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
Last night John Campbell got in front of a TV camera for the first time since his tearful farewell to ‘The Cup Song’ from Pitch Perfect. Once direct competition, he was billed as “Hurricanes expert”, taking to The Crowd Goes Wild desk to a cacophony of canned applause and cameraman cheers. “It’s John Bloody Campbell,” says Andrew Mulligan. … Read more
Hip hop has had a hard time on Dancing With the Stars NZ so far, with Teuila and Scott’s ‘Ice Ice Baby’-inspired rumba scoring dangerously low with the judges last week. But that’s all about to change. We’ve been granted exclusive access to a teaser clip from tonight’s elimination episode, featuring the powerful hip hop dance … Read more
Jono and Ben returns to TV3 tonight, and promises a jam-packed evening filled with hot dogs, dancing celebrities and Colin Craig’s exclusive return to the dangerous territory of TV3 talk shows. What else can you look forward to? Those of you mourning the loss of gone-too-soon Dancing With the Stars legend Pam Corkery can rejoice as she pops … 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
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 and Duncan Greive look back across the week in television and pick their favourite moments. 1. Come Dine With Me NZ is Perfect Right Out of The Oven There is no better illustration of MediaWorks’ maniacal new direction than its absent-mindedly plopping Come Dine With Me in the slot formerly reserved for Campbell … Read more
This afternoon, whilst catching up on last night’s Dancing With the Stars episode, I realised that I hadn’t yet voted for my favourite dancer and all-time person Pam Corkery. I still haven’t got my head around the logistics of the voting system, but I was embodied with nothing more than a pure desire to keep her … Read more
Alex Casey tries to get the scoop on ex-Shortland Street actor Paul Reid’s plans to buy K Rd icon St Kevin’s Arcade, and imagines some of his proposals for the space. The most scandalous rumour in the soap-actor-gone-Rubicon-gone-real-estate-tycoon world this week is that ex-Shortland Street star Paul Reid is looking to purchase St Kevin’s Arcade on … Read more
Alex Casey previews the first episode of Come Dine With Me NZ, and serves up a sample platter of the type of talent you can look forward to meeting. Pull over Road Cops, Come Dine With Me begins on Monday June 15 at 7pm on TV3. The premise? Five New Zealanders take turns to host … Read more
Alex Casey reviews the debut episode of TV3’s new current affairs show 3D, wherein Teina Pora gave his first on-camera interview since his release from prison. After a rough week post-Campbell fallout, TV3 ended on somewhat of a high with their new Sunday current affairs show 3D. With award-winning journalists Samantha Hayes and Duncan Garner at the … Read more
Finlay Macdonald on the imminent order from MediaWorks to pack up the Mazda, and how recent ratings successes were not enough to save Campbell Live. The writing was on the wall the moment John Campbell got behind the wheel of that Mazda and drove it through the opening titles of his show. It’s one thing to … Read more
In response to the news that John Key was dared by an anonymous TVNZ presenter to style her hair (and obliged), Alex Casey speculates as to who shares ombré tips with our country’s PM. Yesterday the news that John Campbell was leaving TV3 shook the internet to its very core, burying all other news deep under … Read more
Alex Casey grapevines through the Dancing With the Stars NZ lineup for 2015 and makes some early predictions. The full cast of Dancing With the Stars was revealed on X Factor NZ last night, exploding from inside a huge disco ball like spray tanned chicks hatching from the egg of their glittery mother, MediaWorks. And what … Read more
‘Next Actor’ on Jono and Ben is one of their most well-known segments, placing a famous New Zealander into a regular pleb job and letting chaos ensue via an earpiece and a fervent need to destroy. When it goes well, you get Phil Goff blowing up a condom at New World. When it goes badly, … 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
News broke yesterday that Jono and Ben was being considered as a replacement for Campbell Live – which would have been up there with KillsMoon as the most scandalising TV moment of this or any other year. Thankfully a recent press release has informed us, in extremely certain terms, that the speculation was entirely, indisputably ill-founded. Phew. … 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
This is no April Fool’s joke, the critically adored BBC series is coming to New Zealand exclusively on Lightbox on April 1. Trust us, we wouldn’t joke about something of this televisual magnitude. Based on the iconic Hilary Mantel novels Wolf Hall and Bring Up The Bodies, the series is a historical drama straight out … Read more
More like Flop Gear Jeremy Clarkson was officially fired by the BBC this week, after punching the producer of Top Gear during a lovely steak dinner. After fronting Top Gear for 12 years, Clarkson has had his fair share of controversies. Racism. Sexism. Class Wars. His sacking could cost the BBC around £67million a year, with … Read more
Alex Casey pitches ten potential celebrity candidates to perform on Dancing With the Stars 2015. // This afternoon, some incredible news was delivered down to us mortals from the reality TV gods: Dancing With the Stars will be returning to TV3 later this year. I’m floored. I’m ecstatic. I’m doing the Charleston all the way to … Read more
Time is a Flat Bloner This morning Twitter blew up with the news that True Detective would feature an exquisite orgy scene in season two. Hiring a multitude of porn stars to fill the roles, The Hollywood Reporter stated that the show promises a “a deliriously vast, Eyes Wide Shut-caliber orgy sequence involving dozens of naked … Read more
Alex Casey talks to Guy Williams directly after his devastating loss to Ben Mitchell in the TV Guide’s Sexiest Man awards. // This morning I saw something that I knew was going to devastate Guy Williams, reigning champion of the TV Guide’s Sexiest Man award 2014. Anyone on Twitter will remember his extensive campaign to … 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
Hayden Donnell tracks down various other disgusting artists who have copied X Factor NZ judge Willy Moon’s idiosyncratic style. // Natalia Kills was just saying what we were all thinking. The Thor to Mel Blatt’s weary Odin is getting cyber-bullied this morning for telling Joe Irvine a well-known fact: her husband Willy Moon invented ‘wearing … Read more
NZ On Air announced a whole slew of true blue kiwi documentary projects today, so I decided to break down the lucky winners and see what televisual bang we are getting for our hard-earned buck. Our Big Blue Backyard 2, 6 x 1hr on TV One Buck: $2,066,927 Bang: A whale of a series, and an unsurprising … Read more
Let us take a minute to step off the gilded X Factor NZ patios of Bangkok to the dusty suburban plains of TV1’s Our First Home. The other night whilst Joe Irvine was swimming at (presumably) the beach from The Beach, Robyn Schreuder was up to some true blue wheelbarrow mishaps. Being the card that she is, … Read more
With the shocking departure of Jazzy “Jazzy” Acton from our screens last night, beaming Archie Hill represents the last of the 14-year-olds standing on stick thin, vinyl-trousered legs at this year’s X Factor. He absolutely ripped Ed Sheeran a new one at the auditions, before walking on stage and into our hearts with ‘Blank Space’ … Read more
The Bachelorettes Revealed In the biggest and only TV news you need to know this week, TV3 have released the full lineup of women vying to win the heart of New Zealand’s first ever Bachelor. If you would like a comprehensive assessment of their entire personalities and life experience based on a photo and a short … Read more