Alex Casey 
Please enjoy this excellent episode of Shorty Street Scandal, wherein James Mustapic recaps the past week of Ferndale hijinks. This week? The characters laugh at the disabled and the elderly, watermelon solves the world’s problems and we witness NZ TV’s greatest background moment thus far: First of all, may we all pause to take in our new surroundings. … Read more
We have rounded up the important TV news of the week, so you can impress your friends and family over the weekend. // Smashing News For Smash Palace Sky has announced this week that they are working on an all-new local reality series to air on The Box called Smashed Palace. The eight-part series will … Read more
Alex Casey sat down with her good mate, insanely knowledgable TV freak Sophie, to play the Law & Order SVU drinking game. This is their story (dun dun). // Full disclosure – I’m a little hungover. Last night I invited my friend Sophie over to play the Law & Order: SVU drinking game, in the interests … Read more
Alex Casey recaps the first two episodes of Lightbox’s much anticipated Breaking Bad spinoff Better Call Saul. // Episode One: “Uno” “If I’m lucky, in a month from now, best case scenario, I’m managing a Cinnabon in Omaha.” – Saul Goodman, Breaking Bad Episode 15 “Granite State” Better Call Saul opens not with a bang, but with the … Read more
Checking in With… is a regular column which features a Spinoff writer watching one or more episodes of a current show and attempting to decode its appeal. This week, Alex Casey dives into the absolute kiss-fest better known as The Bachelor USA. // Episodes Consumed: Five, slammed through faster than a row of whiskey shots at The Bachelor … Read more
Inside the Lightbox is a new sponsored feature where we mine the extensive Lightbox catalogue for cool shows you might like to watch. This week, to celebrate the premiere of Better Call Saul, Alex Casey approaches the bench with a strong selection of similar dodgy-lawyer-based shows for you to enjoy. // Boston Legal There was a … Read more
Please enjoy this excellent episode of Shorty Street Scandal, wherein James Mustapic recaps the past week of Ferndale hijinks. This week? Dropped babies, Kardashian-style sex tape antics and Dallas falling in love with a little green lady called Maryjane. Nicole may be out of her coma, but that doesn’t mean she isn’t hellbent on getting her baby into … Read more
Current affairs TV returned from its summer holiday last Monday, when One’s Seven Sharp and TV3’s Campbell Live came back to our TVs. We watched both shows and analysed their comebacks across 10 key areas. Here’s Alex Casey’s take on Campbell Live. What’s New? There are two unavoidable additions to the slick green kingdom of JC for … Read more
The X Factor NZ is set to debut on February 15 at 7pm on TV3. Till then, the powers that be have provided us with an extended supertease trailer, promising sweeping drone shots of the Skytower, grungy bats out of hell and even someone flipping the bird (!). It aired tonight during the much coveted … Read more
Checking in With… is a regular column which features a Spinoff writer watching one or more episodes of a current show and attempting to decode its appeal. This week, we previewed Better Call Saul, arriving exclusively to Lightbox at 8pm on Monday 9th February. // Episodes Consumed: 1 What’s it about? Set in the same … Read more
Alex Casey assembles a car boot full of internet ammunition to defend Skyler White against the haters to the bitter end. // “I’m a bitch, I’m a lover. I’m a child, I’m a mother. I’m a sinner, I’m a saint. I do not feel ashamed” – Meredith Brooks and Skyler White, probably. There are a lot of … Read more
Alex Casey heads down to The Spinoff lab to mix up a beaker of piping hot Breaking Bad stats. Some of them are made up, most of them are realer than a meth head squashed by an ATM. // There are loads of good infographics out there about Breaking Bad. Want to see a colourising chart of … Read more
Breaking Bad is acclaimed for delivering heart-stopping drama, spectacular violence and television’s most infamous anti-hero. Alex Casey, however, wishes to applaud a less critically-indulged area of the Breaking Bad universe: the wondrous food of Middle America. I have a deep interest in food. I want to know what everyone is eating all the time. I … Read more
Alex Casey sifts through the mighty body count of Breaking Bad to rank her top ten most memorable deaths on the show. // The statistics of Breaking Bad are always impressive – it received 110 notable awards, had 10.3 million Americans tune in for the finale and over 33,000 articles written about it in the … Read more
Alex Casey has never watched a second of Breaking Bad, nor read anything about it. Going in completely blind, she has committed to watching the whole series over summer in the lead up to spin off series Better Call Saul‘s arrival to Lightbox in February. Contains spoilers, obviously. Day 22, Thursday 22 January 6.30pm Watched: … Read more
Mediaworks buys Prime News This morning the Herald confirmed that the 15 staff who works on Prime News at 5.30 have been made redundant. Previously owned by Sky TV, the production will now be taken over by Mediaworks, There is unlikely to be any rehiring by Mediaworks of the Prime staff. The final day for … Read more
The latest promo for The X Factor NZ has gone live and, despite all the bird-flipping and glitz, there is a glaring omission – the bronzed statuette on The X Factor NZ mantelpiece, Dominic Bowden. Since the end of The X Factor NZ in 2013, Dom has been a little incognito. His Wikipedia says that he “currently interviews … Read more
Things have been a little quiet on the Paul Henry front of late. Since his final episode of the late night Paul Henry Show last year, there has been a serious shortage of Paul. No smug grin. No hysterical laughing at rodents. No description of impoverished countries as shitholes. There was a weak online attempt at finding … Read more
Inside the Lightbox is a new sponsored feature where we mine the extensive Lightbox catalogue for cool shows you might like to watch. This week, Alex Casey looks at the whacky comedy exports from post-Y2K Britain. // When the clock ticked over on NYE in 1999, everyone was expecting the worst. The computers will wipe! The planes will … Read more
Bringing you the highlights of this week’s TV Guide, New Zealand’s top selling magazine and this website’s papery spiritual grandmother. // Growing Up Winston: A Talk With Bree Peters This week’s issue features a cracking interview with Bree Peters, daughter of Winston Peters and Dr. Pania Stevens on Shortland Street. Bree talks about her career … Read more
Please enjoy this excellent episode of Shorty Street Scandal, wherein James Mustapic recaps the past week of Ferndale hijinks. This week? The drinks flowed freely through the streets from The IV all the way to the unemployed trolley boy. First important thing of note: James has ditched his usual sweater for a more relaxed and weather-appropriate look for … Read more
After watching the introductions on The Bachelor Australia, Alex Casey dispenses some crucial advice to New Zealand’s upcoming Bachelorettes about how to make a good first impression. // The Bachelor Australia started here last week in a flurry of sequins and tealight candles (truly the ideal combo for a painfully blinding iridescence). The format? Same … Read more
Summing up the past week in television news for you, because we care. // Woohoo for Puru? On Monday it was announced that our stalwart The Edge radio host and Shopping Channel presenter Mike Puru would be the host of The Bachelor NZ for 2015. It was a safe choice and a smart choice, but what … Read more
Alex Casey has never watched a second of Breaking Bad, nor read anything about it. Going in completely blind, she has committed to watching the whole series over summer in the lead up to spin off series Better Call Saul‘s arrival to Lightbox in February. Contains spoilers, obviously. Day Fifteen, Monday 12 January 9pm Watched: … Read more
After the passing of Coronation Street‘s beloved Deirdre yesterday, Alex Casey looks back at how TV shows have historically coped with unexpected cast deaths. // We must admit that, here at The Spinoff HQ, our mourning for Deirdre was overshadowed only by our complete panic at the realisation that nobody we knew was remotely interested in Deirdre … Read more
Bringing you the highlights of this week’s TV Guide, New Zealand’s top selling magazine and this website’s papery spiritual grandmother. // Behind the Scenes at Breakfast: An insightful look behind the polished veneer of Breakfast by Shaun Bamber. Goes in-depth to bring you what you really want to know about the Breakfast couch (yes, it’s … Read more
This Music Monday, Alex Casey finds beauty in the horror of American Horror Story: Freak Show’s bizarre musical numbers. // If there is one thing that Glee, Nip/Tuck and Popular have taught us, it’s that producer/writer/director Ryan Murphy loves a good pop soundtrack. If he can integrate that soundtrack into the diegetic world of his TV … Read more
Please enjoy this year’s premiere episode of Shorty Street Scandal, wherein James Mustapic recaps the past week of Ferndale hijinks. This week? Hanky panky, a creaky baby and Leanne’s heartbreaking pyjama woes: We were off to a roaring start to the year with a spiffing series of summer makeovers, marking a new era for Dallas and his … Read more
Alex Casey trawls the New Zealand Herald comments section to get a conclusive answer on our nation’s opinion of Daniel Corbett.// I wrote an impassioned ode to the new TV One weatherman that miraculously made it into the top read stories of the NZ Herald. As a result, punters from North to South started weighing … Read more