If you have been living deep within a gutter (black), an Outrageous Fortune prequel is on its way to our screens. Set in the 1970s, it will follow the hijinks of legendary safe-cracker and canny-career-crim Ted West, his wife Rita and their son Wolfgang. For the role of Wolfgang, TV3 and South Pacific Pictures have sounded an exciting wolf … Read more
The thing about living in a free country is that you can rock around the corner and if you happen to stumble across The Block, so be it. The entire thing had been covered in shrink wrap which is for weather prevention but also, annoyingly, snoop prevention. It was worse than staring at your wrapped presents under … Read more
It’s time for everyone’s favourite foodies Steve and Maura to try and convince us that they aren’t a pair of city slicker yuppies. Any chance of them achieving this was immediately lost at the first sight of one of their fedora-wearing friends at the dinner table. They should have called their instant restaurant Yuppie-Kai-Yay and just embraced it. … Read more
Our resident The Block NZ analyst Tara sums up the week that was. This week her findings reveal a strange mesh of family rooms, Jay Jay Feeney in a harness and some crushed pineapple dreams.// Episode 13: Tuesday 16 September It’s Day 17 on The Block NZ…or is it? The contestants head off to meet … Read more
It was one of the craziest things ever to happen on New Zealand primetime TV: a hidden camera caught a cleaner sniffing underwear, spraying it with perfume, then masturbating into it while he watched porn on the household computer. Alex Casey finds out how it all came about. We can all remember the most iconic … Read more
The Corporate Dads are back, this time armed with Led Zeppelin t-shirts and an assured promise to “smash it out of the park” in their second instant restaurant. They begrudgingly rocked up to the supermarket in their Audi. Aaron maintained they didn’t deserve to be there, still blaming it all on stupid old Nana and … Read more
This episode we cruised back into foggy Orewa in the back seat of a beige VW Beetle for our second date with Beauty and the Beast. Tracey and Neill ensured us that they have been preparing since their last disastrous instant restaurant. Their rigorous preparation seemed to consist mostly of synchronised swinging at the park. … Read more
Drop what you’re doing, stop stabbing that rugby ball – Shorty Street Scandal is back for another episode. This week James takes us not only through the past week in Ferndale, but revisits a classic spooky Shortland Street Storyline. Ladies and gentlemen, rising from the grave for one night only, we proudly present – The … Read more
Late Night Big Breakfast has produced some of the funniest and most bizarre New Zealand television this year. The quality should come as no surprise given the talented team behind it. Leigh Hart and Jeremy Wells have already established themselves as television funny men of note with their past efforts. For my money though, the … Read more
In an attempt to share the love around the Late Night Big Breakfast crew, we thought would shine a spotlight on Jeremy Wells, the deadpan co-host with the slickest suits and the even slicker hair. When he takes to the LNBB couch, Wells invariably stares down the barrel of the camera with the same alarming sincerity of … Read more
We talked to Late Night Big Breakfast’s Leigh Hart about his mum, the starving people in Africa, and how he got the most out of Mike the Mongolian throat singer.// So, let’s start at the very beginning. After Moon TV, did you have the concept for this show immediately? I think I pitched the show to TV3 … Read more
Beset by endless schedule-induced delays, Late Night Big Breakfast ended up timing its arrival brilliantly. During the greatest period of media flux in decades, and against the backdrop of the strangest election campaign any of us will ever know. The show’s crazed, no-attention-span sensibility seems like it could only possibly have been properly digested right now. At … Read more
The nuclear fallout from last episode’s bombshell still hadn’t cleared as the lowest ranking teams were pushed straight into an elimination round with The Gatecrashers. There are three whole new teams to get acquainted with: “Sporty Mums” Theresa and Joelle, “Wellington Foodies” Steve and Maura, and “Sugar and Spice” Dai and Dal. The first instant … Read more
Every Tuesday we will endeavour to chat with somebody involved in New Zealand’s magical little world of television. This week we talked to James Mustapic, host of Shorty Street Scandal. / Each week James Mustapic hosts Shorty Street Scandal, assembling all of the absurd moments from Ferndale into a sensational highlights package. If you aren’t a Shortland Street fan, … Read more
Call the police, there’s a new host in town. It was announced yesterday that Detective Sergeant Rob Lemoto has been assigned the biggest case of his life: being on the telly. Beating over 50 applicants for the job, Lemoto will replace Ten 7 stalwart Graham Bell. This isn’t his first television rodeo. Lemoto first appeared … Read more
In the first of an occasional series, a TV insider who wishes to remain anonymous shares her thoughts on the local industry. First up, the awkward forced sentimentality of the TV news goodbye. // The Sunday edition of 3 News always seems to take forever to get to 7pm. New Zealand’s small population isn’t really … Read more
This episode took us to Hawkes Bay, “fruit bowl of New Zealand” and home of sisters Kelly and Meghan. Much like The Newlyweds, it doesn’t speak volumes to their personalities that their team name is “Hawkes Bay Sisters”. The pair have played their cards close to their chests, mostly focussing on co-ordinating very fancy outfits … Read more
At last, the first room reveal on The Block NZ. If the past three weeks have been a marathon, tonight’s episode is the sprint to the finish. I’m ready: I’ve done my warm-up stretches, donned my favourite terry towel headband, and double knotted my Bata Bullets. Let us now together enter the virtual stadium that is The … Read more
We are stoked to bring you the latest sublime episode of Shorty Street Scandal. If you haven’t heard of this before, you are in for a treat. James Mustapic dissects Ferndale shenanigans weekly from his couch in Dunedin, assembling all of the absurd moments into a glorious highlights package. If you watch Shortland Street – you’ll … Read more
Judgement day is looming. Looming, I tell you! It’s crunch time! The Wolf is let loose! It’s fun and games! With serious consequences! And a smashing challenge! Blimey, we’re only 43 seconds into tonight’s episode of The Block and already I’m equal parts astonished and terrified. It’s Day 14 on The Block. I know it, … Read more
This weekend will provide New Zealand with heavy rain up and down the country, so you should probably stay in and watch yourself some television. With only a week until the general election, it’s time to get involved in politics. A great way to do this over the next few days would be to fully … Read more
Yesterday it was announced that both Stan Walker and Mel Blatt will be returning to the X Factor NZ judges’ table. Ruby Frost and Daniel Bedingfield are still unconfirmed, with Frost selfishly working on her own career and Bedingfield still trapped in a rotating cube with some poor woman. But we needn’t panic, New Zealand has a wealth … Read more
Finally we got to explore the inner boardrooms of Corporate Dads Aaron and Josh. Unsurprisingly, their instant restaurant was inside a giant yellow mansion with a massive swimming pool. Just goes to show, there’s a hell of a lot of dosh in sexy fertility vitamins. Their background video shows them crunching numbers in a café, wearing Red … Read more
Last night John Campbell moderated John Key and David Cunliffe in an hour-long debate. They arrived in separate cars to what appeared to be an abandoned warehouse building. Faced with the desolate dystopian setting, it seemed the only suitable podium for Campbell was a zig-zag of metal that had clearly travelled here from the future. Many of the important issues … Read more
Young couple Jessie and Ricki (“The Christchurch Cuties”) were the hosts in this stormer of an episode. This pair always seemed mysterious, like there was more to them than just cuteness and Christchurch-ness. We all remember their well-timed decision to come out as a couple at the dinner table (causing the Corporate Dads to go into cardiac arrest). They have … Read more
The Block viewers were in for a shocking shock at the end of last Thursday’s episode when it was revealed that Quinn and Ben are weirdly pregnant. Weird because they’re currently sleeping in what is essentially a highly-centralised Point Chev mini-slum. The Block’s best couple have obviously been enjoying their time under the tarpaulin. The pair don’t … Read more
The multi-party leaders debate aired on Saturday night on TV1. Hosking took to the podium with his standard halo back-lighting. Although the angelic effect paired with his twinkling wet eyes was breathtaking, it was not enough to distract from the fact that he had seriously downgraded his wardrobe. Swapping out the three-piece suit of the first debate … Read more
With all due respect to everything New Zealanders have achieved in art and commerce, no serious person disputes Shortland Street’s position as this country’s best ‘thing’. It’s older than Lorde, weirder than the Wizard of Christchurch and more ripped than Ma’a Nonu. It exists in this strange microclimate where there is only one bar and two cafés, where … Read more
With the Bogans eliminated from Group One, this episode moved on to a whole new group of very loosely characterised teams. As anticipated, The “Corporate Dads” are the premiere dream comedy team, followed by “The Fireman and His Flame” (doesn’t seem like a real thing), rounding off with “The Christchurch Cuties” (who met at McDonalds). … Read more