Alex Casey and Duncan Greive look back across the week in television and pick their favourite moments. 1. Come Dine With Me NZ is Perfect Right Out of The Oven There is no better illustration of MediaWorks’ maniacal new direction than its absent-mindedly plopping Come Dine With Me in the slot formerly reserved for Campbell … Read more
Alex Casey introduces the young subjects in TV3’s new documentary series Reality Trip, including a 25 year-old with the views of a crazed senior citizen. TV3’s new series Reality Trip takes a group of young New Zealand consumers and whisks them around the world, confronting them with the reality of how their favourite products are … Read more
In a time before she donned a sparkly dress and mom-danced (as my flatmate put it) on free-to-air television, before she called one journalist a “puffed up little shit” and another Cameron Slater’s “glove puppet”, our dearly beloved Pam Corkery was once an MP. For three years, she occupied a seat in our hallowed halls … Read more
What a sexy week. Actually no, sexy then devastating. Like dropping a delicious gateau into a pile of mud. Or, indeed, dropping a scandal queenie onto a dancefloor on national television. The elimination of Colin Mathura Jeffree has sent shockwaves through the nation, with the social movement #CornrowsforColin truly taking Twitter by force. Goodbye my … Read more
Jane Yee invites The Spinoff’s Alex Casey and Duncan Greive to the D-Floor to discuss this week’s Dancing With the Stars action. It was an action-packed week, with the elimination of PM-in-waiting Colin Mathura-Jeffree, Teuila’s XXX-rated routine and Jay Jay’s vicious tumble. Also features a shock piece of actual bonafide analysis from Jane, which leaves … Read more
This afternoon, whilst catching up on last night’s Dancing With the Stars episode, I realised that I hadn’t yet voted for my favourite dancer and all-time person Pam Corkery. I still haven’t got my head around the logistics of the voting system, but I was embodied with nothing more than a pure desire to keep her … Read more
Last Monday David Farrier and Sam Hayes’ Newsworthy debuted. At the end of of their first week they invited The Spinoff’s Alex Casey and Duncan Greive along to review their first week on air, on air.
Alex Casey took a time machine taxi to the Westside set, and walked onto a pristine replica of 1970s New Zealand with all the novelty retro trimmings. There is nothing more surreal than sitting on the West family toilet. The bowl itself? Hard plastic and skin-crawlingly orange. Perching next to it is a crocheted toilet paper … Read more
Duncan Greive spends the day at TV3 before the debut of Newsworthy, a show staffed and fronted by young people who’ve finally got a turn at the wheel. In a dark room, David Farrier sits silently, watching himself intently. The on-screen David Farrier is draped across a wooden bench in a wooden room, the sweat pouring … Read more
Alex Casey previews the first episode of Come Dine With Me NZ, and serves up a sample platter of the type of talent you can look forward to meeting. Pull over Road Cops, Come Dine With Me begins on Monday June 15 at 7pm on TV3. The premise? Five New Zealanders take turns to host … Read more
Alex Casey’s second power rankings for Dancing With the Stars NZ, including Maz Quinn’s elimination, Siobhan Marshall’s dog and Shane Cameron’s microwave technique. If there has ever been anything to convince me of the validity of Mercury Retrograde, it’s Dancing With the Stars NZ. Basically, Mercury is seemingly zooming backwards through the zodiac for a few weeks, and … Read more
Jane Yee, Alex Casey and Duncan Greive bring you all the moves from Dancing With the Stars’ second week, bringing you our live reaction to the shocking first elimination. We bid a stone-faced farewell to Maz, earnestly discuss whether Simon Barnett’s knee dislocation is real and moon over CMJ’s lustrous hair. iPhone users click here … Read more
Alex Casey delivers her first power rankings for Dancing With the Stars NZ, including Pam Corkery’s boob jiggling, Simon Barnett’s spray tan and Shane Cameron’s meat hands. Dancing With the Stars came samba-ing (and Simba-ing, weirdly) back onto our screens this week after a six year hiatus that approximately nobody had noticed. Ten celebrities. Ten … Read more
Jane Yee, Duncan Greive and Alex Casey foxtrot reluctantly back into the podcasting arena with their recap of the first week of Dancing With the Stars NZ 2015. We walked into this with clear eyes and full hearts, knowing it was a terrible idea. But if it was bad enough for MediaWorks, then it was bad enough for … Read more
With the final episode of Campbell Live airing tonight on TV3, we have set up a tribute page for friends, colleagues, fans and driving dogs to post their messages and favourite memories for JC and the team. This post will be updated regularly throughout the course of the day, the rest of the weekend, and … Read more
Stevie TV is a monthly column by Steve Braunias. In this instalment, he recalls the many faces of John Campbell through the ages. The final of Campbell Live on Friday night marks the end of an era which encompasses the entire history of New Zealand since the coming of Captain Cook. The show, and its genial … Read more
Guilty of being an apathetic audience member in the target demographic, Josh Drummond sat down and diarised a week of Campbell Live. HAMLET He was a man, take him for all in all, I shall not look upon his like again. HORATIO My lord, I think I saw him yesternight. Campbell Live! Campbell Live, the … Read more
With Heartland in it’s final, feeble week of life, Calum Henderson sat down and watched one day’s worth of nostalgic programming. TVNZ Heartland is dying. At midnight on the 31st of May, the national nostalgia channel will shut down, taking with it our chances of ever again opportunistically stumbling upon a classic episode of Mucking … Read more
When big name broadcasters have left their networks in the past it has been chasing vast sums of money, or with the kind of smugness which can only come from knowing you’ve just received the most golden of handshakes. The godly authority of their bully pulpits seemed to mean never worrying about job security. So … Read more
Finlay Macdonald on the imminent order from MediaWorks to pack up the Mazda, and how recent ratings successes were not enough to save Campbell Live. The writing was on the wall the moment John Campbell got behind the wheel of that Mazda and drove it through the opening titles of his show. It’s one thing to … Read more
In response to the news that John Key was dared by an anonymous TVNZ presenter to style her hair (and obliged), Alex Casey speculates as to who shares ombré tips with our country’s PM. Yesterday the news that John Campbell was leaving TV3 shook the internet to its very core, burying all other news deep under … Read more
Duncan Greive awoke early on Sunday to milk the first episode of The Road to the Young Farmer of the Year so that his fellow city slickers could stay sound asleep. Last Sunday, at the farmer-friendly hour of 6.30am, The Road to the Young Farmer of the Year Final debuted on One. Seeing as The … Read more
In the final Group Think for X Factor NZ 2015, the Spinoff writers assemble one last time to express their frustrations, pitch future projects and remember the good times many KillsMoons ago. Jack Riddell on Advice for Beau Shot Beau, na, straight up g, you were fuckin’ sik and way better than Stevie Tonks. Thanks to … Read more
The brave final three Nic Sampson, Joseph Moore and Eli Mathewson dissect the finale of X Factor NZ, and celebrate the triumphs of beatboxing Beau. Topics covered include the darker message behind Beau’s winning single, how the series has changed them and their facial hair, and how the X Factor is like global warming. Looking towards … Read more
Duncan Greive forces out a final Power Rankings, ending this dreadful season of X Factor NZ with a reflection on what turned a once-enjoyable show into an epic, endless waking nightmare. When this season of X Factor NZ first entered this world, blind, tearful and covered in blood, New Zealand was a very different nation. … Read more
After the final of X Factor NZ, Joseph Harper creates an interactive game that promises to be more challenging, fun and have higher production values than the competition itself. It’s been a long season of losing judges, murderers and clear winners as X Factor NZ slowly disintegrated week to week. But finally – here’s something … Read more
For My Life in TV this week, Alex Casey talks to Madeleine Sami about creating and starring in Super City, starting out on Shortland Street and how she’s still taking an extended gap year. Madeleine Sami is everywhere if you look hard enough. Just after this interview I popped to a film screening and there … Read more
One winner. The same three losers. The final episode of The Fantasy Suite, featuring Jane Yee, Alex Casey, Duncan Greive and a special guest – only the winning Bachelorette MATILDA RICE. We have reached the end of The Bachelor journey, and celebrate accordingly with no Lindauer, no baking and no real plan. Matilda helps us … Read more
For this Throwback Thursday, Calum Henderson watches Gary McCormick’s Heartland special on the tiger-footed town of Wainuiomata. Two big national events from the winter of 1994: in Dunedin, someone with the last name Bain shot his whole family, and in Wainuiomata, Gary McCormick shot an interview with a woman called Chloe for the TV show … Read more