This Sunday, two Charlotte Grimshaw novels come to the screen in the form of The Bad Seed. She writes about the experience of having her work adapted for TV. This month, a small team arrived at my door. As part of publicity for the adaptation of my novels The Night Book and Soon into TV … Read more
Ten years ago, Mint Chicks shredded the high-gloss sound that saw their sophomore LP go overground. The band tells Sam Wicks how they ripped up the rulebook on Screens. Surprising everyone, the band formerly known as The Mint Chicks won over a mainstream audience with Crazy? Yes! Dumb? No!, scoring commercial radio play and five … Read more
Ryan Murphy? A procedural show? Connie Britton’s hair? Emily Writes is hooked on 9-1-1, now showing on Lightbox. If you’ve ever watched a crime or rescue procedural and thought ‘I really wish people in this episode would be maimed or die in a more original way,’ well, have I got a show for you! Ryan … Read more
‘Old Town Road’ has gained fame not just for its country-hook goodness, but also for the controversy raging around it. Sam Brooks explores what the song’s success says about country music’s purity problem. “Yeah, I’m gonna take my horse to the old town road I’m gonna ride ’til I can’t no more I’m gonna take … Read more
Silly reality show? Sure. A case study for evidence-based relationship science? Okay! Holly Dixon analyses the relationships of Married at First Sight Australia. Married at First Sight is a microcosm of what we all experience in interpersonal relationships, albeit at a concentration many of us will not have experienced. The intensity of the MAFS experiment ensures … Read more
Killing Eve, last year’s critical sleeper hit turned actual hit, returns to our screens today. Sam Brooks is ready to dive back in. The most telling moment in Killing Eve’s second season premiere doesn’t focus on either deadly assassin Villanelle or the less deadly Eve, but mysterious intelligence officer Carolyn. Eve comes across Carolyn on a … Read more
There’s been a decades-long campaign to get a quota of New Zealand music on radio, but radio is no longer where a lot of us hear new music. Gareth Shute investigates whether the same pressure should be applied to streaming playlists. In 1989, the music played by New Zealand radio stations included less than 2% … Read more
It’s half Stars in Their Eyes and half the monsters from Labyrinth, and it might be the most bizarre reality TV show ever – and we need it here. Have you ever felt empty inside? Like there’s a chasm in your chest so big tourists would take photos of it? A hole that is often filled but never … Read more
The Real Pod assembles to dissect Married at First Sight Australia and the Dancing With the Stars NZ cast, with special thanks to Nando’s. We know we’ve said this before, but this episode is a proper chaos pod. Fuelled by lollies and the promise of Nando’s, your friendly podmates plough through the final single dates on … Read more
It’s that time of year again when we push celebrities onstage and make them dance for charity and also our amusement. Armed only with a limited knowledge of sportspeople and breakfast radio, Sam Brooks power-ranks the celebs lining up to compete in Dancing with the Stars. It is with the heaviest, arterially-clogged heart that I … Read more
‘There’s something incredible about watching otherwise ordinary people do something extraordinary.’ A recent NZSO performance prompts Anna Knox to reflect on what makes live classical music so special. I always forget, beforehand, that live orchestral performance is one of most wonderful things a human being can experience, and then, the moment the first note is … Read more
A real-life mother-daughter twisted true crime story makes it way to Lightbox tomorrow in The Act. Jean Sergent reviews the television event of the season. As a connoisseur of true crime, there is no telly event I’ve been more excited for this year quite like The Act. Chronicling the horrific crimes of Dee Dee Blanchard and … Read more
She’s written some of the biggest hits across the world the past few years, and now she’s stepping into the limelight. Here’s what you need to know about pop music’s next superstar. Jessie J co-wrote ‘Party in the USA’ before she found fame under her own name. Julia Michaels co-wrote ‘Hands to Myself’, ‘Bad Liar’ … Read more
What is Newton’s Law, or more important who is Newton and what is her law? Tara Ward has the lowdown on Newton’s Law, which you can watch on Lightbox right now. What’s it about? Josephine Newton is a brilliant Melbourne lawyer. She spends her days in court as a small-time solicitor, advocating for the suburban underdogs charged with … Read more
All the superheroes are coming to Lightbox this month – Spider-Man, Aquaman, Jennifer Lopez, Spongebob Squarepants – but there’s a few villains in the bunch too. It’s your round-up of what is coming to Lightbox in April. The Act (Four episodes dropping April 4, then weekly) From Jean Sergent’s review of The Act, coming later this … Read more
The three-part mini-series Three Girls tells the story of the horrendous Rochdale child rape ring in the UK. It’s a harrowing watch, says Emily Writes, but it’s important we don’t look away – on screen and in real life. I’m not a fan of true crime; it too often feels like ingesting someone’s agony as … Read more
The queen of 2019 combining with the queen of a generation, a New Zealand band with the new teen-dance classic, a local artist breaking the floor with a new banger. These are the songs of the month – seven international, three local – as picked by The Spinoff’s culture editor Sam Brooks. International ‘Quiet Company’ … Read more
Two seasons, one Eliza Dushku and a pre-Hangover Zach Galifinakis – how could a show with all this fail? Sam Rutledge writes about the two-season wonder that was Tru Calling. I have a controversial opinion for you: the shortlived Fox network drama Tru Calling was actually good. “Wait, what show?” I hear you ask. Fair question. It … Read more
The Real Pod assembles to dissect the eighth week on Married at First Sight Australia, with special thanks to Nando’s. This week on The Real Pod, we’ve got two weeks of MAFS madness to recap. Billy and Susie went to hell and back again, and then Billy had to come back one more time to get … Read more
Four members of the Spinoff staff and one completely unbiased stranger run down their favourite shows on Lightbox. What do Alex Casey, Leonie Hayden, Alex Braae, Toby Morris and one person who is definitely not Hayden Donnell watch in their time off? Check it out here. This content was created in paid partnership with Lightbox. Learn … Read more
With the increased security threat after the Christchurch attacks, Wellington’s CubaDupa street festival has had to move off the street and into venues around the city. The Spinoff spoke to the festival’s artistic director about why this was necessary for safety, and why the changes are not about letting fear win. The presence of armed … Read more
Connan Mockasin’s new side project Jassbusters is currently touring around the country. Taylor MacGregor talks to the musician about what excites him now, and what fans can expect from his show at Auckland’s Crystal Palace tomorrow night. In 2016, bright eyed and naive to the glitz and glitches of the showbiz world, I approached Liam … Read more
Last week APRA AMCOS NZ hosted SongHubs Auckland, an initiative which saw 18 Kiwi and Aussie songwriters connect with four international guests, for a week long song writing camp in Roundhead Studios. This is the fifth installment of this collaborative event, where curator Greg Haver shepherd writers and producers into groups of four to write … Read more
Blessed be the fruit loaf, The Great British Bake Off is back. Tara Ward relives the best moments from episode one of the new season of the world’s kindest TV show. We could all do with a warm and fluffy escape right now. Last week I ate my way through more packets of Toffee Pops … Read more
After living and working for years in London alongside his band, The Veils, Finn Andrews returned to Auckland last year. Gareth Shute caught up with him between performances at WOMAD to find out about his heartbreak-inflected new album, One Piece At A Time. The impressive achievements of The Veils have often been overlooked. After all, … Read more
The prolific and acclaimed country singer-songwriter Brandy Clark performs in Auckland tomorrow. Sam Brooks talked to her ahead of her performance. “I hate stripes, and orange ain’t my colour. If I squeeze that trigger tonight, I’ll be wearing one or other. There ain’t no crime of passion worth a crime of fashion The only thing … Read more
The world needs more kindness, clearly. Thalia Kehoe Rowden reviews Kiri and Lou, a new musical comedy show about kindness and feelings – made for children, but a tonic for adults too. What if you could make a home-grown kids’ TV show that combined the endearing quirkiness of The Muppets, the deadpan hilarity of Flight … Read more
With 30 years’ hindsight, the failed Neon Picnic festival of January 1988 can be seen as the Fyre festival of its day, writes Chris Bourke. This piece was originally published on Audioculture. It was a flawed concept that captured the spirit of the times. The organisers envisaged something more evolved than the contemporary rock bands and … Read more
At the end of a long week of anger and sorrow, you may need something soothing from your TV screen. If that’s the case, we can help. After the horrific events of last Friday in Christchurch, writing about television seems frivolous. But, if we use the power of television for good, it can offer us … Read more