Some of the best shows on Neon will take between a day and weeks to get through. Here’s a guide to the classics you’ve been holding off on, how long they take to watch, and why you should watch them. It’s a scientific fact that there’s too much TV and nobody has enough time. There’s … Read more
Ahead of the release of El Camino: A Breaking Bad Movie, Uther Dean writes on how there will never really be another phenomenon like the original Breaking Bad. Have you tried rewatching Breaking Bad recently? It’s not the same, is it? Something has changed. When it was wrapping its original run, half a dozen years ago, it … Read more
Better Call Saul is dropping weekly on Lightbox right now – and it’s slowly catching up with the start of Breaking Bad. While we wait, here are four fanservicey ways the new show could tip its hat to the old one. Better Call Saul, the often-prequel sometimes-sequel series to Breaking Bad, is back with its fourth … Read more
Midway into season three, says Simon Wilson, the Breaking Bad prequel Better Call Saul is cruising in its own greatness. Gus is back. Take a moment to digest. Gustavo Fring, so polite, so self-effacing in the short-sleeved shirt and the beige tie, Gus, the fried chicken guy aka vengeful drug lord. It’s so good to … Read more
With the third season of Breaking Bad spinoff Better Call Saul arriving on Lightbox tomorrow, José Barbosa makes his case for why the prequel may well be even better than the original. Remember around 2010, 2011 when everyone was talking about the continuing misadventures of Walter and Jesse? The show was so good people lost their shit, so much so … Read more
With the third season of Better Call Saul coming exclusively to Lightbox in April, we looked back at some of the subtle* Breaking Bad nods you might have missed the first time around. You should all know about Better Call Saul by now. Set in the same shonky universe as Breaking Bad, but unfolding in the … Read more
Inside the Lightbox is a sponsored segment where we peruse the extensive Lightbox catalogue for shows you might like to watch. This week, Alice Webb-Liddall creates a vision board of shows to help you become the best can be in 2017. Swamp People There’s nothing like a bit of tragic reality television to make you … 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
Holly Hunter takes a seat in The Spinoff confessional booth, and shares some harrowing tales of when her humble TV obsession went a little too far. ‘If TV be the food of love, play on; Give me excess of it, that, surfeiting, The appetite may sicken, and so die.’ —Shakespeare Many religions preach that confession cleanses the … Read more
Dominic Corry sat down with Aaron Paul to discuss Scientology, Breaking Bad, and leaving his character at work on Lightbox’s new cult drama The Path. Recently I was especially thrilled to spend some time in a Los Angeles hotel suite with Aaron Paul, an actor whose place in television history is already assured thanks to his iconic performance as … Read more
Alex Casey recaps the second episode of Better Call Saul season two on Lightbox, featuring a piano, nacho cravings and an unspeakable act with an apple pie. We’re back for another week as Jimmy’s moral pendulum continues to swing frustratingly between Good Guy Greg and Scumbag Steve. Old mate Chuck is back too, playing his piano with … Read more
The story of how loser lawyer Jimmy McGill became legal superstar Saul Goodman returns to Lightbox tonight for its second season. Andrew Todd looks at how Better Call Saul avoided the curse of the prequel. Spoilers for Better Call Saul and Breaking Bad follow. Who is the audience for Better Call Saul? Those who haven’t … Read more
At the start of this year we ran a series called ‘Bad Week‘, celebrating all things Breaking Bad. One of our favourite pieces during the week was this by Joe Nunweek, who found himself deeply embarrassed by Walter White fandom. Our hero is bald, save for a goatee that would seem ridiculous were the stakes … Read more
Superheroes and socio-political champions, cold-blooded killers and murderous polar bears – the year’s best television had something for everyone, says Aaron Yap. And then there was True Detective… In 2015, there were no shortage of momentous occasions in the world of prestige TV. Mad Men came to a satisfyingly wistful close after seven seasons, granting … Read more
Inside the Lightbox is a sponsored post where we mine the extensive Lightbox catalogue for shows you might like to watch. This Friday 13, we pick some of the unluckiest characters on television. 1) Pierce Hawthorne (Community) “When I was born, I got my umbilical cord wrapped around my neck, both arms, and one of … Read more
Alex and Duncan chat about the Lightbox exclusive Better Call Saul, the Breaking Bad spinoff that couldn’t be further from its brutal televisual brother. Sound like a bit of you? Click here to watch Better Call Saul exclusively on Lightbox today This content, like everything we do at The Spinoff, is brought you thanks to … Read more
Voting in the Lightbox People’s Choice Awards has started this week. Alex Casey and Duncan Greive argue the case for their favourite TV villains, heroes, sex symbols and so much more. Lightbox have kicked off their first People’s Choice Awards this week, inviting you to vote for your favourite villains, heroes and sex symbols to … Read more
With a few minutes before showtime, I took in the crowd at the Comedy Festival’s One Man Breaking Bad show. Unsurprisingly, they were a picture of Breaking Bad fandom. Balding. Novelty t-shirts. Pleather. I was particularly taken by one t-shirt featuring the Disney castle, with Walt Disney’s name replaced by Walt White. Much like the gates … Read more
Alex Casey recaps the finale episode, of Lightbox’s much-anticipated Breaking Bad spinoff Better Call Saul. Contains spoilers, obviously. // This is it, we’ve come to the end of our time with Slippin’ Jimmy McGill, for now at least. It makes sense to open where he has treaded the con artist boards for so many years – … Read more
Alex Casey recaps the ninth episode of Lightbox’s much anticipated Breaking Bad spinoff Better Call Saul. I have been hanging out all week to see if Chuck has beat his electro-magnetic condition. It really is the damning condition of our times, thank goodness he’s only in 2002 and not 2015. He wouldn’t last three seconds with … Read more
Alex Casey recaps the eighth episode of Lightbox’s much anticipated Breaking Bad spinoff Better Call Saul. Ah, to open with Breaking Bad style flashback. Jimmy’s working his butt off as a trolley dolly at Hamlin & Hamlin. It’s a fancy and impressive space, amazingly well lit – the exact opposite of Jimmy, and the majority of … Read more
Alex Casey has a quick chat with Jonathan Banks, also known as the stony-faced assassin Mike Ehrmentraut of Breaking Bad and current spinoff Better Call Saul. // I really was expecting Jonathan to pick up the phone and to mutter a grumpy “hello” like Mike would, and then promptly shoot me in the head with a sniper rifle … Read more
Alex Casey recaps the seventh episode of Lightbox’s much anticipated Breaking Bad spinoff Better Call Saul. After last week’s slam dunk of an episode, I am feeling pretty confident in saying that Better Call Saul is one of the most interesting and unique telly shows on offer at the moment. Take the wonderful opening credits, for … Read more
Alex Casey recaps the sixth episode of Lightbox’s much anticipated Breaking Bad spinoff Better Call Saul. Can I just that this episode is so bloody beautiful and heart wrenching and perfect. It is easily my favourite so far, felt incredibly reminiscent of the Breaking Bad bottle episode “Fly”. Standing apart from the rest of Better Call Saul … Read more
Alex Casey recaps the fifth episode of Lightbox’s much anticipated Breaking Bad spinoff Better Call Saul. All I can say is, thank goodness there’s finally been some light shed on Chuck’s bizarre condition (candlelight of course, not anything fluorescent). After stealing the neighbour’s paper last week, the police busted in on Chuck with as much gusto as they have … Read more
Alex Casey recaps the fourth episode of Lightbox’s much anticipated Breaking Bad spinoff Better Call Saul. // Everyone is getting bloody tricked in this episode – the Kettlemans, Nacho, Jimmy, Chuck, innocent bystanders and even us plebs in the audience. The swindling is in full force, and nobody is safe as Saul Goodman slowly rises from beneath a pile … Read more
Monitor is a new bi-weekly column from Aaron Yap. Each edition will see him critically examine a new show or trend in current television. First up is Better Call Saul. // Much has been made about modern mainstream cinema’s over-reliance on mining existing properties for content. More than ever, the studios are operating in a safety bubble, with … Read more
Alex Casey recaps the third episode of Lightbox’s much anticipated Breaking Bad spinoff Better Call Saul. // The episode opens with the sort of flashback we have come to know and love in Breaking Bad. A good wig has got to be the single most effective time travel device in all of television. Charles goes to visit a much younger, … Read more
Outrageous Fortune’s James Griffin is one of the few New Zealanders who’ve known he was scripting a series’ final episode. José Barbosa talks with him about the different ways, many of them terrible, TV shows have bowed out. The writer Alan Moore (most widely know as the guy who, along with artist David Lloyd, gave Anonymous the idea … Read more