Beset by endless schedule-induced delays, Late Night Big Breakfast ended up timing its arrival brilliantly. During the greatest period of media flux in decades, and against the backdrop of the strangest election campaign any of us will ever know. The show’s crazed, no-attention-span sensibility seems like it could only possibly have been properly digested right now. At … Read more
Alex Casey finds a role model in a 40-year-old bearded man from Slough. // I still remember the first time I watched The Office. This was a time before Ricky Gervais got bronzed and ripped and spent 99% of his time yelling about how God doesn’t exist. This was a time before Stephen Merchant starred … Read more
Every Tuesday we will endeavour to chat with somebody involved in New Zealand’s magical little world of television. This week we talked to James Mustapic, host of Shorty Street Scandal. / Each week James Mustapic hosts Shorty Street Scandal, assembling all of the absurd moments from Ferndale into a sensational highlights package. If you aren’t a Shortland Street fan, … Read more
Dominic Corry gives us a rundown of the top celebrities to visit 30 Rock. // The little comedy runt that could, 30 Rock (2006-2013) was entirely overshadowed in the lead-up to its debut by that season’s other new show – also set behind the scenes of an Saturday Night Live-esque programme – Aaron Sorkin’s Studio 60 … Read more
Alex Casey asks whether this really is ‘the end’ for Joan Rivers. // The world and Donald Trump farewelled comedian Joan Rivers in New York today. A dark day, another shining and oddly taut star gone. For those of you who find yourselves crippled with grief – there is a light at the end of … Read more
Matt Suddain visits the set of the epic new fantasy show Outlander. // Scotland is no stranger to glamour, as you know. My taxi driver tells me he once gave Charlie Sheen a lift from the airport. “He was nay bother really. Very friendly. Full of energy.” He gets so engrossed in his stories he misses … Read more
What exactly is The Spinoff? Editor Duncan Greive explains. // Like most people, I can map my life out through TV. Inspector Gadget and Danger Mouse as a gawky, pale kid growing up in London. A few years later The Bill and Grange Hill made the surrounding streets seem different, more sinister. My mother wouldn’t let us connect … Read more
The rise of reality TV and the post-HBO drama is slowly killing the soap. Rosabel Tan is in mourning. // “I like everything about the dead… ‘cause they’re so quiet… Think about it, how quiet it would be to be in a room with no one that is alive.” – Phaedra Parks, Real Housewife of Atlanta On … Read more