James Shaw is not just the co-leader of The Green Party, but the star of ‘Yes Minister’ in tonight’s episode of 7 Days. Here’s a quick Q&A with the panel, including a new dreadlocks policy. Jeremy Corbett: You defeated Kevin Hague for the co-leadership of the Greens. Is that the first time you’ve beaten off another man? … Read more
Alex Casey has a sprawling chat with Dani Robinson of The Bachelor NZ about mansion friendships, ruthless edits, and finding love in a hopeless place. I went over to Dani Robinson’s house the other week, to get her take on the brilliant behind-the-scenes TV drama UnREAL. As the runner-up of The Bachelor NZ, I thought … Read more
Alex Casey sits down with Boganologist Dave Snell and his mate Fro, stars of TV2’s docuseries Bogans, to find out what’s actually going on beneath the leather jackets and car exhaust fumes. I was embarrassed to be sipping a peppermint tea next to two of New Zealand’s premiere bogans. “Let me know if you want … Read more
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
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
Married at First Sight takes a bunch of single strangers looking for love, but eliminates all the hassle involved in getting to know someone. Or even choosing someone to get to know. A group of professional labcoat nerds run tests on the participants, crunch their stats, and match couples together using a sophisticated Minority Report-style … Read more
Alex Casey chats to Suzanne Rogers, better known as Maggie Horton from Days of Our Lives, about what it’s like to be on a soap opera for 42 years and counting. It’s a very weird thing to be sitting in your dressing gown in Auckland, waiting on the phone to talk to a soap star in LA … Read more
Alex Casey talks to the 2015 Billy T Winner Hamish Parkinson about being raised by TV, playing the New World guy, and what he’ll do with the coveted yellow towel. Hamish became a national star a while back, when these New World ads played before every pre-roll on the internet, and the image of a … Read more
For My Life in TV this week, Alex Casey talks to Madeleine Sami about creating and starring in Super City, starting out on Shortland Street and how she’s still taking an extended gap year. Madeleine Sami is everywhere if you look hard enough. Just after this interview I popped to a film screening and there … Read more
Greg Bruce interviews his Mum about her penchant for Seven Sharp‘s Mike Hosking over John Campbell. Mum came over last week to babysit my daughter and on arrival told me some story about something Mike Hosking had been talking about and, because this is a fairly common occurrence, I thought, ‘Why is my fundamentally decent … Read more
Alex Casey talks to Hilary Barry about juggling Paul Henry and 3 News, watching X Factor and playing second banana. When I arrived at TV3 to meet Hilary Barry, I was deeply excited to find out that the interview would take place on the Paul Henry set. “It’s about the only quiet place left in the … Read more
Joseph Harper splits a Rekorderlig with three members of The Hunter’s Club and finds out why their show stylistically slaughters the rest of their outdoor TV competitors. You notice pretty quickly that The Hunter’s Club doesn’t look like our more familiar hunting and fishing shows. Where shows like Outdoors with Geoff often feel procedural – … Read more
My Life in TV is a weekly feature interview with a member of the television industry. This week, Alex Casey talked to Anika Moa about tutoring on Maori TV’s Songs From the Inside, Ed Sheeran’s looks and why she likes to impersonate famous New Zealanders. Anika Moa is obviously chiefly known as an accomplished musician, but she … Read more
Paul Henry, New Zealand’s most entertainingly obnoxious talk show host, is starring in a film about to premiere in America. Tomorrow. Seriously. David Farrier brings us this exclusive report and interview. // For two years Paul Henry has been sitting on a strange, fascinating secret. For a few months in between being fired in Australia … Read more
My Life in TV is a weekly feature interview with a member of the television industry. This week, Alex Casey talked to Maria Mahony, head of programming at VOD startup (and Spinoff sponsor) Lightbox. // I’ve talked to Maria a few times already, as the head honcho TV buyer at Lightbox, but we actually first met … 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
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
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
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
Ahead of forthcoming Prime documentary The Naughty Bits, co-creator José Barbosa talks with former Chief Censor Bill Hastings about his career watching video nasties. Strictly speaking former Chief-Censor Bill Hastings isn’t part of that madcap world of TV production, TV is outside the Office of Film and Literature Classification’s (OFLC) remit, but he’s certainly done … Read more
My Life in TV is a weekly feature interview with a member of the television industry. This week, Alex talked to X Factor NZ host Dominic Bowden. // There is no denying Dominic Bowden has earned the title of New Zealand’s National Host. After early beginnings on kids TV show Squirt, he moved to hosting … Read more
My Life in TV is a weekly feature interview with a member of the television industry. This week, Alex talked to Geordie Shore star Charlotte Crosby. // For those of you who might not have been exposed to to the Shore franchises (Jersey or Geordie) before, the premise is simple: take a bunch of 20–somethings … Read more
My Life in TV is a new weekly feature, wherein we interview a member of the television industry and ask them how they got here, and what they’ve learned along the way. First up: Graeme Hill-Humphreys. // Graeme Hill-Humphreys is one of the more elusive characters these islands have manufactured. Some know him as the … Read more
Outrageous Fortune’s James Griffin is one of the few New Zealanders who’ve known he was scripting a series’ final episode. José Barbosa talks with him about the different ways, many of them terrible, TV shows have bowed out. The writer Alan Moore (most widely know as the guy who, along with artist David Lloyd, gave Anonymous the idea … Read more
Part of what made Breaking Bad work was a thread of plausibility amongst the violence. We spoke with a fan and former drug squad cop to test the show’s realism. // For 13 years, starting in 1993, Dale Kirk roved the Waikato, catching crooks. He started as a beat cop, then joined serious crime unit the CIB in 1999, just … Read more
Throughout ‘Street Week’, our tribute to the wonder that is Shortland Street, we’ve been running ‘Real Talk’, a series of very strange interviews with Ferndalers Ben Mitchell and Cam Jones, conducted by David Farrier. All eight are now out, and the MSM has finally picked up on the biggest story since Dirty Politics, so we’ve compiled the lot into … Read more
‘Real Talk’ is a series of interviews conducted exclusively for The Spinoff’s ‘Street Week’ by David Farrier with Shortland Street‘s Cam Jones and Ben Mitchell. The eighth and final episode features outtakes from the interview – the best strong strange opinions that didn’t make the cut in other clips. Mitchell on Shortland Street: “It fulfils a lot of my … Read more
The Christmas cliffhanger is Shortland Street’s most glorious moment, when the show’s silliness and ambition are deafeningly amplified. Ahead of tonight’s finale, Duncan Greive spoke with key storyliner Harry McNaughton about the cliffhanging process. // Gerald Tippett was one of my favourite characters during an extremely strong Shortland Street era. A fastidious receptionist and executive … Read more