There are over 350 minutes of Married at First Sight Australia a week on Three. Should you spend almost all your spare time watching them? Married at First Sight Australia returned this week, a few months after our first season ended in the abyss. Of our six couples, only one survived the show, which became … Read more
Welcome to the Cheat Sheet, a clickable, shareable, bite-sized FAQ on the news of the moment. Today we figure out what the New Zealand Music Industry Manifesto means for local music. The what? The New Zealand Music Industry Manifesto. It’s basically just a detailed vision board, an agreement between a bunch of our local music representatives … Read more
Our regular round-up of new songs and singles, featuring Tommy Genesis, Stephen Malkmus, Rhye, Transistor, Kehlani and more… SONG OF THE WEEK Stephen Malkmus & The Jicks – ‘Middle America’ An instant Malkmus classic Only Malkmus things: rhyming ‘nerve’ with ‘nerve’; following that with a line that goes “open the door and piss if you … Read more
Alex Casey and Sam Brooks round up the new content coming to Lightbox this month, including UnREAL tackling… The Bachelorette?! The Good Doctor (available now) Look, it’s the number one network series in the States, Canada and Australia right now, so if you aren’t watching The Good Doctor then I’m sorry but everyone is secretly … Read more
Tickled co-creator Dylan Reeve goes back down the rabbithole, revisiting a childhood breakfast food betrayal in an attempt to settle the Weet-Bix score once and for all. One recent morning, while watching my kids enjoy their Weet-Bix* one of the many advertising jingles of my childhood popped into my head. “Kiwi kids… are Weet-Bix kids…” … Read more
The Real Pod assembles to dissect the week in New Zealand pop culture and real life, with special thanks to Nando’s. It must be getting close to Valentine’s Day, because romance is in the air on The Real Pod. We welcome back one of our favourite reality shows in Married at First Sight Australia, swoon over … Read more
From small beginnings, with fewer than a thousand punters at the first event in 2014, Nostalgia Festival has grown slowly but steadily to become one of the most unique on the New Zealand summer circuit. James Dann talks to festival director Johnny Gibson ahead of the fifth iteration this weekend. The Ferrymead Heritage Park is … Read more
Emmaline Matagi talks to Akashi Fisi’inaua (aka Queen Kapussi), Vogue Ballroom chanter and member of FAFSWAG, whose Xhrome Xhrysalis project is part of this year’s Pride Festival. Auckland Pride Festival is on now until 18 February and as part of the celebration, the talented and majestic Akashi Fisi’inaua is curating a one-off project at Basement Theatre on 10 February. … Read more
Television saddo Alex Casey watched both Seven Sharp AND The Project on Monday night to bring you this harrowing report. Following the return of Seven Sharp this week, surely tens of people across the country are now tearing their hair out trying to choose their ideal 7pm current affairs team. Do you settle into the comfortable … Read more
Tara Ward watches The Good Doctor on Lightbox and tells you why you should be tuning in to the medical show smashing records in the US. What’s it all about? The Good Doctor centres on Shaun Murphy, a young doctor with autism and savant syndrome who moves from a small town to work in a … Read more
Before opening for the inimitable Foo Fighters on Saturday night, Rivers Cuomo and Scott Shriner of Weezer sat down with Jihee Junn to talk about what’s changed (and what hasn’t) during the band’s 20+ years of making some of the most infectious and iconic music. Drenched. Doused. Soaked to the bone. However you describe it, the Foo … Read more
Tara Ward will probably never be a Chaser on The Chase, but by gum will she power rank them in order of supreme dominance and knowledge prowess. Take your barbeques and beaches and stick them in your happy little quiz-hole, because the only place you should be this summer is in front of your screens … Read more
Alex Casey and Duncan Greive share ten observations from the premiere episode of an all-new Seven Sharp. 1) Is Jeremy Wells… okay? “It’s lovely to be with you tonight,” said Hilary. I believed her. I believed her all the way to the back of her craft beer fridge, and all the way to the bottom … Read more
Ahead of Jeremy Wells’ return to television tonight, David Farrier looks back at some of his favourite moments from the deadpan broadcaster. I feel passionately about Jeremy Wells. When I heard the official announcement from TVNZ that he would be joining Hilary Barry (another excellent broadcaster) on Seven Sharp, I felt a pang of joy I … Read more
Comedian and Justin Timberlake fan Eli Matthewson reviews JT’s new country-tinged album, Man of the Woods. I have to start this with a disclaimer: despite being tasked with reviewing this album, I have not yet been able to listen to all sixteen tracks over 66 minutes of Justin Timberlake’s Man of the Woods in one … Read more
Calum Henderson looks back at the best of Jeremy Wells and makes some predictions for what he will bring to the Seven Sharp desk. When Jeremy Wells takes his seat next to Hilary Barry at the Seven Sharp desk tomorrow, it will mean different things to different people. Many of Seven Sharp’s regular audience, for … Read more
The Spinoff presents the live video premiere of Broods’ Georgia Nott’s all-female produced solo project The Venus Project. Georgia Nott says: Initially written around two years ago, but still just as relevant to me today, ‘Won’t Hurt’ is about the duality of being both strong and vulnerable at the same time. Women are so often described as … Read more
Martyn Pepperell talks to American folk-singer and park ranger Julie Byrne before her two shows with Nadia Reid in Christchurch this weekend. In August last year, I was lucky enough to watch folk singer, songwriter and guitarist Julie Byrne perform a blissed-out daytime set at Finland’s Flow Festival in Helsinki. While traces of folk titans … Read more
Tara Ward stargazes beneath the celeb-studded galaxy of Philip K Dick’s Electric Dreams. The trippy anthology series Philip K. Dick’s Electric Dreams boasts one of the most formidable collections of actors in a single television series. Not even Sharknado could gather together the creative talents of award-winning stars like Bryan Cranston, Anna Paquin, Vera Farmiga, … Read more
Jessie Moss talks to Coco Solid about her upcoming mixtape, what Waitangi Day means to her, and how she stays cool on these increasingly muggy days. In the middle of the hottest week Aotearoa has seen in years, somewhere in Auckland Coco Solid is getting a lot of things done. I first met Coco in … Read more
Commentary: The two women who wrote an open letter on the Spinoff are being pursued under an Israeli law designed to prevent ‘damage to the state of Israel through boycott’. But is it a serious threat, and could it really impact people living in another country? Law professor Andrew Geddis writes. For “a small, publicly-funded, … Read more
The Real Pod assembles to dissect the week in New Zealand pop culture and real life, with special thanks to Nando’s. This week we arrive on a cloud fluffier than Mike Hosking and Kate Hawkesby’s dog to talk about our favourite local news and celebs of the week. Mostly, the fact that Mike McRoberts took a … Read more
The Spinoff introduces a rightly fearful nation to the Mike Hosking impersonator replacing Mike Hosking as the host of Seven Sharp. Jeremy Wells was yesterday afternoon confirmed as co-host of the revamped Seven Sharp, as (incredibly humblebrag) first reported by The Spinoff last Friday. It’s an extremely bold hire, perhaps the boldest in TVNZ history. … Read more
Kate Robertson has, on occasion, soundtracked her life entirely with Shania Twain. Here’s how you can too. GIVEAWAY ALERT: Looks like we made it… closer to Shania’s New Zealand tour! And Spark is giving away 20 double-passes to her Auckland and Dunedin shows. Entries close 27 July 2018. Stop everything you’re doing – the OG … Read more
The Spinoff continues its deep dive into the world of weird and wonderful fashion and asks: is luxury French fashion house Maison Margiela taking inspiration from a 90s Kiwi television icon? Since its start in 1981, What Now? has managed to accomplish a lot of things in its 37-year history. It’s become New Zealand’s longest-running … Read more
The Spinoff and Spark proudly present Pod On The Couch, a weekly podcast exploring music and the people that make it. This episode: Henry Oliver talks to Russell Brown about Grant Fell. Spinoff Music editor Henry Oliver talks to Russell Brown about his late friend Grant Fell: artist, filmmaker, magazine publisher, promoter and member of Headless … Read more
Music editor and former member of Die! Die! Die! Henry Oliver talks to his ex-bandmates about making music together for nearly 20 years. I met Andrew Wilson and Michael (we called him Mikey) Prain in the summer of 2003-04. I’d seen their old band Rawer open for Trans Am, if my memory serves, and they … Read more
To prepare for The Good Doctor arriving to Lightbox next week, Alex Casey breaks down five more of the best medical shows you can binge. Just as sure as Chris Warner will reveal an illegitimate child at the dawn of every day, medical shows will forever stroll the corridors of primetime television soaked in blood … Read more
An Australian network is showing the NZ comedy show Screaming Reels in a time slot usually reserved actual fishing shows, suggesting the broadcaster was not aware it is a parody. The Spinoff asked co-host Leigh Hart to apologise to his confused Australian viewers. Instead, his ‘producers’ came back with this. It has come to our … Read more