The Spinoff wrangled a real-life mystery religious person to dissect the depiction of faith in The Path, a drama following members of a fictional cult. My husband and I sat down and watched an episode of The Path the other night. When you both work and have an eight month old child, sitting down and … Read more
Our resident Outlander fanatic Tara Ward shares her thoughts from the much-anticipated return of time-travel romance series. Contains spoilers. And smoulders. Oh, Scotland. It’s you, it’s really you! How we’ve missed your honest green hills and your giardia-free waterways. Even Outlander show-runner Ron D. Moore was relieved to say adieu to miserable old France, replacing King Louis’ sauntering … Read more
A police drama set in a West Yorkshire village may not sound like a must-watch, but Ethan Sills finds that Happy Valley is a surprisingly tense and graphic thriller that packs an emotional punch. A police drama? Yawn! Happy Valley is not your regular British cop drama. This is more psychological than procedural, a cat-and-mouse chase met … Read more
Fanboy supreme José Barbosa hitches his hoss and spends a little time in Preacher country, the latest comic book adaptation to hit our screens. Lately it seems 20th century pop culture has been sucked into the 21st century filter and spat out with a nose ring and a smartphone. The reconstituted mass includes Zack Snyder’s … Read more
Our resident Outlander fanatic Tara Ward shares her thoughts from the much-anticipated return of time-travel romance series. Contains spoilers. And smoulders. This week’s Outlander offering had more tragedy than a Bee-Gees tribute karaoke party. It was a raw, emotional watch: Claire gave birth to a stillborn daughter, Fergus revealed he was abused by Black Jack Randall, and … Read more
Sophie Smith discovers a feminist firestarter in Buffy Summers of Buffy the Vampire Slayer, and shares how her own life has since been influenced by the cult ’90s icon. Despite being a feminist killjoy and enthusiast of most things Joss Whedon, it was only this year that I finally sought out the cult classic Buffy the … Read more
Our resident Outlander fanatic Tara Ward shares her thoughts from the much-anticipated return of time-travel romance series. Contains spoilers. And smoulders. There was so much plotting and conspiracy in this week’s episode of Outlander that Jamie Fraser officially changed his name by deed poll to ‘Schemey MacSchemeface’. Charles Stuart schemed with Jamie, Jamie schemed against the … Read more
Our resident Outlander fanatic Tara Ward shares her thoughts from the much-anticipated return of time-travel romance series. Contains spoilers. And smoulders. Episode five was titled ‘Untimely Ressurection’ or ‘Claire Screws Everyone Over To Suit Herself’. Like a runaway steamroller bedecked in beautiful botanical silks, Claire rampaged her way through the cobbled Parisian streets and pummeled anyone … Read more
If you haven’t read Tolstoy’s War and Peace (and who has?), Lindsey Dawson has found an easier way to experience his epic love-and-conflict story: by watching it on the telly. The Russians are coming! We’ve heard that phrase often enough, but back in 1812 it was the Russians yelling, ‘The French are Coming!’ Napoleon wanted Moscow. … Read more
Joanna McLeod collates her favourite life lessons from Parks and Recreation‘s Pawnee, the little town built on optimism, fizzy drinks and a thousand rubber nipples. Please note this story contains spoilers. Some people seek guidance from lifestyle gurus, motivational speakers or large amounts of drugs. For me, everything I need to know I can learn … Read more
Our resident Outlander fanatic Tara Ward shares her thoughts from the much-anticipated return of time-travel romance series. Contains spoilers. And smoulders. This week’s Outlander episode covered more ground than Rupert and Angus when Mrs Fitz hits the dinner gong. There was a poisoning, greasy convict juices, bedroom intruders, perfect Jamie hair, a monkey bite, a joke about … Read more
Alex Casey assembles her favourite celebrity appearances from the BBC comedy Extras, created by Ricky Gervais and Stephen Merchant. Forever shadowed by The Office, and more recently Ricky Gervais’ atrociously long pre-recorded intro to the NZ Comedy Festival, Extras is the wondrous second TV comedy masterpiece from Stephen Merchant and Ricky Gervais. I love Extras. I love … Read more
Our resident Outlander fanatic Tara Ward shares her thoughts from the much-anticipated return of time-travel romance series. Contains spoilers. And smoulders. Life in Paris is one giant mystery. Which knife does Murtagh use first at dinner? Which carriage should Claire take to visit the poor? Which is hotter, brunette or auburn? This week Jamie and Claire are up … Read more
Want to binge-watch an entire series without signing away the next four months of your life? We’ve assembled a selection of the best shows on Lightbox that you can knock out in one sitting. Firefly Like Guardians of the Galaxy but without the talking tree and Bradley Raccoon Cooper, Firefly takes place 500 years in … Read more
Our resident Outlander fanatic Tara Ward shares her thoughts from the much-anticipated return of time-travel romance series. Contains spoilers. And smoulders. This week, Claire and Jamie head for Paris, where their ‘to do’ list consisted of: 1) infiltrating the French royal court 2) drinking all the profits from their new business 3) living a life of … Read more
In the middle of a whirlwind New Zealand press tour, Gabriel Macht, star of Lightbox legal drama Suits, reveals the show’s darkest secret to Calum Henderson: there are no actual records in Harvey Specter’s record collection, just shelves of empty sleeves. The elephant in the room, and pretty much every room that Gabriel Macht ever … Read more
With The Mindy Project returning from hiatus to Lightbox soon, Alex Casey assembles some of her hopes and dreams for the rest of the season. Contains spoilers. Season four of The Mindy Project went on hiatus in December, leaving us all in a cold sweat over whether or not Mindy was about to tearfully say … Read more
For Monitor this week, Aaron Yap chews on Hannibal, Bryan Fuller’s televisual masterpiece of the macabre. At some point, Hannibal morphed into television’s most beautiful and downright terrifying creature. Creator Bryan Fuller wasn’t content to serve us another serial-killer-of-the-week procedural. Nor was he satisfied with providing merely a functional corrective to garbage like Red Dragon and Hannibal … 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
David Lynch’s iconic television series Twin Peaks first aired 26 years ago on network television. Ruth Spencer relives her enduring relationship with the cult classic. A photo on Facebook of VHS tapes in a skip, an entire series sprawled against some hedge clippings. Did anyone want these Twin Peaks tapes before they went to the tip? Did … Read more
Our resident Outlander fanatic Tara Ward shares her thoughts from the much-anticipated premiere of time-travel romance series. Contains spoilers. And smoulders. All good things come to those who wait: a Briscoes sale, a Monday-ised stat holiday, and the season two premiere of Outlander. It’s been ten long months since Claire and Jamie Fraser sailed for France, … Read more
Dom Corry talks to Michelle Monaghan, star of new drama The Path, about soul-searching, green juicing and delving into the world of devout religion. The new Lightbox drama The Path dares to venture into the world of religion, a dangerous route which most of popular culture avoids. For all the edginess in the New Golden … Read more
With daylight saving coming through an end, fall even further back than one hour with Tara Ward’s Outlander-inspired survival guide to the 18th century. It’s the end of daylight saving this weekend, and you know what that means – one more hour of sleep! Be still, my beating heart. A word of warning: take care … Read more
It goes down easy like syrup soaked pancakes; Joseph Harper puts you through boot camp on the “unconventional warfare” in Canadian WW2 drama, X Company. What’s the story? The world is at war – World War II to be exact. Canada has a role to play: assembling a small team of (mostly) Canadians who can … Read more
Sam Heughan is farmer, fugitive and all round Scottish spunkrat Jamie Fraser in fantasy-drama Outlander, the second season of which arrives exclusively to Lightbox on April 10. Longtime fan Tara Ward swallowed her nerves and spoke with Sam ahead of the premiere (please note, contains spoilers from season one). Last week my social media overflowed with the … Read more
Joanna McLeod assembles a list of meals to match each macabre masterpiece from Hannibal season one. Simply hover the mouse over each dish to see the original inspiration from the show… if you dare. This post contains imagery that may be disturbing or NSFW. You might think a stomach-churningly gory show like Hannibal would be the … Read more
Moata Tamaira argues that Vikings is really just Outrageous Fortune but with longships instead of V8s. If I’m honest, my knowledge of medieval European history, particularly that of Scandinavia is sketchy at best. It’s pretty much limited to a deep appreciation of True Blood’s Eric Northman with a smattering of “that time I had read … Read more
Madeleine Chapman chats to Sara Larner, a New York artist who specialises in oil paintings inspired by extravagantly gory scenes from Hannibal. I have never watched Hannibal. My fear of anything scary is strong enough that I will read the summary section of a horror movie’s Wikipedia page so as to know what people are referencing without having … Read more
To celebrate International Women’s Day, The Spinoff assembles some of the most hilarious, brave and butt-kicking moments for women on television. Contributions by Alex Casey, Madeleine Chapman and Sophie Smith. International Women’s Day is all about celebrating the achievements of women throughout history, and looking forward to a future of equality for all. Or, if you … Read more