Australian food television connoisseur and disappointment addict Eleanor Robertson journeys through cyber space and time to watch and recap TV3’s competitive cooking show, Masterchef New Zealand each week. In my time as Masterchef New Zealand recapper, so far I’ve chosen not to make fun of the judges’ and contestants’ Kiwi accents. This is half because accent gags are … Read more
Alex Casey watches the Gloriavale: Life and Death special on TV2, a documentary from the gated Christian community where the bonnets are bleached, the women have 12 kids and the male elders know all. Last night we were welcomed back into the utopian arms of Gloriavale: Life and Death, far away from the sexual and physical … Read more
Tara Ward ranks her favourite moments from the past week of Ferndale hijinks. This week: Steve makes waves from his hospital bed, Drew has a ponytail penchant and Murray makes a casserole. This week’s power rankings are a sumptuous buffet filled with farewells and fights, revelations and rumours, sexism and Steve. Fill your plate, grab … Read more
Bringing together the TV moments on the week, including Jon Stewart’s final address, doubling the dogs on TV One and paradise lost in Bachelor in Paradise. Contributions by Alex Casey and Calum Henderson. 1) A Wedding and a Parakeet in Bachelor in Paradise Reality TV naysayers, prepare to be steamed by the news that the … Read more
Your daily rolling recap of Come Dine With Me NZ, serving up piping hot takes on New Zealand’s greatest social experiment. Welcome to Come Dine With Me Daily, The Spinoff’s hub for all things Come Dine With Me NZ.We’ll be updating this post throughout the week as the show plays out, providing you with a denser dining experience … Read more
Calum Henderson spends an evening with TV One’s Dog Squad and Purina Pound Pups, and explains why you should get amongst these primetime pooches. TV One’s doggone double-header begins in the familiar ‘authority figures vs lowlifes’ format of reality programming that New Zealanders love so dearly. Despite an admittedly very exciting point of difference (dogs), … Read more
Australian food television connoisseur and disappointment addict Eleanor Robertson journeys through cyber space and time to watch and recap TV3’s competitive cooking show, Masterchef New Zealand each week. After complaining in my last recap about judge Al Brown’s wearing of a hat indoors, an incident compounded by the fact that the hat in question was bedazzled with a … Read more
Tara Ward ranks her favourite moments from the past week of Ferndale hijinks. This week: Harper wreaks havoc, Clementine vanishes and Curtis gets naked. There was drama and action aplenty at our favourite hospital last week. Relationships teetered on the brink, lives were at risk, and anarchy arose in the car park. Come, let us … Read more
Bringing together the TV moments on the week, including several local shows peering into regional NZ, cat whisperers coming to town and the return of a beloved quiz show. 1) Bogans Do Television Burnouts TV2’s brand new docuseries Bogans premiered last night, promising boobs, beers and burnouts. Featuring Dr David Snell, who has a PhD … Read more
Your daily rolling recap of Come Dine With Me NZ, serving up piping hot takes on New Zealand’s greatest social experiment. Welcome to Come Dine With Me Daily, The Spinoff’s hub for all things Come Dine With Me NZ.We’ll be updating this post throughout the week as the show plays out, providing you with a denser dining experience … Read more
Australian food television connoisseur and disappointment addict Eleanor Robertson journeys through cyber space and time to watch and recap TV3’s competitive cooking show, Masterchef New Zealand each week. Ahh, Masterchef. Here we are again at the start of another season and I’m truly thrilled to waste precious hours of my life slumped on the couch like a depressed … Read more
Your daily rolling recap of Come Dine With Me NZ, serving up piping hot takes on New Zealand’s greatest social experiment. Welcome to Come Dine With Me Daily, The Spinoff’s hub for all things Come Dine With Me NZ.We’ll be updating this post throughout the week as the show plays out, providing you with a denser dining experience … Read more
Ever wondered why has a horse never won an ESPY? Joseph Harper spends a vexed afternoon watching the surreal awards ceremony, and reports back with his findings. Yesterday I watched the Excellence in Sports Performance Yearly Awards, aka the ESPYs. It was super weird. I’ve never watched the Halberg awards, but based on video highlights and pictures … Read more
Bringing you the best and worst TV moments of the week, including gnarly shoot-outs, powerful haircuts and terrible advertorials. 1) The Mother of the Nation Rises Again This week on Paul Henry, Hilary Barry’s regular spot was filled with another beloved member of TV news royalty. Judy Bailey showed up to keep her seat warm … Read more
Alex Casey watches over three hours of Miss USA 2015 coverage, and reports back with some giant sneakers, rough public voting systems and a growing sense of despair. I have a shocking, groundbreaking announcement: Miss Congeniality lied to us, and the Miss USA competition is nothing like the movies. Sandra Bullock has left me high … Read more
Your daily rolling recap of Come Dine With Me NZ, serving up piping hot takes on New Zealand’s greatest social experiment. Welcome to Come Dine With Me Daily, The Spinoff’s hub for all things Come Dine With Me NZ. We’ll be updating this post throughout the week as the show plays out, providing you with a … Read more
1) John Campbell Live in Samoa Say what you want about John Fellett, but he’s as adept at the counter-punch and exploiting an opportunity as anyone in television. So when TV3 dramatically dumped John Campbell a few weeks back, you can bet one of the first calls the broadcaster took was from a Sky exec, … Read more
Please enjoy this excellent episode of Shorty Street Scandal, wherein James Mustapic recaps the past week of Ferndale hijinks. This week? Kane gets an A+ in physical education, credit card debt hits Ferndale hard and James Mustapic reveals his sleazy namesake: Kane and his mysterious Swedish/American teacher had some private tutoring sessions this week. And by private tutoring … Read more
Bringing together the best television moments of the week, including Come Dine With Me‘s beautiful bromance, Campbell’s low-key cameo and Newsworthy‘s sauna dramas. 1. Campbell Goes Wild on The Crowd Goes Wild A marvellous event happened in a very low key way on Wednesday night – John Campbell returned to our screens at 7pm. Just on … Read more
Alex Casey watches TV2’s new show Take Me Out, a chaotic dating competition where one man catches an elevator and thirty women use lights and fire poi to communicate their feelings. What’s it about? Take Me Out is a fast-paced, lightbulb-based dating show, hosted by world’s most Irish person Paddy McGuinness. His wisecracks pour out crazy … Read more
After 20 years, Josh Drummond checks in to see how the legendary kid’s show What Now is doing with less Simon Barnett and more Mexican stereotypes. I do believe you think what now you speak, But what we do determine oft we break. – Hamlet, Act 3, Scene 2 I’m not sure why I decided to watch What Now. In … Read more
Please enjoy this excellent episode of Shorty Street Scandal, wherein James Mustapic recaps the past week of Ferndale hijinks. This week? Pixie goes down in a brownie blaze, Boyd and Harper talk dirty and James celebrates one year of Shorty Street Scandal: Rampant leg cancer aside, Pixie has been living a pretty cruisey life in Ferndale. She gets personal visits … Read more
Alex Casey introduces the young subjects in TV3’s new documentary series Reality Trip, including a 25 year-old with the views of a crazed senior citizen. TV3’s new series Reality Trip takes a group of young New Zealand consumers and whisks them around the world, confronting them with the reality of how their favourite products are … Read more
Elyse Robêrt brings us the debut of our Shortland Street power rankings, covering the waxing and waning of Ferndale’s babe medic community. This week was full of classic Shorty behaviour from some of our favourite Tāmaki Makaurau residents. TK was grumpy about everything, Boyd was in Melbourne but still managed to be bossy, and that … Read more
Our off-peak TV connoisseur Calum Henderson watches The Tipping Point, the human versus machine game show that strikes a crucial balance between moronic and enthralling. In moments of hopelessness and despair, it can be easy to think that TV’s best game shows belong to the past. Millionaire has been clocked. Every possible permutation of Deal … Read more
Alex Casey watches the return of Prime’s Celebrity Wife Swap, and recaps the dramatic first episode starring Coolio and Sugar Ray’s Mark McGrath. What’s it about? Celebrity Wife Swap USA invites two undeniable has-beens to put their poor wives forward for the most bizarrely, seemingly pointless task of all time. Hopping in a limo to … Read more
Please enjoy this excellent episode of Shorty Street Scandal, wherein James Mustapic recaps the past week of Ferndale hijinks. This week? TK doesn’t understand time travel or 3D printing, Wendy has a mid-life crisis and Murray drinks himself stupid: Never far from a strange, misconstrued conspiracy, TK did not take very well to the concept of 3D printing this … Read more
Tara Ward recaps the final episode of Outlander season one, wherein the coos save the day and Jamie and Claire look towards rebuilding and smouldering. At last glance, Jamie Fraser was trapped in the living hell that was Wentworth Prison – with Black Jack Randall using his tongue to sign his name across Jamie’s back. Thankfully, … Read more
The Spinoff’s Alex Casey and Duncan Greive are joined by freelance writer and critic Dominic Corry to discuss the first three episodes of ‘Empire’, a new show centering around an ‘urban’ music label’s dynastic tensions. It’s become an enormous hit in the US, thanks to a mixture of excellent casting, boldly soapy style and a … Read more