity on NZ On Screen, the reality competition where women were called “Boomerang Babes” and left at the mercy of the Australian Outback. 2005 was a strong year. I met Neville Longbottom at Armageddon whilst wearing a ‘Vote for Pedro’ badge, everyone at my school was either in love … Read more
Alex Casey recaps the second episode of Better Call Saul season two on Lightbox, featuring a piano, nacho cravings and an unspeakable act with an apple pie. We’re back for another week as Jimmy’s moral pendulum continues to swing frustratingly between Good Guy Greg and Scumbag Steve. Old mate Chuck is back too, playing his piano with … Read more
Alex Casey watches with bated breath as Art Green attempts to set a Guinness World Record for loudest apple crunch. “It’s an ethereal apple,” whispered Paul Paynter, fourth generation heir to the Yummy Fruit Company dynasty. We both stared in silence at the pristine bowl of apples, resting on a plinth behind thick studio glass. … Read more
Alex Casey introduces No Activity, the brilliantly funny Australian cop show where nothing ever really happens. What’s the story? Referred to as “the Seinfeld of cop shows” by The Sydney Morning Herald, No Activity plonks itself right down on the dashboard of a cop car during a series of painfully uneventful stakeouts. Watch policemen Hendy and … Read more
Alex Casey looks at DUKE, TVNZ’s new male-skewed channel, and asks who in history could be responsible for something so old-fashioned. Today TVNZ’s brand new male-skewed channel launched its dramatic branding, stepping into the regal winklepickers of the name DUKE. Good name, sounds like an XXL condom brand or an old-timey cologne. “Why we’ve done … Read more
Alex Casey recaps the return episode of Better Call Saul season two on Lightbox, including pinky rings, alcohol heists and poolside pondering. Contains spoilers. Sometimes it feels like Better Call Saul‘s Jimmy McGill is eerily close to me in the months following my graduation from university. We’re both disgusted by the idea of entering the workforce, both … Read more
Has the slimy old Spinoff found the new Bachelor for 2016? And has he been hiding in plain sight on TV3 the whole time? Alex Casey investigates his online presence to see if the tailored suit fits. This morning The Spinoff received word that Jordan Mauger is the next brave tribute stepping into Art Green’s non-existent shoes for the … Read more
Alex Casey over-analyses the first short teaser for The Bachelor NZ. The brand new, sequin-laden teaser promo for The Bachelor NZ dropped on Valentine’s Day harder than Matilda falling off a wild horse called Paris. And, much like the sensually stripped-back song that accompanies the 45 second clip, it’s got me all bloody shook up. … Read more
Alex Casey discovers the legendary stony-faced female detectives in Scandinavian thrillers The Bridge and The Killing, who swap the pantsuits for chunky knit jumpers and the smiles for scowls. It’s a pretty grim state of affairs when one simple Google search for “woman cop” yields these sort of results: Now that is just unrealistic. There’s not … Read more
Alex Casey revisits the 1998 Hero parade coverage on NZ On Screen with a little help from parade highlight, international model and TV legend Colin Mathura-Jeffree. It’s no secret that most parades are pretty terrible. The Santa parade is a hot mess of Farmers flyers, sticky children and begrudging Shortland Street cast members. The All Blacks … Read more
The Beauty Book is a publication aimed at making aging women feel terrible about their faces, bodies, brains and insides to sell them expensive procedures and snake venom. Alex Casey gifted the book to her Mum and noted her reactions. My mother is fifty-something years old. It’s not because she’s ashamed of her age that … Read more
Alex Casey breaks down all you need to know about Stan Lee’s Lucky Man, the new television show from none other than (you guessed it) Marvel legend Stan Lee. Stan Lee, Marvel chairman and creator of X Men, Spider Man, Iron Man and many other powerful lycra-wearing men, has released a new breed of everyday … Read more