This week saw the glamorous debut of Filthy Rich, New Zealand’s most expensive television show. But is it merely standing on the shoulder pads of giants? Gloss creator Rosemary McLeod looks back at the 80s Kiwi drama that had a wealth of big hair, high heels and old money. I walked into Sue Crockford’s Auckland art gallery one … Read more
Alex Casey recaps the return episode of Better Call Saul season two on Lightbox, including pinky rings, alcohol heists and poolside pondering. Contains spoilers. Sometimes it feels like Better Call Saul‘s Jimmy McGill is eerily close to me in the months following my graduation from university. We’re both disgusted by the idea of entering the workforce, both … Read more
Welcome to TV Mum, a weekly podcast starring Brendon Green and his Mum, Dianne. Every week Brendon will try and get Dianne to remember the details of a TV show she’s recently watched. The resulting discussion is a journey through Dianne’s shaky memory and never ends up where you’d expect. This week on TV Mum … Read more
Last December it was announced that TV3’s flagship investigative current affairs show 3D was being cancelled, and 13 of the show’s 16 staff were to be made redundant. Former producer Eugene Bingham describes the show’s final months and the emotional aftermath of its cancellation. It was a Monday, the day before the wolf finally lunged. … Read more
Has the slimy old Spinoff found the new Bachelor for 2016? And has he been hiding in plain sight on TV3 the whole time? Alex Casey investigates his online presence to see if the tailored suit fits. This morning The Spinoff received word that Jordan Mauger is the next brave tribute stepping into Art Green’s non-existent shoes for the … Read more
The story of how loser lawyer Jimmy McGill became legal superstar Saul Goodman returns to Lightbox tonight for its second season. Andrew Todd looks at how Better Call Saul avoided the curse of the prequel. Spoilers for Better Call Saul and Breaking Bad follow. Who is the audience for Better Call Saul? Those who haven’t … Read more
Simon Grigg examines 550 exhausting pages of often intense events, music, movies, books, essays and violent conflict as analysed in 1966, by music savant Jon Savage. David Bowie died while I was reading this book and there was a sort of clearly unintended irony in the fact that the biggest musical event of 2016 will be the … Read more
Last night TVNZ’s new local drama Filthy Rich started its run with a first episode that featured suicide, money, grubby incest, car crashes, money and disturbing burnt baby dolls. José Barbosa watched the whole thing and live tweeted his immediate responses via scribbled drawings. Here’s the complete collection fresh from his calloused hand. … Read more
Alex Casey over-analyses the first short teaser for The Bachelor NZ. The brand new, sequin-laden teaser promo for The Bachelor NZ dropped on Valentine’s Day harder than Matilda falling off a wild horse called Paris. And, much like the sensually stripped-back song that accompanies the 45 second clip, it’s got me all bloody shook up. … Read more
Tara Ward brings you her Shortland Street Power Rankings for last week, including Harper the hipster, Leanne the Dame-in-waiting and TK with some tinfoil on his head. 1) Victoria shoots her way to the top She bloody well did it. The mystery assassin was all Victoria: the beige foundation, the blue glove, the stinky perfume. Tired … Read more
It’s worth remembering that not everything is rose petals on the floor and rosé in a hotel room. Relationships need work and as the following on screen relationships show, sharing your life with someone can be more like living inside a concrete mixer made of resentment and loathing. Happy Valentine’s Day! Curb Your Enthusiasm – … Read more
Liam Maguren celebrates the heroic journey of local animation studio Mukpuddy to primetime TV, ahead of the premiere of their new cartoon The Barefoot Bandits (Sunday, 6.30pm on TV2). If you ever wanted to see Buzz Lightyear as a chilled-out bro, you find him in the form of Tumeke Space, a galaxy-hopping television hero worshipped … Read more
The “proudly stupid” clip show Fail Army, hosted by Guy Montgomery and Joseph Moore, returns tonight on TV3 at 10pm. Guy Montgomery teases what punters can expect from the much-anticipated second season. The first thing to know is that Fail Army arrives in New Zealand as a finished product. The show arrives mixed and graded, … Read more
Inside the Lightbox is a sponsored feature where we mine the extensive Lightbox category for shows you might want to watch. This week, we queue up some of the most romantic episodes of television for you to enjoy this Valentine’s Day (no matter what your relationship status is). Warning: contains very sappy spoilers. Outlander – … Read more
Steve Braunias watches the historic moment that Zayn Malik triumphed over his old 1D posse for the number one spot in The Edge TV’s essential Fat 40 countdown. What to make of Zayn’s comeback at the expense of One Direction? The pop charts on our last two remaining music channels all told the same amazing story. … Read more
This year New Zealand television seems to be returning to yonder year of traditional family-oriented game shows such as Family Feud and Mastermind. So what other game shows could we see back on our screens? With the help of NZ On Screen, we revisit some of our old favourites. Hayden Donnell on Tux Wonder Dogs … Read more
Gone is 3News and in it’s place is the gleaming fresh Newshub. Mediaworks has released a 360 degree video tour of the new studio hosted by Hilary Barry and Mike McRoberts. We took it, had a poke around and can now expose the inconvenient truths behind the new studio. (Original video can be found here.)
Inside the Lightbox is a sponsored feature where we mine the extensive Lightbox category for shows you might want to watch. This week we present the new offerings in February, including the exclusive return of Better Call Saul and Suits. Suits (S5 arrives express every Thursday) Returning from last year’s hiatus, season five of legal … Read more
Welcome to TV Mum. Every week Brendon will try and get his mum Dianne to remember the details of a TV show she’s recently watched. The resulting discussion is a journey through Dianne’s shaky memory and never ends up where you’d expect. This week mother and son discuss the Showtime drama Masters of Sex. It’s … Read more
Aaron Yap watches Louis C.K.’s new online series Horace and Pete, and asks if the off-putting, experimental style is what lies beyond the “peak TV” age. Did Louis C.K. hear us grumbling? Just a few weeks ago when FX chief John Landgraf spoke at the Television Critics Association press tour in California, he addressed the future of … Read more
Tara Ward brings you her Shortland Street Power Rankings for last week, including a disgusting sex couch, Harper’s detective work and Virginia’s full evolution into a Disney villain. 1) Shortland Street’s mystery hand job Just when you think you’ve got the shooting case sorted, a random arm enters the frame to stir things up. Who does … Read more
On Friday the 2016 Billy T nominees all played a showcase at Auckland’s Q Theatre. In the crowd, somewhere near the back, Duncan Greive watched and judged. The Billy T award is probably the coolest award in New Zealand. There’s just one given out each year – if you miss out, suck it up. It … Read more
It’s been a good couple of years for Māori filmmakers. There’s been a solid stream of strong, popular films (Mt Zion, Boy, Maori Boy Genius) and several have torn it up overseas (Deadlands, What We Do In the Shadows). A new documentary, Hautoa Ma, interviews key filmmakers about the rise of Māori film. José Barbosa … Read more
Sam Brooks watches Grease Live, and applauds the live TV musical genre for finally producing something that isn’t entirely terrible. Somewhere in an NBC Conference Room circa 2013: Executive 1: We’re losing ratings because we cancelled 30 Rock! How do we fix this? Executive 2: A Tina Fey show about a girl who got kidnapped … Read more
Locked in the media bunker (actually The Spinoff’s shed) José Barbosa watched days of tapes to bring you this examination of the way TV news covered the recent anti-TPP protests in Auckland.
Inside the Lightbox is a sponsored post where we mine their extensive catalogue for shows that you might want to watch. This week we plate up some cooking shows full of tips and tricks to have you cooking like a celebrity chef in just one long weekend. How to Cook like Heston What’s the vibe? Heston … Read more
Alex Casey discovers the legendary stony-faced female detectives in Scandinavian thrillers The Bridge and The Killing, who swap the pantsuits for chunky knit jumpers and the smiles for scowls. It’s a pretty grim state of affairs when one simple Google search for “woman cop” yields these sort of results: Now that is just unrealistic. There’s not … Read more
Alex Casey revisits the 1998 Hero parade coverage on NZ On Screen with a little help from parade highlight, international model and TV legend Colin Mathura-Jeffree. It’s no secret that most parades are pretty terrible. The Santa parade is a hot mess of Farmers flyers, sticky children and begrudging Shortland Street cast members. The All Blacks … Read more
Welcome to the first episode of TV Mum, a weekly podcast starring Brendon Green and his Mum, Dianne. Every week Brendon will try and get Dianne to remember the details of a TV show she’s recently watched. The resulting discussion is a journey through Dianne’s shaky memory and never ends up where you’d expect. This … Read more