Rebuilding Paradise with Paul Henry marks the controversial presenter’s return to primetime to talk about New Zealand after Covid-19. Sam Brooks reviews. It has to be addressed: A significant amount of people don’t want to see Paul Henry back on our screens. He’s done a lot of bigoted shit, including but not limited to mocking … Read more
Worrying about inequality. Excited about electric planes. A huge Jacinda fan. Duncan Greive talks to a rebooted Paul Henry. Rumours have circulated for more than a year that Paul Henry was mulling a return to TV. He left the medium in a huff after his comments were accurately reported in a still-astounding Canvas profile by … Read more
ANZ was our most problematic bank, mines were the greatest threat to our environment, and our unions stepped up their mascots. Josie Adams remembers all the major protests of the decade. In 2010 I turned 18 and became a voting member of the public. I was very excited about this; about the same time I … Read more
Around 2pm every day this week, The Spinoff counts down the 100 most iconic local television moments of the 2010s. Today, moments 20-1. Previously: The 100 NZ TV moments of the decade, #100 – #81 The 100 NZ TV moments of the decade, #80 – #61 The 100 NZ TV moments of the decade, #60 … Read more
From unpaid teachers to match fixing and rogue clamping, these are the news stories that outraged New Zealand in the 2010s. Paul Henry The decade in NZ scandal started out strong thanks to TV and radio host Paul Henry (for the edification of younger readers, he was like Mike Hosking, but with a louder laugh … Read more
A bus stop, a soap dish, beer crates and a pile of rubbish: in celebration of the 20th anniversary of the National Contemporary Art award, we look at the media beat-ups, lessons learnt and collateral damage from the competition’s first two decades. Congratulations! Ayesha Green is the winner of the 2019 National Contemporary Art Award … Read more
When Jeremy Clarkson left Top Gear in 2015, the show seemed doomed. Yet it soldiers on, boring but unbowed, while Clarkson’s profile is much diminished. Duncan Greive asks whether the fading of Clarkson, Paul Henry and Bill O’Reilly means the end of an era looms for a particular species of male broadcaster. Jeremy Clarkson, most recently … Read more
A new promo video for The AM Show has unearthed a grisly revelation: Duncan Garner is not only replacing Paul Henry, he is… becoming him. Everyone is talking about +HR=E this week, be it the confronting new rebrand or the inexplicable colonial garb worn strictly by comedians in their bold new channel vision. But there’s … Read more
For the final Christmas episode of On the Rag, the gang look at the highs and lows for women in 2016. It’s the last episode of On the Rag, a podcast for people who consider themselves feminists every day of the week and definitely understand the dictionary definition of the word. To toast the year that was – … Read more
The Spinoff was in the room for the MediaWorks 2017 launch today, and was treated to a speech from the “semi-retired” Paul Henry. Despite the recent interview re-exposing his atrocious attitude to women, Henry absolutely tore the swanky Northern Club apart – if only for using the word “squits” about 400 times. Here is his speech, … Read more
The exit of Paul Henry and the dumping of Story make for another miserable glut of headlines. But the talent that does remain, Duncan Garner and Guy Williams especially, lends hope that the darkest hour is before the dawn, writes Duncan Greive. Over the past 18 months, there have been a number of disastrous periods … Read more
Every month host Alex Casey is joined by comedian/writer Michele A’Court and Mana magazine editor Leonie Hayden to discuss what happened in the world of women over the preceding four weeks. Better late than never, they return with help from brand spanking new sponsor BON tampons and dressed by the costume wizards at First Scene. This month, our three raggers reflect … Read more
Former Mediaworks news chief Mark Jennings writes on the background to the departure of TV3’s heaviest hitter, the huge hole it leaves, and the challenge ahead for heir apparent Duncan Garner. When Paul Henry’s expletive-laden interview appeared in the New Zealand Herald eight days ago it looked like a clear case of presentercide. By deliberately labelling … Read more
Men, it’s time to call a meeting. The agenda? Actually choosing not to mouth off about titties and pussies and riding women, writes Michele A’Court. I’d like to think there’s a men’s meeting going on somewhere with someone in charge making an important speech. “Fellers, look, you can have your fun and, sure, we all … Read more
The just-released commercial radio ratings show a continuation of the long-running swing to MediaWorks. Tim Murphy assesses the disturbing implications for a pre-merger NZME. Today is a day when careers are made and ended. At radio stations around the country, star presenters and executives have been waiting by their mobiles to confirm if they are … Read more
A year ago today, New Zealand’s most idiosyncratic broadcaster returned to our televisions (and airwaves) with his self-titled show. Tim Murphy explains how he became a reluctant fan. I didn’t expect to like the Paul Henry show. I didn’t much like the idea of Paul Henry. Not just because of the Dikshit puerility and Governor-General offence. … Read more
With MediaWorks continuing to spiral down a strange rabbit hole full of new shubs, Joanna McLeod calls upon a hero that could help CEO Mark Weldon rediscover his path to greatness: 30 Rock‘s fictional network boss Jack Donaghy. As Mark Weldon continues to make a series of more and more…interesting choices for MediaWorks, it’s become clear … Read more
This year has been the most turbulent in MediaWorks’ history. They’ve farewelled one nationally beloved broadcaster so clumsily that it threatened to sink the ship for a moment there. But they’ve also launched three new news products in less than six months in Story, Newsworthy and Paul Henry. There are mutterings about the role of … Read more
Alex Casey spends an afternoon time travelling with Freeview Plus, catching up on all of the extraordinary TV she’s missed out on from The Real to Who’s Doing the Dishes?. Time travel is real, in the here and now. You might not be able to travel 20 years into the future and see yourself flying … Read more
This morning on Paul Henry, Hilary Barry’s regular spot was filled with another beloved member of TV news royalty. Judy Bailey showed up to keep her seat warm whilst Hilz holidays for the week. The mighty microphone baton has been passed back from one Mother of the Nation to another, as have their eerily identical … Read more
1) John Campbell Live in Samoa Say what you want about John Fellett, but he’s as adept at the counter-punch and exploiting an opportunity as anyone in television. So when TV3 dramatically dumped John Campbell a few weeks back, you can bet one of the first calls the broadcaster took was from a Sky exec, … Read more
This morning the NBR reported that Paul Henry had gone on an angry rant at the wrong person. Criticising John Drinnan as the “man of evil words” for reporting that Paul Henry has been out-rated by Sesame Street, Paul recounted his discovering the article in a Robert Harris in Tokoroa: “Luckily though, Maria Tutaia was on the … Read more
Alex Casey talks to Hilary Barry about juggling Paul Henry and 3 News, watching X Factor and playing second banana. When I arrived at TV3 to meet Hilary Barry, I was deeply excited to find out that the interview would take place on the Paul Henry set. “It’s about the only quiet place left in the … Read more
After the news broke of Paul Henry’s secret feature film The Desk, it is officially coming to New Zealand in the Documentary Edge Festival. Alex Casey went along to a preview screening to see what on earth is going on. Full disclosure: I don’t really know wtf I just watched. I just got home from a … Read more
Paul Henry, New Zealand’s most entertainingly obnoxious talk show host, is starring in a film about to premiere in America. Tomorrow. Seriously. David Farrier brings us this exclusive report and interview. // For two years Paul Henry has been sitting on a strange, fascinating secret. For a few months in between being fired in Australia … 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
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
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
On the night before Halloween, Duncan Greive went to the launch of MediaWorks’ new season. To some it would have been a vision of pure terror. But not to him. // “A living nightmare,” said Damo. His interviewer, radio DJ Mike Puru, nervously pressed him to expand. “It’s like a bad dream, but when you wake up … Read more