Get in touch with your emotional side by reliving some of our most heartwarming commercials on TV. It’s been an emotional year, and it’s about time we had a good cry over it. Not a quiet whimper or a sneaky sob, but the kind of cathartic purging that only comes from watching a television ad … Read more
At 2pm every day this week, The Spinoff will be counting down 100 local television moments of the decade. Today, moments 80-81. Previously: The 100 NZ TV moments of the decade, #100 – #81 80) Behind Jeff’s Eyes, 2018 The first season of the Great Kiwi Bake Off was notable for many charming things (the hosts, … Read more
The first week of Celebrity Treasure Island had it all – mud, vomit and coconut brassieres. Alex Casey ranks the celebrity contestants vying to win $100,000 for their chosen charity. It’s 2019 and mostly everything is bad, so I am choosing to focus on the positives of Celebrity Treasure Island NZ. I love the opening … Read more
Stan Walker just made Postie (nee Plus) cool again, but he’s not the first celeb brand ambassador to raise our collective eyebrows. Tara Ward takes a trip down New Zealand’s weird and wonderful celebrity endorsement highway. It’s a new dawn, it’s a new day, and Postie (nee Plus) wants to thank us for buying a … Read more
Goosebumps had nothing on this one. Tom Augustine looks back at the Kiwi kid’s horror series that scarred a generation: Freaky. When I was a kid, there wasn’t much I was banned from watching – my mum, bless her, was of the ‘better you do it in the house’ variety – but one such ban came after … Read more
The Real Pod assembles to dissect the third week on Married at First Sight Australia, with special thanks to Nando’s. The real Married at First Sight Australia experts are back recap a truly diseased week on the good show. There were waxed buttholes, there was a cheating scandal, there were many, many chicken pox. Sam and … Read more
For nearly 60 years our image of who we are has been reflected back at us from our TV screens. Tara Ward explores the evolution of New Zealand television. Some people reckon the internal combustion engine is the world’s greatest invention, but to them I say “have you ever tried to watch an amateur baker … Read more
Calum Henderson is on a valiant quest to find New Zealand’s greatest TV theme. His search for answers begins with a look at the origins of the rollicking Country Calendar theme. Country Calendar is the greatest New Zealand television show. Even if you’ve never watched it, you know it’s true. It is the people’s show, … Read more
After five years in which our local TV successes went largely uncelebrated, New Zealand once again has a national television awards. The full list of nominees has just been announced, along with the winners of the technical craft awards which are doled out early. Duncan Greive analyses the list and picks some winners. Incredibly strange … Read more
With a line-up boasting everything from Miyazaki to Spike Lee, Dan Taipua suggests you look no further than Māori Television for the best in free-to-air movies. When Māori Television launched back in 2004, it brought to the viewing public a new channel for the promotion of te reo Māori me nga tikanga Maori (Māori language … Read more
It contains one of the most memorable lines in New Zealand advertising, but what else went into making the iconic Vogel’s O.E. ad? Maha Albadrawi, with help from Lucy Zee, investigates. As a kid, I watched a lot of TV. I still do, really, only now we call it ‘consuming content’ and it can be done … Read more
Feast upon this year’s Loading Docs selection featuring ten snack size local documentaries that you can watch in half an hour. If you struggle at times to hold focus during a 10 second Snapchat – let alone a 59 minute Game of Thrones episode – your scatterbrain might be well-suited to the short, sharp wonders of Loading Docs. With … Read more
After watching an episode of the slightly weird teen-oriented show while on painkillers (legitimate medical reasons), Sam Brooks goes on an internet investigation to find out what the cast are doing now. Being Eve was a strange beast of a show, one of the rare New Zealand TV series aimed specifically at teens and preteens, … Read more
TVNZ 1’s Sunday Theatre is one of the oldest surviving timeslots in New Zealand television. Duncan Greive reviews the excellent Resolve, and looks at the lessons it contains for our struggling serial dramas. Through winter, for a while time now, some of the most expensive television we make has aired. On TVNZ 2 and Three that tends to … Read more
For years Lucy Zee thought maybe she had dreamed a hot and steamy TV series set in Auckland’s boy-racer underworld. But it was very real, and there hasn’t been anything quite like it since. In the middle of the 00s, New Zealand was struck with boy-racer fever. You couldn’t step outside your house without hearing … Read more
A year on from a critically-mauled first season, big-budget local drama Filthy Rich returns. Duncan Greive watches to see if they’ve fixed what was broken. A persistent criticism of the dialogue in Rachel Lang and Gavin Strawhan’s shows is that it sounds stiff and dated. It seems to come from an imagined New Zealand past which might never have … Read more
From House of Cards’ sinister trumpets to The Fresh Prince’s iconic rap, TV theme tunes are powerful signifiers and also, just occasionally, standalone hits superior even to the show they prelude. Elizabeth Beattie examines five of New Zealand’s television theme songs to sift the cultural gold from the mud. We can tell a lot about … Read more
Please enjoy the second episode of our new online series Repressed Memories, wherein James Mustapic revisits weird local shows from his childhood (click here to watch episode one on Sensing Murder). As far as I was concerned, Sticky TV was the best show on TV when I was a kid. Drew Neemia, Erin Simpson, and … Read more
Every person and their dog has made a film reboot for television overseas, so why hasn’t New Zealand? Aaron Yap picks some classic films that are due a television revival. Confession: I don’t watch New Zealand television. It’s not that NZ TV sucks, although there is definitely an element of that. A huge one. I can’t … Read more
Tara Ward stares into Leanne’s crystal ball and makes her predictions for the coming year in Ferndale. Like a drug resistant virus that refuses to be eradicated, Shortland Street made a triumphant return to our screens last night. The show kicked off its 25th year by presenting us with a gaping wound of human suffering and … Read more
While the golden age of television continues to blossom overseas, New Zealand’s TV drama output remains stubbornly mediocre. But it didn’t have to be that way, says Duncan Greive – and he has the show to prove it. A couple of years ago, about the same time that the big budget dramas Filthy Rich and … Read more
TVNZ’s Terry Teo remake is a return to form for New Zealand family programming, says Ethan Sills, and a shining example of what our local television should be. What will it take for the rest of the industry to take note? When you’re a kid, nothing seems impossible. You have the whole world ahead of … Read more
Tara Ward brings you her rankings for Shortland Street last week, including Rachel’s Kitchen Nightmare, ghost boobs and Chris Warner via Skype. 1) Harry is the change you want to see in the world Harry had a cracker of a week. He saved Rachel from a watery grave and, if that wasn’t exciting enough, was named captain … Read more
Looking for the next New Zealand breakout star? Don’t bother switching on your television, says writer and director Chaz Harris. Over a decade ago, I was working at Miramax Films in London. One of my colleagues, an acquisitions executive, was preparing to leave for the Berlin Film Festival. I asked him if he went to … Read more
For today’s short memories, Mike Hosking is but a beloved national icon, speaking truths and setting fashion trends. But not so long ago, he fought a bitter, brutal war to change privacy laws in New Zealand forever. Click here for the rest of our Hosking Week content. Once upon a time there was a man … Read more
Kanoa Lloyd’s job is to present the weather for us every night on TV3, so why do people care so much about her clothes? Anny Ma tells armchair fashion critics everywhere to sit down and shut up. I can safely say that my life is made more spectacular from seeing Kanoa Lloyd’s face light up … Read more
Ethan Sills has a radical solution for NZ on Air’s long-running drama problem: letting the public be more involved in choosing which shows get funded. Public funding hasn’t had a great few years here in New Zealand. Since the end of Outrageous Fortune and the cast swap on Go Girls, many local dramas this decade have more-or-less failed, … Read more
Our resident Blockaholic Jane Yee recaps the highs and lows from week six of The Block NZ, including terrifying face cushions and some really cereal stuff. It’s been a whopper week on The Block NZ as the contestants faced the daunting task of completing both the master bedroom and ensuite. Along with the regular excitement … Read more
‘Business is Boring’ is a weekly podcast series presented by The Spinoff in association with Callaghan Innovation. Host Simon Pound will speak with innovators and commentators focused on the future of New Zealand, with the interview available as both audio and text. You could be forgiven for thinking TV is all the bachelor, but if you look … Read more