Alex Casey spends the afternoon watching a master at work: the one and only Dan Corbett, TVNZ 1’s enigmatic metereologist. The good thing about Dan Corbett is that you don’t know if he’s talking about the weather, or if he’s tracing the movements of a Cockney gangster on the run. “Here comes the mean geezer,” … Read more
TV reporter Kristin Hall spent much of 2016 drawing attention to the high price of sanitary products in New Zealand – a cost barrier that affects most women, but has serious implications for those at the bottom end of the income scale. Here she responds to this week’s decision by Pharmac not to fund sanitary … Read more
With Seven Sharp sighing back onto New Zealand TV last night, Alex Casey and Duncan Greive round up 10 key moments from Hosking’s turf war to the return of Boston buns. 1) First of all, this was the lead story 2) The Weeknd played as they came back from an ad. It got Mike started. … Read more
Duncan Greive finds some sweet reprieve in the shambles of The Crowd Goes Wild, the only seven o’clock show New Zealand can count on right now. In these times of dread and chaos it’s hard to know what induces more anxiety: being away from a constant supply of breathless reporting, or mainlining it ceaselessly. On … Read more
Every night the television news happens at 6pm and current affairs shows happen at 7pm. Normally nothing much has happened. Yesterday though, John Key resigned, so Duncan Greive watched our nation’s finest broadcasters try and figure out what it all meant. Yesterday – you may have heard – our prime minister resigned after eight fun-filled … Read more
In the stunning close to Hosking Week, Pete Douglas goes on a desperate, seemingly fruitless, but ultimately cathartic search for The Hosk’s true feelings about pop icon Taylor Swift. Click here for the rest of our Hosking Week coverage. Anyone who has ever listened to or watched Mike Hosking in action will know that Mike loves … Read more
Mike Hosking loves to talk all the time, that’s no secret. But Mike Hosking’s favourite time to talk is when Toni Street is talking. Liam Fernandez compiled the best back-and-forths from Seven Sharp. It’s Hosking Week, a full five days of nothing but appreciation for Mike Hosking and all he’s given this great nation. From his origins … Read more
Bridging the vast gap between Fashion Week and Hosking Week, we asked the icon Colin Mathura-Jeffree to critique some of Mike Hosking’s boldest looks* from Mike’s Minute. This isn’t bad. The lapels are a bit ’70s, you know, and then we’ve got the, the pocket flower which is internally in the pocket square. I can … Read more
All this week on The Spinoff we’re delving into broadcasting legend Mike Hosking’s unique position in New Zealand culture. First up, Pete Douglas delves into his complicated relationship with Hosking, and interviews his father about the family connection which helped create the multimedia monster we know today. Growing up in suburban Wellington I was often … Read more
The Spinoff’s José Barbosa was watching TVNZ’s flagship current affairs show and he saw something he couldn’t un-see. To work through his trauma he made this video. As with all our TV coverage this post comes to you with the support of Lightbox, who always make appropriate music choices. Visit them today for a free … Read more
Facts and ‘cloistered’ expertise have well and truly been put in their place by the Seven Sharp host and his unique brand of smug bullshit, writes Siouxsie Wiles “Thank God the scientists aren’t running things!” So concluded Seven Sharp host Mike Hosking’s assessment on Monday night of calls by more than 120 doctors and scientists … Read more
Alex Casey watched in horror as Mike Hosking tried to recreate the Chewbacca Mask video on Seven Sharp. As it is written in the bible, every viral internet craze can enjoy only a few moments of purity before being sullied by a pack of vultures led by an Animorphs-style Ellen Degeneres with James Corden bringing … Read more
Locked in the media bunker (actually The Spinoff’s shed) José Barbosa watched days of tapes to bring you this examination of the way TV news covered the recent anti-TPP protests in Auckland.
Bringing together the best, worst and weirdest TV moments of the week, including crazed celebrity cameos and forklift driving champions. Contributions by Calum Henderson and Alex Casey. Brand Power Takes Over Seven Sharp On Tuesday afternoon, a sweaty man seemingly wearing jeans under jogging shorts sprinted into TVNZ and demanded to be put on television. … Read more
In our new feature A Week Of It, a Spinoff writer watches a show every day for a week and reports back with their findings. This week, Alex Casey watches a week of Seven Sharp – and finds a meta twist at the end of the viral video tunnel. I normally like to spend 7pm … Read more
Alex Casey looks back across the week in television and picks her favourite moments, including The Bachelorette’s sex scandal and Hosking’s skinny jeans ratings smash. 1. True Detective’s Premiere Flat as a Circular Pancake Okay, I overstated that a bit – but it was definitely more pancake than three tier wedding cake, right? As I … Read more
Greg Bruce interviews his Mum about her penchant for Seven Sharp‘s Mike Hosking over John Campbell. Mum came over last week to babysit my daughter and on arrival told me some story about something Mike Hosking had been talking about and, because this is a fairly common occurrence, I thought, ‘Why is my fundamentally decent … 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