There are over 350 minutes of Married at First Sight Australia a week on Three. Should you spend almost all your spare time watching them? Married at First Sight Australia returned this week, a few months after our first season ended in the abyss. Of our six couples, only one survived the show, which became … Read more
Alex Casey and Sam Brooks round up the new content coming to Lightbox this month, including UnREAL tackling… The Bachelorette?! The Good Doctor (available now) Look, it’s the number one network series in the States, Canada and Australia right now, so if you aren’t watching The Good Doctor then I’m sorry but everyone is secretly … Read more
Tickled co-creator Dylan Reeve goes back down the rabbithole, revisiting a childhood breakfast food betrayal in an attempt to settle the Weet-Bix score once and for all. One recent morning, while watching my kids enjoy their Weet-Bix* one of the many advertising jingles of my childhood popped into my head. “Kiwi kids… are Weet-Bix kids…” … Read more
The Real Pod assembles to dissect the week in New Zealand pop culture and real life, with special thanks to Nando’s. It must be getting close to Valentine’s Day, because romance is in the air on The Real Pod. We welcome back one of our favourite reality shows in Married at First Sight Australia, swoon over … Read more
Television saddo Alex Casey watched both Seven Sharp AND The Project on Monday night to bring you this harrowing report. Following the return of Seven Sharp this week, surely tens of people across the country are now tearing their hair out trying to choose their ideal 7pm current affairs team. Do you settle into the comfortable … Read more
Tara Ward watches The Good Doctor on Lightbox and tells you why you should be tuning in to the medical show smashing records in the US. What’s it all about? The Good Doctor centres on Shaun Murphy, a young doctor with autism and savant syndrome who moves from a small town to work in a … Read more
Tara Ward will probably never be a Chaser on The Chase, but by gum will she power rank them in order of supreme dominance and knowledge prowess. Take your barbeques and beaches and stick them in your happy little quiz-hole, because the only place you should be this summer is in front of your screens … Read more
Alex Casey and Duncan Greive share ten observations from the premiere episode of an all-new Seven Sharp. 1) Is Jeremy Wells… okay? “It’s lovely to be with you tonight,” said Hilary. I believed her. I believed her all the way to the back of her craft beer fridge, and all the way to the bottom … Read more
Ahead of Jeremy Wells’ return to television tonight, David Farrier looks back at some of his favourite moments from the deadpan broadcaster. I feel passionately about Jeremy Wells. When I heard the official announcement from TVNZ that he would be joining Hilary Barry (another excellent broadcaster) on Seven Sharp, I felt a pang of joy I … Read more
Calum Henderson looks back at the best of Jeremy Wells and makes some predictions for what he will bring to the Seven Sharp desk. When Jeremy Wells takes his seat next to Hilary Barry at the Seven Sharp desk tomorrow, it will mean different things to different people. Many of Seven Sharp’s regular audience, for … Read more
Tara Ward stargazes beneath the celeb-studded galaxy of Philip K Dick’s Electric Dreams. The trippy anthology series Philip K. Dick’s Electric Dreams boasts one of the most formidable collections of actors in a single television series. Not even Sharknado could gather together the creative talents of award-winning stars like Bryan Cranston, Anna Paquin, Vera Farmiga, … Read more
The Real Pod assembles to dissect the week in New Zealand pop culture and real life, with special thanks to Nando’s. This week we arrive on a cloud fluffier than Mike Hosking and Kate Hawkesby’s dog to talk about our favourite local news and celebs of the week. Mostly, the fact that Mike McRoberts took a … Read more
The Spinoff introduces a rightly fearful nation to the Mike Hosking impersonator replacing Mike Hosking as the host of Seven Sharp. Jeremy Wells was yesterday afternoon confirmed as co-host of the revamped Seven Sharp, as (incredibly humblebrag) first reported by The Spinoff last Friday. It’s an extremely bold hire, perhaps the boldest in TVNZ history. … Read more
The Spinoff continues its deep dive into the world of weird and wonderful fashion and asks: is luxury French fashion house Maison Margiela taking inspiration from a 90s Kiwi television icon? Since its start in 1981, What Now? has managed to accomplish a lot of things in its 37-year history. It’s become New Zealand’s longest-running … Read more
To prepare for The Good Doctor arriving to Lightbox next week, Alex Casey breaks down five more of the best medical shows you can binge. Just as sure as Chris Warner will reveal an illegitimate child at the dawn of every day, medical shows will forever stroll the corridors of primetime television soaked in blood … Read more
An Australian network is showing the NZ comedy show Screaming Reels in a time slot usually reserved actual fishing shows, suggesting the broadcaster was not aware it is a parody. The Spinoff asked co-host Leigh Hart to apologise to his confused Australian viewers. Instead, his ‘producers’ came back with this. It has come to our … Read more
Alex Casey watches Sunday night drama Liar, a British thriller that calls one woman’s account of sexual assault into serious question. Without sounding too morbid, TVNZ couldn’t have planned the timing of sexual assault drama Liar any better. In a post-Weinstein world where stories of sexual assault and harassment have been dragged under the bright … Read more
Calum Henderson is on a valiant quest to find New Zealand’s greatest TV theme. His search for answers begins with a look at the origins of the rollicking Country Calendar theme. Country Calendar is the greatest New Zealand television show. Even if you’ve never watched it, you know it’s true. It is the people’s show, … Read more
The Spinoff has learned who is set to replace Hosking on the TVNZ Show, and it turns out he’s a bit like Mike. Seven Sharp launches into 2018 at the start of February with an all-new line-up, after the tearful farewell of Toni Street and Mike Hosking last year. Hilary Barry was swiftly announced as … Read more
To celebrate The Office US arriving to Lightbox, Alex Casey lists some of her favourite moments from the show. Contains many, many spoilers. I have spent a deeply worrying part of my life watching The Office in some iteration or another. As a teen, I became obsessed with the British original, eventually penning an incredibly … Read more
The Real Pod assembles for the first time in 2018 to dissect the week in New Zealand pop culture and real life, with special thanks to Nando’s. Jane Yee, Alex Casey and Duncan Greive are back for another year with a new and improved Real Pod, featuring more new segments than you can shake a … Read more
Alex Casey watches the debut of a new look Breakfast on TVNZ1, and assesses the buffet of early morning news options. Breakfast was off to a pretty weird start before it even began. In a promo video posted to their Facebook page last week, Jack Tame, Daniel Faitaua and Matty McLean can be seen goofing around … Read more
Sam Brooks argues why Catholic Rebellion thriller Gunpowder is far more interesting than other dour dramas from the same period. I love a good political thriller. Stressed out people waiting for printers to print valuable documents, or wandering around with briefcases that cost more than your rent for the month – they’re my catnip. But it’s … Read more
Tara Ward witnesses Suzanne Paul do something extraordinary — not for the first time and not for the last time. Someone alert the authorities because there’s a genius in my living room and her name is Suzanne Paul. I thought I’d seen it all when Suzanne Paul sold a clip that could jazz up your outfit … Read more
2018 is going to be a big year for local reality franchises from Dancing With the Stars to Project Runway, but what’s still missing? Calum Henderson fills in the gaps. It’s never too late to pick up a successful international reality television franchise and give it a good honest Kiwi twist. Last year we saw … Read more
Sam Brooks defies the ancient wisdom ‘never read the comments’ and goes deep into nine weeks of the TV Guide’s Mr Telly letters. Since the beginning of time, there have always been internet comments, whether they were some dude ring-a-dinging a bell in a town square, Martin Luther hammering a bunch of complaints to the … Read more
Sylvia Giles watches the mid-2000s soap The L Word and discovers a plethora of feminist conversations that are only starting to happen now in the mainstream. All my lesbian friends told me I should watch The L Word many, many times, and over a decade ago. First aired in 2004, the show chronicled the sapphic … Read more
Now that you’ve settled back into work and failed to keep up any of your resolutions, it’s time to turn back to trusty old television. Alex Casey and Sam Brooks introduce some new shows on Lightbox that might take your fancy. Available now: Brooklyn Nine-Nine S4 There’s a conversation to be had about whether a … Read more
Last night marked the return of several key shows to the coveted 7 pm time slot, so we deployed our television moles to watch and report back. Toby Manhire watched Extreme Cake Makers on TVNZ1 With Seven Sharp on an epic, host-switching hiatus, filling the 7pm slot on TVNZ1 is the similarly hard-hitting Extreme Cake … Read more