Alex Casey 
This morning Stuff.co.nz launched the pilot episode of Road Trip, an interactive webseries docu-drama looking to tell New Zealander’s stories from Cape Reinga to Bluff. Or, in this case, Bluff to Cape Reinga. In the first episode we meet Sarah, a frenzied Canadian backpacker and Beni, a chilled out Tongan-Kiwi who is forced to drive her to … Read more
This week’s episode of Shorty Street Scandal is jam-packed with equally sexy and hilarious moments from Ferndale. Harry outdoes himself on the insult front by tell a small defenceless child that he has a lead role in Night of the Living Dorks. Garret and Kylie handcuff themselves to the bed in some sort of 50 Shades … Read more
The weekend is nearly upon us once again, and Spring is leaking through the firmly closed curtains of TV rooms everywhere. The clocks go forward on Sunday, but that doesn’t mean that you can just abandon your television schedule to go and frolick in a meadow. There are still some important things to watch out there. … Read more
A couple of days ago there were some controversial casting announcements for Season Two of True Detective. Uncharacteristically, the internet was unhappy and took to the keys with more gusto than Vince Vaughan frantically writing the entire script of The Internship two hours before it’s deadline. All the ranting and raving can be summarised in a few key points: … Read more
Every Thursday we trawl the internet for golden nuggets of New Zealand nostalgia. This week we found rare footage of pop megastar Kimbra, giving it heaps on a children’s TV show. // What Now? ran a series of segments called “Do Your Thing” in the early 2000s, where a sassy kid host would investigate a particular … Read more
If you have been living deep within a gutter (black), an Outrageous Fortune prequel is on its way to our screens. Set in the 1970s, it will follow the hijinks of legendary safe-cracker and canny-career-crim Ted West, his wife Rita and their son Wolfgang. For the role of Wolfgang, TV3 and South Pacific Pictures have sounded an exciting wolf … Read more
The thing about living in a free country is that you can rock around the corner and if you happen to stumble across The Block, so be it. The entire thing had been covered in shrink wrap which is for weather prevention but also, annoyingly, snoop prevention. It was worse than staring at your wrapped presents under … Read more
It’s time for everyone’s favourite foodies Steve and Maura to try and convince us that they aren’t a pair of city slicker yuppies. Any chance of them achieving this was immediately lost at the first sight of one of their fedora-wearing friends at the dinner table. They should have called their instant restaurant Yuppie-Kai-Yay and just embraced it. … Read more
It was one of the craziest things ever to happen on New Zealand primetime TV: a hidden camera caught a cleaner sniffing underwear, spraying it with perfume, then masturbating into it while he watched porn on the household computer. Alex Casey finds out how it all came about. We can all remember the most iconic … Read more
The Corporate Dads are back, this time armed with Led Zeppelin t-shirts and an assured promise to “smash it out of the park” in their second instant restaurant. They begrudgingly rocked up to the supermarket in their Audi. Aaron maintained they didn’t deserve to be there, still blaming it all on stupid old Nana and … Read more
This episode we cruised back into foggy Orewa in the back seat of a beige VW Beetle for our second date with Beauty and the Beast. Tracey and Neill ensured us that they have been preparing since their last disastrous instant restaurant. Their rigorous preparation seemed to consist mostly of synchronised swinging at the park. … Read more
Drop what you’re doing, stop stabbing that rugby ball – Shorty Street Scandal is back for another episode. This week James takes us not only through the past week in Ferndale, but revisits a classic spooky Shortland Street Storyline. Ladies and gentlemen, rising from the grave for one night only, we proudly present – The … Read more
In an attempt to share the love around the Late Night Big Breakfast crew, we thought would shine a spotlight on Jeremy Wells, the deadpan co-host with the slickest suits and the even slicker hair. When he takes to the LNBB couch, Wells invariably stares down the barrel of the camera with the same alarming sincerity of … Read more
We talked to Late Night Big Breakfast’s Leigh Hart about his mum, the starving people in Africa, and how he got the most out of Mike the Mongolian throat singer.// So, let’s start at the very beginning. After Moon TV, did you have the concept for this show immediately? I think I pitched the show to TV3 … Read more
The nuclear fallout from last episode’s bombshell still hadn’t cleared as the lowest ranking teams were pushed straight into an elimination round with The Gatecrashers. There are three whole new teams to get acquainted with: “Sporty Mums” Theresa and Joelle, “Wellington Foodies” Steve and Maura, and “Sugar and Spice” Dai and Dal. The first instant … Read more
Please enjoy this teaser webisode for the upcoming second season of Broad City, set to be released in 2015. Broad City Get More: Comedy Central,Funny Videos,Funny TV Shows If you have never watched Broad City before, the show follows best friends (and writers of the show) Ilana and Abbi as they negotiate life in … Read more
Alex Casey finds a role model in a 40-year-old bearded man from Slough. // I still remember the first time I watched The Office. This was a time before Ricky Gervais got bronzed and ripped and spent 99% of his time yelling about how God doesn’t exist. This was a time before Stephen Merchant starred … Read more
Every Tuesday we will endeavour to chat with somebody involved in New Zealand’s magical little world of television. This week we talked to James Mustapic, host of Shorty Street Scandal. / Each week James Mustapic hosts Shorty Street Scandal, assembling all of the absurd moments from Ferndale into a sensational highlights package. If you aren’t a Shortland Street fan, … Read more
Call the police, there’s a new host in town. It was announced yesterday that Detective Sergeant Rob Lemoto has been assigned the biggest case of his life: being on the telly. Beating over 50 applicants for the job, Lemoto will replace Ten 7 stalwart Graham Bell. This isn’t his first television rodeo. Lemoto first appeared … Read more
This episode took us to Hawkes Bay, “fruit bowl of New Zealand” and home of sisters Kelly and Meghan. Much like The Newlyweds, it doesn’t speak volumes to their personalities that their team name is “Hawkes Bay Sisters”. The pair have played their cards close to their chests, mostly focussing on co-ordinating very fancy outfits … Read more
Slaying vampires and tunes is all in a days work for Buffy. // Although it may not feel like it, there was a time before Glee and High School Musical. This was back when audiences were still unaccustomed to a sentence turning into a five minute melody, or a character casually whipping out a guitar as the gymnasium … Read more
We are stoked to bring you the latest sublime episode of Shorty Street Scandal. If you haven’t heard of this before, you are in for a treat. James Mustapic dissects Ferndale shenanigans weekly from his couch in Dunedin, assembling all of the absurd moments into a glorious highlights package. If you watch Shortland Street – you’ll … Read more
This weekend will provide New Zealand with heavy rain up and down the country, so you should probably stay in and watch yourself some television. With only a week until the general election, it’s time to get involved in politics. A great way to do this over the next few days would be to fully … Read more
Yesterday it was announced that both Stan Walker and Mel Blatt will be returning to the X Factor NZ judges’ table. Ruby Frost and Daniel Bedingfield are still unconfirmed, with Frost selfishly working on her own career and Bedingfield still trapped in a rotating cube with some poor woman. But we needn’t panic, New Zealand has a wealth … Read more
Finally we got to explore the inner boardrooms of Corporate Dads Aaron and Josh. Unsurprisingly, their instant restaurant was inside a giant yellow mansion with a massive swimming pool. Just goes to show, there’s a hell of a lot of dosh in sexy fertility vitamins. Their background video shows them crunching numbers in a café, wearing Red … Read more
Last night John Campbell moderated John Key and David Cunliffe in an hour-long debate. They arrived in separate cars to what appeared to be an abandoned warehouse building. Faced with the desolate dystopian setting, it seemed the only suitable podium for Campbell was a zig-zag of metal that had clearly travelled here from the future. Many of the important issues … Read more
Young couple Jessie and Ricki (“The Christchurch Cuties”) were the hosts in this stormer of an episode. This pair always seemed mysterious, like there was more to them than just cuteness and Christchurch-ness. We all remember their well-timed decision to come out as a couple at the dinner table (causing the Corporate Dads to go into cardiac arrest). They have … Read more
Today is the fancy day when a man from Apple gets on stage wearing an infinity scarf and announces a new thing. If you have been living under a rock for the past three and a half hours: there is a new iPhone that is slightly bigger than the old one and a new iPhone … Read more
Alex Casey asks whether this really is ‘the end’ for Joan Rivers. // The world and Donald Trump farewelled comedian Joan Rivers in New York today. A dark day, another shining and oddly taut star gone. For those of you who find yourselves crippled with grief – there is a light at the end of … Read more