The Real Pod assembles to dissect the week in reality television and real life, with special thanks to Nando’s. The holy trinity is finally reunited on the holiest of days, Duncan’s birthday, to discuss the highs and lows of the week in reality. Married at First Sight NZ came crawling to an end with the final … Read more
Stephen Colbert has made good on his promise to visit New Zealand, and the prime minister has made good on her promise to drive him around. When Jacinda Ardern appeared on The Late Show with Stephen Colbert in New York late last month, she challenged the host on his failure to visit New Zealand. The comedian … Read more
Following its controversial first season, Insatiable has returned with new episodes on Netflix. Cat Pause writes about why she won’t be watching the fat-shaming show – and what she’s been watching instead. The second season of Insatiable is now available on Netflix, and I, for one, will not be watching. I have better things to … Read more
Nancy Drew is back, but not as we know her. A new series about the teen detective hits our screens today, and turns out to be a spooky mix of Riverdale, Sabrina and Veronica Mars all rolled into one. Who is the heck is Nancy Drew? It’s Nancy Drew! You know Nancy Drew, even if you think … Read more
New Zealand’s beloved singer-songwriter has been imprisoned for failing to finish school, prompting uproar across the internet. But we should have known it would come to this, writes senior crime correspondent Ernest Penman. The internet has gone into overdrive this week following revelations, first reported by The Spinoff, that New Zealand prime minister Simon Bridges … Read more
Think the news is boring? Think again. Tara Ward discovered some snazzy graphics on 1 News and realises that TVNZ’s current affairs have been zhushed up beyond her wildest dreams. The news. Who watches it? Who trusts it? Definitely not Trump and definitely not me, until the other day when I found myself in front … Read more
Emily Writes watches Netflix’s new US-set series Unbelievable and can’t help be reminded of events back home. I was asked to review Netflix’s new mini-series Unbelievable more than a month ago. After watching the screener over the course of a few nights, it sat on my to-do list for weeks. I would sit down to … Read more
The latest episode of the painfully good Succession pays pointed homage to the appearance of media mogul Rupert Murdoch and his son before a British parliamentary inquiry. Contains a shitload of spoilers, obviously. Succession has delighted from the start in refracting the venal and vulgar absurdities of real-life media dynasties. The story of Logan Roy, his … Read more
Big news for Outlander fans – the trailer for the new season of your favourite sexy time-travelling drama just landed. Outlander recapper Tara Ward tries to decipher what season five may bring. Friends, it’s time to dance around the room like we are Jamie Fraser eating figs at Hogmanay. The first trailer for season five of … Read more
The seething passions of small-town restaurants explode in TVNZ 2’s new cooking show. Like so many new reality TV formats, My Restaurant Rules sounds like a genre parody, and not even a particularly clever one. Just as Seven Year Switch (couples switch partners to revive their relationships) is a bleak Married at First Sight ripoff, … Read more
Four festival-goers were admitted to hospital with drug-related issues after Friday’s event at Mt Smart Stadium. A fellow partier shares her experience of the night. As told to Madeleine Chapman. I was hyping up for Schoolboy Q. Figured he’d play some old school tunes, some bangers. Honestly, I didn’t really care much for who was … Read more
Josie Adams breaks down everything you need to know about Batwoman, the latest caped crusader to take on the batty burden of protecting Gotham. The DC televisual universe that began with the bang of Arrow continues to expand this month, welcoming Batwoman into its gradually unfurling arms. Australian actor Ruby Rose (Orange is the New … Read more
Keen to expand your general knowledge? Behind on the sexbot craze? Want to know more local history? You could start with these documentaries on TVNZ OnDemand. Forget the latest fad of “books” and set fire to ye olde newspaper, because there’s no better way to discover the mysteries of our weird and wonderful world than … Read more
Back in 2007, TV2 aired The Amazing Extraordinary Friends – a charming superhero show and potential cult hit. Twelve years later, it’s nowhere to be found. Felix Walton looks at the changing landscape of archiving our local TV. The Amazing Extraordinary Friends tells the story of Ben Wilson, an unassuming Kiwi teen who finds an … Read more
Start your Chitty-Chitty Bang Bangs and may the best lady win! Sam Brooks recaps the first episode of RuPaul’s Drag Race UK. I still can’t believe this spin-off actually happened. What a world we live in. My first observation: RuPaul absolutely loves England and finds everything about it hilarious. This show is stuffed with more puns than … Read more
Taskmaster is arguably the funniest show on television, and next year a New Zealand version will hit our screens. Tara Ward dives into the caravan of challenges to find out what Taskmaster NZ could look like. We might be drowning in a sea of formulaic television, but Taskmasker is our David Hasselhoff, a beautiful saviour flailing towards us at … Read more
The Real Pod assembles to dissect the week in reality television and real life, with special thanks to Nando’s. It’s another duo pod this week and we’ve pulled out all the stops. Stings. Segments. Crannies. Grannies. Join us as we traverse the week in news, from Hobsonville Point residents furious about undies to an Elvis … Read more
Every single Lip Sync For Your Life/Legacy, ranked. “Two queens stand before me. Ladies this is your last chance to impress me and save yourself from elimination. The time has come for you to Lip Sync For Your Life. Good luck and don’t fuck it up!” No, it’s not Game of Thrones. Eleven regular seasons, … Read more
Last night’s 2019 Silver Scrolls culminated with Aldous Harding taking the big prize for her song ‘The Barrel’. Stevie Kaye was there. The Silver Scrolls, the annual songwriting awards run by not-for-profit music copyright collective APRA, are the only New Zealand music prize-giving I’ve paid particular attention to over the years. My interest isn’t primarily … Read more
Before she presented the APRA Maioha Award at the Silver Scroll songwriting awards last night, 2018 winner Ria Hall (Ngāi Te Rangi) issued a challenge on representation in the New Zealand music industry to a standing ovation. Here’s what she said. Kia māia: it’s the act of having fortitude, resilience and bravery. Being bold. I … Read more
Vodafone TV is yet another damn thing to plug into your television – but one you really should take a look at, says Duncan Greive. What is it? A small box – about the size of a sandwich – which you plug into an HDMI port on your television, along with a simple remote to … Read more
What are you going to be watching in October? The Spinoff rounds up everything that’s coming to streaming services this month, including Netflix, Lightbox, Neon, Amazon Prime and TVNZ on Demand. Click here to read our listings for September. The Biggies https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-33JCGEGzwU Watchmen (NEON, Season 1 weekly, from October 21) This HBO series is set … Read more
A re-recorded Kiwi classic, the best song by pop music’s greatest diva, a supergroup of country’s finest highwomen – they’re just some of the tracks gracing The Spinoff’s songs of the month for September 2019. International ‘Highwomen’ by The Highwomen There are many things I love about country music: it captures narrative better than any … Read more
Alex Casey wraps on a tinfoil hat and falls down the rabbit hole of the Married at First Sight NZ universe. Shared universes and character crossovers are having a massive moment right now. The last Avengers movie was basically just the Met Gala of superheroes. M. Night Shyamalan pulled a classic “him” on us all … Read more
TVNZ’s new online-only series Colonial Combat pits the the inhabitants of Kauri Bay – Māori, settlers, men, women, and many more besides – against each other in the ring. Dan Taipua reviews. The place is Kauri Bay, kind of. The year is 1836, sort of. The people are Māori, and All Other Comers. The stakes … Read more
This week’s Sunday Theatre feature is Ablaze, a drama about the 1947 fire at the Ballantynes Department Store in Christchurch that killed 41 people. Tara Ward reviews. The Ballantynes Fire disaster is etched in New Zealand’s collective consciousness as one of our greatest tragedies, but it wasn’t until I watched Ablaze that I realised how disastrous it was. … Read more
The Real Pod assembles to dissect the week in reality television and real life, with special thanks to Nando’s. Jane is away, so the mice will play. Call the coppers, its a chaos pod this week no with proper doc, no proper stings and no proper adults. It’s been a great week of reality television, with … Read more
Ryan Murphy’s new show for Netflix indulges without excesses and fires off shots without finding a target, Sam Brooks writes. Ryan Murphy is a polarising figure in television. After a dodgy start to his career – the tonally bonkers Popular and the famously scuzzy Nip/Tuck – he achieved proper mainstream success with Glee, and pivoted … Read more
Alex Casey power ranks the final week of Celebrity Treasure Island and, folks, we have a winner. What an absolute doozy of a finale. With $100,000 on the line for their charities, the final three men went hundies to find the buried treasure chest that brought them all there. Yo ho ho and a bottle … Read more