Alex Casey 
TVNZ announced they will be launching an all-new “male-skewed” channel. Alex Casey asks CEO Kevin Kenrik why. Hey guys! Big news! Men got something else today! A nice big roomy TVNZ channel especially for them. A lad’s night channel. A Dad bod channel. A man cave channel. A “male skewed” channel that, if it had … Read more
Alex Casey chats to Quentin Tarantino about dipping his toes in television, and asks if will ever see him commit to the small screen. He’ll never watch it again, but that doesn’t mean you don’t have to. Click below to watch Quentin Tarantino’s episode of CSI, available on Lightbox (S05E24) This content, like all our television … Read more
Alex Casey recounts the harrowing experience of waiting to interview Quentin Tarantino (scroll down for part one of the video interview at the end). “Oh, Aaalex!” he exclaimed. “You’re a girl! What a surprise!” I laughed louder than I’ve ever laughed in my entire life, and bellowed “AND THERE ARE MORE SURPRISES COMING,” at the approximate volume … Read more
Alex Casey talks to Carly Chaikin, star of Golden Globe-winning cyber-drama Mr Robot, about fake hacking, Fight Club and predicting the grim future. Warning: contains spoilers. One of the most exciting new television shows of last year, Mr Robot introduced a world to us full of corporate greed, social media slaves and vigilante hacker groups. … Read more
Alex Casey watches the return episode of Shortland Street for 2016, following the harrowing cliffhanger that left many Ferndale lives hanging in the balance. To ease myself into the return of Shortland Street, I rewatched the last jaw-dropping five minutes of the dramatic Christmas finale. It all came back. Hairs on end, eyes prickling with tears, SOL3 … Read more
To support his controversial claims that women are not “hardwired” to play chess, chess grandmaster Nigel Short played 20 women at once in Auckland’s Aotea Square. Alex Casey watched the games play out, and spoke to some young women looking to keep this king in check. A middle-aged man wearing a pink shirt eyeballs a ten … Read more
Inside the Lightbox is a sponsored post where we mine the extensive Lightbox catalogue for shows you might like to watch. This week we line up some of the shining stars from the 73rd Golden Globe awards, including Mozart in the Jungle, Transparent and Mr Robot. THE WINNERS Mozart in the Jungle Mozart in the Jungle is … Read more
To usher in a new look for 2016, female TVNZ presenters were told that they must keep their arms covered at all times. The Spinoff has censored their imagery accordingly and has filed all bare armskin away in this exclusive sealed section. If you missed the news, over the weekend a briefing document sent to TVNZ … Read more
Alex Casey watches the premiere of The Bachelor US, and notes down some powerful first impression techniques that could be used effectively in this year’s season of The Bachelor NZ. If there are two things that I like in this world, it’s The Bachelor franchise and delicious home-style cookies just like Grandma used to make. … Read more
Earlier this year Alex Casey watched Putting Our Town on the Map, a 1995 documentary on NZ On Screen that unearthed the bizarre origins and rituals around Paeroa’s L&P bottle and Ohakune’s giant carrot. Our host Miranda Harcourt is taking us around New Zealand, looking at what different small towns have done to put themselves on … Read more
Alex Casey watches UnREAL – a drama set behind-the-scenes of a Bachelor-esque reality show – with The Bachelor NZ runner-up Dani Robinson, who dishes the dirt on how real reality TV really is. Set behind-the-scenes of a Bachelor-style dating show, the fictional world of UnREAL hints at the dark methods used to construct reality TV. Co-created by Marti Noxon and … Read more
When Funny Girls was still but a twinkle in her eye, Rose Matafeo sat down with Alex Casey to talk about her eclectic TV upbringing, getting toenails in the mail and becoming a television star. // Rose Matafeo has already lived many television lives. Just 23, but already a grizzled showbiz vet, having been on the … Read more
Revisiting Alex Casey’s piece about ‘crotchgate’, an issue which took over the internet, broke our website, and revealed some heavy truths about shock jocks, women’s bodies and rape culture in New Zealand. I have spent a very large chunk of 2015 floating on the choppy whitecaps of the MediaWorks reality TV sea. I’ve recapped and … Read more
To mark the relaunch of the site in September 2015, Alex Casey decided to rank the entire Little Shop collection from New World. I see a girl screaming in the supermarket. She’s stamping her chubby feet and pulling at the tulle of her tutu in rage. “WHERE ARE THE LITTLE SHOPS MUMMY,” she shrieks, red-faced through … Read more
Not only were WIlly Moon and Natalia Kills electric TV talent, they also were involved in one of the strangest TradeMe auctions of the year. Alex Casey tracked down the man who tried to sell their used sheets, towels and hotel feedback form on TradeMe. Notwithstanding the furore enveloping ex-con Slim Shaedy, there was far more … Read more
A reissued post from July this year, days before the premiere of the much-anticipated Outrageous Fortune prequel Westside. Alex Casey talked to creator James Griffin about getting started in television, the perils of funding in New Zealand and the Van and Munter spin-off that time forgot. It’s a dizzying feeling to walk into the Grey Lynn villa where you … Read more
Alex Casey is a human adult woman who reads the news. Every week she’ll report back on what she sees. This week, the last before she goes the hell away from our news-sites for a few weeks: tennis brides, the pro-heckling movement and endless ‘everything makes you fat and dead’ stories about food. Read previous editions of this uplifting … Read more
The third in our week-long series, counting down the greatest New Zealand television moments of the year. Click here to catch up on the first and second instalments. Contributions by Alex Casey and Calum Henderson. 30) Ben turns his back on Masterchef The biggest moment on Masterchef NZ this year was when Ben Sheehan dropped … Read more
Alex Casey has watched and ranked every episode of My Kitchen Rules NZ this year, and for what? She shares some vital lessons learned from the show including what not to feed rugby players, and how to avoid being too much of a JAFA. We have come to the end of another exhausting MKRNZ journey, … Read more
Spinoff legend Alex Casey’s 2015 as a first-time author: Jamie Curry, Jamie’s World, Napier, Sydney, ‘proper famous’, bacon and eggs and revenge. The first time I encountered Jamie Curry she was in a short Facebook clip, you know the kind that start out kind of normal and then you suddenly see a dog walking past … Read more
Alex Casey talks to Shortland Street producer Simon Bennett about the jaw-dropping Christmas cliffhanger (contains many, many spoilers). My first question is: were you making a concerted effort to make the whole of New Zealand feel physically sick? The aim wasn’t to make people feel sick, but to make people think ‘I can’t believe they just … Read more
With the much-anticipated Shortland Street finale airing on Monday night, Alex Casey sat down with producer Simon Bennett to talk cliffhangers… on a cliff. The Shortland Street cliffhanger airs Monday on TV2 at 7pm, click here to get up to speed on TVNZ Ondemand This content, like all television coverage we do at The Spinoff, is brought … Read more
Alex Casey is a human adult woman who reads the news. Every week she’ll report back on what she sees. This week: men’s quotes, Crusher coverage and the real reason women should be grumpy. MONDAY Ah, a new week. The great thing about December is that you start to see end of year wrap ups, and get … Read more
Alex Casey plates up her unconventional power rankings for week eight of My Kitchen Rules NZ, including a stonking good name and some pampered pork. I am very very late this week, and I sincerely apologise. This truth is, I’m exhausted. I’ve been up all hours scribbling equations on whiteboards, rifling through old books and … Read more
Alex Casey chats to Keith Powell about his role as Toofer on Lightbox’s 30 Rock, and how one humble network sitcom changed the face of comedy over its seven joyous years. Tina Fey’s 30 Rock is, without a shadow of a doubt, one of my favourite television shows of all time. I remember buying season one … Read more
Alex Casey talks to Shorty Street Scandal‘s James Mustapic, ahead of the much-anticipated release of his debut Shortland Street-themed single ‘Hold Your Hand in Mine Harry Warner’. James Mustapic is a local legend who has been dissecting the absurd happenings in Ferndale on his amazing Youtube channel for well over a year. Through all the … Read more
Earlier this week Massey University released their list of the quotes of the year. They were all by men. Alex Casey finds that a little odd. This week Massey University has released their list of contenders for 2015’s Quote of the Year, with competition organiser Dr Heather Kavan pointing out that 2015 has shown a … Read more
Alex Casey delivers her contestant power rankings for week eight on My Kitchen Rules NZ. This week, we farewell the face of Nando’s and Ali G comes to kitchen HQ. A dark cloud has come over me. It is shaped like a Nando’s chicken wing, and has been raining down stinging tears of peri peri sauce … Read more
Inside the Lightbox is a sponsored post where we mine the extensive Lightbox catalogue for shows you might like to watch. This week we line up all the cool new shows coming in December. COMING IN DECEMBER: Transparent (S02E01, Dec 1) The first episode of the second season of Emmy-winning drama Transparent arrives to Lightbox … Read more