‘This lifejacket clashes with my tie’: Louis Litt’s Air NZ safety video, reviewed

Air New Zealand released their new safety video this morning, featuring the legendary Louis Litt from legal drama Suits. Tara Ward buckles up to watch.  Prepare yourself for the brace position, because Air New Zealand just dropped its latest safety video. In typical Air New Zealand safety fashion, it’s filled with famous faces like Cliff Curtis, George … Read more

What’s new on Netflix NZ and every other streaming service in July

What’re you going to be watching throughout July? The Spinoff rounds up everything that’s coming to Netflix, Lightbox, Neon, Amazon Prime and TVNZ on Demand this month. The Biggies https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YEG3bmU_WaI Stranger Things (Netflix, Season 3, July 4) For the few who don’t know, Stranger Things follows the adventures of several 13-year-old Dungeons and Dragons enthusiasts … Read more

A whole lot of women, and some celebrities: The TV you’ll be watching in 2019

Will we ever truly reach peak TV? Maybe! And if we do, 2019 might be the year when it happens. Sam Brooks and Alex Casey run down all the things you absolutely cannot miss in 2019. Golden Boy / Mean Mums (TV3) The successful pilots from TV3’s inaugural pilot week are presumably coming this year, both having … Read more

Your friendly reminder to watch The Spinoff TV tonight at 10.45 on Three

Because what your Friday night really needs is the return of Anne The Champagne Lady and two ladies in suits.  Tonight on The Spinoff TV, your friendly hosts Leonie and Alex eschew their usual look for a quicker option: suits and man-size speed makeup. The result? A weirder show than usual with hidden avocados, moon … Read more

What’s Katherine Heigl been up to, you guys?

Season eight of Suits starts dropping on Lightbox tomorrow – and Katherine Heigl is coming along with it. Sam Brooks details where the former TV princess has been up to since her heyday. Katherine Heigl has had a strange career, you guys. First up, she had Roswell. You know, that show about aliens starring the guy with … Read more

New to Lightbox: Katherine Heigl comes to Suits and UnREAL returns

Alex Casey, Sam Brooks and Madeleine Chapman round up the new content coming to Lightbox this month, including the return of TV juggernauts Suits and UnREAL.  Harlots S2 (Express from July 12) https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JmUP1idcOhU If you missed out on the first season of this, what are you doing? Two of England’s best actresses – Dame Lesley Manville (not actually a … Read more

Staying in for our Queen’s birthday? Here’s what to binge

You’ve got three days off work – why would you want to spend it outside being cold when you could be cosily binge-watching the best of Lightbox in the comfort of your own home? Some people spend their public holidays in the fresh air, having ‘experiences’ and meeting ‘people’. To them, I say: please stop. … Read more

The official Spinoff TV-watching guide to the Royal Wedding Day™

Obsessed with the royal wedding and not sure what to do with the few hours that are left in the lead-up? Proud royal(wedding)ist Tara Ward shares her pre-planning schedule. Friends, there is one more sleep until Prince Harry marries Meghan Markle in the event of the century, and I am gripped by wedding fever. Gripped, … Read more

What would Suits look like… in New Zealand?

The second half of season seven of Suits hits Lightbox tomorrow! But what would it look like… in New Zealand? Like real, flyover country New Zealand. Sam Brooks imagines this beautiful scenario. We all know Suits. It’s the show where lawyers outwit those around them, fall in love, fall in almost-love and wade in the murky waters between … Read more

New to Lightbox this month: Sunny times in Philadelphia, more Harvey Specter… and Caitlin Moran

Alex Casey and Sam Brooks round up the new content coming to Lightbox this month, including some sunny Philadelphians, Harvey Specter’s return and Lightbox’s first original content ever! It’s Always Sunny in Philadelphia (Seasons 9-12 arrive March 15) They’re the worst people on TV – and some of the funniest. If you’ve missed the show for the … Read more

From countess to future princess: playing six degrees of separation with Lightbox

It takes a certain kind of obsessive mindset to want to play six degrees of separation – even more so to try and link fictional nobility to soon-to-be-actual royalty. Sam Brooks did it, and did it with Lightbox shows. You know that game six degrees of separation? No? Well, you probably mostly know it as … Read more

Inside the Lightbox: The best shows to make it past 100 episodes

As Suits clocks up its 100th episode, Tara Ward rounds up more shows on Lightbox that have soared past triple digits.  Only very special things make it to 100, like the Queen Mother, Kiwi shoe polish and legal drama Suits, which celebrates its 100th episode today on Lightbox. Suits has wrangled its way through seven … Read more

Why does Bill English love the show Suits so much?

With the new season of Suits coming express to Lightbox, we found an unlikely fan in the Right Honourable Bill English, Prime Minister of New Zealand. Earlier this year when Spinoff editor Duncan Greive interviewed Prime Minister Bill English, there was one question that didn’t make the final cut. Today, The Spinoff can finally reveal … Read more

The amazing and true story of how the TV show Suits helped me win a tenancy dispute

In this Rent Week reissue, Tim Lambourne shares his triumphant tale of how binge-watching the legal drama Suits helped him win his underdog tenancy dispute. A few years ago I lived in a four bedroom flat on Summer Street in Ponsonby, Auckland. If you’re unfamiliar with the suburb, Summer Street is about three quarters of the … Read more

‘You just got your ass nailed to the wall, sucker’: Suits’ Rick Hoffman on getting Litt up

In New Zealand to promote the return of Suits to Lightbox, Rick Hoffman revealed the secrets of mudding, catchphrases, and his mysterious assistant Norma to Madeleine Chapman. The first ever episode of The AM Show aired on Monday morning, and its first ever studio guest was actor Rick Hoffman – aka the man we love to … Read more

Inside the Lightbox: Heavenly shows arriving in February

Inside the Lightbox is a sponsored segment where we peruse the extensive Lightbox catalogue for shows you might like to watch. This time, we round up the sizzling new content coming this February. LIVE ON LIGHTBOX NOW Pushing Daisies (S1-2) Pushing Daises knew about everything cute before it was cute. Bushy eyebrows. Zooey Deschanel dresses. … Read more

I let the wisdom of Harvey Specter from Suits guide me for an entire day

Before the return of Suits to Lightbox tonight, Tara Ward spends a day embodying the spirit of the slick, emotionally unavailable lawyer Harvey Specter. Harvey Specter from Suits is a living legend. Despite putting up more emotional walls than a mansion of Bachelor rejects, his shirts are always well pressed, he has beautiful hair, and he … Read more

Inside the Lightbox: Our picks for the People’s Choice Awards

Lightbox are currently running their grand annual People’s Choice Awards, giving you the chance to win a trip for two to New York. Alex Casey and Madeleine Chapman aren’t allowed to win, but that won’t stop them explaining who they would be voting for and why. Best hero: Captain Flint, Black Sails The pirate market … Read more

Coming to Lightbox in July – Screaming sorority queens and the return of Mr Robot

Inside the Lightbox is a sponsored feature where we choose shows from the extensive Lightbox category that you might like to watch. This time, we announce all the piping hot content arriving in July.  Scream Queens (S1 July 1) “Shiny, gory and whip-smart, Scream Queens pummels the viewer into submission with sheer, rictus-grinning relentlessness” – Ed … Read more

What’s actually in Harvey’s record collection? Gabriel Macht reveals a shocking Suits secret

In the middle of a whirlwind New Zealand press tour, Gabriel Macht, star of Lightbox legal drama Suits, reveals the show’s darkest secret to Calum Henderson: there are no actual records in Harvey Specter’s record collection, just shelves of empty sleeves. The elephant in the room, and pretty much every room that Gabriel Macht ever … Read more

New to Lightbox in February: The return of Saul Goodman

Inside the Lightbox is a sponsored feature where we mine the extensive Lightbox category for shows you might want to watch. This week we present the new offerings in February, including the exclusive return of Better Call Saul and Suits. Suits (S5 arrives express every Thursday) Returning from last year’s hiatus, season five of legal … Read more

“These lawyers are superheroes” – Gabriel Macht aka Harvey Specter on the new season of Suits

Played by Gabriel Macht, Harvey Specter of Suits once saved Tim Lambourne during a tenancy dispute. Years later, Tim rings Gabriel for a chat about the success of the show, and the mystery surrounding the returning season (arriving express to Lightbox weekly).  Suits is a show about lawyers, fancy ass New York lawyers, lawyers that make … Read more

Summer Reissue: How Watching Suits Helped Me to Win My Tenancy Dispute

Before Joe Irvine copied Willy Moon, the only important suit this year was Harvey Specter. In June, Tim Lambourne shared his triumphant story about how binge-watching the legal drama Suits helped him win his underdog tenancy dispute. A few years ago I lived in a four bedroom flat on Summer Street in Ponsonby, Auckland. If you’re unfamiliar with … Read more

TV Taught Me: How the Television Layman’s Law of Suits Came Into Real Life Practice in Ponsonby

A new season of Suits has arrived on Lightbox. Tim Lambourne explains how binge-watching the legal drama helped him win his underdog tenancy dispute. A few years ago I lived in a four bedroom flat on Summer Street in Ponsonby, Auckland. If you’re unfamiliar with the suburb, Summer Street is about three quarters of the way down Ponsonby … Read more

Inside the Lightbox: Order in the Court

Inside the Lightbox is a new sponsored feature where we mine the extensive Lightbox catalogue for cool shows you might like to watch. This week, to celebrate the premiere of Better Call Saul, Alex Casey approaches the bench with a strong selection of similar dodgy-lawyer-based shows for you to enjoy. // Boston Legal There was a … Read more

New to Lightbox in January: Nordic Noir, Heston Blumenthal and the return of Suits

Inside the Lightbox is a sponsored post where we mine the extensive Lightbox catalogue for shows you might like to watch. This week we line up the new shows arriving in January, ranging from the finest Scandinavian thrillers to the return of pillaging pirates. Mozart in the Jungle (Season 2) Coming away with two Golden Globe … Read more