Pete Douglas tries to stage an intervention for poor old Daddy Pig, the bumbling patriarch of the ever popular kids show Peppa Pig. Before we had our first son four years ago I was blissfully unaware of the existence of Peppa Pig, much less the intricacies of the show’s plot and character development. This seems … Read more
Pete Douglas looks on in slack-jawed bemusement at the latest song from dad-pop band Train, and wonders whether the band are serious or a brilliant troll. While casually perusing the Billboard Hot 100 recently, a thought occurred to me: what the hell is up with the continued popularity of Train? Of all the legions of … Read more
Pete Douglas recoils in horror at the cover of the new Metallica record, placing it top of his worst album covers ever chart. Metallica are a mess of contradictions – the best heavy metal act of the 1980s, a massive corporate machine built to sell t-shirts and vast masses of pointless ephemera, a totem for … Read more
Pete Douglas seeks to find some light in the dark as we near the end of a horrific year, lining up some incredible TV women who have risen above The Worst Men Ever. 2016 has been a rough year, especially so for women. Between the subhuman treatment of a young woman by the Chiefs rugby … Read more
To celebrate the start of Movember, Pete Douglas gives a run-down of his favourite TV moustaches through the ages. It’s hard to believe it’s been 11 years since Outrageous Fortune hit our screens and set the tone for the next decade of local TV drama. People loved the show for a range of reasons, but … Read more
Kim Hill fans have been in heaven across the last fortnight. Pete Douglas spends a week waking up to the doyenne of RNZ as she supplements her regular Saturday gig with a super-sub role on Morning Report. My corner of the internet exploded with excitement when it was announced that Kim Hill would join Susie … Read more
Inside the Lightbox is a sponsored feature where we pluck out shows from Lightbox‘s extensive back catalogue. This week, Pete Douglas presents a guide to all the best popstars who gave telly a whirl. I bloody love a good popstar cameo on a TV show. Ever since Stevie Wonder accidentally crashed into Theo and Denise … Read more
Whilst NBC is frantically burying old tapes of The Apprentice, Pete Douglas holds his nose and dives into the YouTube sewer to find some more stellar examples of Donald Trump being terrible. About 10 years ago I visited Trump Tower in New York. This was during the early popularity of The Apprentice and it seemed like … Read more
Before the new season of Funny Girls premieres with director Madeleine Sami at the helm, Pete Douglas revisits the characters from her brilliant local comedy Super City. Local comedies don’t come much more ambitious than Super City. Over two glorious seasons, local legend Madeleine Sami created and played a bunch of diverse, strange and hilarious characters living … Read more
With the reboot just around the corner, Pete Douglas revisits the surreal early 90s classic Twin Peaks and the role that made Kyle McLachlan a TV star. When I first came across Twin Peaks, I was drawn in by its creepy weirdness and bizarre vision of small town American life. What the … Read more
In the stunning close to Hosking Week, Pete Douglas goes on a desperate, seemingly fruitless, but ultimately cathartic search for The Hosk’s true feelings about pop icon Taylor Swift. Click here for the rest of our Hosking Week coverage. Anyone who has ever listened to or watched Mike Hosking in action will know that Mike loves … Read more
All this week on The Spinoff we’re delving into broadcasting legend Mike Hosking’s unique position in New Zealand culture. First up, Pete Douglas delves into his complicated relationship with Hosking, and interviews his father about the family connection which helped create the multimedia monster we know today. Growing up in suburban Wellington I was often … Read more
Pete Douglas looks at two of the great capitalists of our times, Donald Trump and 30 Rock‘s Jack Donaghy, and wonders if they really would get along like a house on fire IRL. One of the best plot devices on my all-time favourite show 30 Rock is the conflict (and eventual friendship) between … Read more
Inspired by the excellent mockumentary series Hoff the Record, Pete Douglas explains why it’s time to welcome The Hoff back into your life. Like so many 80’s kids I was big into Knight Rider. What wasn’t to like? There was the car – a talking, driverless, artificially intelligent, black Pontiac Trans-Am named KITT– some marvelously … Read more
Pete Douglas revisits an original Dawson’s Creek drinking game he helped invent in the late 90’s to see how it stacks up today. I remember reading about Dawson’s Creek before it even made it to New Zealand screens back in 1999. The show was promised as a kind of Party of Five or Beverly Hills … Read more