When a Married at First Sight NZ contestant is a singer/songwriter, we simply have no choice but to listen to their entire back catalogue. It’s always exciting when a Married at First Sight NZ contestant has dipped their toes into some other public-facing arena. Bel Clarke gave The Bachelor NZ a go that time. Samuel … Read more
Following serious allegations emerging online, episode two of New Zealand Today has been removed from ThreeNow along with all relevant clips. Mediaworks have removed episode two of Guy Williams’ comedy series New Zealand Today from its streaming platform ThreeNow after being informed of recent allegations involving a person briefly featured in the episode. All content … Read more
Grant McDougall reviews Kilgour’s new solo album, Bobbie’s A Girl, which sees him reflecting on the deaths of his friend and former bandmate, Peter Gutteridge and his own mother, Helen Kilgour. There is a passage in Shayne Carter’s excellent recent autobiography, Dead People I Have Known, in which he describes David Kilgour’s reaction to one … Read more
The Real Pod assembles to dissect the week in reality television and real life, with special thanks to Nando’s. With Duncan enjoying a MAFS-style beach holiday in Bali, Alex and Jane are left to cover another crazy week in reality television. Shannon Ryan has gone full beast-mode in Celebrity Treasure Island, Married At First Sight NZ … Read more
When comedy documentary Funny As was made, a lot of interviews got left on the cutting room floor which NZ On Screen quickly picked up. Here are some of our favourites. We’re a pretty funny bunch us Kiwis. Trapped on a tiny island at the end of the earth it appears we’ve evolved just a … Read more
Auckland rapper JessB has just released a new EP and wraps up a national mini-tour tonight in her home town. Jogai Bhatt talked to her about her world travels, performing at Ihumātao, and how her community and her music intersect. It’s only been two years since JessB entered the public radar as the first woman … Read more
Covering Climate Now: As the temperature of the planet increases, so to does the number of documentaries about climate change. Jean Sergent watched all of them to bring you this harrowing listicle. Do you want to know which climate change documentaries will make you depressed and which will make you hopeful? Do you want to … Read more
With only a few more sleeps until the 2019 Rugby World Cup, Tara Ward looks at the variety of ways you can watch the tournament from the comfort of your own home. Set your clocks, sound the alarms and gird your scrum-loving loins for the 2019 Rugby World Cup, which kicks off this Friday in … Read more
It was another wild week in our favourite island paradise, as our remaining celebrities continued their quest to win cash for charity. Tara Ward power ranks. The bells of change have rung on Celebrity Treasure Island, and we’re now knee deep in an individual game of trickery, ping-pongery, and Tim-Tammery. The two teams merged into Team … Read more
New Netflix movie The Tall Girl was roundly mocked before it even came out. Josie Adams, a tall girl herself, reviews it. “You know that really, really, really tall girl you go to school with? The one that people call LeBron, Skyscraper, Patty long legs?” That’s Jodi, the 6-foot-1 protagonist of The Tall Girl. I’m … Read more
Miss June’s Bad Luck Party was recorded literally between hospital shifts, and their summer schedule includes both festival dates and their frontwoman’s graduation from medical school. We sat down with the band to ask just how, exactly, they’ve survived so far. The first years of life for Tāmaki Makaurau pop-punk quartet Miss June have been … Read more
On the 10th anniversary of the infamous “Imma let you finish” episode, Josie Adams reflects on what this moment revealed about both Taylor Swift and Kanye West. Cast your mind back a decade: 2009 DJ Earworm was still good, Barack Obama was sworn in as president of the US, Israeli ground forces began their invasion … Read more
Charli XCX has just released her latest album, Charli. The futuristic musician is always looking ahead, and so are her fans. We’ve paired each star sign with their perfect Charli XCX song. Charli XCX burst onto the scene in 2012, when she co-wrote and performed electro-pop headbanger ‘I Love It’ with Swedish duo Icona Pop. … Read more
Tara Ward delved into Māori TV’s impressive OnDemand catalogue and found some of the best TV taonga for your viewing pleasure. From lifestyle shows to documentaries, from current affairs to reality TV, Māori TV has an abundance of quality telly that celebrates and acknowledges the people, places and cultures of Aotearoa. Te reo Māori … Read more
Bad erotica never sounded so good. Sam Brooks talks to Jamie Morton of My Dad Wrote a Porno, about the hit podcast’s fifth season and upcoming return visit to New Zealand. Forget Joe Rogan. The real superhero of podcasting is Belinda Blumenthal, the sex-loving protagonist of Rocky Flintstone’s Belinda Blinked series of erotica that serves … Read more
A new version of Bic Runga’s classic single ‘Sway’ is among the tracks on Waiata/Anthems, a compilation of te reo Māori versions of hit New Zealand songs. Runga spoke to Alice Webb-Liddall about how recording ‘Haere Mai Rā/Sway’ helped her reconnect with her whakapapa. Bic Runga’s father Joseph was a Māori ex-serviceman whom Runga and … Read more
Green Party MP Chlöe Swarbrick watches Patrick Gower’s documentary on cannabis, On Weed, which starts tonight on Three. We haven’t had a great deal of local, in-depth, visual reporting on cannabis in Aotearoa New Zealand, so when Paddy Gower announced his intention to produce a documentary on the issue, public interest was piqued. It’s been … Read more
What is it like to crash a Married at First Sight NZ wedding? Two brave reality TV fans went to Swanson to find out. A couple of months ago, Alex Casey and Tina Tiller of The Real Pod, The Spinoff’s weekly reality TV podcast, headed out to an undisclosed location in West Auckland to watch … Read more
In these days of alienation, singletons need all the help they can get. But who is doing love right? Only the hottest couple in Fountain Lakes, explains Don Rowe. There are a lot of unhealthy behaviours on the television folks, a lot of cheating, philandering, and promiscuity. From Game of Thrones to Euphoria, our stars … Read more
Terrace House is so real that it can’t be anything but fake. Uther Dean writes about what makes the Japanese Netflix dating reality show so addictive. Do you know what a parasocial relationship is? Because I promise that you’re in heaps of them. Parasocial relationships are the ones that occur between you and the people … Read more
As The Block NZ fizzles to an end, psychologist Dougal Sutherland argues that the show now seems designed to destroy relationships, rather than build houses. Over the past few months we’ve watched four couples designing, planning, painting, papering (sometimes poorly), plastering, and dressing the rooms of converted firehouses to auction them off to the highest … Read more
It’s auction night on The Block NZ, and tonight the Firehouse burned with the smell of broken hopes and dreams. Tara Ward recaps the hijinks and heartbreak of this year’s live finale. “IT ALL ENDS RIGHT HERE!” yelled a perky Mark Richardson, as he welcomed the nation to The Block NZ 2019 live auction. Mark was … Read more
Married at First Sight NZ returns to Three tonight in a storm of controversy. Tara Ward takes a closer look at the brides and grooms who will marry a stranger in search of true love. Friends, we are gathered here today to lift the veil on a new series of reality juggernaut Married at First … Read more
It’s the grand finale of The Block NZ: Firehouse, but after a snooze of a season some fans are past caring. Long time Block NZ fan Tara Ward has a few ideas on how the show could get its mojo back. For eight long years, I’ve lived and breathed The Block NZ until my veins pulsed with … Read more
With American comedy PEN15 landing on Neon today, Alice Webb-Liddall chats with its creators and stars about uncovering all the shameful secrets pre-teen girls thought they got away with. Being a 12-year-old girl is hard. There’s schoolwork, there’s parents who just don’t understand, there’s friendship dramas and there’s the encroaching threat of periods, first kisses, … Read more
As part of this year’s World of Wearable Arts Award Show, musical director Paul McLaney has brought six of New Zealand’s best and most acclaimed composers together and commissioned a new work from each of them. Here they comment on each other’s work – not just for WoW, but across their careers. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OwMqdLxaFoM Tane Upjohn … Read more
The Real Pod assembles to dissect the week in reality television and real life, with special thanks to Nando’s. Dress us up in shit-covered clothing and send us to Disneyland with Richie McCaw, The Real Pod is back for another stonker week of real life in this foolish corner of the globe. In real news, influencers … Read more
Jordan Hamel interviews Gussie Larkin from Mermaidens ahead of the release of their new album Look Me In The Eye. Mermaidens have always been masters of subversion. Making music that challenges expectations of heavy rock, it jumps between genres to give listeners something as surprising as it is satisfying. Their legendary live shows can have … Read more
It’s week three of Celebrity Treasure Island, and what a forking great week it was. Tara Ward power ranks our favourite celebrity contestants as they compete to win that sweet charity cash. Welcome back to another glorious week in Paradise, as our beloved CTI contestants dodged, ducked, dipped, dived and dodged their way through tense eliminations, … Read more