There’s a new Bachelor, a new mansion, and the same old dorks talking about it. The Fantasy Suite is The Spinoff’s weekly podcast about The Bachelor NZ, hosted by Jane Yee with Alex Casey and Duncan Greive. Have a listen below, or download here on iTunes, or here on Stitcher. This week sees a shock … Read more
After week seven on The Bachelor NZ, some of the greatest minds in the country* assemble to talk about the big issues including Jordan’s poor connecting skills, that mannequin, and life after The Bachelor. Anny Ma on Connect Four Never trust somebody who can’t play Connect Four. Never trust Beyoncé when you lose to her in Connect … Read more
Alex Casey transforms into a high society Aucklander for a day as an extra on the Filthy Rich set, and discovers the truth about glamour and stardom the hard way. “And there’s these…” the wardrobe woman said, presenting me with some enormous diamanté earrings. I hadn’t worn earrings since I was 13 because my friends used to tell … Read more
In its annual tradition of blowing something up, Neighbours based a whole week around the destruction of their cursed hotel. Ethan Sills sat through five nights of deaths, shock returns and a whole lot of dust. For a show that is predominantly about middle-class white people arguing and sleeping with each other, Neighbours loves a … Read more
After witnessing two near tragedies in as many seasons of Our First Home, Madeleine Chapman has found the common cause. Our First Home is the tamest and safest reality show on television. Or so we thought. With the show’s second season coming to an end, Our First Home has seen two near tragedies play out on our television screens. I was … 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, Claire and Jamie head for Paris, where their ‘to do’ list consisted of: 1) infiltrating the French royal court 2) drinking all the profits from their new business 3) living a life of … Read more
Tara Ward brings you her Shortland Street Power Rankings for last week, including Harry’s tears, Michael’s fear fall and the worst pool party of all time. 1) Finn encourages Harry to live his dreams Finn and Harry’s cunning plan to host the pool party of the century became a cannonball of chlorine-riddled disappointment. It was … Read more
Madeleine Chapman and her Aunty Henga assess the skills, builds, and tattoos in Game of Bros, Māori television’s reality quest for the ultimate Polynesian warrior. On Wednesday morning I walked past Louis on my way to work and didn’t say anything. Moving on. Last night Aunty Henga was called away from the dinner table to “come watch your … Read more
Wrenches, old iPhones, and Kunzites. Ruth Spencer goes on a journey through the good and the great of television shopping. I once watched a TVSN host wonder aloud which planet it was that had the rings. She consulted with the producer through her earpiece, then opened it up to people emailing from home before going … Read more
There’s a new Bachelor, a new mansion, and the same old dorks talking about it. The Fantasy Suite is The Spinoff’s weekly podcast about The Bachelor NZ, hosted by Jane Yee with Alex Casey and Duncan Greive. Have a listen below, or download here on iTunes, or here on Stitcher. This week the #TFSPod Squad … Read more
In the middle of a whirlwind New Zealand press tour, Gabriel Macht, star of Lightbox legal drama Suits, reveals the show’s darkest secret to Calum Henderson: there are no actual records in Harvey Specter’s record collection, just shelves of empty sleeves. The elephant in the room, and pretty much every room that Gabriel Macht ever … Read more
Katie Parker reopens the locker of her adolescence in Being Eve, the local teen series brimming with asymmetrical tank tops, IRL dating and fourth wall-breaking. Like all naive pre-teens, at the age of 10 all I wanted in the world was to hit adolescence. Whether I was trimming my non-existent leg hair with scissors or studying … Read more
With The Mindy Project returning from hiatus to Lightbox soon, Alex Casey assembles some of her hopes and dreams for the rest of the season. Contains spoilers. Season four of The Mindy Project went on hiatus in December, leaving us all in a cold sweat over whether or not Mindy was about to tearfully say … Read more
Alex Casey assembles her contestant power rankings for week six, including stolen dogs, a birthday for Naz and a daredevil massage. Ah well Rebecca, that’s us then. Farewell to the greatest potential reality TV love story ever told. Farewell to the book deal resulting in a global bestseller, the inevitable reality spin-off series called Pinky … Read more
After week six on The Bachelor NZ, some of the greatest minds in the country* assemble to talk about the big issues including Ceri’s tragic expressions and eerie similarities with Twilight. Anny Ma on rejected cheese What kind of world do we live in where I have to watch two people walk away from a guaranteed love … Read more
Calum Henderson sat down to watch The Café, a morning show set in a café. “This is the perfect show,” Mike Puru raved halfway through Monday morning’s first episode of The Café. “We’ve got a barista on set, we’ve got a kitchen on set… I am in heaven right now.” After years serving as Jay Jay and Dom’s sidekick … Read more
For Monitor this week, Aaron Yap chews on Hannibal, Bryan Fuller’s televisual masterpiece of the macabre. At some point, Hannibal morphed into television’s most beautiful and downright terrifying creature. Creator Bryan Fuller wasn’t content to serve us another serial-killer-of-the-week procedural. Nor was he satisfied with providing merely a functional corrective to garbage like Red Dragon and Hannibal … Read more
Dominic Corry sat down with Aaron Paul to discuss Scientology, Breaking Bad, and leaving his character at work on Lightbox’s new cult drama The Path. Recently I was especially thrilled to spend some time in a Los Angeles hotel suite with Aaron Paul, an actor whose place in television history is already assured thanks to his iconic performance as … Read more
Tara Ward brings you her Shortland Street Power Rankings for last week, including Lucy’s diary, Ali’s waxwork model and a TV nightmare at the Warner manor. 1) In an exclusive excerpt from Lucy’s diary, we discover she had the busiest week in the history of Shortland Street: Tuesday Broke up with Finn, but not before I … Read more
Madeleine Chapman and her Aunty Henga assess the skills, builds, and tattoos in Game of Bros, Māori television’s reality quest for the ultimate Polynesian warrior. This week on Game of Bros, the challenges revolved around food and cooking. Naturally Aunty Henga and I ate KFC for dinner whilst planting our judging eyes on the final seven bros. In memory of … Read more
David Lynch’s iconic television series Twin Peaks first aired 26 years ago on network television. Ruth Spencer relives her enduring relationship with the cult classic. A photo on Facebook of VHS tapes in a skip, an entire series sprawled against some hedge clippings. Did anyone want these Twin Peaks tapes before they went to the tip? Did … Read more
Our resident Outlander fanatic Tara Ward shares her thoughts from the much-anticipated premiere of time-travel romance series. Contains spoilers. And smoulders. All good things come to those who wait: a Briscoes sale, a Monday-ised stat holiday, and the season two premiere of Outlander. It’s been ten long months since Claire and Jamie Fraser sailed for France, … Read more
A year ago today, New Zealand’s most idiosyncratic broadcaster returned to our televisions (and airwaves) with his self-titled show. Tim Murphy explains how he became a reluctant fan. I didn’t expect to like the Paul Henry show. I didn’t much like the idea of Paul Henry. Not just because of the Dikshit puerility and Governor-General offence. … Read more
One of New Zealand television’s longest running series Praise Be hits three decades on our screens on April 10. José Barbosa relives a lifetime of Sunday morning worship as archived on NZ On Screen. There are many things I find reassuring: ironed clothes, community libraries, that falsetto “eeeh?” sound John Key makes when he’s trying … Read more
After week five on The Bachelor NZ, some of the greatest minds in the country* assemble to talk about the big issues including Gabs’ nastiness, Naz’ nastiness, and Jordan’s nasty striped singlets. Madeleine Chapman on the casual racism Naz, Naz, Naz. She’s all over the internets with her hit list and her narking. Everyone wants to … Read more
Alex Casey assembles her contestant power rankings for week five, including ponytail nightmares, cow pyramid schemes and a tonne of spaghetti. It’s our last week in Hawaii and things are continuing to unravel. Jordan’s nearly worn out the bum of his floral boardies and is constantly dicing with death via these dramatic runs on the beach … Read more
There’s a new Bachelor, a new mansion, and the same old dorks talking about it. The Fantasy Suite is The Spinoff’s weekly podcast about The Bachelor NZ, hosted by Jane Yee with Alex Casey and Duncan Greive. Have a listen below, or download here on iTunes, or here on Stitcher. Much to Alex and Duncan’s … Read more
Dark clouds gather into FX mattes and suddenly all the adults and electricity disappears. This is the setting for The Cul De Sac, TVNZ’s new young adult series. The first episode played on Sunday night and José Barbosa reckons it shows promise. Dark, grim promise. “It’s the apocalypse” says bespectacled neighbour played by former Shortland Street star KJ … Read more
Dom Corry talks to Michelle Monaghan, star of new drama The Path, about soul-searching, green juicing and delving into the world of devout religion. The new Lightbox drama The Path dares to venture into the world of religion, a dangerous route which most of popular culture avoids. For all the edginess in the New Golden … Read more