Tara Ward pours a sherry and peers back through the archives of a holiday institution: the Queen’s Christmas message. Her Majesty the Queen’s Christmas Message is perfectly timed for New Zealand audiences. Come hell or high water, at 6.50pm each Christmas Day Her Majesty drops her hot take on the year’s events, while we — … 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: troubadour James Milne and his new ready-for-action Christmas song. Just in time for the holidays comes Jingling Christmas Eve, a new Lawrence Arabia song created with James’ childhood friend Norman Angel. Henry Oliver and … Read more
Alex Casey wheels out a holiday favourite in the celeb-studded feature-length finale of Extras. Christmas is a time for traditions and rituals, for dredging up old articles about Love Actually and fighting with strangers online about whether the movie is good or bad. Although Hugh Grant dancing to ‘Jump’ is indisputably good, I would like … Read more
It’s been a huge year for local television, from the time Jordan Mauger did that Gollum impression to when Rachel McKenna walked out of Shortland Street forever. But which New Zealand show did you lot vote your favourite for 2016? C’mon, let’s go the results party. 10) Grand Designs NZ Grand Designs is Chris Moller’s … Read more
Click the image below or head straight here to enjoy a musical Christmas miracle courtesy of Anne Batley-Burton from The Real Housewives of Auckland. This content, like all television coverage we do at The Spinoff, is brought to you thanks to the excellent folk at Lightbox. Do us and yourself a favour by clicking here … Read more
In his final Monitor column for the year, critic Aaron Yap lists his 10 favourite shows from 2016. 10) Stranger Things In hindsight, there’s so much that irks me about this ‘80s sci-fi-horror pastiche. The all-surface, no-subtext aping of the movies it’s influenced by. The instant-cult memefication spawned in the wake of its popularity. Winona … Read more
Lucy Zee salutes Chanel Oberlin of Scream Queens, the alpha of the comedy-horror series who never wears the same fur twice. The late 90s and early 2000s gave us the best teen films and TV shows of all time: Mean Girls, Clueless, Bring It On, Buffy and Sabrina The Teenage Witch. Sadly, in more recent … Read more
What’s the deal with the lack of local music in the Top 40 this year? Robyn Gallagher looks at the handful of songs to make the grade in 2016 and asks – has the general public simply given up on New Zealand music? A strange thing has happened in the New Zealand top 40 chart … Read more
It’s Christmas in Ferndale, which means thing have to go off a cliff one way or another. Tara Ward counts down the top 10 moments from last night’s finale. The Shortland Street 2016 cliffhanger hit our screens last night, and expectations were higher than Kirsty Knight’s fringe in the early ’90s. Alas, the television event of … Read more
No-so-secret metalhead Emily Writes guides you through the best metal covers of Christmas classics. In the world of metal you’re classified by what you like – you can’t really just say you like ‘metal’, you have to specify your genre. And then chances are, especially if you’re a woman, you’ll be lectured in a blisteringly … Read more
Tara Ward has been mercilessly power ranking Shortland Street for the entire year of 2016. Here she collates her favourite moments, including bouncy castle woes and rude fridge magnets. Ding dong merrily on high, the Shortland Street Christmas cliffhanger is nearly here. Before we dangle our weary bodies over the cliff in readiness for tonight’s climactic episode, … Read more
A 1960s psychedelic poster featuring local musicians selling tea to teens? WTF? Henry Oliver investigates. In the late-sixties, young people everywhere were tuning in or dropping out, and dropping tabs, but apparently not drinking tea. Okay sure, the extent to which teenagers of the era were wandering the streets tripping balls are over exaggerated by … 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: Kate Robertson and Matthew McAuley join host Henry Oliver to talk about their favourite music of the year 2016. Spinoff Music editor Henry Oliver talks to contributing critics Kate Robertson and Matthew McAuley … Read more
Powerhouse feminist music legend Peaches is returning to the country this week on a cloud made of plush boobs and Rapunzel-length pubic hair. Alex Casey chatted to her about dick suits, Westworld, and why her music matters now more than ever before. If there is one person out there who can pull off saying ‘titties’ … Read more
The Spinoff assembled this week to test run the CSI drinking game. This is their story. We are in the throes of the silly season, where the alcohol flows like water and the work functions are awkward enough to make you want to lock yourself away in a manger. But fret not, for there is a … Read more
Coco Solid and The Spinoff wants to have an actual conversation about gender equality in New Zealand music. That’s why we’ve teamed up to launch a new project focusing on sexism and sexual assault in the music community – and we’re inviting you to get involved. Writing was always the more traditional interest of mine, … Read more
James Mustapic of genius Youtube channel Shorty Street Scandal is coming out of retirement to do a live show at The Basement this weekend. He explains why. After almost two years of watching every episode of Shortland Street at least twice a night, and recapping them on Youtube, I took a break. This Saturday 17th … Read more
The directors of videos for Lorde, Shihad, Ladi 6, Lawrence Arabia and more choose their favourite music vids of 2016. Joel Kefali Joel Kefali is the director of music videos for Lorde, Katy Perry and Leisure. When I look back at the music videos of 2016, I found it difficult to make an objective top … Read more
The triumphant return of Jane Yee, Duncan Greive and Alex Casey to wrap up New Zealand telly in 2016. As 2016 starts to slip away like sand through the hour glass, our in-house television experts* reflect upon 2016 on the small screen in our fair country. What has Jordy Pordy been up to? What does … Read more
Pete Douglas looks on in slack-jawed bemusement at the latest song from dad-pop band Train, and wonders whether the band are serious or a brilliant troll. While casually perusing the Billboard Hot 100 recently, a thought occurred to me: what the hell is up with the continued popularity of Train? Of all the legions of … Read more
With Christmas looming, we’ve assembled some of the best (cheapest) gifts you can buy for your TV-obsessed friends and family. It’s that joyous time of year when you realise you need to buy presents for a million people, except you don’t have the money or time to even wash your hair or eat a vegetable. … Read more
‘Best Songs Ever’ features various contributors to The Spinoff Music assessing recent songs and singles. ZAYN & Taylor Swift – ‘I Don’t Wanna Live Forever’ ???? One of the most underappreciated aspects of what makes Taylor Swift such a great popstar is her impeccable sense of timing. Traversing the country-pop of Fearless and Speak Now … Read more
Dave Baxter, the man behind ‘Love Love Love‘, recently won a large payout from his former manager Matt Coleman. Hayden Donnell gleans some key findings from the judgment – and explains why Baxter may still never receive what he’s owed. About a month ago, Matthew Coleman, one of New Zealand’s leading music managers (and 2010 … Read more
Tara Ward assembles her power rankings for Shortland Street, including Chris’ mane, Magic Mo and whatever good thing Damo has decided to do this week. 1) Chris is a harbinger of doom with amazing hair Not only did Chris return to Ferndale without Rachel, but he bought himself a new phone that he couldn’t operate. … 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: Kate Robertson and Duncan Greive join host Henry Oliver to talk about music business and culture in the year 2016. Spinoff Music editor Henry Oliver talks to contributing critic Kate Robertson and The … Read more
Every Friday, ‘The Album Cycle’ reviews a handful of new releases. ALBUM OF THE WEEK Childish Gambino – Awaken, My Love Give it a first listen and you’d be forgiven for thinking Awaken, My Love! wasn’t a Childish Gambino record at all. Scrapping his now pretty famous freestyle flow of rap and replacing it with … Read more
Tara Ward does the unthinkable, and binge-watches 22 episodes of guinea pig dates on TVNZ Ondemand. It’s not often you enjoy a guinea pig’s quest for true love. Hardly ever, in fact. So when the televisual universe vomits up a tiny nugget of unexpected joy like Holly and Luke’s First Dates, we must grab it … Read more
Henry Oliver tries to go deep with Los Angeles rapper Vince Staples, fails, and asks him about basketball and cartoons instead. Vince Staples is young, very skilled and very, very chill. He raps fast, but talks slow. His records are loud, but he is quiet. He grew up in gangs, but now, he says, all … Read more
With summer upon us, there is no better time to shut all the sunlight out of your room, pull a blanket over your head and watch TV until your eyes hurt. We assemble the best shows on Lightbox that you can binge from pilot to finale. Wolf Hall Binge time: 6 hours, like a perfectly … Read more