Tara WardTara Ward

Tara Ward writes about television and pop culture.

The Great Kiwi Bake Off Power Rankings, episode one: Welcome to Moistland

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Complete with hard tops and soggy bottoms, The Great Kiwi Bake Off premiered on TVNZ2 tonight. Tara Ward has the power rankings. Inside the grounds of a Mediterranean palace fit for Queen Mary Berry lies a pond with a turtle. Next to that turtle is a building disguised as a tent. Inside that tent is … Read more

Your Lightbox TV survival guide to the school holidays

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It’s school holiday time again, and to help us survive the next two weeks of quality time with the fruits of our loins, we must turn to everything that is right and fair about the world: the television.  It’s the friend we’ve always needed, in good times and in bad, in sunshine and in rain. … Read more

The best Freeview TV for the school holidays

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Keeping kids entertained during the holidays just became a lot easier, thanks to the new and improved Freeview On Demand. Tara Ward explores some of their best shows for children. With the spring rain an almost certainty, Freeview is the answer to every frazzled parents school holiday nightmares. The new on-demand platform combines all the … Read more

The Block, week 12: Tools are finally, finally down

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Friends, we’ve finally made it. Tools are officially down, and The Block NZ is nearly over for 2018. Tara Ward recaps. For the past 12 weeks we’ve stared into an abyss of portaloos and pavers, of hypnotists and Heimlich manoeuvres, of sheep mustering and nipple coloured walls. We’ve endured pointless challenges with sponge cake and sudoku … Read more

Bow down to the retirement village queens of Gogglebox NZ

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Gogglebox NZ takes a bunch of ordinary Kiwis, chucks them onto a sofa and films them as they watch television. Tara Ward watched them watching.  “Don’t laugh too much, your teeth might land on the table.” Last night three new stars flew into our lounge rooms like a pair of falsies hitting the coffee table. Retirement … Read more

The Block NZ, week 11: Life on The Point is getting out of control

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It’s the home stretch on The Block NZ and things are getting more fragile than a marshmallow spaghetti sculpture. It’s Week eleven of The Block NZ, and the wheels have officially come off.  Life in Hobsonville Point is careening out of control like a bunch of balls Mark Richardson just threw onto a footpath in the … Read more

The Block NZ, week 10: Welcome to Sheep World, humans

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Just when you thought The Block NZ had thrown everything at us, Mark Richardson uttered the immortal words: “Welcome to Sheep World”. Tara Ward recaps another bewildering week on The Block NZ. It wasn’t Country Calendar, it wasn’t The Dog Show, it wasn’t even NZ Farmer of the Flipping Year. It was week ten of The Block … Read more

Freeview: the Te Papa of television

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Thanks to Freeview On Demand, finding your next favourite New Zealand television show is now easier than Minogue and O’Leary finding a thirsty vampire on Wellington Paranormal. Tara Ward explores the library of local content. It’s the Te Papa of television, that gathers our national TV treasures into one special place for us all to enjoy. … Read more

The Block NZ, week 9: A David Seymour appears

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We’ve hit the arse end of The Block NZ like a human Birdman belly-flopping into the ocean. It’s Kitchen and Dining week! Tara Ward recaps. On the now-seemingly-annual Kitchen and Dining Week, hopes are chopped into tiny pieces and dreams will be burned alive in the Breville slow cooker of our hearts. Never before has a … Read more

Where’s American Woman Alicia Silverstone been since Clueless?

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Alicia Silverstone was the It Girl of the mid-nineties, and she’s back heading up a new show, American Woman, which drops on Lightbox today. Tara Ward rounds up where she’s been since her yellow plaid days. It feels like a lifetime since Alicia Silverstone burst into our collective consciousness with a string of ‘90s classics like Clueless, Batman … Read more

All of free to air TV, all in one place: meet the new Freeview

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Goodbye Freeview Plus, hello Freeview on Demand. Tara Ward takes the new Freeview platform for a test drive. A deep library of diverse local television is now available in one place with the launch of its new on-demand service, which takes the content of New Zealand’s free-to-air TV channels and streamlines it into a single, … Read more

The Block, week 3: That’s not Mark Richardson

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Let’s take our seat at the trestle table of broken dreams, as we devour this week’s serving of The Block NZ power rankings. Blow me down with a power heater, because this week’s Dinner Wars was the most compelling television we’ve seen since a man wearing a silver wig tried to work out what famous cricketer-turned-television presenter … Read more

Is it you or is it me? Viewers react to shock Shortland Street move

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Yesterday, it was announced that Shortland Street’s famous hourlong winter Mondays will transform into a six night monster. And, surprisingly, some fans were not happy. The incredible news that Shortland Street will screen on Sundays from September hit me harder than Chris Warner’s bathtub crashing through his kitchen ceiling. Shortland Street, six nights a week? Be still, … Read more

Rabbits, powerpuffs, cavemen: The best of Lightbox for kids these holidays

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We’re halfway through the school holidays and you’re probably running out of things to do with the kids. Never fear  – Tara Ward to the rescue, with the ideal time-filling shows on Lightbox. Welcome to the school holidays, the magical period when whānau bask in the glow of two weeks of quality time with their … Read more

The Handmaid’s Tale recap: Bustin’ out all over

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We’ve come to the end of the dystopian conservative marathon that is the second season of The Handmaid’s Tale – and oh my god what have you done, June! Tara Ward recaps. For the love of all things red and capey, why did you not get in the truck? It was the last few minutes … Read more

The Block NZ, week 1: Four couples stranded like a wheelbarrow on a mudflat

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The Block NZ is back, and it’s time to rejoice like we just won a Bosch kitchen upgrade that includes both a griddle and a hand blender. Tara Ward power ranks. Somewhere in the pristine new suburb of Hobsonville Point lies four new couples on four new mattresses inside four new townhouses, which are as empty … Read more

Handmaid’s Tale recap: One step forward, two steps back

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Love is patient, love is kind, love is not knowing what beautiful nightmares await us in next week’s season finale. Tara Ward recaps the penultimate episode of the second season of The Handmaid’s Tale. Time flies while you’re having fun in the apocalypse, and several weeks have passed since we left June bleeding on the … Read more

The Handmaid’s Tale recap: Help us Oprah, you’re our only hope

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A birth, an Oprah, a Serena, a Moira, a denial, a denial, a denial. Tara Ward recaps episode 11 of The Handmaid’s Tale, season 2. This I (do not) know is true, but I do know Oprah was the welcome voice of the resistance in this week’s intense episode of The Handmaid’s Tale. June listened to … Read more

The Handmaid’s Tale recap: Birth in Gilead

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We’re rocketing towards the ending of season two of The Handmaid’s Tale, and Gilead is not letting up one bit. Tara Ward recaps episode 10. Let myself introduce myself: this is me after I watched this week’s episode of The Handmaid’s Tale. I am ruined. I am a bleeding carcass of emotion, stripped of everything that … Read more

The Handmaid’s Tale recap: Blame Canada

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Welcome back to Gilead, where last week’s memories of June and Serena eating croissants and listening to Lionel Ritchie records together are but crumbs in the dystopian toaster of our lives. Tara Ward recaps episode 9. This week we begin our journey into the hellfires of patriarchy with June counting her blessings (mostly: a chair) … Read more