The announcement that a controversial New Zealand reality TV star would be returning to the small screen has been met with outrage on social media. Stewart Sowman-Lund reports. Free-to-air television network Bravo has defended the casting of former Real Housewives star Gilda Kirkpatrick in a new local reality show following a rush of negative comments … Read more
This morning, TVNZ announced what we’ll all be watching in 2021. Here’s a quick rundown of what you’ve got to look forward to, assuming we’re still here next year. The Brokenwood Mysteries OK, let’s get the biggie out of the way first: The Brokenwood Mysteries is jumping from Prime to primetime, baby! Brokenwood travels to … Read more
The Comey Rule, which revolves around FBI director James Comey in the run-up to the 2016 US election and the early months of Donald Trump’s presidency, drops on Neon this week. Here’s a rundown of the cast of characters in the political mire of the US, and who’s playing who. Jeff Daniels as James Comey … Read more
Some of New Zealand’s best comedians unite in Golden Boy to bring us a fun, breezy sitcom that will brighten any bad day. I’m binge-watching Golden Boy after a morning at the dentist. My face is numb. I’m sliding mandarin pieces between the teeth I’m allowed to use. I want to be cheered up, and … Read more
The second season of The Mandalorian is more of the same, but it’s also a signal of where the world’s biggest franchise is headed, writes Sam Brooks. When The Mandalorian debuted on Disney+ last year, nobody could have predicted how truly huge it would come to be. Not only was it actually pretty good television … Read more
Stewart Sowman-Lund and Tara Ward take a walk down memory lane to look at some of the best (and worst) UK to New Zealand television remakes. The good Grand Designs There can only be one Kevin McCloud, but we’ve proved there can be two excellent versions of Grand Designs. Hosted by our own amiable architect … Read more
What are you going to be watching in November? 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 The Crown (binge season 4 on Netflix from November 15) Something good was bound to happen in 2020, and the new … Read more
Black Hands, adapted from the podcast of the same name, doesn’t do the Bain family justice, writes Sam Brooks. “Dunedin 20th June, 1994 5 members of the Bain family were shot dead in their home.” That blunt piece of text precedes the opening credits of every episode of TVNZ’s Black Hands, adapted from the hugely … Read more
A new trailer for season four of The Crown dropped overnight, and big news, Aotearoa: we’re in it. London-based Māori group Ngāti Rānana has confirmed they were involved in filming a haka scene. The fourth season of Netflix’s award-winning drama about the life and reign of Queen Elizabeth II premieres next month, and a new … Read more
Are you excited about spending Halloween on the couch this year? So is Emily Writes, who has some suggestions for a weekend of spooky streaming. If 2020 hasn’t been scary enough for you and you’re looking to be terrified this Halloween, there’s plenty to watch on all of the streaming services. Binge away and add … Read more
Review: In their heyday they were invulnerable, but now the likes of Piri Weepu and Eroni Clarke are all too human. That’s what makes Match Fit so compelling, says Duncan Greive. Match Fit is aimed at the more casual class of rugby fan, but its audience would likely bristle at what lies underneath its code-heavy … Read more
The Big Little Lies showrunner and one of its stars are back with an addictive new limited series – and they’ve brought Hugh Grant along for the ride. Nicole Kidman does a lot of walking in The Undoing. The new HBO murder-mystery miniseries features seemingly endless shots of her character, Grace Fraser, crossing busy Manhattan … Read more
Timaru, Waihi, Greymouth and Woodville entered; only one could emerge the winner. Tara Ward looks back at one of the most exciting moments in regional New Zealand history: the grand final of Top Town. It was a hot summer’s day in 1977 when 10,000 people gathered in Whangarei’s Okara Park to witness one of our … Read more
Just six months after going live with much fanfare, streaming service Quibi is shutting down. Emily Writes provides a eulogy to the platform nobody liked. It’s almost shameful to admit it given the chorus of people bagging Quibi, but I tell you – I loved that thing. The criticism of Quibi started with the very … Read more
Sacha Baron-Cohen’s most successful character returns to a pandemic-stricken middle America. The formula is the same, but its impact has radically changed, says Duncan Greive. In Borat Subsequent Moviefilm: Delivery of Prodigious Bribe to American Regime for Make Benefit Once Glorious Nation of Kazakhstan, more commonly known as Borat 2, the conceit is the same, … Read more
New Zealanders love Taskmaster UK. But will they warm to the homegrown version? Guy Williams is doing his best to amp up the crowd, while Angella Dravid sits quietly alongside with her usual look of both discomfort and amusement. Leigh Hart has that wry smirk on his face that viewers of Moon TV and the … Read more
Just a few years ago, few people had heard of the self-help group/cult of personality known as NXIVM. Now the dark story has gone global, thanks to an eight-part docuseries that debuts on Neon today. This review contains mild spoilers for The Vow. What is it that people love so much that they’d join a … Read more
WATCH: Newshub’s national correspondent took things to another level during Three’s election results coverage on Saturday night – here’s the supercut to prove it. Watching the election results roll in on election night is a triennial event beloved by many New Zealanders, none so much as Patrick Gower. From the second the clock ticked 7:00pm … Read more
They’re competing to be named top dog, but they’ve already won our hearts. Nothing brings the nation together like a good dog. Ask Spot or the SPCA dogs that learned to drive, or even John Campbell and Matty McLean speaking directly to the good dogs of New Zealand, live on Breakfast television. Tonight, new reality TV … Read more
Tara Ward recaps the highs and lows of last night’s free-to-air television election coverage. “Thank God it’s over,” John Campbell declared in the opening moments of 1 News’ election broadcast, but really, we’d only just begun. John and Hilary Barry were in charge of the catchy ‘1 News Your Vote 2020 Election Night Special’, and … Read more
Our most verbose screenwriter, Aaron Sorkin, makes good on all his hype in just his second turn as director. If I had to pick one of the best opening scenes of the past decade, I’d go with the scene that opens The Social Network. It’s an immediate evisceration of Mark Zuckerberg – and by proxy, … Read more
From 7pm Saturday, the election results will ooze from the pores of democracy. Toast the franchise with our exclusive election night drinking game. It works with Raro, kombucha or something stronger. Repurpose as bingo if that’s what you’re into. Illustrations by Toby Morris. Take a sip when you hear/see “Neck and neck” “Knife edge” “Volatile” … Read more
Is there still a place for a show that portrays property managers as housing market heroes? TVNZ’s Renters thinks so, Sam Brooks thinks not. Ten minutes into the first episode of season eight of Renters – that’s two more seasons than Outrageous Fortune got, folks – comes one of the most depressing things I’ve ever … Read more
The nineties gameshow Sale of the Century may be all but forgotten, but host Steve Parr’s trademark stage-left entrance will live on forever. Sale of the Century was the most glamorous game show ever made in New Zealand. It burst onto our screens back in 1989, when broadcaster and former What Now presenter Steve “Star … Read more
The second season of TVNZ on Demand satire Educators continues to skewer New Zealand’s school system, brilliantly and brutally. Is there anything bleaker than a New Zealand high school? As local comedy Educators tells it, probably not. The show, created by Jesse Griffin, Jackie van Beek and Johnny Brugh, has returned for its second season … Read more
Get in touch with your emotional side by reliving some of our most heartwarming commercials on TV. It’s been an emotional year, and it’s about time we had a good cry over it. Not a quiet whimper or a sneaky sob, but the kind of cathartic purging that only comes from watching a television ad … Read more
Emily in Paris wants to be a homemade pain au chocolat but can barely reach the level of a store-bought croissant. For over two decades, Darren Star has had his very specific genre locked down: he makes shows about professional women trying to have it all, where all the stakes are emotional and all the … Read more
What are you going to be watching in October? 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 The Mandalorian (season two weekly on Disney+ from October 30) The Mandalorian was the surprise hit of 2019 for reasons nobody … Read more
While Westside has been on the air for just five years, it’s covered nearly two decades of New Zealand history. But how old are these Westies meant to be? When Outrageous Fortune began way back in 2005, nobody could have anticipated that it would develop into what is now essentially a franchise, complete with a … Read more