The fourth season of Queer Eye drops today on Netflix. Sam Brooks reflects on his difficult relationship with the show, and where it sits in mainstream culture. For depressingly many people, Queer Eye for the Straight Guy was an introduction not just to gay culture, but to real-life gay men. A makeover show featuring five gay men … Read more
Heaven is a place on earth, and June is saving the world one ’80s pop hit at a time. Tara Ward recaps season 4, episode 9 of The Handmaid’s Tale. Praise be, for there was a tiny bit of good news in Gilead this week. Aunt Lydia gave Janine a snazzy new eye patch, and … Read more
A children’s television presenter, New Zealand’s first supermodel, and bloody Cocksy! Jordan Hamel pays tribute to the Kiwi icons that helped get him through his life. Adolescence was not a great time for me. Depression, anxiety, sexuality, awkward social interactions, emotional repression, being shit at sports – all the cliched tropes you see in any … Read more
The Real Pod assembles to dissect the week in reality television and real life, with special thanks to Nando’s. It’s a wacky, wacky week on The Real Pod this week. But is it wackier than the fact that Gilda Kirkpatrick saw a literal ghost in Jamaica? Wackier than the fact that Hilary Barry visited The Spinoff … Read more
Last night on The Block NZ, something incredible happened: James Reid from The Feelers showed up. Every now and again, something completely unexpected happens on reality television that shakes you awake from your slack-jawed couch coma. It’s that jolt of electricity you get from a ponytail falling off on Dancing With the Stars NZ, or … Read more
Laura Vincent reviews Golden Boy, a new sitcom from Three skewering small town New Zealand and the colourful characters who populate it. From Twin Peaks to all the shows that copied Twin Peaks, small towns have long been fertile ground for television to explore the dynamics of a quirky, close-knit community. New Zealand has an abundance … Read more
A local photographer has posted emails from Warner Brothers NZ requesting they work “unpaid” on Married At First Sight NZ. Update 17 July: Warner Brothers have responded with a comment attached to the bottom of this story. A wedding photographer has posted emails from Warner Brothers NZ on Reddit after the production company requested that … Read more
Sam Brooks reviews Mean Mums, the new sitcom from Three that manages to make putting a great show together look easy. When it premiered as part of Three’s Pilot Week last year, I called Mean Mums the winner of the bunch. Nearly a year later, my enthusiasm for that initial pilot hasn’t dimmed. It was the … Read more
Its rolling slate of cringey jokes and meaningless trivia is a familiar sight wherever there’s a captive audience – but what the hell is Giggle TV? Johnny Crawford looks into the tweet-stealing, wife joke-telling phenomenon. If you’ve spent any time in middle New Zealand in the past half-decade, you’re probably familiar with Giggle TV. Fish … Read more
Tara Ward talks to three creative Kiwis who’ve been spurred on by their favourite TV show to some gloriously niche things. Some people reckon television is a bad influence, but to them I say, turn on The Chase and chill out. I’ll put up with having square eyes and a rotten brain, as long as … Read more
The Real Pod assembles to dissect the week in reality television and real life, with special thanks to Nando’s. Breaking news: Bigfoot is back baby and the Real News bulletin is bursting with many more hot scoops. Who killed Jacinda Ardern’s cat and why is he choosing to speak out now? Why are there so many … Read more
Welcome back to hell for a special episode of The Handmaid’s Tale, where we finally discover what makes Aunt Lydia tick. Spoiler: it’s karaoke. Tara Ward recaps season 3, episode 8. On the basis of this episode of The Handmaid’s Tale, I reckon karaoke is to blame for everything in Gilead. This week we were … Read more
Before Big Little Lies, there was Desperate Housewives. Sam Brooks lists all the truly terrible things these women did over eight seasons. Fourteen years ago, the lives of four women (plus Nicolette Sheridan) captivated the world. What secrets did these suburban ladies have? Why did their best friend kill herself and hang around, narrating her … Read more
You’ve watched all twelve episodes of Fleabag three times now – where to from here? Laura Vincent has your next obsession sorted. It must be just splendid to be Phoebe Waller-Bridge in 2019, with absolutely everyone (including celebrities like Joss Whedon, Lin-Manuel Miranda and Minnie Driver) going mad for Fleabag, the show she created and … Read more
After waiting almost two years for the return of the 80s sci-fi/horror Netflix hit Stranger Things, Alice Webb-Liddall binged the third season on Monday night, and still sobbing from the finale, reviewed the laughter, violence, and heartbreaking sadness. Who would have thought that there was a place with more rats than Titirangi. Luckily for the … Read more
For decades fans have argued over the best Star Trek captain. No longer. Today we present the definitive ranking of every main crew member aboard a televised Federation starship (or space station). Every Star Trek fan has wrestled with it: is Kirk a better captain than Picard? Is Archer better than both? The captain you … Read more
Laura Daniel has made a career out of committing to the bit. Sometimes it’s a joke. Sometimes it’s a zombie reality show. And sometimes it’s a ten-week celebrity dancing competition. In 2016, Laura Daniel was nominated for the Billy T Award for her show, Pressure Makes Diamonds. The show’s opening bit was also its best … Read more
The Real Pod assembles to dissect the week in reality television and real life, with special thanks to Nando’s. There’s a lot of Real News to get through this week as bakeries around the country lose their marbles completely. From the shouty pie women in the south and skimpy ham sammies in the north, our team … Read more
It was another wacky week in our favourite dystopia with some walking, some dancing and a whole lot of shouting. Tara Ward recaps the latest episode of The Handmaid’s Tale. Let’s not beat around the dystopian bush, because this was an unusual episode. It was made up of a weird mish-mash of events, like June … Read more
Lucy Zee looks back on the late-nineties, early-aughts infomercial craze that was… Nad’s. In my prepubescent tweens, I started to notice body hair on myself. My arms, my legs, my armpits, my upper lip. I wasn’t so much upset but more curious than anything. Why did we grow hair in these places? When does it … Read more
In a surprise twist that left contestants stunned, Stu and Amy returned to The Block NZ this week. But are they here to stay, and if not, who should replace them? Tara Ward has some ideas. The ground shifted, panelling fell off the walls, and mustard throws everywhere self-combusted in shock when 2018 champions Stu and … Read more
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
Ahead of taking the stage for Dragfest in Auckland, RuPaul’s Drag Race All Stars winner Trinity the Tuck spills the tea on All Stars, Caitlyn Jenner, and the truth behind Taylor Swift’s new music video. Trinity the Tuck can do it all. She can lipsync, she can dance, she can serve looks, and for a … Read more
The Real Pod assembles to dissect the week in reality television and real life, with special thanks to Nando’s. We’ve got a whole litre of taurine fizz cranking through the studio this week as The Real Pod Collective convenes to recap another hectic week in reality TV land. The Celebrity Treasure Island cast have been announced, … Read more
Aunt Lydia’s pumped, Fred’s pumped, we’re all pumped for this week’s episode of The Handmaid’s Tale. Tara Ward recaps episode six of season three. The Handmaid’s Tale loves a good prayer situation, and this week we had them coming out our ears. Let us bow down before the TV gods and pray this is the episode … Read more
The Feijoa Club is a new Kiwi children’s comedy that launched on Hei Hei this week. Tara Ward checked it out, and reckons it’s one of the best home-grown shows to hit our screens in a long time. Gather ye feijoas while ye may, but make sure all your eyes are on Hei Hei’s The … Read more
Alex Casey breaks down the full line-up for Celebrity Treasure Island 2019, including two weather presenters and a mandatory Lana. Gather round peasants, Celebrity Treasure Island is coming back for the first time since 2007 and you should all be screaming bloody murder. This is the show with the killer coral! The weird txt speak! … Read more
A year after Kiwi Ross Inia rocked the boat on Below Deck, another Kiwi comes down the gangplank. Dominic Corry interviews Aesha Scott about her stint on the spinoff Below Deck Mediterranean. The Below Deck reality franchise – which hilariously chronicles the lives of workers on luxury superyachts that cater to rich and demanding clients … Read more
Welcome back to another week of Gilead hijinks, as Serena takes a quick trip to Canada, June discovers the power of a mixtape and Fred has another dumb idea. Tara Ward recaps episode five, season three of The Handmaid’s Tale. There’s not a second in June’s day where she’s not worrying about something. Will I … Read more