Our resident The Block expert Tara weighs in on the week on Newell St. This week, as the competition begins crawling to a close, she reflects upon the warfare strategies employed by The Block‘s little battlers.// Great things come in fours. The A-Team. The famous 90s girl band B*witched. And of course, The Block NZ. Four houses, … Read more
MediaWorks is racing into the future right now, crowd-sourcing ideas for its forthcoming soap and going multi-media with its new Paul Henry breakfast show. We couldn’t resist combining the two innovations and volunteering our own ideas to fill Henry’s soon-to-be vacant 10.30pm weeknights slot. As always, these bad, bad ideas remain © the authors, and are available for big … Read more
Rebecca Wadey has an unnatural affection for homegrown reality TV, so the arrival of The Block on her doorstep was a big deal. The open homes? Double that again. // There was never any point at which I which I wouldn’t have gone to The Block open homes. I love a local reality TV show at … Read more
Forecast? Sadness Today, the NZ Herald announced that our all-time favourite weather man/father of the nation Jim Hickey will be retiring to pursue his memorabilia café dreams. It looks at this stage like he will be replaced by Dan Corbett, who has recently joined the One News weather team. We put together some of his … Read more
As any scarf-laden teen will tell you – hickeys are notoriously hard to get rid of. But we don’t want to part with this one. Today, the Herald announced that our eternal weather shaman Jim Hickey is sadly retiring (again). Doing his time in front of that mesmerizing TVNZ green screen since 1988, Hickey is … Read more
Jesse Mulligan knows well the peril involved in finding a mutually satisfying show upon which your marriage can depend. // Left wing blogger and twitter grump Giovanni Tiso declared recently that he was abandoning True Detective. “What a show”, he tweeted. “Great photography. Wonderful acting and script. Jesus. So boring. We gave up after 3 … Read more
Last night was Sudden Death: Cuties vs Hippies. As always, the two teams went head to head cooking a three-course meal for the ever-glamorous panel of celebrity judges. The entrées were up first, because this is MKRNZ not Crazy Land NZ. The Cuties were making cheese tortellini, flexing their strong pasta muscles in the face of pasta … Read more
Ah, nothing like a touching interview with someone who is head over heels in love. Last week on the British ITV morning show This Morning, hosts Amanda Holden and Phillip Schofield talked to 63 year old smokeshow Edward Smith, who has taken 700 lovers since the age of 14. Did I say lovers? I meant cars. … Read more
Andrew Todd watches the unaired pilot of Blackadder, one of English comedy’s foundation stones, and finds a very rough draft with shards of brilliance. // Blackadder is a cultural keystone as vital to English TV comedy as Fawlty Towers or The Office. Over its four series, Richard Curtis, Ben Elton and Rowan Atkinson delivered what is … Read more
The Corporate Dads were safe as hell after their major pizza hustle of the last ep, and the three remaining teams were left fighting for a place in the coveted MKRNZ semifinals. Jessie and Ricki were on the Sudden Death loser couch, and the rest of the teams were left to make a romantic date night … Read more
Two key Spinoff writers share a dirty little secret: they’ve never seen any of the defining ‘important’ TV shows of our time. They launched Catch Up Club to save them (and possibly you), beginning with the smoky glory that is Mad Men. // Alex: It was the launch of Catch Up Club, a glorious opportunity for … Read more
SURVIVOR SAN JUAN DEL SUR BLOOD VS WATER 2 POWER RANKINGS 14) TERRIBLE GAMEPLAY I thought the orange tribe was bad. This was way worse. This blue team has maybe the worst strategic since the first season of Survivor. Almost everyone was bad. Old mate Keith, who was on the rise, really screwed the pooch. … Read more
We talked to “The Social Media Buddies” aka Sam and Dan from My Kitchen Rules New Zealand about getting trolled by school teachers, the big lamb screw-up and having major Mum beef with Sean Connolly.// Sam and Dan were the youngest MKRNZ team by far, two early twenty-somethings from Auckland who were coined “The Social Media Buddies” (because they … Read more
Our resident The Block enthusiast Tara dissects the week on Newell St. This week is all about breakthroughs, with Quinn and Ben finally hitting some sort of stride and Damo breaking both a creative block, and a door off it’s hinges. // It was a big week on The Block NZ. Damo was compared to a stray dog, … Read more
Jono and Ben at Ten employee Guy Williams has watched every minute of every episode of Jono and Ben at Ten ever made. This makes him uniquely qualified to pick the five best Jono and Ben at Ten sketches of all time. // 1. Guy Williams interviews the Pakeha Party (These aren’t all going to … Read more
While the stars of critically acclaimed cable dramas snag the glory, Aaron Yap believes 24‘s weary, brutal Jack Bauer can stand proudly alongside Walter White, Tony Soprano and the rest as an elite golden age anti-hero. Being a 24 fan can be a lonely experience. The number of people who I know really watch this show (i.e. those I … Read more
It was time for a People’s Choice challenge, and the top five teams were making pizza – the people’s food. At this point, the teams were feeling overwhelmed by the wild MKR journey from their homes, to Kitchen HQ, all the way to Federal Street: “this train has not stopped, we must be on the … Read more
Please enjoy this week’s episode of Shorty Street Scandal, wherein James Mustapic recaps the past week of Ferndale hijinks. This week? It’s all tensions and flying soccer boots at Warner HQ: Harry has finally got some direction in his life. No longer just a snotty brat – he’s going to be an All White. After confessing … Read more
Joseph Harper falls deep into the pit of fake Parks and Recreation band, Mouse Rat. // I always loved a good fake band. Whether it was Doug’s beloved Beets, Uncle Jesse’s unbelievably sensual contributions, Landry’s borderline unlistenable Chirstian Metal outfit, Crucifictorious, or even Drive Shaft, with their surprisingly believable take on waning Brit Pop. All … Read more
It’s the weekend. You can’t deny it, it’s definitely about to happen. Lucky you’ve got that giant television spreadsheet nailed onto your wall to get you through the next 48 hours. Oh, you don’t? Well never fear. It’s scheduled to rain a lot over the weekend, so let us guide you through the two days … Read more
The Most Important Paul of the Day On Monday, MediaWorks announced that Paul Henry will be hosting New Zealand’s first cross-platform breakfast show in 2015. That’s right, Paul Henry will be all over your morning cereal, your drive to work, your radio, your TV, your ears, your eyes, your entire world. MediaWorks are hoping to integrate … Read more
Two key Spinoff writers share a dirty little secret: they’ve never seen The Wire, Mad Men, Breaking Bad or any of the other defining ‘important’ TV shows of our time. Catch Up Club is here to save them, and possibly you too. // Alex: Hello Joseph, you have not seen a lot of fancy TV … Read more
There are few sub-species of humanity more ridiculous than the successful TV magician. Here Alex Casey chronicles the most successful practitioners of what is somehow not a dying art. // I have always had a bit of a soft spot for television magic shows. Maybe it’s the hairstyles, maybe it’s the showmanship, maybe it’s wasting forty … Read more
It was Sudden Death, the Cuties vs the Foodies. Jessie and Maura were wearing identical pink tops, and Steve was without a hat – this was clearly serious business. They were making a three-course meal for the celebrity panel, Jessie was ready to vomit and Steve and Maura were flexing their hands, ready to crank … Read more
SURVIVOR SAN JUAN DEL SUR: BLOOD VERSUS WATER 2 POWER RANKINGS 17) NIGHT ROCKER Rocker owned this ep, so it only makes sense to start with the fact that Johnny Rock looked absolutely terrifying in night vision mode. 16) JULIE ROCKER Yeah. On the surface, Julie Rock has had a bit of a rough time, what with her … Read more
Each Thursday a Spinoff correspondent will discuss a nugget from television’s rich and distinguished past. This week José Barbosa argues for the enduring tensions of A Dog’s Show. It’s become part of our vague national perception of New Zealand culture to catalogue A Dog’s Show as a crusty anachronism. The show played during a time when stubbies (sartorial … Read more
The remaining three teams went head to head to see who will join Steve and Maura in Sudden Death. Chilling back in the velvet confines, Steve had seized the relaxed opportunity to wear a fedora unlike any other (grey with blue trim). Neena and Belinda were safe again after the shock bikie scone celebration of yester-ep, … Read more
Our resident The Block enthusiast Tara dissects the week in Kitchen and Dining, and draws more than a few parallels with the upstairs/downstairs dynamics of Downton Abbey. As Mark Richardson says every five minutes, it’s all drama on The Block.// Tuesday – Episode 25 It’s Kitchen and Dining Room week – and wait for it, … Read more
There’s a growing cult building around Sherlock star Benedict Cumberbatch, and Rose Matafeo has fallen under the actor’s spell. Here she attempts to decode his appeal.// Late last year, I was flown down to Wellington to interview the cast of The World’s End at its New Zealand premiere. It was the fanciest media thing I’d been invited to in … Read more