Aaron Yap digs up gold in Detectorists, the award winning comedy written by The Office’s Mackenzie Crook that went straight-to-DVD in New Zealand. We have several copies to give away, see the end of the piece for more details. The fact that last year Detectorists completely slipped the radars of local TV (broadcast and otherwise) is prime … Read more
Alex Casey breaks down all you need to know about Stan Lee’s Lucky Man, the new television show from none other than (you guessed it) Marvel legend Stan Lee. Stan Lee, Marvel chairman and creator of X Men, Spider Man, Iron Man and many other powerful lycra-wearing men, has released a new breed of everyday … Read more
Alex Casey chats to Quentin Tarantino about dipping his toes in television, and asks if will ever see him commit to the small screen. He’ll never watch it again, but that doesn’t mean you don’t have to. Click below to watch Quentin Tarantino’s episode of CSI, available on Lightbox (S05E24) This content, like all our television … Read more
Alex Casey talks to Carly Chaikin, star of Golden Globe-winning cyber-drama Mr Robot, about fake hacking, Fight Club and predicting the grim future. Warning: contains spoilers. One of the most exciting new television shows of last year, Mr Robot introduced a world to us full of corporate greed, social media slaves and vigilante hacker groups. … Read more
Whether you’re trading in stocks or assault rifles, the stakes are high. But who are the real gangsters? Don Rowe talks with one guy who might know – Sons of Anarchy screenwriter Brady Dahl. Someone, it might have been Immortal Technique, once said that the real gangsters are the ones wearing suits. Anyone who’s seen … Read more
At the start of this year we ran a series called ‘Bad Week‘, celebrating all things Breaking Bad. One of our favourite pieces during the week was this by Joe Nunweek, who found himself deeply embarrassed by Walter White fandom. Our hero is bald, save for a goatee that would seem ridiculous were the stakes … Read more
Josh Davis brought a bit of 2016 to 16th century England through creating a slew of hilarious memes from BBC drama Wolf Hall. Wolf Hall is a BBC drama documenting the power dynamics of the court of Henry VIII. Unfortunately, while the 16th century had many things – the Church, fancy clothes etc – memes … Read more
Alex Casey watches UnREAL – a drama set behind-the-scenes of a Bachelor-esque reality show – with The Bachelor NZ runner-up Dani Robinson, who dishes the dirt on how real reality TV really is. Set behind-the-scenes of a Bachelor-style dating show, the fictional world of UnREAL hints at the dark methods used to construct reality TV. Co-created by Marti Noxon and … Read more
Back in April, brave couch warrior José Barbosa journeyed 10 hours across the televisual seas to consume the first season of Spinoff sponsor Lightbox’s epic Norse saga Vikings in one sitting, accompanied only by meat soup and mead. This is his story. It’s an interesting feature of this amazing future amusement park we currently inhabit … Read more
Hacking thriller Mr Robot was undoubtedly one of the most critically-acclaimed TV shows of 2015. Upon its release, José Barbosa tracked down the man who once ran the internet in New Zealand, and asked him to assess its realism. Listen below as a podcast, or read on for a text transcript of the package. So there’s this scene in a movie … Read more
Ears at the ready, our sponsors over at Lightbox have just launched a new game that challenges you to identify some famous TV theme tunes from a small clip. To celebrate, we thought we would share some our favourite (and least favourite) theme songs of all time. Don Rowe Best theme tune: Sherlock Sherlock’s opening theme … Read more
Before Joe Irvine copied Willy Moon, the only important suit this year was Harvey Specter. In June, Tim Lambourne shared his triumphant story about how binge-watching the legal drama Suits 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 … 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
Inside the Lightbox is a sponsored post where we mine the extensive Lightbox catalogue for shows you might like to watch. This week we line up all the cool new shows coming in December. COMING IN DECEMBER: Transparent (S02E01, Dec 1) The first episode of the second season of Emmy-winning drama Transparent arrives to Lightbox … Read more
The Doctor himself, Peter Capaldi, describes some of his favourite episodes from Doctor Who‘s 50 year history. Do you have a list of favourite episodes? I hate doing the favourite game, because it betrays a lot of the other ones. But there are things that I think are great; and I always forget there … Read more
Inside the Lightbox is a sponsored post where we mine the extensive Lightbox catalogue for shows you might like to watch. We don’t celebrate it here New Zealand, but that doesn’t mean you can’t gorge upon a mighty platter of great Thanksgiving episodes from your favourite Lightbox shows. The Mindy Project (S01E06 ‘Thanksgiving’) Two of Mindy’s … Read more
(Music: Please Listen Carefully (Jahzzar) / CC BY-SA 4.0) We met in a fancy hotel on Auckland’s Viaduct Harbour. I was the short, big boned chap with creased and crinkly clothes; he was the tall Scot wearing an immaculately pressed suit, sans tie, shirt buttoned to the top. “I’ll sit anywhere that works for you,” he … Read more
Inside the Lightbox is a sponsored post where we mine the extensive Lightbox catalogue for shows you might like to watch. This Friday 13, we pick some of the unluckiest characters on television. 1) Pierce Hawthorne (Community) “When I was born, I got my umbilical cord wrapped around my neck, both arms, and one of … Read more
Aaron Yap reviews Flesh and Bone, the new drama from Breaking Bad writer Moira Walley-Beckett, and asks if it lives up to its lofty predecessor. To consider Flesh and Bone worthy of your time, especially in an ever-crowded market of dark cable dramas, some management of expectations is advisable. Not every new show can claim, … Read more
Raise a glass of scotch for Days of Our Lives this weekend, as the surreal soap will be celebrating its whopper 50th anniversary on Sunday November 8. I was lucky enough to visit the studio set in LA the other week, and got talk to a few of the cast members who have survived the show through … Read more
Masters of Horror brought together the most morphed minds in horror to direct a series of one-hour TV specials. Aaron Yap lists the essential episodes to scream your way through this Halloween. The story begins like a boilerplate slasher movie scenario – with a meta twist. In 2002, Mick Garris, director of many a Stephen King adaptation, invites … Read more
What is the scariest television viewing this Halloween? Once you are done with all of the on-trend prestigious horror shows, take a trip down memory lane to the darkest corners of your childhood telly-watching. Halloween is creeping up this week, which could well get you in the mood to endure some scary television shows. The likes … Read more
Xena: Warrior Princess showed 90’s kids that girls could kick ass just like boys. An alternative reading implies they could do much more than that besides. If you were to design a feminist superhero, you could do a lot worse than just copying Xena. Righteous, strong and ready to kick a pervert right in his Ancient … Read more
For Monitor this week, Aaron Yap looks at how Homeland has embraced explosive twists and stories pulled-from-headlines to breathe new life into the political thriller. Homeland made an unexpected, somewhat miraculous comeback with its fourth season. It wasn’t perfect, but improved immensely on the wobbly second and third. Back then, the show couldn’t decide what to … Read more
Every lazy Sunday we select an excellent local short film from Lightbox’s Show Me Shorts catalogue. Queenie is an animated short film by Paul Neason, following a geography lecturer Danny Mulgan as he works with his students on a mysterious personal project. Through talking heads (that immediately bring all the humanity and agony of David … Read more
Inside the Lightbox is a sponsored post where we mine the extensive Lightbox catalogue for shows you might like to watch. This week, we pick our favourite cult television classics. Don Rowe on The Mighty Boosh Lightbox describes The Mighty Boosh as “a surreal comedy set in a zoo”, which is correct in the same … Read more
Inside the Lightbox is a sponsored post where we mine the extensive Lightbox catalogue for shows you might like to watch. This week we line up the new shows arriving in January, ranging from the finest Scandinavian thrillers to the return of pillaging pirates. Mozart in the Jungle (Season 2) Coming away with two Golden Globe … Read more