SURVIVOR SAN JUAN DEL SUR: BLOOD VERSUS WATER 2 POWER RANKINGS 17) NIGHT ROCKER Rocker owned this ep, so it only makes sense to start with the fact that Johnny Rock looked absolutely terrifying in night vision mode. 16) JULIE ROCKER Yeah. On the surface, Julie Rock has had a bit of a rough time, what with her … Read more
Each Thursday a Spinoff correspondent will discuss a nugget from television’s rich and distinguished past. This week José Barbosa argues for the enduring tensions of A Dog’s Show. It’s become part of our vague national perception of New Zealand culture to catalogue A Dog’s Show as a crusty anachronism. The show played during a time when stubbies (sartorial … Read more
The remaining three teams went head to head to see who will join Steve and Maura in Sudden Death. Chilling back in the velvet confines, Steve had seized the relaxed opportunity to wear a fedora unlike any other (grey with blue trim). Neena and Belinda were safe again after the shock bikie scone celebration of yester-ep, … Read more
Our resident The Block enthusiast Tara dissects the week in Kitchen and Dining, and draws more than a few parallels with the upstairs/downstairs dynamics of Downton Abbey. As Mark Richardson says every five minutes, it’s all drama on The Block.// Tuesday – Episode 25 It’s Kitchen and Dining Room week – and wait for it, … Read more
There’s a growing cult building around Sherlock star Benedict Cumberbatch, and Rose Matafeo has fallen under the actor’s spell. Here she attempts to decode his appeal.// Late last year, I was flown down to Wellington to interview the cast of The World’s End at its New Zealand premiere. It was the fanciest media thing I’d been invited to in … Read more
Over the weekend I found myself at an the official fan gathering for New Zealand fans of the sprawling-time-travel-historical-romance series Outlander. Aside from the overwhelming sense of passion and community within this fan group of 30 or so women, itself part of a forthcoming feature, there were some incredible discussions. Over plates of eggs benedict and french toast, … Read more
Today, the NZ Herald published a gem of an interview with Shortland Street actor Ben Mitchell, wherein he restated his bizarre, unpleasant views about contemporary gender roles. I say restated because this is not the first time he has strongly voiced his proudly misogynist opinions. Shortland St occupies a unique place in this country’s self-image, due to both its age … Read more
Having already mercilessly extinguished one interesting and important broadcast outlet, Paul “Death Star” Henry has moved on to his next whimsical planetary demolition with the announcement of his new cross-platform extravaganza. I guess it makes sense to move Paul Henry back to breakfast slot, given his core viewership probably tends toward an early bedtime. There … Read more
Yesterday, MediaWorks announced that Paul Henry will be hosting New Zealand’s first cross-platform live breakfast show in 2015. If having him on your TV, your radio and your computer is not going to be enough, there will also be an elite range of limited-edition products released to make sure you really get the most Paul Henry out of every … Read more
With the news that Paul Henry will be taking over TV3’s breakfast television and radio, Joseph Moore imagines the final episode in the fake-book laden late-night lair of The Paul Henry Show (please note this work is entirely fictitious although, has anyone actually seen Jesse Peach recently?) // “2 minutes, Mr. Henry!” a voice from a … Read more
Please enjoy this week’s episode of Shorty Street Scandal, revisiting the past week of Ferndale funny business. It has obviously been a hard week for Harry, the dude is having a mayonnaise crisis, a playlist crisis and was told to go away by nasty Rachel. He’s obviously picking up some of this stress from Chris, who slept … Read more
The challenge was to make a vague platter for an undisclosed large group of hungry people. Who would the mystery guests be? Heather wanted a big group of hairy men, Dai wanted All Blacks (Dan Carter, specifically). We would find out later. The teams got to work manically tearing stuff from the storeroom. Jessie and … Read more
Luke Ward started life on The OC credited only as a guest star, an All American tough guy jerk dating Marissa Cooper, the troubled rich girl neighbour of the central Cohen family. He had two core functions to perform on the show, both of which required garden variety jerkiness performed to an extremely high level. Firstly … Read more
It’s Friday again. I can’t believe this keeps happening. Lucky there’s all this television to distract us from the fleeting passage of time that is life huh? Sorry, what a downer. What a terrible way to start a post. Talking of mortality and fear, might I suggest this weekend’s binge-watch to be the original season of American … Read more
Rounding up the week in TV news so you can make cool small talk with peers, postmen and partygoers over the weekend.// The Show About Renewal Gets It’s Own Renewal This week the good people at Lightbox brought the much-anticipated Amazon original series Transparent to our fair shores, and we can’t sing it’s praises high enough. … Read more
Shortland St. Two words which make TVNZ’s ad sales warriors 50% stronger while TV3’s equivalents suppress waves of nausea at the very mention. For 22 long years it has had a monopoly on the New Zealand soap scene, but news broke Wednesday that from 2015 it will finally have competition. TV3 have announced plans for a five-nights-a-weeker … Read more
For this throwback, we skip school to look at a failed Ferris Bueller’s Day Off television reboot starring a young Jennifer Aniston and a scary Scott Disick clone. // This week in TV has been all about old favourites getting a reboot in this golden/platinum/silicon age of television. The world put the collective coffee on at the news of Twin … Read more
New Lightbox acquisition Transparent, an Amazon Original from a key Six Feet Under writer, is already being touted as one of the year’s finest.// “Are you saying you’re gonna start dressing up like a lady all the time?” “No, my whole life I’ve been dressing up… like a man.” Transparent is the brand new comedy-drama from Jill Soloway, producer … Read more
Last night began with a mystery box challenge, with the contestants whipping open giant boxes to reveal metal machines that looked like something straight out of Jigsaw’s torture chamber. Turns out they were mincers, also turns out most of the contestants had never seen a mincer in the flesh and couldn’t bloody believe it. Stop … Read more
The first couple eps of Survivor San Juan Del Sur: Blood vs Water 2 played out as you’d expect. Pretty low-key. Mostly getting to know the key components. In episode one the blue team won both challenges and the orange team kicked off twinnie Nadiya. It was a fine, if a little unspectacular ep, where … Read more
We talked to “Beauty and the Beast” aka Tracey and Neil from My Kitchen Rules New Zealand about cyberbullies called Doreen, experiencing the perfect chip and just giving everything a bloody shot. // I met Tracey and Neil on a sunny Ponsonby afternoon. Neil arrived bang on time, a vision in bright blue from his Kathmandu polar fleece to the … Read more
Tuesday – Episode 21 Welcome to week six – the Nearly Halfway Point of The Block NZ. Say it isn’t so, Mark! Damo and Jo look a bit flash – is it Date Night? Nope, they’re just too lazy to wash their regular clothes, plus Damo melted his pants on an industrial heater. That’s almost … Read more
This episode was a People’s Choice Challenge, where the contestants would run a market stall and a group of hungry punters would give fake money to the best team. These weren’t just any punters though, they were Genesis Energy punters. If Genesis has taught us anything, it’s that in the beginning God created the heavens and … Read more
Please enjoy this week’s episode of Shorty Street Scandal, revisiting the past week of Ferndale funny business. This week seemed very genital-heavy. Grace had a rather distressing birth in Fiji and Nicole’s unborn baby had his weiner put under the microscope. Dallas and Bella decided to stop sleeping together until their wedding night, which lasted about … Read more
The new look New Zealand-made Thunderbirds have been revealed at long last. Well, the back of them have anyway. It’s early days, but we can confidently say that a variety of male hairstyles and hair colours are go! The animated revival of the 1960s sci-fi show is set for a small screen release in September next year, the perfect … Read more
For young parents everywhere, Yo Gabba Gabba might be the best children’s television out. Henry Oliver takes us through some of the show’s best guest appearances so far. // The key to a good kid’s show is simultaneously appealing to both young and old. Of course, I say this because, as an adult, I want … Read more
It was the Sudden Death round, and many celebrity chefs had shown to taste the blood (meals) of The Social Media Buddies vs The Newlyweds. And what a line-up it was. First to arrive was Robert Oliver, a homeboy who loves the Pacific flavours just as much as he likes giving TedX talks. He was followed … Read more
Can you even believe your life! It’s nearly the weekend again! And, like clockwork, there’s a whole bunch of telly out there waiting to be watched. It’s windy out there, so keep your wits about you and stay inside. For a binge-watch, why not check out Caprica on Lightbox. A prequel spin-off to Battlestar Galactica … Read more
Last night in the States, Lorde graced the good people of South Park with her infamous ethereal and mysterious presence in the episode “Gluten Free Ebola”. Except it wasn’t really Lorde. Giving a rare sneak preview of the hot new track “I am Lorde Ya Ya Ya (Call Me Lorde)”, it became pretty clear she was less Lorde and … Read more