Yesterday I nearly dropped dead during an X Factor NZ ad break. The first real promo for The Bachelor NZ is here. No more abstracted black and white abs, no more sail boats, no more National Bank horses galloping down sandy dunes. We have finally have real women, real candles, and real big watches: Things We Know About … Read more
Alex Casey thought she should probably write something about The X Factor NZ, so with Twitter’s help, she did. / Last night, like 305,000 other people up and down the country, I sat down and enjoyed The X Factor NZ premiere. And it was… fine. I always forget that the first audition stages just sort … Read more
Please enjoy this excellent episode of Shorty Street Scandal, wherein James Mustapic recaps the past week of Ferndale hijinks. This week? The characters laugh at the disabled and the elderly, watermelon solves the world’s problems and we witness NZ TV’s greatest background moment thus far: First of all, may we all pause to take in our new surroundings. … Read more
The Spinoff knights meet at television roundtable to reveal their hopes, dreams and insights before the new season of The X Factor NZ. // Nic Sampson on the Sponsored Car: Let’s face it, the entire X Factor competition is just a way to get around not paying actors to be in various commercials. Why cough up for an … Read more
The Spinoff is aroused to announce our first ever podcast. ‘After the Factor’ features in depth X Factor NZ analysis from Joseph Moore and Nic Sampson. // X Factor NZ hasn’t started yet, but we’re talking about it anyway. In episode zero of their weekly recaps, Joseph and Nic look at back on last season fondly, and preview the new … Read more
Duncan Greive watched Our First Home‘s opening week, and came away convinced that the three families at its core – considerate and good-hearted as they are – just shouldn’t be on TV. // We’re only through week one of Our First Home, but already the pain of renovation is palpable in the audience. The nauseating horror of having hacked … Read more
Please enjoy this excellent episode of Shorty Street Scandal, wherein James Mustapic recaps the past week of Ferndale hijinks. This week? Dropped babies, Kardashian-style sex tape antics and Dallas falling in love with a little green lady called Maryjane. Nicole may be out of her coma, but that doesn’t mean she isn’t hellbent on getting her baby into … Read more
Current affairs TV returned from its summer holiday last Monday, when One’s Seven Sharp and TV3’s Campbell Live came back to our TVs. We watched both shows and analysed their comebacks across 10 key areas. Here’s Alex Casey’s take on Campbell Live. What’s New? There are two unavoidable additions to the slick green kingdom of JC for … Read more
Current affairs TV returned from its summer holiday last Monday, when One’s Seven Sharp and TV3’s Campbell Live came back to our TVs. We watched both shows and analysed their comebacks across 10 key areas. Here’s Duncan Greive’s take on Seven Sharp. What’s New? Toni is more pregnant, so there’s a new human growing before our eyes. … Read more
The X Factor NZ is set to debut on February 15 at 7pm on TV3. Till then, the powers that be have provided us with an extended supertease trailer, promising sweeping drone shots of the Skytower, grungy bats out of hell and even someone flipping the bird (!). It aired tonight during the much coveted … Read more
Mediaworks buys Prime News This morning the Herald confirmed that the 15 staff who works on Prime News at 5.30 have been made redundant. Previously owned by Sky TV, the production will now be taken over by Mediaworks, There is unlikely to be any rehiring by Mediaworks of the Prime staff. The final day for … Read more
The latest promo for The X Factor NZ has gone live and, despite all the bird-flipping and glitz, there is a glaring omission – the bronzed statuette on The X Factor NZ mantelpiece, Dominic Bowden. Since the end of The X Factor NZ in 2013, Dom has been a little incognito. His Wikipedia says that he “currently interviews … Read more
Things have been a little quiet on the Paul Henry front of late. Since his final episode of the late night Paul Henry Show last year, there has been a serious shortage of Paul. No smug grin. No hysterical laughing at rodents. No description of impoverished countries as shitholes. There was a weak online attempt at finding … Read more
Bringing you the highlights of this week’s TV Guide, New Zealand’s top selling magazine and this website’s papery spiritual grandmother. // Growing Up Winston: A Talk With Bree Peters This week’s issue features a cracking interview with Bree Peters, daughter of Winston Peters and Dr. Pania Stevens on Shortland Street. Bree talks about her career … Read more
Please enjoy this excellent episode of Shorty Street Scandal, wherein James Mustapic recaps the past week of Ferndale hijinks. This week? The drinks flowed freely through the streets from The IV all the way to the unemployed trolley boy. First important thing of note: James has ditched his usual sweater for a more relaxed and weather-appropriate look for … Read more
Bringing you the highlights of this week’s TV Guide, New Zealand’s top selling magazine and this website’s papery spiritual grandmother. // Behind the Scenes at Breakfast: An insightful look behind the polished veneer of Breakfast by Shaun Bamber. Goes in-depth to bring you what you really want to know about the Breakfast couch (yes, it’s … Read more
Competitive reality shows have tightly controlled formulas for a reason, and Mike Puru fits the format. But Duncan Greive had been hoping we’d have someone stranger watching The Bachelor unfold. This morning Mike Puru was announced as our inaugural host of The Bachelor, an appointment that was greeted with an overwhelming shrug by New Zealand. Because it … Read more
Please enjoy this year’s premiere episode of Shorty Street Scandal, wherein James Mustapic recaps the past week of Ferndale hijinks. This week? Hanky panky, a creaky baby and Leanne’s heartbreaking pyjama woes: We were off to a roaring start to the year with a spiffing series of summer makeovers, marking a new era for Dallas and his … Read more
Alex Casey trawls the New Zealand Herald comments section to get a conclusive answer on our nation’s opinion of Daniel Corbett.// I wrote an impassioned ode to the new TV One weatherman that miraculously made it into the top read stories of the NZ Herald. As a result, punters from North to South started weighing … Read more
Bringing you the highlights of this week’s TV Guide, New Zealand’s top selling magazine and this website’s papery spiritual grandmother. // Just yesterday, frustrated with the sideways scrolling function of the TVNZ guide hurtling me into a thousand tomorrows, I took a walk to the dairy and purchased a crisp copy of the TV Guide. … Read more
Alex Casey revels in the highs and lows of Daniel Corbett, the endearing One News weatherman and replacement for Jim Hickey in our hearts. // I have always been told to listen to my parents, so when my Dad urgently let me know that the new TV One weatherman looked like “Dynamo in 30 years” I … Read more
With the return of Shortland Street last night, Alex Casey breaks down some of the new summer looks in Ferndale for 2015. // The first episode of Shortland Street for the new year aired last night, and boy did it provide summery excellence. The episode was fizzing with holiday vibes: Garrett ate half a sandwich (probably … Read more
We polled our esteemed writers and painstakingly tallied the votes. Now the results are in: here are what we judge to be 2014’s ten finest New Zealand shows. 1. The Late Night Big Breakfast Undoubtedly the best TV made in New Zealand this year, The Late Night Big Breakfast is an insane furniture store-based breakfast-style show. The … Read more
David Farrier explains how our stuff.co.nz smash hit Real Talk series came about. If you’ve missed the magic, the complete videos are embedded at the end of this post. If you google “Ben Mitchell”, the first result you get is one of my favourite interviews of 2013: The headline is beautiful in its simplicity: “Me … Read more
Duncan Greive looks back over a momentous year for the local television industry and catalogues its highs and lows via the timeless medium of a Births, Deaths and Marriages column. 2013 ended with New Zealand’s television in some kind of catatonic state. MediaWorks was limping out of receivership (again), TVNZ had just drowned another of its … Read more
With a little help from Twitter, we assembled the best, worst and weirdest TV moments to grace New Zealand screens this year. Please enjoy the confusion, outrage and hilarity that has been NZ TV in 2014. // Puffed Up Little Shit Pam Corkery thought she was simply throwing it down to Brook Sabin outside the Internet Mana Party … Read more
Alex Casey lists the finest vine moments The Spinoff was able to capture this year (we’ve only been around since September, so excuse the recency bias). // I spent a day in the The Spinoff’s Vine archives with a monocle and an ear trumpet reviewing our wealth of six second masterpieces. These are my favourite ones, apologies … Read more
Duncan Greive looks back at the bizarrely entertaining shambles that was Jesse Peach’s live cross from APRA Silver Scrolls on the Paul Henry Show. // In late October songwriting organisation APRA held their annual Silver Scrolls ceremony at the TSB Arena in Wellington. The Silver Scrolls are like VNZMAs for grown-ups. They recognise craft and … Read more
Back in the kindergarten days of The Spinoff, Alex Casey recapped the entire series of My Kitchen Rules New Zealand. In this week of 2014 highlights, she sees her journey through with a bizarre IRL visit to The Corporate Dads’ Charity Dinner Party. /// I met the “Corporate Dads” Josh and Aaron at the TVNZ 2015 launch. They … Read more