All this week we’re looking back at some of the best videos published on The Spinoff in 2020. Today, Alice Snedden’s Bad News looks at how well we’re honouring Te Tiriti o Waitangi. As Taika Waititi once said, New Zealand is racist as fuck. To find out what he meant, Alice and Kura (Ngāti Porou) … Read more
Despite frustrating dialogue and outlandish drama, Amazon Prime Video’s The Wilds makes for a compulsive, emotional binge watch. I’m sure I’m not alone in that I often imagine what I’d do if I was stranded on a deserted island. The practical and philosophical dilemmas presented by such a scenario are endlessly fascinating, as evidenced by … Read more
Another Ryan Murphy joint, another shitshow. Netflix’s The Prom, adapted from the Broadway musical of the same name, is the latest outrage from writer-director Ryan Murphy, and Sam Brooks has had enough. I’ll put this up front: I think Ryan Murphy is one of the worst things to happen to television in the past decade. … Read more
It’s the soap opera we all know and love, and it turns 60 years old this week. Coronation Street’s cast share why they think the show has endured for so long. It would take over 175 days to binge watch the 10,101 episodes of Coronation Street made since 1960. We can all agree that’s half … Read more
There’s a new Chaser in town, and it’s finally time to meet them. At the start of every episode of The Chase, amiable host Bradley Walsh introduces the Chasers. Only one of these five quiz brain boxes can stroll through the giant C, ready to smash hopes and dreams with their infinite powers of wisdom … Read more
Let’s travel back in time to 1999, when Location Location Location was a Mike Hosking-fronted documentary about Auckland property – and a three-bedroom house there cost $159,000. Great news New Zealand – the best time to buy a house was 20 years ago. A recent report found that if you bought property in 2000, you’ll … Read more
David Fincher marks his feature film Netflix debut with Mank, a biopic about the man who co-wrote Citizen Kane. It’s more interesting than it sounds, and his loosest effort yet, writes Christopher Smol. Can one word explain a whole life? Citizen Kane is structured around that question, and the answer is “not really”. Lives are … Read more
It’s December. You know what that means? Christmas is here. You know what else that means? Christmas movies are here. Sam Brooks has watched all the Christmas movies on Neon, here’s what he learned from them. ‘Tis the jolly season! There’s no better time of year than to turn up the aircon, chuck a beer … Read more
That Star Wars show just had an episode that was a stone cold killer. According to José Barbosa, you can thank director Dave Filoni’s animation background for that. [Spoilers for episode five of The Mandalorian follow, if you care about that sort of thing] The year 2019 brought many TV streaming joys including that second … Read more
What are you going to be watching in December? The Spinoff rounds up everything that’s coming to streaming services this month, including Netflix, Amazon Prime, Disney+, Apple TV+, Neon and TVNZ OnDemand. The biggies Industry (season 1 on Neon from December 2) Think of the finance industry on film and you probably think of masters … Read more
Last night, The Undoing didn’t just drop its finale, it dropped the ball on pretty much everything it had set up in its six episode run. Here are all the questions that will never be answered by this confounding show. [Huge spoilers for The Undoing follow, obviously] The Undoing has finished, and the biggest twist … Read more
Many of Waitara’s residents want to escape their small New Zealand town, but exceptional new documentary Taranaki Hard proves they might not have to. When Fati finishes a set of squats, bench presses or an early morning swim, his mum is right there to cheer him on. “Shake it out,” she’ll direct, while ticking his … Read more
It was inevitable that TV would have to deal with Covid-19 in some way. Grey’s Anatomy isn’t the first, but it’s the most significant. So how has the long-running medical drama done it? Grey’s Anatomy is meant to be the television equivalent of a weighted blanket. Something you pull on top of you to gently … Read more
Three’s new docu-series Taranaki Hard follows a diverse group of young people in Waitara, ranging from factory workers to pole dancers, students to sheep shearers. Series co-director Ian Hart hopes it changes the way city folk view small-town New Zealand. As a young boy my parents, looking for a new start, moved my family from … Read more
Can we ever get enough of Dolly Parton? The answer is no. Dolly Parton is everywhere right now. Put the TV on and you’ll see the award-winning actor, writer and singer shimmering back at you, radiant with yuletide joy as the star of a new Netflix movie. Turn on the wireless and you’ll hear her … Read more
What happens if you take a personal memoir and strip it of everything that made it unique? You get Hillbilly Elegy. The opening line of J.D Vance’s 2016 sleeper hit memoir Hillbilly Elegy is “I find the existence of the book you hold in your hands somewhat absurd.” While that’s a little hyperbolic – its … Read more
It wasn’t so long ago that New Zealand would have to wait months, maybe years, to see a television show. We were fine with it. Then TVNZ took it too far. I remember the anger, the frustration, the resentment. It was 2006. I had dial-up internet that we shared with our landlord. I was yet … Read more
And the one change that would make it even better. It’s been on telly for 50-odd years, it frequently tops the weekly ratings and it just won best factual series at the 2020 NZ TV Awards. What is it about Country Calendar that we just can’t get enough of? José Barbosa investigates.
Australian sketch comedy group Aunty Donna finally got a Netflix series. Have they sold out to Big American Comedy? No, says Josie Adams. I shook Mark Bonanno’s hand while he was flyering in Edinburgh. I stood next to Zachary Ruane in line for the movies in Melbourne. I ricoheted off Broden “Manbeast” Kelly when I … Read more
The Masked Singer NZ is the bizarre, top-secret singing contest that’s hitting our TV screens next year. What can we expect? What is The Masked Singer? It’s a reality TV show that began in South Korea and was picked up in 33 countries around the world, from Australia to Israel to Ukraine. Basically, it’s an … Read more
It seems everybody is watching The Queen’s Gambit. What is it about the Netflix series that is so damned compelling? Let’s be real for a moment: for most of us, unless you’re the one playing it, chess is incredibly boring. It is about as aurally and visually stimulating as watching beige paint dry on a … Read more
Three decades since it first emerged on our screens, Captain Planet and the Planeteers will always be remembered as the show that introduced an entire generation to corporate greed and environmental protection. Children of the late 1980s and early 1990s had a number of iconic cartoons to choose from: Transformers, He-Man, Gummi Bears, My Little … Read more
The original series about a Yorkshire vet was a late-70s television phenomenon. Could the rebooted version scratch a similar itch for recovering Anglophile Linda Burgess? There’s something about TV programmes that start with someone running. It not only depends on where the camera is – at foot level? uhoh… the camera’s a voyeur and we’re … Read more
As The Crown creeps closer to the present day, its apolitical approach is becoming more of a problem, writes Sam Brooks. Minor spoilers for world history 1977-1990 follow. Another year, another season of The Crown. Ten more hours that mythologise, lionise and tear down the British royal family in expensive fashion, with expensive fashions. The … Read more
Stuff Circuit has delivered another moving documentary series with Emma, the story of one young woman’s search for meaning, connection and closure. There is a scene in Stuff’s new web series Emma where award-winning journalist Paula Penfold embraces Emma and gently kisses the top of her head. It’s so tender and I was so grateful … Read more
The singer turned TV personality is back with a new show and she’s doing what she does best: talking to people. If you asked many of the questions that Anika Moa has asked in interviews over the past few years, the most common response would probably be a left hook directly to your chin. Here … Read more
On the edge of the Mataura River, a disused paper mill is filled with thousands of bags of toxic waste. Locals want to find out who’s responsible for it – and they want it gone before disaster strikes. The Paper Mill is part of Frame, a series of short documentaries produced by Wrestler for The … Read more
First they came for our pavlova, now they’ve come for our Buzzy Bees. Tara Ward watches the new season of The Crown and discovers Australia has pinched more of our stuff. It seems I was premature in declaring that season four of The Crown was all about New Zealand. After a sneak peek at the … Read more
Call the police, Tara Ward needs to report a crime. Shortland Street nurse Carmen Roberts has risen from the dead, and the show seems to think nobody will notice. Drive a mack truck straight through my heart and throw me into an exploding Mt Ferndale because Carmen Roberts, the iconic Shortland Street nurse who died … Read more