Patrick Hunn fondly remembers shambolic local young adult series The Tribe. The things you read, watch, play or listen to when you’re a kid stick with you, because kids are dumb and have brains made of a pliable grey paste. These squawking, colourful things leave marks that are baked into your memory by the general, … Read more
For his Monitor column this week, Aaron Yap looks at the spectrum of Psycho reboots from the terrible ’80s sequels to the unhinged prequel series Bates Motel. There’s a good chance Hitchcock might have balked if he heard what A&E had done to Norman Bates, the oedipally unhinged monster of his groundbreaking 1960 horror masterpiece Psycho. … Read more
With UnREAL season two coming to an end tonight, Alex Casey shares her favourite moments of producer manipulation, contestant craziness and pant-pooping in all of dating show history. The finale of UnREAL season two arrives to Lightbox tonight, further unraveling the vipers nest of manipulation, lies and corruption on which the twinkling lights of fictional dating show Everlasting … Read more
Tara Ward brings you her rankings for Shortland Street last week, including Leanne’s new vitamin business, a spoiled roux, and a pillow made of kiwi feathers. 1) Cam is the Chad Johnson of Ferndale Cam’s been in Ferndale for five minutes and has already fallen in love with Kylie. How nauseating. Thankfully, Kylie rebuked Cam’s creepy advances by insulting his … Read more
Duncan Greive watches Māori Television’s new dating show Finding Aroha, and finds a surprisingly authentic reality quest for love. As a highly-paid television columnist, I am in possession of piercing insights which will rock you back in your seat. Buckle up, there’s a whopper coming. You ready? You sure? Here goes: The Bachelor NZ is not … Read more
Alex Casey snacks on this year’s Loading Docs selection, ten locally-made documentaries under 3 minutes in length. Love documentaries but hate all the sitting, watching and listening? Destined to take 100 pee breaks and snack stops during the average 90 minute runtime? Fear not my fellow cinema pests, Loading Docs is the perfect solution if your … Read more
Our resident Blockaholic Jane Yee recaps the highs and lows from week 10 of The Block NZ, and gets an exclusive tour of 95 St Johns Road from none other than Niki and Tiff. And just like that we’re down to the last few days on The Block for 2016. This season has flown by … Read more
The Kettering Incident is drawing rave reviews for its ‘Tasmanian Noir’ – a small town with terrifying secrets lurking within and without. What’s the story? Two young women head into the woods in a remote Tasmanian logging town. Only one comes out. Anna Macy is found, hours later, bloody and traumatised, having met with a mysterious … Read more
Just in case you’ve been missing the next big thing in music reviews, we’ve compiled the best Pop on The Couch episodes for your convenience. Featuring Alex Casey, Joseph Harper, the occasional courier, and [COMING SOON] Troye Sivan. The Taylor Swift special Alex and Joseph don some sweet unofficial merch as they rate Taylor Swift’s … Read more
Joseph Harper talks to Phil Keoghan about his new documentary Le Ride and asks how a lad from Christchurch grew up to be New Zealand’s most famous ex-pat TV presenter. As a fan of both professional cycling and The Amazing Race, Phil Keoghan’s documentary Le Ride seemed almost purpose made for me. Inspired by Cantabrian … Read more
In this week’s TV column, Aaron Yap looks at how social media platform Snapchat threatens to usurp traditional viewing habits. As much as it pains me to admit it, I’m a more devoted viewer of Snapchat than of any TV channel out there. Worse, Snapchat often acts as a secondary screen even when I am watching … Read more
Comic book superfan Liam Fernandez celebrates the first season of Preacher, a faithful adaptation that didn’t manage to ruin his childhood. Many years ago I was recommended a comic book by a friend. I had just finished reading Watchmen, and given the lofty bar that Alan Moore’s layered alternate history tale had set, my next … Read more
Tara Ward brings you her rankings for Shortland Street last week, including when the shitake hit the fan and a very good dog. 1) At last, Ferndale gets it’s Chops For years, nay decades, people have protested the lack of a canine presence in Ferndale. Erinsborough had Bouncer (RIP), Summer Bay had Dag Dog, so why hasn’t Shortland … Read more
A group of young Wellingtonians have scored millions of online views for their idiosyncratic Shakespearean revamps. With the launch of their third series, Bright Summer Night, we asked them to explain themselves, and they sent us a video. The first two web series by the Candle Wasters put a girdle around the earth in hardly … Read more
Our resident Blockaholic Jane Yee recaps the highs and lows from week nine of The Block NZ, including Dylz’ romantic prospects. It was chock-a-Block NZ in Meadowbank this week as the teams scrambled to complete their garages and laundries. They also had to wedge in some goodwill community service, a whole lot of odd jobs … Read more
Jose Barbosa talks to Adam Boileau of Insomnia Security about hacking thriller Mr Robot, and New Zealand’s place in the info-war web. The much anticipated Mr Robot season two is on Lightbox. To get everyone’s head in the right place José Barbosa talks to Adam Boileau, a computer security specialist for Insomnia Security. He’s also the owner/operator … Read more
Calum Henderson asks why our taxpayer money continues to fund rose-tinted documentaries about the sexist hellhole known as Gloriavale. Our annual visit to Gloriavale is becoming a weird New Zealand television tradition. Every winter for the past three years we’ve been offered another rare glimpse inside the controversial West Coast Christian community, through a series of … Read more
Alex Casey explains how UnREAL, a black comedy set on a fictional reality set, chews on an array of complex issues like no other television show right now. Please note that the following is absolutely riddled with spoilers. I don’t even reckon Galileo himself could have predicted that The Bachelor, the same reality franchise responsible for … Read more
NZ On Air announced this week that a second season of TV2 drama Filthy Rich has received funding to the tune of $6,896,419 – a baffling decision if you look at the first season’s ratings, writes Duncan Greive. On Monday, with little fanfare, NZ on Air announced the renewal of Filthy Rich, TV2’s soapy inheritance … Read more
Tara Ward brings you her rankings for Shortland Street last week, including a new naked chef and TK’s disdain for the universe and beyond. 1) Leanne reacts in a calm and discreet manner when Lucy and Ali’s sex tape goes viral 2) Is Cam McCaskill an undiscovered culinary genius or a misguided man-child with the boundless energy of … Read more
Writer John Summers recalls a road trip to Nelson punctuated by Antiques Roadshow, the cozy, dozy series that knows no end. We were a micronation of five, a Monaco within the wider limits of Christchurch, complete with our own rituals, talismans and anthems. Among these were the identical blue jerseys we’d each bought independently from op … Read more
Our resident Blockaholic Jane Yee recaps the highs and lows from week eight of The Block NZ, including the moment that the schist hit the fan. Whatever the opposite of hissing is, it’s happening on The Block right now. Eight weeks in and the fatigue has finally hit me. I’ve watched every damn episode ever … Read more
It’s the eye-pop has been talked about more than just about any other TV segment in New Zealand history. But one crucial voice has stayed silent about it, until now. Hayden Donnell talks to Thingee about the on-screen medical nightmare that changed his life forever. It started out like any other Son of a Gunn segment. Jason was prattling … Read more
Aaradhna Patel comes into the room near visibly shaking. She hates interviews, does them because she must, and afterwards feels like she’s said all the wrong things. Given her occupation, it’s an unfortunate situation. This one promises to be particularly trying. She’s talking about racism. About her personal experience of it, in fine detail. Haltingly … Read more
The New Zealand Home is a new docu-series which tells the story of New Zealand housing via a parade of gloating baby boomers. “Two men, from wildly different words, join forces to explore the New Zealand home on a road trip – in a 1960s Jag!” So intones the voiceover which announces The New Zealand … Read more
Red-faced Transparent fans fess up with their embarrassingly delayed reactions to the double entendre of the show’s title. Raking in yet another pile of Emmy nominations last week, it’s no secret that the Amazon original series Transparent is one of the boldest and best television shows in recent years. Yes, it tackles issues of gender and … Read more
Aaron Yap speaks to trans-Tasman duo Jonathan Brough and Benjamin Law of The Family Law, Australia’s first comedy based around the Chinese-Australian experience. Last month, spurred on by the recent groundswell of support for the fair, accurate representation of Asians on TV, and my personal interest in the subject as an Asian film/TV critic, I … Read more
Turns out TVNZ were just kidding about when they said Terry Teo would only play online! Those trickers! Update: now includes a statement from the creators at the bottom. Yesterday we published a piece scorning TVNZ’s decision to release the brilliant kidult action dramedy Terry Teo solely on TVNZ OnDemand, noting that $1.3m of public money … Read more
Inspired by the excellent mockumentary series Hoff the Record, Pete Douglas explains why it’s time to welcome The Hoff back into your life. Like so many 80’s kids I was big into Knight Rider. What wasn’t to like? There was the car – a talking, driverless, artificially intelligent, black Pontiac Trans-Am named KITT– some marvelously … Read more