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Monitor: Conjuring Television Magic – How Jonathan Strange and Mr. Norrell Casts a Surprising Spell

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Aaron Yap finds an “imaginative supernatural delight” in Jonathan Strange and Mr. Norrell, the BBC One mini-series packed with magic, mystery and memorable characters. Finding the alt-history Gothic horrors of Penny Dreadful too relentlessly serious and slow-burning for your tastes? BBC One’s period magical fantasy Jonathan Strange and Mr. Norrell should make for ideal alternative viewing. … Read more

Recap: Masterchef, Week Two – Stupid Hats, Sob Stories and Paltry Efforts with Poultry

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Australian food television connoisseur and disappointment addict Eleanor Robertson journeys through cyber space and time to watch and recap TV3’s competitive cooking show, Masterchef New Zealand each week. After complaining in my last recap about judge Al Brown’s wearing of a hat indoors, an incident compounded by the fact that the hat in question was bedazzled with a … Read more

Recap: The Shortland Street Power Rankings – Wild Nudists, Haloumi Hunts and the Clashing Jackets

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Tara Ward ranks her favourite moments from the past week of Ferndale hijinks. This week: Harper wreaks havoc, Clementine vanishes and Curtis gets naked. There was drama and action aplenty at our favourite hospital last week. Relationships teetered on the brink, lives were at risk, and anarchy arose in the car park. Come, let us … Read more

Set Visit: Teacup Treasures and Presidential Leathers – A Day at the Antiques Roadshow

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Josie Campbell spent a day at an English castle, immersing herself in the full Antiques Roadshow experience, including taking some of New Zealand’s finest china to be assessed. This whole Antiques Roadshow experience is thanks to a momentary flash of brilliance out of nowhere, when I wondered if Antiques Roadshow would be recording while I was … Read more

Fragmentary Thoughts: Why Would Anyone Want to Work in TV?

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Fragmentary Thoughts is a comic strip by José Barbosa, in which he explores a different television show or phenomenon each month. In this instalment, he tackles the perils of working in the television world.  Ask anyone and they’ll tell you making television is pretty much insane. There’s rampant egos, nincompoops, psychopaths, managers acting seemingly at random, … Read more

Interview: Dog-Tinted Glasses, Satanic Pigs and Lil Bub with Jackson Galaxy

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Alex Casey sits down with cat behaviourist Jackson Galaxy, star of My Cat From Hell, to get all your important cat questions answered.  Jackson Galaxy is the cat whisperer of modern times. Part Dr Doolittle, part Star Burns from Community, he graced our cat-laden shores this week despite Gareth Morgan’s plea to bar his entry. … Read more

Remembering The Krypton Factor, TV’s primetime nerd penthalon

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Aaron Hawkins recalls his childhood love for quiz shows, and calls for the return of Dougal Stevenson’s Herculean all-rounder competition The Krypton Factor. “They’ve been very popular, in fact they’ve been a hit: Tubular Bells. But we don’t need our contestants to hit them tonight, merely to assemble them, in the proper order.” – Dougal … Read more

Stevie TV: Suit of Silver and Hair of Gold – Mastermind’s Peter Sinclair in the 1990 Finale

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With the news that Mastermind will be getting a revival, Steve Braunias revisits the classic final of 1990, and remembers his old golden-mopped friend Peter Sinclair.  Who will they get to host the new series of Mastermind? New Zealand On Air has committed $685,360 to reviving the show, which ended in 1991. You’d want someone smart. … Read more

A Week of It: Spending a Week With Seven Sharp’s Post-Baby Toni and Post-Holiday Mike

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In our new feature A Week Of It, a Spinoff writer watches a show every day for a week and reports back with their findings. This week, Alex Casey watches a week of Seven Sharp – and finds a meta twist at the end of the viral video tunnel. I normally like to spend 7pm … Read more

Recap: Masterchef, Week One – Three Middle-Aged White Men Judge a Fearful Nation

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Australian food television connoisseur and disappointment addict Eleanor Robertson journeys through cyber space and time to watch and recap TV3’s competitive cooking show, Masterchef New Zealand each week. Ahh, Masterchef. Here we are again at the start of another season and I’m truly thrilled to waste precious hours of my life slumped on the couch like a depressed … Read more

TV Eye: A Brief Visual Voyage Through TradeMe’s Weirdest Television Offerings

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Most people like to watch TV. I like to look at TVs. For the past five years I’ve been trawling through TradeMe and saving photos of televisions to my hard drive, with a collection that totals in the hundreds and is quickly approaching the thousands. It’s a bizarre obsession that started innocently enough. I needed … Read more

Monitor: Slippery Subjectivity and Bold Genre-Bending in the Liquid Reality of Louie

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Aaron Yap celebrates the reckless abandon of Louis C.K.’s Louie, a surreal comedy-drama that consistently transcends the boundaries of both genre and reality. I’ve long been fascinated by the idea of genres operating beyond their foundations. How far can you stretch the boundaries of a genre before it becomes something else? Is a comedy a comedy if … Read more

Set Visit: Ain’t No Party Like a Kaftan Party – A Morning at a Soap Star’s Clothing Launch

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Katherine Kelly Lang, star of The Bold and The Beautiful for over 28 years, has brought her luxury kaftan line to New Zealand. With nothing else to do on a Monday, Alex Casey went along to the launch party. It was a Monday morning and, like any normal day, I was off to a kaftan … Read more

Music Monday: Could You F*** to this? A Review of X Factor NZ 2015 Winner Beau Monga’s Album

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The morning after the X Factor final a workmate told me he was on his way to interview Beau Monga. “Oh yeah?” I said. “What’s Boh been up to?” “Uh… winning X Factor?” Ah shit. Why had I assumed he was talking about Boh Runga, who fronted the band Stellar* 15 years ago, rather than … Read more

Podcast: Dancing With the Stars – Heavenly Dad Bods, Dog Triumphs and Chrystal’s Basic Instinct

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Thank our heavenly Dads, we’ve made it to the grand finale of Dancing With the Stars NZ for 2015. Congratulations Simon Barnett, it’s time for us to crack into The Spinoff’s wig department, and finally hear Jane’s chilling story of Ronan Keating and the bad catering. Join Flapper-era Siobhan Marshall (Jane Yee), satin shirt-era Red … Read more

Recap: Come Dine With Me Daily – Grandma G-Strings, Fake Snakes and Legendary Quizmasters

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Your daily rolling recap of Come Dine With Me NZ, serving up piping hot takes on New Zealand’s greatest social experiment.  Welcome to Come Dine With Me Daily, The Spinoff’s hub for all things Come Dine With Me NZ.We’ll be updating this post throughout the week as the show plays out, providing you with a denser dining experience … Read more

Feature: To the Unsuspecting Victim Go the Spoilers – How I Ruined TV For Everyone

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Aimie Cronin spends a maniacal week incessantly ruining TV shows for her nearest and dearest. Spoiler alert: contains a very well-known Game of Thrones spoiler. When someone has been told the ending of the show they are watching before they have watched it, their face looks like those guys on action shows who have taken … Read more

Recap: Jenner Soars, Lebron Wears Shades and McHale Gets Whipped at the 2015 ESPY Awards

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Ever wondered why has a horse never won an ESPY? Joseph Harper spends a vexed afternoon watching the surreal awards ceremony, and reports back with his findings.  Yesterday I watched the Excellence in Sports Performance Yearly Awards, aka the ESPYs. It was super weird. I’ve never watched the Halberg awards, but based on video highlights and pictures … Read more

Throwback: What You May Have Missed Watching Dawson’s Creek the First Time Around

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Re-watching Dawson’s Creek – the classic late ’90s, early ’00s teen drama that launched the careers of Katie Holmes, Michelle Williams and Joshua Jackson (and was probably the high point of James van der Beek’s, lets be honest) – it has become obvious I previously lacked a complete understanding of the finer nuances of the show. … Read more

Recap: A Glittering Afternoon in Burning Beauty Pageant Hell With Miss USA 2015

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Alex Casey watches over three hours of Miss USA 2015 coverage, and reports back with some giant sneakers, rough public voting systems and a growing sense of despair.  I have a shocking, groundbreaking announcement: Miss Congeniality lied to us, and the Miss USA competition is nothing like the movies. Sandra Bullock has left me high … Read more

Dancing With the Stars: Power Rankings, Week Seven – Sexy Teachers, Butt Stickers and Dad Bod Fever Pitch

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Alex Casey delivers her semi-final round of Dancing With the Stars power rankings, including deep conspiracies, low-resolution underwear decals and a winning NZ flag pitch.  It’s semifinals week, and we are all but a meat hand away from the finish line. The couples each performed two dances this time around, which meant far less time … Read more

Podcast: Dancing With the Stars, Week Seven – G-Strings, Love Couches and PC Gone Mad

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It’s the tense semi-finals this week, and the old crew are back together to freestyle their recap with no props, no scripts and no clue. With each dancer having two chances at the disco ball trophy of dreams this week, there’s more action to rip through than Dom Harvey’s terrible stripper pants. Does Jane think … Read more

Comedy Review: The Real Tim Shadbolt Stands Up and McCormick Takes the Mick

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I was leaving Countdown Whangaparaoa with a bag of bananas and some chocolate milk when I saw the poster. “Gary McCormick and Mayor Tim Shadbolt,” it read. “Stand-up comedy at it’s best!” And there they stood, suited and grinning, framed in yellow hibiscus flowers. The poster raised more questions than it answered, like: what the … Read more

Feature: The Cinematic Sinking of the Rainbow Warrior – Comedy Frenchies and Porno David Lange

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Thirty years after the sinking of Greenpeace’s Rainbow Warrior, Joseph Nunweek sits down with a bizarre 1993 made-for-TV film about the momentous historical event. It was the 30th anniversary of the sinking of the Rainbow Warrior this weekend just past, and it’s an event that’s lived a odd sort of double life since then. The … Read more

Recap: Come Dine With Me Daily – Hair Cream, Invisible Chips and a Cat Funeral

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Your daily rolling recap of Come Dine With Me NZ, serving up piping hot takes on New Zealand’s greatest social experiment.  Welcome to Come Dine With Me Daily, The Spinoff’s hub for all things Come Dine With Me NZ. We’ll be updating this post throughout the week as the show plays out, providing you with a … Read more

A Spinoff Investigation: What Does a Kiwi Living Gift Bag Say About the Lifestyle Show?

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TV One’s new lifestyle show Kiwi Living begins at 7.30pm tonight, an “all-encompassing lifestyle show covering food, travel, gardening, living spaces, health and well-being, fashion and the outdoors”. It will be hosted by celebrity chef and caravan enthusiast Michael Van de Elzen and 20/20‘s Miriama Kamo, featuring many other specialist presenters. Fine. Those are words. … Read more

The Spinoff’s TV Week: Breakfast Blunders, Background Burps and Budding Broadcasters

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1) John Campbell Live in Samoa Say what you want about John Fellett, but he’s as adept at the counter-punch and exploiting an opportunity as anyone in television. So when TV3 dramatically dumped John Campbell a few weeks back, you can bet one of the first calls the broadcaster took was from a Sky exec, … Read more

Sports: Campbell Live From Apia – How Did JC Fit In on Sky?

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Yesterday the All Blacks finally played a test in the Pacific Islands, thanks largely to the efforts of one passionate man with a bug in his head. John Campbell campaigned endlessly on the irony of so many of our most glorious ABs having island ancestry, yet the side never having played a test there. And … Read more

Monitor: Bitter Loners and Daddy Issues – Who is the Truest Detective of Them All?

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Aaron Yap dissects the sophomore effort of True Detective thus far and compares it to Bosch, the old-fashioned cop show that effortlessly unfolds without the feverish fanaticism.  Following up the first season of True Detective was never going to be simplest task. It’s easier to appreciate this now, having chewed over the lacklustre response to the first … Read more