A police drama set in a West Yorkshire village may not sound like a must-watch, but Ethan Sills finds that Happy Valley is a surprisingly tense and graphic thriller that packs an emotional punch. A police drama? Yawn! Happy Valley is not your regular British cop drama. This is more psychological than procedural, a cat-and-mouse chase met … Read more
To mark Hilary Barry’s last day at TV3, coworker and notorious BFF Sacha McNeil celebrates the legendary woman with the legendary secret snack drawer. “Knock, knock, knock… “ “Who is it?” “It’s just me, are you naked?” “Yes, but come in.” I open the door to Hilary’s changing room. “What’s up?” She asks, fresh from … Read more
Alex Casey watched in horror as Mike Hosking tried to recreate the Chewbacca Mask video on Seven Sharp. As it is written in the bible, every viral internet craze can enjoy only a few moments of purity before being sullied by a pack of vultures led by an Animorphs-style Ellen Degeneres with James Corden bringing … Read more
Fanboy supreme José Barbosa hitches his hoss and spends a little time in Preacher country, the latest comic book adaptation to hit our screens. Lately it seems 20th century pop culture has been sucked into the 21st century filter and spat out with a nose ring and a smartphone. The reconstituted mass includes Zack Snyder’s … Read more
Before the Housewives, before the Bachelorettes, there were the Flatmates. Calum Henderson revisits one of New Zealand’s first gritty, no-frills attempts at reality television. Like everything else on this dying earth, reality television is subject to a slow and irreversible erosion. Over the years, the genre’s rough edges have been gradually worn down, leaving a … Read more
A brand new influx of second-hand television shows has led Aaron Yap to question whether we are suffering a reboot epidemic. Last week Fox dropped a bunch of trailers for their upcoming 2016-2017 TV slate. Many of these were reboots and remakes of pre-existing film/TV properties: 24: Legacy, Prison Break, The Exorcist, Lethal Weapon and … Read more
Education is a topic critical to us as a nation. It deserves so much better than the pandering polemic Bryan Bruce delivered last night on TV3. Last night TV3 screened a “special report”, “written, directed and produced” by Bryan Bruce, the veteran of dozens of documentaries over the years, many of which he has fronted with a … Read more
Tara Ward brings you her Shortland Street Power Rankings for last week, including a web of hairy lies, Victoria’s restless hands, and the return of the mighty Damo. 1) The claw of catastrophe returns Yaaaas, Shorters is BACK. Last week I lamented the lack of action, but this week there’s been more drama than a … 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. This week’s Outlander offering had more tragedy than a Bee-Gees tribute karaoke party. It was a raw, emotional watch: Claire gave birth to a stillborn daughter, Fergus revealed he was abused by Black Jack Randall, and … Read more
Comedian and celebrant Penny Ashton pulls back the veil on Married at First Sight. “So are you going to fuck him?” was, let’s face it, the classy question on everyone’s minds. It was 25-year-old retail manager Erin’s wedding night. She was beautiful, he was hot, so why wouldn’t he march up her aisle? Sure, her … Read more
Sophie Smith discovers a feminist firestarter in Buffy Summers of Buffy the Vampire Slayer, and shares how her own life has since been influenced by the cult ’90s icon. Despite being a feminist killjoy and enthusiast of most things Joss Whedon, it was only this year that I finally sought out the cult classic Buffy the … Read more
Sarah Robson reminisces with National MP Nikki Kaye about her time on Fish Out of Water, the reality show that was dumping people on an island years before Survivor. In 1996, before the term “reality TV” entered our everyday lexicon, TV3 decided to strand six Auckland teenagers on Rakitu Island in the Hauraki Gulf. They were … Read more
With more television shows than we have time to watch, Laura Vincent searches for the rare on screen couples that are worth looking up to. “They have their problems, but they always work it out by the end of the episode” I was casually catching up with my two best friends, the three of us … Read more
With Survivor NZ set to begin its debut season, Joseph Harper puts host Matt Chisholm through the ringer to see if he has what it takes to lead the world’s most challenging reality television series. Survivor fever is most certainly sweeping the nation, with an unpredictable finale of Survivor: Kaoh Rong almost ready to be illegally streamed and … Read more
New Zealand is rightly proud of the multi-ethnic and -cultural society it’s growing into. But while Māori and Pacific representation has improved since the ’80s, our exploding Asian population remains near-invisible. In part one of a two-part series, Sonia Gray tries to find out why. Lately, I’ve been looking at the people around me and … Read more
Tara Ward brings you her Shortland Street Power Rankings for last week, including a tomato sauce surplus, Finn’s on-point point and Rachel’s pill popping. If only every Shortland Street episode was filled with rambunctious pool parties and hysterical urine-drinking hijinks. Imagine the hilarity! Alas, the past week in Ferndale was a long, hard slog, where … 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. There was so much plotting and conspiracy in this week’s episode of Outlander that Jamie Fraser officially changed his name by deed poll to ‘Schemey MacSchemeface’. Charles Stuart schemed with Jamie, Jamie schemed against the … Read more
Absent the big budgets and bigger meltdowns of its major network cousins, Matthew McAuley reckons Aotearoa’s most low-key cooking competition might just be its best. For most people across most periods of human history, the rituals of preparing, eating and sharing food have meant more than the simple sustenance provided. Cooking allows us to communicate … Read more
For its entire run The Bachelor NZ was a bore. Then Naz, ‘The Women Tell All’ and Story helped it explode into the best entertainment of the year, says Duncan Greive. After 10 weeks and 20 episodes of some of the most interminable and vacuous television New Zealand has ever seen, season two of the The Bachelor … Read more
For Monitor this week, Aaron Yap tackles Underground, a escape drama that seeks to combine modern times with history. When Quentin Tarantino released his blaxploitation-cum-spaghetti western opus Django Unchained in 2012, he had a justification for his typically incendiary, controversy-baiting approach to one of the most awful and shameful periods in American history. “When slave narratives are done … Read more
BREAKING: a very short New Zealand relationship is over – we convene an emergency podcast to talk about it. The dream is already over! Host Jane Yee is joined in The Fantasy Suite by Alex Casey and Duncan Greive to discuss the shock news of Fleur and Jordan’s breakup. We also talk about Naz’s incredible … Read more
Before there was Flying Nun, there was the NZ punk scene. To celebrate NZ Music Month, Gareth Shute looks back at a 1978 snapshot of the birth of our local indie scene. It was June 1978 when promoter Derek King made a plan for half-a-dozen bands from Auckland to drive south for a Punk Spectacular … Read more
Comedian Melanie Bracewell goes into the trenches for The Women Tell All, the Bachelor NZ live event, and almost gets kicked out in the process. “Oh us? Yeah we supplied the roses for all the rose ceremonies,” said one of the two elegantly dressed women standing next to me. She then pressed the button for … Read more
In January, TV3 newsreader Carolyn Robinson read her last bulletin, her job yet another casualty of Mediaworks CEO Mark Weldon’s cuts. She looks back at the “wondrous” newsroom he gutted. I wore white that last time. When it was done I pushed back from the desk. I took off my jacket – my favourite one … Read more
The final of The Bachelor NZ last night hardly contained the hidden gems of a Michael Hill ring, but that didn’t stop Alex Casey coming back for one last ranking. It’s all over and I don’t really want to talk about it. Hopped up on mini Milky Bars, sausage rolls and Lindauer, I was so … Read more
After the finale of The Bachelor NZ, some of the greatest minds in the country* assemble to talk about what they’ve learned from Mauger Jordan and the bacholerettes this season. Duncan Greive on some Maugerly dangerous sex advice Despite all the helicopters and extreme water sports, there were no injuries this season beyond Erin’s cold – … Read more
The Fantasy Suite is The Spinoff’s weekly podcast about The Bachelor NZ, hosted by Jane Yee with Alex Casey and Duncan Greive. This week they watched the finale, an episode accurately summed up by Jordan with the immortal words: “that one will do”. Have a listen below, or download here on iTunes, or here on Stitcher. Join … Read more
Tara Ward brings you her Shortland Street Power Rankings for last week, including Harry’s bus nightmare, Victoria’s pregnancy prank and some postcode envy for 90210. 1) Finn takes Kelly and Brenda to the Peach Pit and orders an extra serving of questionable paternity How sure are we that Finn is Chris’ son? I’m talking tangible … 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. Episode five was titled ‘Untimely Ressurection’ or ‘Claire Screws Everyone Over To Suit Herself’. Like a runaway steamroller bedecked in beautiful botanical silks, Claire rampaged her way through the cobbled Parisian streets and pummeled anyone … Read more