Bringing together the TV moments of the week, including the final of New Zealand’s greatest karaoke show and Suzanne Paul’s last advertorial. Contributions by Calum Henderson and Alex Casey. The Last Light of Suzanne’s Natural Advertorial Glow New Zealand’s most beloved peddler of health, fashion and beauty products has filmed her final advertorial for Good … Read more
The eighth episode of our weekly pop music chat for umusic, shot and edited by The Spinoff’s own José Barbosa. It involves two pop rookies – The Spinoff’s Alex Casey and bFM’s Joseph Harper – listening to state-of-the-art pop music and having a chat about it. Simple. This week they are joined on the couch … Read more
What is the scariest television viewing this Halloween? Once you are done with all of the on-trend prestigious horror shows, take a trip down memory lane to the darkest corners of your childhood telly-watching. Halloween is creeping up this week, which could well get you in the mood to endure some scary television shows. The likes … Read more
HDPA gets fired up over firearm rules It started with a hidden camera sting exposing a dodgy real estate practice, a fearsome Heather Du Plessis-Allan doorknock and Duncan Garner cutting off a home detention bracelet. TV3’s Story returned to its early roots on Wednesday with its boldest bit of proactive stunt journalism yet, when Heather … Read more
There may be a spot in a Rugby World Cup final at stake, but if you thought you were going to get anything other than mutual respect out of All Blacks coach Steve Hansen and Springboks coach Heyneke Meyer, you must be incredibly disappointed with the build up to this weekend’s semifinal. We’re not disappointed. We … Read more
Duncan Greive hosts Joseph Harper, Don Rowe and Bigpipe’s Josh Drummond to discuss the first slate of Spinoff Gaming content. First up, Don talks about the psychedelic implications of the Oculus Rift, which he’s been trialling lately. Joseph Harper discusses the first ever Spinoff Gaming content, his reality TV experiments from May, while Josh Drummond … Read more
Bringing together the best, worst and weirdest TV moments of the week, including crazed celebrity cameos and forklift driving champions. Contributions by Calum Henderson and Alex Casey. Brand Power Takes Over Seven Sharp On Tuesday afternoon, a sweaty man seemingly wearing jeans under jogging shorts sprinted into TVNZ and demanded to be put on television. … Read more
The seventh episode of our weekly pop music chat for umusic, shot and edited by The Spinoff’s own José Barbosa. It involves two pop rookies – The Spinoff’s Alex Casey and bFM’s Joseph Harper – listening to state-of-the-art pop music and having a chat about it. Simple. This week they discuss Halsey’s Biggie rebellion, Tom … Read more
The thrice-weekly Question Time session is routinely the most viewed and talked about event in the New Zealand House of Representatives. But it rarely achieves much beyond the Punch and Judy theatrics. A couple of weeks ago, the opposition parties attempted a choir-like gambit, with each of their questions beginning “Does the Prime Minister stand … Read more
Bringing together the best, worst and weirdest TV moments of the week, including an alarming amount of butt-based broadcasting. Contributions from Alex Casey and Calum Henderson. Rachel Hunter’s Enigmatic Enema This week, Rachel put her arse on the line in the name of beauty… again. Rachel Hunter’s Tour of Beauty travelled to India this week, … Read more
To celebrate the 20th anniversary of the BBC’s Pride and Prejudice adaptation, fans share what the soggy shirts and fiberglass statues mean to them. It is a truth universally acknowledged that most women in this country will encounter Pride and Prejudice at some stage in their lives, be it a set of old VHS tapes, … Read more
The sixth episode of our weekly pop music chat for umusic, shot and edited by The Spinoff’s own José Barbosa. It involves two pop rookies – The Spinoff’s Alex Casey and bFM’s Joseph Harper – listening to state-of-the-art pop music and having a chat about it. Simple. This week they discuss why Disclosure should slow … Read more
We got the think tank together to list our favourite television geeks from LAN party monsters to virtual reality pioneers. Today marks the anniversary of the death of Apple Founder Steve Jobs, a man who has done as much for modern computer technology as he has for the black turtleneck. In his honour, we got The … Read more
Bringing together the TV moments on the week, including Bieber on Story, Trevor Noah’s Daily Show debut and farewelling two local gems. Contributions by Alex Casey and Calum Henderson. Good Mourning for Two Kiwi Classics It was with great sadness this week that we learned of the impending demise of TVNZ’s long-running lifestyle show Good … Read more
Good Lord, look at the time – it’s Booktober!!! October spawns two literary extravaganza monsters. The winner of the 2015 Man Booker Award is announced on October 14, and the shortlist of the US National Book Awards is revealed on October 16. The Spinoff Review of Books will present rolling coverage of the world’s two … Read more
In which Jane, tired from raising twins and moving house, and Duncan, tired from being alive, discuss the vitally important new MediaWorks reality show The Block. Alex was Absent Without Official Leave, and much missed as the undynamic duo dutifully trawled through the mostly mystifying first week of block action, desperately seeking meaning. What happened … Read more
The fifth episode of our weekly pop music chat for umusic, shot and edited by The Spinoff’s own José Barbosa. It involves two pop rookies – The Spinoff’s Alex Casey and bFM’s Joseph Harper – listening to state-of-the-art pop music and having a chat about it. Simple. This week they discuss water safety, Ellie Goulding … 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 pick our favourite cult television classics. Don Rowe on The Mighty Boosh Lightbox describes The Mighty Boosh as “a surreal comedy set in a zoo”, which is correct in the same … Read more
We enjoyed Dom Harvey’s live prostate exam on Story so much we’ve brainstormed ten more ideas for future TV3 live broadcast stunts. 1) Rachel Glucina’s Key Keyhole Surgery Inserting a keyhole camera through the Keys’ keyhole live on Scout TV, Glucina gains exclusive footage of Max Key letting people into Harvard on Skype and John … Read more
Bringing together the best, worst and weirdest TV moments of the week, including Hosking’s personal pineapple express to hell and Wendy Petrie’s triumph over Simon Dallow. Mike Hosking’s Brush with Death New Zealand’s leading radio broadcaster, television host, newspaper columnist, husband and Ferrari driver bravely stared death in the face on Wednesday morning when a … Read more
The fourth episode of our weekly pop music chat for umusic, shot and edited by The Spinoff’s own José Barbosa. It involves two pop rookies – The Spinoff’s Alex Casey and bFM’s Joseph Harper – listening to state-of-the-art pop music and having a chat about it. Simple. This week they discuss whether or not John … Read more
The Emmy Awards are both the spikiest and most important television awards around, recognising those who have achieved small-screen greatness in 2015. So who will take home the trophies? Will Mad Men clean up in its final year, or will we see some new faces usurp the Draper throne? Read our bets from earlier in the … Read more
It’s been a year of massive change at the New Zealand Herald: Editor-in-Chief Tim Murphy stepped down, and a raft of columnists have departed, including the likes of Peter Calder, Paul Casserly, Dita De Boni and James Griffin. Today the NBR broke the news that time has been called on a number of staff members as … Read more
Bringing together the TV moments on the week, including 3 News’ SCOUT leader, Mr Robot’s arrival and TVNZ’s new season launch. Contributions by Alex Casey and Calum Henderson. Mr Robot Hacks Into New Zealand Mr Robot is one of the buzzed-about shows of 2015, a cinematic cyber thriller that grips the viewer right in the codes … Read more
Who are the most powerful figures in New Zealand literature? The most respected, the most admired, the most sucked-up-to? A panel of experts sat down and bitched and argued until they agreed on a ranking to end all rankings. Their methodology was precise. Much of it was based on the level of fear they would … Read more
Leftwing outsider Jeremy Corbyn has stormed to an emphatic victory in the British Labour leadership race. An all-star cast of politicians and commentators assess the impact for the Spinoff. Britain’s Labour Party has swung dramatically away from Blairism and elected veteran backbench leftwing MP Jeremy Corbyn its new leader, with an astonishing 59.5% of support in … Read more
Bringing together the TV moments on the week, including Masterchef shockers, Sunday night monsters and Ed Sheeran at the beach. Contributions by Alex Casey and Calum Henderson. New Kids on The Block The Mad Max-inspired promotional material for The Block NZ: Villa Wars has been doing the rounds this week, introducing us to the teams … Read more
This year has been the most turbulent in MediaWorks’ history. They’ve farewelled one nationally beloved broadcaster so clumsily that it threatened to sink the ship for a moment there. But they’ve also launched three new news products in less than six months in Story, Newsworthy and Paul Henry. There are mutterings about the role of … Read more
The second episode of our weekly pop music chat for umusic, shot and edited by The Spinoff’s own José Barbosa. It involves two pop rookies – The Spinoff’s Alex Casey and bFM’s Joseph Harper – listening to state-of-the-art pop music and having a chat about it. Simple. This week they discuss Nick Jonas’ shredding situation; … Read more