Throwback Thursday: How Serial Stuff Became Serious Stuff – A Journey to Rewatch a Kiwi Kid Classic

Claire Adamson shares her arduous journey to watch a few precious episodes of the part Barbie, part human after-school series This is Serial Stuff, and celebrates the smart technicolour antics of the iconic kiwi kids show.  I want you to cast your mind back to a time before you were cool – catching the bus home, eating all … Read more

The Bachelor NZ: Group Think, Week Six – Odes to Art, Stud-Filled Dreams and Why Kiwis Make the Best Bachelorettes

In week six of The Bachelor NZ, some of the greatest minds in the country assemble to talk about Art’s dreamy leathers, school teacher woes and pure pash champions. Joanna Hunkin’s Alliterative Ode to The Bachelor Times are getting tough for Billy Big Balls. His weasel words may woo the weaker women but Caustic Chrystal … Read more

The Bachelor NZ: Power Rankings, Week Six – Burger People, Feline Friends and Trapped Tiki Taane

Rowing endlessly around The Bachelor NZ pond of love, Alex Casey delivers her sixth power rankings in our weekly series. If you missed last week’s power rankings, click here. This week The Bachelor NZ was about as juicy and satisfying as a face-sized burger eaten without a knife and fork because the Burger People didn’t have … Read more

The Binge: José Barbosa’s Meat and Mead-Fueled 10 Hours As a Viking

It’s an interesting feature of this amazing future amusement park we currently inhabit that we talk about the “TV binge” where once we referred to the “TV marathon”. Slowly TV is becoming human foie gras as complete seasons of TV shows are now made to be inhaled in one sitting. It’s been great for people … Read more

Monitor: Draper’s Demise and Sliding Door Lives – the Stunning Return of Mad Men

Aaron Yap welcomes part two of Mad Men season seven, dissecting the first two episodes and predicting towards how the show will wrap its final season.  As Mad Men heads towards the end of its extraordinarily consistent eight-year run, the first two episodes of its final season, ‘Severance’ and ‘New Business’, usher in a brand new … Read more

X Factor NZ: Group Think, Week 10 – Mel Blatt Lust & Shirtless Hatbeard Disgust

The Spinoff knights meet at the television roundtable to talk week 10 on X Factor NZ. Topics include opportunities for cross-promotion, Israel Dagg’s music video debut and a general sense of apathy. Renee Church on The Blatt-Chelorette We can’t deny it anymore. Mel Blatt is a straight babe, and all males in association with the show (who would be/are in … Read more

Music Monday: The Word of the Day is ‘Hat’ – Power Ranking Sesame Street’s Singing With the Stars

With the X Factor NZ going from bad to worse, Alex Casey watches Sesame Street’s Singing With the Stars in an attempt to get back to the music.  Sesame Street first began in 1969, and in its first season featured the cameo appearances of BB King, Don McLean and Carol Burnett. Over the next few … Read more

X Factor NZ: Power Rankings, Week Six – Celebrity Death Watch

A confession: Sometimes when I sit staring uncomprehendingly at the blinking cursor, trying to figure out how something which once brought me so much joy came to be such a chore, I lean back and think of the winter of 2013. It was very cold, my wife very pregnant and our house a building site. … Read more

The Bachelor NZ: Group Think, Week Five – Letters to Mum and Prayers for Mike

In an all-new Bachelor group think, the Spinoff knights meet at the television roundtable to discuss dreaming of Art, praying for Mike and where the love story all began. Paul Williams on the Origins of The Bachelor A lot of people think The Bachelor franchise began in 2002 with season one of the American show. These people … Read more

The Bachelor NZ: Power Rankings, Week Five – Wrist Twists and Nip Slips

After blow-karting down The Bachelor NZ race track of love, Alex Casey delivers her fifth power rankings in our weekly series. If you missed last week’s power rankings, click here. Call the ambulance – nay (neigh, lol get it), the morgue. I’m officially dead after this week. We’ve been thrown down waterfalls, had our wrists broken and … Read more

Throwback Thursday: Remembering the 7pm Slot of Heroes

With TV3’s drive to find a new 7pm weeknight rating-killer, Joe Nunweek looks back at their mid-90s effort, a venture so amazing and bold that it was discussed in Parliament. If the doomsayers are right – and Campbell Live is not long for this earth – it won’t be the end of an era so … Read more

X Factor NZ: Group Think, Week Nine – Broad Strokes and Ir-Vines

The Spinoff knights meet at the television roundtable to discuss week nine on X Factor NZ, featuring the shock elimination of Finlay and Joe. Calum Henderson on 50 Shades of Broad I love the Invercargill sexyman Steve Broad. I love his damp charisma, his done-in confidence, the fact that X Factor is the third(!) reality singing show he has … Read more

Fragmentary Thoughts: Paul Henry, Hellacious Hilary and Jim Mighty Mouse

Fragmentary Thoughts is a comic strip by José Barbosa, in which he’ll tackle a different television show or phenomenon each month. In this instalment, he shares his initial reaction to the first week of Paul Henry. // A week has passed since MediaWorks carpet bombed the country with the new Paul Henry show, Paul Henry. Landing … Read more

Music Monday: How One Young X Factor Fan Accident-Lili Fell In Love

Paul Williams takes us on a heartfelt journey through his ongoing online courtship of Lili Bayliss from The X Factor NZ. // Episode 13 of the second season of X Factor NZ will widely be remembered for one thing: Natalia Kills firing up at Joe Irvine for wearing a suit and combing his hair. While … Read more

X Factor NZ: Power Rankings, Week Five – Double Down

Double elimination. Two words, either heavenly or horrific. They sounded so sweet to us at home, carrying with them the promise of a shorter show, relieved of two more can’t-winners from this cursed season. To the performers they were a chill wind blowing through their mansion, a reminder that their dreamy existence – fame, coaching, … Read more

Throwback Thursday: Remembering the Glory Days of New Zealand’s Classic TVC-era

You don’t really see ads on TV anymore. What with the mute function, DVRs and streaming, this once proud tradition is not necessarily dead – but definitely not as great as it once was. I’m not saying there aren’t still great ads – the drug driving ads in the dairy and takeaway stores are comic … Read more

The Client List: James Milne’s Date With Jennifer Love-Hewitt – Week Three

In the third of a five-part series – here are parts one and two – James Milne signs up to watch Jennifer Love Hewitt’s cancelled borderline softcore porn series The Client List in its entirety. // I am a seeker of joy. I yearn to transcend society’s material concerns; to live a life strange and … Read more

The Bachelor NZ: Power Rankings, Week Four

After a an exciting wet and wild week on The Bachelor NZ, Alex Casey delivers her fourth power rankings in our weekly series. If you missed previous power rankings, head here. // Yet another great week traversing the rose petal-lined path to true love. But before we begin, let’s check in with Art to see how his workout is … Read more

X Factor NZ: Group Think, Week Eight

The Spinoff knights meet at the television roundtable to discuss week eight on X Factor NZ: One Hit Wonder edition.// Robyn Gallagher on Pleasing the Older Woman In week two, the show theme was “Biggest Records Right Now” and Twitter was filled with 30-somethings having existential crises because they didn’t recognise any of the music. It’s been easier since, … Read more

Monitor: Thawing the Unnerving Frost of Fortitude

Aaron Yap examines how small town chiller Fortitude manages to distance itself from other mystery/crime series of a similar ilk. // What’s this? A beautifully shot crime drama in the moody Scandi-noir-style of The Killing and The Bridge, but infused with the enigmatic sensibilities of Lost and Twin Peaks? It’s almost like someone made Fortitude for me. Created by … Read more

The Bachelor NZ: Power Rankings, Week Three

After a kiss-fueled week three on The Bachelor NZ, Alex Casey delivers her third power rankings in our weekly series. If you missed week two, head here. What a week. The walls are coming down, the padlocks are unlocking, the closed books are being pried open. No metaphor left behind. I actually believe that some girls are starting to … Read more

Checking off Jennifer Love-Hewitt’s ‘The Client List’: Week Two

In the second of a five-part series – here’s part one – James Milne signs up to watch Jennifer Love Hewitt’s cancelled borderline softcore porn series The Client List in its entirety. // Kyle has returned. It has confounded everything I have come to accept about this show, just as I was reaching something that … Read more

The X Factor Group Think: Week Seven

The Spinoff knights meet at the television roundtable to discuss week seven on X Factor NZ: Streets Fruttare Sounds of Summer edition.// Robyn Gallagher on the Spooky Haunted Forest One of the big differences between X Factor and other TV talent shows is the staging. X Factor doesn’t just give its performers a few smooth moves and a microphone. Instead there’s … Read more

X Factor NZ Power Rankings: Week Three – Broad Flubs Again

Dom wore shorts! That was the biggest revelation and bombshell of the night, one which was both better than last week and also cemented the sense that this new look X Factor is going to be mostly drama-free. It’s not a disaster. There were a handful of great performances, and Dom, Mel and Stan have … Read more

Music Monday: Avoiding Cricket Talk With The Mighty Boosh

For this Music Monday, Alex Casey finds a totally normal way to excuse yourself from devastating cricket chat with help from The Mighty Boosh. // Yes, the cricket final happened last night and some bad things happened. We were all there, no need to dwell. Actually, let’s. As someone who has struggled with watching sport … Read more

The Bachelor NZ: Power Rankings Week Two

After all the drama in week two of The Bachelor NZ, Alex Casey delivers her second power rankings in our weekly series. If you missed week one, head here. What a show. What great television. What a time to be alive. This week The Bachelor became everything it needed to be. The tears started welling up, … Read more

Monitor: The Brutal Triumphs of HBO’s Olive Kitteridge

Aaron Yap dissects Frances McDormand’s cripplingly powerful portrayal of depression, parenthood and marriage in the HBO mini-series Olive Kitteridge. // There are probably few characters as singularly challenging in recent television as the protagonist of Lisa Cholodenko’s Olive Kitteridge. A streamlined, absorbing, richly textured adaptation of Elizabeth Strout’s Pulitzer-Prize-winning novel, this four-hour HBO mini-series hints … Read more