Friends, it’s a new dawn, it’s a new day, and season five of our beloved Outlander is finally here. Droughtlander is done for another year, and while we might be shrivelled husks of our former selves, the first episode of our favourite time-travelling drama quenched our thirst with a ginger tsunami of feelings. We are restored. We … Read more
To All The Boys I’ve Loved Before was the Netflix hit of 2018, but the sequel feels designed to replicate the success of the original without half as much heart, writes Sam Brooks. Despite the bevy of Oscar nominations for Netflix at the recent Academy Awards, there’s still a stigma around a Netflix Original film. That … Read more
The Real Pod reassembles to dissect the nude and rude third week of The Bachelorette NZ with special thanks to Nando’s. Two wonderful women and a mixed bag of lads jetted off to Argentina this week, one which saw a serious culling of the meek set of the herd. Conor, Flynn and Mr Wedge all … Read more
After 20 years on the telly, Jamie Oliver is back with a new show that celebrates the humble vegetable. Tara Ward looks back on the celebrity chef’s achievements. If anyone has the power to make us see carrots in a new light, it’s Jamie Oliver. Since he burst onto our screens over 20 years … Read more
Alex Casey delivers her sixth power rankings for The Bachelorette NZ, where the gloves – and all the other clothes – have truly come off. Click here for previous instalments. Three weeks in and the stark difference between Lesina and Lily has become clear: Speaking of stark, how much bloody nudity was there on the … Read more
Alex Casey delivers her fifth power rankings for The Bachelorette NZ, where the lads hit Argentina and things gets smoking hot. Click here for previous instalments. You can’t spell Argentina without “gent” – and boy did our gents tie?one?on? this week. Ar-gen-tina! Ar-gen-tina! Ar-gen-tina! Did I mention that the lads have gone to Argentina this … Read more
Tara Ward watches Netflix’s new reality shows The Circle and Next in Fashion, and discovers that gentle TV can still be gripping TV. Breaking news, friends: Netflix has the magic sauce on how to do reality right. Its latest reality shows The Circle and Next in Fashion are wildly different to each other – The Circle is a … Read more
The Real Pod reassembles to dissect the second week of The Bachelorette NZ with special thanks to Nando’s. The dramatic second week began with Lily walking in to the mansion and ended with The Mole revealing his true moley self to the bewildered men. Will the twists ever stop? Maybe everyone is a mole! The … Read more
Alex Casey delivers her fourth power rankings for The Bachelorette NZ, where the red flags are raised and lads are crazed. Click here for previous instalments. In the words of Tavita, I simply did not expect everyone to open up so hectically this week. We had men weeping, we had twists and turns, we had … Read more
Why do they never swim? How much do they drink? And more of your burning questions about Love Island UK, answered at last by Tara Ward. According to Love Island UK, the journey to true love is paved with blue skies, beautiful people and a thousand pairs of budgie smugglers. Nothing makes sense about sending … Read more
Alex Casey delivers her third power rankings for The Bachelorette NZ, where it’s double trouble and Glenn turns to rubble. Click here for previous instalments. Even though I called it months ago, I still can’t breathe properly when I think about how good it is to have Lily McManus joining Doctor Lesina on this television … Read more
Sam Brooks watches Netflix’s Miss Americana, the new Taylor Swift documentary – and finds it light on revelation, heavy on image rehabilitation. “My entire moral code, as a kid and now, is a need to be thought of as good. It I was all I wrote about, it was all I wanted. It was the … Read more
Sam Brooks makes the case for raising your kids on the exquisite Japanese anime films, which have just landed on Netflix. A girl waits at a bus stop in the rain, barely fitting herself and her little sister under an umbrella. Next to her sits a large creature halfway between a bear and beachball. He … Read more
What are you going to be watching in February? The Spinoff rounds up everything that’s coming to streaming services this month, including Netflix, Lightbox, Amazon Prime, Disney+, Apple TV+, Neon and TVNZ OnDemand. Click here to read our listings from January. The Biggies Outlander (Season 5 on Lightbox weekly from February 17) https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=t745AinnAno Outlander is back … Read more
The Real Pod reassembles to dissect the first week of The Bachelorette NZ with special thanks to Nando’s. Blow your air horns and distress your jeans, the very first week of The Bachelorette NZ is over and we are absolutely amping. Join us as we recap the Tough Mudder group date, the romantic single dates … Read more
Alex Casey delivers her second batch of power rankings after the first dramatic week of The Bachelorette NZ. Click here for the first instalment. Two Bachelorettes. Two. Bachelorettes. The room is spinning, the floor is lava, my nose is running worse than Brendon’s post red-carpet because I have been crying and laughing hysterically since I … Read more
In this very special episode of The Real Pod, Art Green joins us to yarn about The Bachelorette NZ premiere. Brought to you by our friends at Nandos. Related: Alex Casey’s Bachelorette NZ Power Rankings, episode one: Send in the lads It’s been five years in the making, but we finally got Art Green on … Read more
Alex Casey delivers her first-impression power rankings after episode one of The Bachelorette NZ. Isn’t it incredible what a difference five years makes? Since the first season of The Bachelor NZ, Art Green has found the love of his life, written a book, married the love of his life, launched a business, bought a house, … Read more
Jean Sergent writes about her comedy crush John Mulaney, and what makes his brand of wholesome yet sharp comedy so special. Who is John Mulaney and why do people love him so dang much? John Mulaney is a white, middle class, American stand up comedian. He’s a former Saturday Night Live writer, voice actor (Into … Read more
Twenty-two years ago, Lucy Lawless wasn’t just playing Xena, she was part of one of SNL’s greatest ever sketches. Sam Brooks pays tribute to Stevie Nicks Fajita Round-Up. The year is 1998. Jenny Shipley is prime minister, we win zero medals at the Olympics, and an actress named Lucy Lawless is the first New Zealander to … Read more
The Frenchest man to helm a starship is back! The first episode of Star Trek: Picard is out, and José Barbosa and Josie Adams have some thoughts. Warning: contains spoilers (kind of a big one) Josie Adams Captain Jean-Luc Picard was a father figure to me for a couple of years, so seeing him back … Read more
The first two episodes of TVNZ’s new action series The Dead Lands were released to a worldwide audience of millions last night. Alice Webb-Liddall spoke to some of the cast and crew about the epic genre-bending show, and what it means for New Zealand television. When The Dead Lands was released in 2014, some called … Read more
The Real Pod reassembles to dissect the summer in reality television and real life, with special thanks to Nando’s. We’re ba-ack! After a long cruel summer full of Jay Jay and Minou heartbreak, The Bachelorette NZ reveals and a mild case of ring worm, there is much to discuss. Why has Breakfast returned more sexed-up … Read more
She’s an Oscar-winning actress, a widely hated celebrity and founder of one of the most successful wellness brands in the world. And all your jade egg jokes make no difference at all, writes Sam Brooks. A few weeks ago, the trailer for new Netflix show The GOOP Lab was released, along with a provocative image: … Read more
Avenue 5, the new show from The Thick of It and Veep genius Armando Iannucci, veers off-course after an ambitious launch, writes Sam Brooks Armando Iannucci has proven himself as one of the great satirists of our age. First making his name with Alan Partridge and then The Thick Of It (a takedown of British … Read more
Want to watch Friends but not sure how much time you’ll have to commit? Never fear, Sam Brooks has you covered with how long it’ll take to watch some of the most bingeable shows (and what you’ll need to do to prepare for your binge). Want to know a fun fact? If your full-time job … Read more
On the 20th day of 2020, New Zealand’s current affairs shows finally came back to work. Or did they? Tara Ward tuned in to the first episodes of Breakfast, The AM Show, The Project NZ and Seven Sharp to find out just what the New Year would bring. Breakfast The Breakfast team were bloody stoked to be back. The … Read more
Tara Ward breaks down the full line-up for The X-Factor UK: Celebrity and we promise you’ll recognise at least a few of them. What makes everything better in this rancid world of ours? Not trees, not cooler temperatures, not an unexpected Briscoes ‘Monday Madness Sale’. It’s celebrities. Celebrities make the world go round, and nobody … Read more
Is there a more empathetic show on television than the British teen comedy-drama Sex Education? Unlikely, writes Sam Brooks. If you had a Netflix subscription last January, chances are you’re one of the reportedly 40 million people who watched Sex Education, the gentle British show about a teenager who gives sex advice but – whoa-oh … Read more