Decade in review: The worst takes of the 2010s

The 2010s will go down in media history as the Take Decade. Hayden Donnell combed through every single take made in New Zealand in the last 10 years to compose this list of the worst ones. If there’s one overarching media trend from the 2010s, it’s our inexorable move toward a take economy. Look at … Read more

Buck House was an edgy cable drama wrapped up in a 70s sitcom

Buck House was an edgy sitcom from the 70s that manages to still be edgy and different now, though not for the right reasons. Sam Brooks muses upon the distinct pleasures of Buck House. When I think of the 70s, I think of Yakety Sax, Mary Tyler Moore and a show where a guy had to pretend … Read more

When New Zealand’s most irritating TV host met Britain’s most irritable TV chef

Chef Gordon Ramsay meets a ‘Kiwi megacelebrity’ in what deserves to be remembered as one of the all-time great Holmes interviews. When we think back on the television broadcasting career of Sir Paul Holmes, there are two notorious interviews that most often come to mind. The first was during the very first episode of Holmes in 1989, … Read more

The Paul Holmes album: Lost classic or bargain bin novelty? Or both?

Today would have been the 67th birthday of broadcasting legend Sir Paul Holmes. To celebrate, Pete Douglas looks back on that strange time when a broadcaster could release an album on a major label for seemingly no other reason than shits and giggles.                 “Hi there – do you … Read more

Remembering the time the Ingham twins put Paul Holmes to the ultimate test

Hayden Donnell looks back on one of New Zealand’s most iconic interviews. In December 1997, two teenage girls gave Paul Holmes the sternest test of his storied interviewing career. The Ingham twins, both 18, had gone to extraordinary lengths for love. Sarah had fallen for a sailor. Her sister Joanna decided to help her pursue … Read more