“We ditched the drama this week – it’s all about the fun factor!” – Dom Bowden It wasn’t much fun, and I feel bad that slick, professional old Dom has to come out and lie to us every week. X Factor NZ is in a hole now, and I struggle to see a way out. … Read more
The Paul Henry Show landed this morning at 6am on TV, online and on the radio. Duncan Greive and Alex Casey dissect TV3’s new multi-platform experience. // The Host: After delightedly pressing the button, much like a kid allowed to honk a horn, Paul Henry’s sting “you can run, but you can’t hide – this … Read more
Tara Ward celebrates the return of Outlander to Lightbox with a recap of episode nine: The Reckoning. // We open with Jamie on a riverbank, skimming stones and contemplating the meaning of life. Listen, Jamie: if you’re not skimming stones on still water, you’re wasting both your time and mine. Shouldn’t you be saving your … Read more
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
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
My Life in TV is a weekly feature interview with a member of the television industry. This week, Alex Casey talked to 7 Days producer Jon Bridges about bringing the competitive laughs each week. // Jon Bridges is the current producer of TV3’s flagship comedy panel show, 7 Days. Going into its sixth year now, and … Read more
Appointment viewing… is a regular column which features a Spinoff writer watching one or more episodes of a current show and attempting to decode its appeal. This week: Calum Henderson watches Louie, the surrealist baby cartoon not unlike its adult counterpart. // Episodes Consumed: I don’t know. I can’t even begin to count the number of times … Read more
Dan Clist watched all four hours of 2015’s Wrestlemania extravaganza, and argues that wrestling remains one of the greatest forms of television entertainment on offer.. // Something weird happened to me about 18 months ago. I still cannot explain it to this day, but I had an inkling and I began to – once again … Read more
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
In a Spinoff exclusive, we have rare intel about where The Block 2015 is going down. An anonymous tipper, currently living in the Sandringham/Mt Roskill border sent us this lovely bit of mail this morning: There has been speculation that this is the potential spot for all of the drama, pregnancies and pant ripping that … Read more
José Barbosa watched the on-screen festivities of Campbell Live‘s 10th anniversary, and considers the marvellous legacy of Mr John Campbell. // Last week marked 10 years of TV3’s flagship current affairs show, Campbell Live. The last decade has seen John Campbell drop his “Gidday yous fellas” greeting, literally drive the opening titles with the sponsor’s … Read more
Alex Casey talks to comedian Rose Matafeo about her eclectic TV upbringing, getting toenails in the mail and becoming a television star. // Rose Matafeo has already lived many television lives. Just 23, but already a grizzled showbiz vet, having been on the TV and comedy grind since the age of 15. That’s essentially child labour! … Read more
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
Stevie TV is a monthly column for The Spinoff by Steve Braunias. Here he makes a really convincing argument that it was better to watch the Black Caps game last night on TV than being stuck at Eden Park. // Did you watch last night’s game? Most New Zealanders who saw the Black Caps incred, … Read more
Calum Henderson watched Good Morning every day for a week, and recorded every joyful moment of the bizarre lifestyle show. // If Judy Bailey was the mother of the nation, then Mary Lambie was like an aunty you went and stayed with in the school holidays. Every Good Morning was filled with pointless, time-consuming crafts … Read more
Alex Casey has a quick chat with Jonathan Banks, also known as the stony-faced assassin Mike Ehrmentraut of Breaking Bad and current spinoff Better Call Saul. // I really was expecting Jonathan to pick up the phone and to mutter a grumpy “hello” like Mike would, and then promptly shoot me in the head with a sniper rifle … Read more
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
The Spinoff knights meet at the television roundtable to discuss week six on X Factor NZ, and our new additions to the judging panel. Eli Mathewson on the Tough Calls The toughest criticism so far came for a completely unexpected victim… “You disgust me. You make me sick. You ruin everything I love about the world. I want … Read more
Brand new judges. The same old singers. Slightly different podcast guests. With Joseph Moore fleeing our smiley and sanitised bully-free country to the mean streets of Melbourne, Nic Sampson is joined by Spinoff staff writer Alex Casey and Perlina Lau, soon to be social media presenter on the new Paul Henry breakfast show. Together they … Read more
After a sorry week on X Factor, Robyn Gallagher heads way north to televised music comp perfection. // The Eurovision Song Contest is easily the greatest television musical extravaganza, but a couple of months earlier there’s another show that’s almost as good. It’s Melodifestivalen, the Swedish national competition to select their Eurovision entry – and … Read more
Has any TV show fallen as far or landed as hard as X Factor NZ did over the last seven days? We watched one of the 20 or so most controversial moments in our televisual history last week; this Sunday we sat and watched a bunch of mostly mediocre singers singing mostly mediocre songs, while … Read more
My Life in TV is a weekly feature interview with a member of the television industry. This week Alex talked to Mike Puru, enamoured host of The Bachelor NZ. // Mike Puru has stepped back in front of the camera this week to host the journey of love that is The Bachelor NZ. On the day of the premiere, … Read more
In a new segment, Alex Casey tries recreate some iconic small screen meals. In this edition, she tackles 30 Rock‘s heart-attack-inducing Cheesy Blasters. // If there is one thing that Liz Lemon loves more than slankets – it’s cheese. Which is why, in season four of the show, it’s no surprise that she delightedly plays … Read more
During a recent trip to Copenhagen, Wyoming Paul found the seamy crimes of The Killing and The Bridge were never far from her mind. // Scandinavian television has become Big, worthy of capitalisation, in the crime-thriller division. Shows such as The Killing, Wallander, Morden and The Bridge all bring a depth of darkness to our … Read more
After an exciting introduction to The Bachelor NZ this week, Alex Casey delivers her first in our weekly series of Bachelorette power rankings. I can’t believe it has happened. Our headless oiled Bachelor has finally washed ashore, and revealed his handsome mug to the nation. What a week it has been. There’s been tears, there’s been somewhat excessive … Read more
This Throwback Thursday, Calum Henderson discusses In Bed With Chris Needham, a self-shot teenage cult classic from the BBC. It starts with a pale, spotty youth, shifting from foot to foot, hanging on the telephone. His astonishing barnet is the cumulative result of not just one but a prolonged series of bad haircuts. “I’m not … Read more
With Art Green confirmed as New Zealand’s first Bachelor, Alex Casey set about trying to find footage of his days as an extra on the swords and sandals sexfest Spartacus. // If you, like me, have been retracing Art Green’s life story every hour since he was announced as the Bachelor, you will know of … Read more
The Spinoff received word that Natalia Kills and Willy Moon would be leaving the country last night, so dispatched Don Rowe to watch their final moments on our soil. // Like great dark bats they swooped through Auckland International Airport. He wore leather and she sheltered beneath a wide-brimmed hat. Both wore sunglasses. They walked … Read more
Tuesday, March 10, 2015 was just an ordinary evening on X Factor twitter. Jokes were made, memes were shared, the #xfactornz hashtag was enthusiastically tacked on to these jokes and memes, for fear of our hilarious content floating, unheard, into the abyss. We all rejoiced as national hero Joe Irvine was put through to the live … Read more