Get your crimpers, your fluffy skirts and your Shane Cameron-style halter tops – it’s ’80s week on the D-Floor. Duncan returns from Spain to teach Jane and Alex the ways of the Spanish pasadoble, and the latest Magic Mike XXL movie. There’s gossip aplenty from kiss scandals to chocolate sauce, and some very slick segues … Read more
In April this year, we published a very public declaration of love by Paul Williams for Lilli Bayliss, the undeniable pop princess of X Factor NZ. “A girl with snow-white hair had done the impossible. Not only had she made me not hate the song ‘Rude’ by Canadian reggae band Magic!, she had made me love … Read more
Finlay Macdonald pays personal tribute to Val Doonican, the man who put the gentle rock into rocking chair. Lately I’ve taken to joking that I’m so old I came to New Zealand on a ship. It’s true, though. It was 1966 and we sailed via the Panama Canal all the way from England, a journey … Read more
Alex Casey runs through James Griffin’s extensive television biography with the man himself, gauging his first response on everything from The Strip to Bro Town. A few weeks ago I had a sit-down interview with James Griffin for our My Life in TV series. It’s a tall task to get through his entire biography in … Read more
A reissued post from July this year, days before the premiere of the much-anticipated Outrageous Fortune prequel Westside. Alex Casey talked to creator James Griffin about getting started in television, the perils of funding in New Zealand and the Van and Munter spin-off that time forgot. It’s a dizzying feeling to walk into the Grey Lynn villa where you … Read more
Bringing together the best television moments of the week, including Come Dine With Me‘s beautiful bromance, Campbell’s low-key cameo and Newsworthy‘s sauna dramas. 1. Campbell Goes Wild on The Crowd Goes Wild A marvellous event happened in a very low key way on Wednesday night – John Campbell returned to our screens at 7pm. Just on … Read more
Stevie TV is a monthly column for the Spinoff by Steve Braunias. Here he looks back at David Farrier’s tremendous track record of clammy questioning throughout history. Pity poor Newsworthy anchorman David Farrier as his pores dry up because one politician after another refuses his plea to come inside his sauna. Conservative Party leader Colin Craig … Read more
Alex Casey watches TV2’s new show Take Me Out, a chaotic dating competition where one man catches an elevator and thirty women use lights and fire poi to communicate their feelings. What’s it about? Take Me Out is a fast-paced, lightbulb-based dating show, hosted by world’s most Irish person Paddy McGuinness. His wisecracks pour out crazy … Read more
I love the films, me. In fact, the only thing I love more than a lovely film is a lovely, lovely episode of Dancing With the Stars NZ. You should have seen my face when I found out my two favourite things were colliding! Oh the possibilities! Oh the opportunities for beautiful homages to the … Read more
With Duncan still luxuriating with our theme music USB on the sandy shores of Spain, Jane Yee and Alex Casey recruit Brendon Green to join them on D-floor. Being the official Dancing With the Stars NZ warm-up guy, Brendon brings with him some backstage scoops, diplomatic answers and very weird pronunciations of ‘muesli’ to the table. Recapping … Read more
After 20 years, Josh Drummond checks in to see how the legendary kid’s show What Now is doing with less Simon Barnett and more Mexican stereotypes. I do believe you think what now you speak, But what we do determine oft we break. – Hamlet, Act 3, Scene 2 I’m not sure why I decided to watch What Now. In … Read more
A new season of Suits has arrived on Lightbox. Tim Lambourne explains how binge-watching the legal drama helped him win his underdog tenancy dispute. A few years ago I lived in a four bedroom flat on Summer Street in Ponsonby, Auckland. If you’re unfamiliar with the suburb, Summer Street is about three quarters of the way down Ponsonby … Read more
Alex Casey looks back across the week in television and picks her favourite moments, including The Bachelorette’s sex scandal and Hosking’s skinny jeans ratings smash. 1. True Detective’s Premiere Flat as a Circular Pancake Okay, I overstated that a bit – but it was definitely more pancake than three tier wedding cake, right? As I … Read more
For Monitor this month, Aaron Yap argues why you should bravely enter the “alluringly sensual and generously gory universe” of Showtime’s Victorian horror Penny Dreadful. It’s a pretty good time for TV horror fans at the moment. If you have a favourite type of monster, it’s likely being catered to. The Walking Dead has zombies, The … Read more
José Barbosa goes to the future to visit the set of TV3’s current affairs show Story, and reports back on just how much fun is in store for Heather du Plessis-Allan and Duncan Garner. This week MediaWorks made public its plans for a new current affairs show in the 7pm slot recently vacated by Campbell Live. The new … Read more
Laura Vincent runs a one-woman roundtable discussion, presenting evidence as to why her favourite show Pretty Little Liars deserves just as much attention as Game of Thrones or The Wire. It was sincerely and without hyperbole that I said, after watching the season six premiere of Pretty Little Liars, “that episode was literally better than any episode … Read more
Some great news came through yesterday: John Campbell is going to Samoa to play rugby. In anticipation of the big match The Spinoff’s leading rugby expert has picked John Campbell’s Rugby Team XV for their first ever test match against Samoa. 1 Duncan Garner Like his front row teammates, Garner has proven he can more … Read more
Alex Casey delivers her fourth power rankings for winter wonderland week of Dancing With the Stars, wherein hell freezes over, Pam gets eliminated and Teuila does the running man. The power rankings are a little late this week, as I have been very busy rocking gently in a corner, despairingly imagining the next few weeks … Read more
Elyse Robêrt brings us this week’s Shortland Street power rankings, covering the brownie-assisted highs and cancer-assisted lows of life in Ferndale. Tis the season – the winter season. And that means more Shorty, 30 minutes more to be precise. We’re missing the Warners who are still off on their fancy holiday; Kylie is inadequately jealous … Read more
With Duncan in Spain and Rikki struck by winter malaise, Jane Yee and Alex Casey venture onto D-floor alone, unequipped and a little frightened. Luckily, Siobhan’s magic powder blessed them with the ability to record a cohesive podcast, in which they recap week four on Dancing With the Stars New Zealand. For the winter wonderland … Read more
The new season of True Detective starts tonight, bringing with it a whole new story, cast and setting. Time may well be a flat circle, but feels like a bloody long time to me since the first season. I’ve decided to assemble a refresher package for those delving back into the musky True Detective world. … Read more
Please enjoy this excellent episode of Shorty Street Scandal, wherein James Mustapic recaps the past week of Ferndale hijinks. This week? Pixie goes down in a brownie blaze, Boyd and Harper talk dirty and James celebrates one year of Shorty Street Scandal: Rampant leg cancer aside, Pixie has been living a pretty cruisey life in Ferndale. She gets personal visits … Read more
Hayden Donnell looks into the oozing ruptured abdomen of Game of Thrones and tries to discover how to make it through this doomscape alive. Contains endless spoilers, obviously. Game of Thrones is trying to inflict as much emotional and physical harm on you as possible. It wants to teach you that good guys don’t always win, that honour … Read more
Lost amongst TV3’s big budget reality imports and current affairs cancellations has been one unexpected hit: YouTube-on-TV clip show Fail Army. Duncan Greive tries to figure out how this designed-to-fail show works. Of all the millions of new shows TV3 has launched this year, few had lower expectations than Fail Army. A clip show screening … Read more
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 celebrates the best bonkers moments from week one of Come Dine With Me NZ. Among all the angst and genuine uncertainty that has come to characterise New Zealand’s TV industry, the local … Read more
Alex Casey introduces the young subjects in TV3’s new documentary series Reality Trip, including a 25 year-old with the views of a crazed senior citizen. TV3’s new series Reality Trip takes a group of young New Zealand consumers and whisks them around the world, confronting them with the reality of how their favourite products are … Read more
In a time before she donned a sparkly dress and mom-danced (as my flatmate put it) on free-to-air television, before she called one journalist a “puffed up little shit” and another Cameron Slater’s “glove puppet”, our dearly beloved Pam Corkery was once an MP. For three years, she occupied a seat in our hallowed halls … Read more
Alex Casey introduces the key witches in American Horror Story: Coven, and breaks down each of their unique powers in the spellbinding horror series. The third season in the skin-crawling anthology series American Horror Story follows modern day witches living together in New Orleans, Louisiana, all residing under one roof at Miss Robichaux’s Academy. There’s a more … Read more
What a sexy week. Actually no, sexy then devastating. Like dropping a delicious gateau into a pile of mud. Or, indeed, dropping a scandal queenie onto a dancefloor on national television. The elimination of Colin Mathura Jeffree has sent shockwaves through the nation, with the social movement #CornrowsforColin truly taking Twitter by force. Goodbye my … Read more