Stop blaming TV commissioners for the quality of our local output, says Chris Hooper, who last year left TVNZ for a role at the BBC. It’s time to hold the Government’s feet to the fire. Part of an ongoing series assessing our publicly funded television. Read part one, covering the role of commissioners, here. People look upon … Read more
Welcome to TV Mum, a weekly podcast starring Brendon Green and his Mum, Dianne. Every week Brendon will try and get Dianne to remember the details of a TV show she’s recently watched. The resulting discussion is a journey through Dianne’s shaky memory and never ends up where you’d expect. According to Dianne there’s plenty … Read more
Lindsey Dawson has been binge-watching Mozart in the Jungle. Despite being about fuddy-duddy music, it won two Golden Globes this year. She can understand why. What’s the story? The New York Symphony Orchestra. It sounds grand but this fictional institution is fighting to maintain reputation, cash flow and audience. Enter ageing maestro Thomas, played with … Read more
Aaron Yap watches Fabrice Gobert’s The Returned, a moody French supernatural series where the dead come to life in a quiet alpine town. In Val Lewton’s 1943 film I Walked with a Zombie, there’s a terrific exchange between its protagonists, Betsy (Frances Dee), a nurse travelling to Saint Sebastian, and Paul (Tom Conway), a plantation owner whose wife she’s been … Read more
Calum Henderson watched the first episodes of Family Feud and was transported back to the glory days of New Zealand reality television. 2015 will go down in history as TV3’s year of reality, when big franchises like The Bachelor and X Factor and The Block formed an imposing fleet of multi-night battleships, destined to sail … 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
Welcome to the first episode of TV Mum, a weekly podcast starring Brendon Green and his Mum, Dianne. Every week Brendon will try and get Dianne to remember the details of a TV show she’s recently watched. The resulting discussion is a journey through Dianne’s shaky memory and never ends up where you’d expect. This … Read more
Tonight the X-Files returns to our screens with the first new episodes since the original series – now streaming in its entirety on Lightbox – bowed out in 2002. In celebration of this momentous occasion, Ellen Moorhead picks her most ridiculous ‘monster of the week’ episodes of all time. Fox Mulder and Dana Scully AKA … Read more
Alex Casey watches UnREAL – a drama set behind-the-scenes of a Bachelor-esque reality show – with The Bachelor NZ runner-up Dani Robinson, who dishes the dirt on how real reality TV really is. Set behind-the-scenes of a Bachelor-style dating show, the fictional world of UnREAL hints at the dark methods used to construct reality TV. Co-created by Marti Noxon and … Read more
Alex Casey chats to Keith Powell about his role as Toofer on Lightbox’s 30 Rock, and how one humble network sitcom changed the face of comedy over its seven joyous years. Tina Fey’s 30 Rock is, without a shadow of a doubt, one of my favourite television shows of all time. I remember buying season one … Read more
The Good Wife is the best least talked about show on television, says Aaron Hawkins. Considering diving in and lawyering up? Here’s all you need to know. What’s the story? Alicia Florrick (Julianna Margulies) is married to states’ attorney Peter Florrick (Chris Noth), who gets caught with his pants down and his wallet out in … Read more
The newest show to come to Lightbox is Deutschland 83, a spy thriller set during peak Cold War tension with a banging ’80s soundtrack to boot. For Paul Casserly, it brings with it a sharp reminder of a childhood full of named nukes and mushroom cloud dreams. Germans get a bad rap for all manner of … Read more
“Kia ora, I’m Temuera Morisson, and welcome to Mataku; chilling tales of the unexplained and the unexpected. Join me on a journey, through the supernatural world…of the Māori.” Mataku is basically the Maori X Files, and it’s a national embarrassment that this show isn’t every part as much cultural canon as The Lord of the … Read more
Sam Brooks journeys deep into the heart of Lipstick Jungle, the lesser-known Candace Bushnell TV adaptation which followed Sex and the City. If you mention Lipstick Jungle to somebody, you’ll probably get one of two answers: 1. Is that the one with Lucy Liu? 2. What is Lipstick Jungle? To answer both questions: 1. No! … Read more
Xena: Warrior Princess showed 90’s kids that girls could kick ass just like boys. An alternative reading implies they could do much more than that besides. If you were to design a feminist superhero, you could do a lot worse than just copying Xena. Righteous, strong and ready to kick a pervert right in his Ancient … Read more
For Monitor this week, Aaron Yap looks at how Homeland has embraced explosive twists and stories pulled-from-headlines to breathe new life into the political thriller. Homeland made an unexpected, somewhat miraculous comeback with its fourth season. It wasn’t perfect, but improved immensely on the wobbly second and third. Back then, the show couldn’t decide what to … Read more
A sponsored post listing the new shows to hit Lightbox this October, including a slew of local award-winning short films and the fourth freaky season of American Horror Story. The Mindy Project (throughout October) Seasons 1-3 arrived last month, but new episodes from season four of The Mindy Project will be arriving weekly to Lightbox in … Read more
Aaron Yap examines how cyber thriller Mr. Robot manages to balance captivating storytelling with authentic tech-geekery, and give us a new breed of shuffling television superhero. Blackhat almost got it right. Released earlier this year, Michael Mann’s moody techno-thriller sought to provide as realistic a portrayal of cyber-terrorism and hacking as possible and proved to be … Read more
Inside the Lightbox is a sponsored post where we mine the extensive Lightbox catalogue for shows you might like to watch. This week, we pick our favourite cult television classics. Don Rowe on The Mighty Boosh Lightbox describes The Mighty Boosh as “a surreal comedy set in a zoo”, which is correct in the same … Read more
With John Key currently settling important panda trade deals, Calum Henderson watched Lightbox’s nature documentary Panda Nursery to see what our country might have in store. What’s it about? Like a grown-up version of Countdown’s animal cards, John Key this week proposed a swap with China – a couple of our kiwi double-ups for a couple of … Read more
José Barbosa tracks down the man who once ran the internet in New Zealand, and asks him to assess Mr Robot, Lightbox’s acclaimed new hacking thriller. Listen below as a podcast, or read on for a text transcript of the package. So there’s this scene in a movie called Panic Room. It’s directed by David Fincher, stars Jodie … Read more
Jaquie Brown sits down with Leigh Hart to talk about his unhinged comedy show Moon TV. The conversation quickly gets derailed to topics including adult entertainment, sleeping in doggystyle and Leigh’s beautiful eyes. Click here to watch Leigh Hart’s manic creation Moon TV on Lightbox today This content, like everything we do at The Spinoff, is … Read more
Alex and Duncan discuss the 100-joke-per-minute world of 30 Rock, and tell you why the the behind the scenes comedy is a must for any TV fan. Click here to watch 30 Rock on Lightbox today, thanks Meat Cat! This content, like everything we do at The Spinoff, is brought you thanks to the excellent … Read more
Season eight of Doctor Who has arrived on Lightbox today, with Peter Capaldi making his debut as The Doctor. José Barbosa power ranks the Doctors as they have regenerated through the ages. There was a time the way the BBC felt about Doctor Who was analogous to how most people feel about flatulence in enclosed spaces: … Read more
It’s summer holiday season in America, so Harvey Specter and Mike Ross are down in Florida working on their tans. They deserve a break – Specter’s hair will need a full de-grease, and Ross’ bicycle is due a service. The show is now five seasons old, and has progressed steadily from a gawky junior associate … Read more
The ‘Best Discovery’ section of Lightbox’s People’s Choice Awards is the Lightbox-iest category of them all. That’s what streaming services are really, really good at: giving you a vast lagoon of unfamiliar shows, and inviting you to dive right in. We here at the Spinoff are extra high level TV nerds, and had already seen most of the nominees … Read more
Our pick of the best new shows to hit Lightbox this August – plus a full list of everything arriving on the service this month. The Killing, Season Four – Live now I will freely and in good conscience admit to having seen every single second of the US version of The Killing and precisely none … Read more
Alex Casey watches UnREAL – a drama set behind-the-scenes of a Bachelor-esque reality show – with The Bachelor NZ runner-up Dani Robinson, who dishes the dirt on how real reality TV really is. Set behind-the-scenes of a Bachelor-style dating show, the fictional world of UnREAL hints at the dark methods used to construct reality TV. Co-created by Marti Noxon and … 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