The Real Pod assembles to dissect the week in reality television and real life, with special thanks to Nando’s. The team is back to give it a good old Kiwi try across the seas this week, perhaps one of the biggest reality TV weeks of the year. Dancing With the Stars NZ had one explosive finale, … Read more
After 15 seasons, pretty much every doctor on Grey’s Anatomy should be fired or in jail. Sam Brooks revisits all the wild fireable offences that have happened in television’s longest-running medical drama. Fourteen years ago, a little show called Grey’s Anatomy descended upon our screens and captured the hearts of millions. It made stars of its unknown … Read more
Sam Rutledge dives into Arthur, the 90s animated classic making headlines for a recent gay rat wedding, because of course it is. Remember that absolutely delightful kids TV show Arthur? Chances are, if you’ve spent any time on the internet in recent weeks, you have. The 90s classic has jumped back into the cultural conversation due to … Read more
Sound the alarm, evacuate the building and douse the entire city of Auckland in flame-proof retardant, because The Block NZ is back, and this season is: Firehouse! The Block NZ returns tonight for its eighth glorious season, which Mark Richardson promises will be “the most challenging season of The Block, EVER”. Exsqueeze me, Mark Richardson, I sat through two episodes last … Read more
Our three month celebrity charity journey is over! Sam Brooks power-ranks the finale of Dancing with The Stars. Can I just say what an honestly strange event the last episode of this kind of reality show is? It’s one hour and 59 minutes of edging, with as much padding and promotion for the network’s upcoming big … Read more
There ain’t no party like a Gilead party, as June enjoys a dedication, a mobility scooter and some poolside plotting in this week’s episode of The Handmaid’s Tale. Tara Ward recaps. Say what you will about Gilead, but they bloody love a straight line. This week’s episode was a masterpiece of order and symmetry, as … Read more
The Real Pod assembles to dissect the week in reality television and real life, with special thanks to Nando’s. This week the pod has been cursed with an almighty stench, but that won’t stop us recording our first full-length international podcast. It was an explosive semi-final week on Dancing With the Stars NZ, containing everything from … Read more
Stan Walker just made Postie (nee Plus) cool again, but he’s not the first celeb brand ambassador to raise our collective eyebrows. Tara Ward takes a trip down New Zealand’s weird and wonderful celebrity endorsement highway. It’s a new dawn, it’s a new day, and Postie (nee Plus) wants to thank us for buying a … Read more
“It’s the semi-final of Dancing with the Stars! And so soon!” said nobody. Sam Brooks power-ranks the penultimate episodes of Dancing with the Stars. Everybody danced twice tonight! The theme for the first dance was ‘a tribute to a musical icon’ and with the 2019 definition of ‘iconic’ that could be extended to include the … Read more
Alex Casey pays tribute to one of the only good things left in this cold, hard world. There’s been a lot to love about this season of Dancing With the Stars NZ. If you like runaway ponytails, this is the show for you. If you like completely hectic judges being unpredictable and also changing their … Read more
Director Slavko Martinov brings his eye for social critique to Christchurch’s Poultry, Bantam, and Pigeon Club in the dramatic, uplifting flockumentary Pecking Order. “There’s a big difference between backyard poultry and exhibiting,” says Beth Inwood, the treasurer of Christchurch’s Poultry, Bantam, and Pigeon Club. I have no idea what “backyard poultry” is, but over the … Read more
British reality TV sensation Love Island is back on NZ screens, this season at the extremely questionable time of 5pm. But what is it? And why are people so obsessed? Shave a heart amongst the wild thickets of my hairy back, for I am ready for love. I am ready for some steamy summer loving, … Read more
The Real Pod assembles to dissect the week in reality television and real life, with special thanks to Nando’s. This week on The Real Pod, we’ve absolutely Real Pod-ed it. It was throuple week on Dancing With the Stars NZ, but we were struck with a nightmare trio of our own: technical difficulties, geographical changes and a … Read more
Television doesn’t make your eyes square, but it can make them leak. Alex Casey explains the phenomenon. Hear ye, hear ye, I am the town crier of Sobsonville Point, and I hereby decree that there are too many things on television that maketh me weep. As if the horrors of our melting planet and the … Read more
In the words of wise old owl Aunt Lydia, good things come to those who wait. Tara Ward recaps the first three episodes of The Handmaid’s Tale season three. Just as tinned tomatoes arrived in the supermarkets of Gilead, our own personal apocalypse was today blessed with three episodes of a brand new season of The … Read more
With three episodes of The Handmaid’s Tale arriving express to Lightbox tonight, Alex Casey prepares you to return to life in Gilead. Starch your bonnets, straighten your Scrabble tiles and plot to overthrow the oppressive patriarchal system because The Handmaid’s Tale returns to Lightbox tonight with three whopper episodes for you to devour like your … Read more
The latest season of British reality show Love Island is set to hit TV screens at the unconventional tea-time hour of 5pm. Jihee Junn explains why the decision is troubling. Update, 1 October 2019: The Broadcasting Standards Authority has ruled that the edited version of Love Island that ran at 5pm on Three earlier this … Read more
Alex Casey meets Julz Tocker, the Dancing With the Stars NZ judge who refuses to sit down. If you’ve ever seen Dancing With the Stars NZ, you’ll know that judge Julz Tocker doesn’t do anything by halves. If anything, he does things by doubles. He meditates twice a day for 20 minutes. He has two … Read more
It’s week eight of Dancing with the Stars, and (some of) our favourite celebs from past seasons return! Sam Brooks power-ranks the contestants. Credit where credit is due: This is a much better gambit than pairing people up with each other for devastatingly unbalanced triple dances. Who doesn’t want to see human lightbulb Barbara Kendall … Read more
Cartoon characters can be almost anything – people, animals, figments of your imagination. And they can also be hot as hell. In the last few weeks I’ve watched a lot of kids’ TV as my little ones have struggled through a seemingly endless string of viruses. It’s little wonder that your mind wanders when you’re … Read more
Season 11 of RuPaul’s Drag Race comes to an end tonight, leaving a void in the souls of its massive fandom. But don’t put away your merch money yet – there are plenty of local acts waiting to steal your heart. In the immortal words of Jasmine Masters, RuPaul has fucked up drag. With the … Read more
Despite the outdated format, the premiere of Wife Swap NZ felt quietly revolutionary thanks to one woman. Alex Casey explains why. Everything about the Wife Swap format is cause for teeth-shattering cringe. Two families trade their wives – who are often also their precious unpaid cook, cleaner and child-minder – for a week in the … Read more
Season three of The Handmaid’s Tale drops on June 6, exclusively on Lightbox. Brush up on all the bonnets, babies and body horror of the first two seasons here. !!! Contains spoilers for season 1 and 2 of The Handmaid’s Tale !!! The first three episodes of season three of The Handmaid’s Tale drop on Lightbox … Read more
Avi Duckor-Jones won Survivor NZ after 40 days living on a deserted stretch of coast, fighting to stay alive. He’s also a teacher in a New Zealand school. I have often been asked the question: “Which has been harder? Survivor or teaching?” In the past I’d laugh and provide a practised answer, but on the … Read more
Let’s Get Inventin’ was a late-noughties reality TV show that pitted children and scientists against common sense. Josie Adams looks back at what made it great. Our screens have played host to many questionable children’s television shows over the years: Bumble, Drew Neemia-era Sticky TV, and Worzel Gummidge Down Under are just three examples. But … Read more
Alex Casey goes down a YouTube rabbit hole to try and find the best New Zealand advertising jingle ever created. It happened without warning. Staring into my simmering bolognese last week, something came over me. I turned slowly, the harsh kitchen lights dimming to a single spotlight. I held the saucy wooden spoon up to … Read more
They’re not tiny dancers, they’re Elton John sized! Thank the lord! Sam Brooks power-ranks week seven of Dancing with the Stars. I could have lived my whole life without seeing Dai Henwood play at being Elton John! But here we are in May 2019, readers. The world burns and drowns around us. Sincere question: Do … Read more
Ten years on from its first episode, Sam Brooks revisits all the wild, dumb, and plain terrible things that happened on Glee. Ten years ago, a little show from the brain of Ryan Murphy premiered. Up until this point, he’d had a minor failure with black teen comedy-drama Popular and a minor success with scuzzy hospital … Read more
Controversy erupted over The Project host Kanoa Lloyd’s decision to wear an ‘it’s OK to be white’ t-shirt this week. Newshub’s Sophie Bateman looks into the co-option of a seemingly innocuous slogan. The Rorschach test is a famous psychological tool in which patients are shown a series of random inkblots and asked what they see. … Read more