Tara Ward recaps this week’s episode of Outlander, including ye olde seduction, 1000 yard stares, and other frivolities of the well-to-do. Contains spoilers. And smoulders. Oh, Outlander, you were far too good to us this week. Body parts flew all over Scotland in celebration of this glorious hour of television, an episode filled with more action and anticipation than we’ve … Read more
David Farrier and Dylan Reeve’s Tickled had its most gonzo moment yet when two of the film’s subjects dropped in for the Q&A. Joshua Drummond watched the chaos unfold on Facebook Live. “When the going gets weird, the weird turn pro.” David Farrier and Dylan Reeve are living the truth of Hunter Thompson’s famous saying after a Q&A … Read more
Penny Ashton watches gritty Scandinavian crime drama The Bridge, and finds beauty in the unabashed pile of skin, spleens and wobbly bits. It’s not every day you see a naked bottom half of a woman with intestines hanging out on the telly. Sure, the barrage of murder porn on our TV screens often alludes to gutted … Read more
Our resident Blockaholic Jane Yee recaps the highs and lows from week three of The Block NZ, including Benjam ‘Dylz’ Button and shocking banana experience. It’s bathroom week on The Block NZ, and it’s been bloody hard going. A million tradies, two million different types of tiles and three million visits from (and hugs for) … Read more
Curious to see what life was like for young New Zealand women of a different era, Alex Casey turns to a 1969 special about beauty queens for a historical wake-up call. It’s hard yakka being a woman sometimes, with everyone screaming at us to hide our bra straps, contour our faces and clap for all … Read more
The Spinoff’s José Barbosa was watching TVNZ’s flagship current affairs show and he saw something he couldn’t un-see. To work through his trauma he made this video. As with all our TV coverage this post comes to you with the support of Lightbox, who always make appropriate music choices. Visit them today for a free … Read more
Yesterday afternoon three legends of news had lunch at (where else?) Prego. The Herald‘s former editor-in-chief Tim Murphy and ex-Mediaworks’ head of news Mark Jennings interrogated ’90s news icon Bill Ralston about his run for Council. Ahead of our publication of Murphy’s account of the lunch, Jennings remembers the glory days of his former colleague. Bill and … Read more
It’s hard being a loner fan. Madeleine Chapman speaks of her struggle to find a single friend who still cares about Grey’s Anatomy. Contains spoilers, if anyone still cares. “Have you watched the latest Grey’s yet?” “Mad, I’m sorry to say that I’m not sure if I ever will.” That was it. On the 18th of December … Read more
For the past 45 years the Dunedin longitudinal study has been charting every aspect of the lives of 1037 people, making it one of the most important studies in human history. José Barbosa talks to producer Mark McNeill about how you make interesting TV about hard science. Mark McNeill makes TV the way Steven Segal fights Tommy … Read more
New Zealand is rightly proud of the multi-cultural society it’s growing into. But why are there still minimal Māori, Pacific and Asian populations in prime time? And why does cultural representation in the film industry remain light years ahead of television? In the second part of a two-part series, Sonia Gray tries to find out. … Read more
Tara Ward brings you her Shortland Street Power Rankings for last week, including Detective Curtis and Ferndale’s PR nightmare. 1) Rachel steers the ship only slightly askew This week’s drama put the ‘eeeee’ into ‘CEO’ for Rachel. Word spread that Rachel had employed George The Fake Doctor, meaning she found herself waist deep in a public … Read more
Our resident Outlander fanatic Tara Ward shares her thoughts from the much-anticipated return of time-travel romance series. Contains spoilers. And smoulders. It’s taken 10 long (LOOOOONG) episodes to get to this epic moment. At last we stand united with our hoes, scythes and assorted garden implements, ready to bayonet ourselves a butcher’s feast of human intestines. … Read more
After years of watching white faces fill his favourite television shows, Aaron Yap finally got to see his own culture represented on the small screen. Sometimes I feel like a bad Asian. The fact that I require English subtitles to watch anything in my native Chinese tongue bothers me if I think about it too … Read more
Our resident Blockaholic Jane Yee recaps the highs and lows from week two of The Block NZ, including Dyls’ lament and a shocking neck tatt. Holy damn! Like a Honda Jazz weaving around Auckland’s waterfront, week two on The Block NZ has turned an awesome corner. After last week I feared I might finally be … Read more
Janie Cameron details the horror of watching iconic New Zealand children’s television presenter Suzy Cato transform a kiwi favourite into the unthinkable. As a child of the ’90s, Suzy Cato taught me many things: the perils of headlice, how to water a person, and perhaps most importantly, that you’re never too old for a scrunchie. Despite … Read more
For fans, the journey to the end of The Bachelor NZ season two was an excruciating one. But, as Alex Casey finds, there’s a light at the end of the tunnel with the latest season of UnREAL. Contains spoilers. Everyone’s afraid of the difficult second season, especially in New Zealand reality television circles where our … Read more
Who better to critique the controversial new post-Clarkson series of Top Gear than a renowned New Zealand car lover and car crusher? The Spinoff asked me, as a bit of a petrolhead, to write about the new Top Gear. So I watched it. I sort of love cars. To me, they are the ultimate in … Read more
Tara Ward brings you her Shortland Street Power Rankings for last week, including a Fentidge frenzy, Kate’s toast-on-toast banquet and Bella’s medical breakthrough. 1) Spurious George makes like a tree and leaves News just in: George has left the building. Take one last look at his miserable mug. Breathe one last lungful of his putrid air filled with lies, … Read more
Our resident Blockaholic Jane Yee recaps the highs and lows from week one of The Block NZ, including wild pranks and the Dylz/Dyls conundrum. Hello, my name is Jane and I’m a Blockaholic. I did the quiz on the TV3 website, it’s official. The Block holds a lot of appeal for me. Not because I … Read more
Inside the Lightbox is a sponsored segment where we line up shows from the catalogue that you might like to watch. For Queen’s birthday weekend, Alex Casey and Madeleine Chapman line up a slew of shows that Liz herself would enjoy. Almost Royal If her photobombing shenanigans are anything to go by, we can all agree that … Read more
The 100th episode of Jono and Ben airs tonight on TV3, so we asked the cast and writers to share their favourite sketches from the last 99 shows. JONO PRYOR: Robbie Magasiva in NeXt Actor, the segment involves us controlling a celebrity through an earpiece while they pretend to work in a store. The first … Read more
Our resident Outlander fanatic Tara Ward shares her thoughts from the much-anticipated return of time-travel romance series. Contains spoilers. And smoulders. Christmas came early yesterday when Lightbox announced that they’d treat us to an early episode of Outlander, since we’d been such well behaved children. The skies cleared, the sun came out, and the world rejoiced as we marched … Read more
Tara Ward revisits the high fashion of the 1986 Benson & Hedges Fashion Design Awards, complete with wool, leather, and bold shoulders. The Benson & Hedges Fashion Design Awards was to fashion what The Dog Show was to farmers: the premier showcase of what made our country great. Which was mostly leather and wool, apparently. … Read more
Calum Henderson watches the return of The Block NZ, and pines for the rhombus daybeds of yesteryear. Host Mark Richardson took a deep breath and began to speak slowly, measuredly, the way a judge might deliver a long prison sentence. “Welcome… to The Block… for 2016.” It has been 178 days since the last edition of … Read more
The Spinoff wrangled a real-life mystery religious person to dissect the depiction of faith in The Path, a drama following members of a fictional cult. My husband and I sat down and watched an episode of The Path the other night. When you both work and have an eight month old child, sitting down and … Read more
As we come to the end of NZ Music Month, Joanna McLeod remembers the most iconic times that NZ music weaseled its way onto international prime time television. The year was 1994. It was stinking hot, because of course it was. May in Tokyo was sweaty, and the American School I attended didn’t have air conditioning. … Read more
Tara Ward brings you her Shortland Street Power Rankings for last week, including a grim Warner birthday scene and an astounding performance by TK Samuels. 1) Chris turns 49 and all his dreams come true The Warners threw caution to the wind and celebrated Chris’s birthday in a style not seen in Ferndale since Nick … Read more
Our resident Outlander fanatic Tara Ward shares her thoughts from the much-anticipated return of time-travel romance series. Contains spoilers. And smoulders. Oh, Scotland. It’s you, it’s really you! How we’ve missed your honest green hills and your giardia-free waterways. Even Outlander show-runner Ron D. Moore was relieved to say adieu to miserable old France, replacing King Louis’ sauntering … Read more
The kid from Milton has established herself as a journalist to be reckoned with, but much will depend on the Sam-and-Mike chemistry, writes Mark Jennings, former long serving TV3 news chief. Samantha Hayes’ appointment as Hilary Barry’s replacement is big news – in Milton. Hayes hails from the South Otago town of 2,000 people, best … Read more