Alex Casey talks to Hilary Barry about juggling Paul Henry and 3 News, watching X Factor and playing second banana. When I arrived at TV3 to meet Hilary Barry, I was deeply excited to find out that the interview would take place on the Paul Henry set. “It’s about the only quiet place left in the … Read more
‘Reissue’ is an occasional column which will bring back a print feature from the vaults. Today: Duncan Greive looks at the origins of Tim Batt and Guy Montgomery’s cult podcast hit Worst Idea of All Time ahead of a live record for the Comedy Festival. Photography by Reagen Butler. Originally published in April’s 1972 magazine, sponsored by … Read more
As The Bachelor NZ contestants have been whittled down, so too have our Group Think contributors. In the final instalment, Art and Matilda’s wedding is envisaged and a brand new, very old, conspiracy is unearthed. Melanie Bracewell on The Rural Maid Matilda won! But I’ve done a little research that might shock you all. I was … Read more
With Noel coming to town this week for the NZ International Comedy Festival, Alex Casey breaks down some of his absurd hits from The Mighty Boosh. I can only assume that when Noel Fielding arrives in New Zealand this week, it will be on a bedazzled polystyrene unicorn. Just orbiting around and around baggage claim, … Read more
Alex Casey delivers her (possibly) final power rankings for The Bachelor NZ. With a winner decided, it’s time to rank the greatest moments of the final week in paradise. We made it guys, finally tottering along the sandy shores of love to the finalé. And what a finale episode it was – like the producers … Read more
Despite what Taylor Swift’s album would have you believe, she does not hold the monopoly on 1989. As we found out in Joseph Moore’s comedy show of the same name – there was much more going on that year than the birth of a lady in a “nice dress staring at the sunset”. Bookending his solo … Read more
We celebrate the end of our quest for Forever Love with a Forever Podcast. Jane Yee, Alex Casey and Duncan Greive finally get their long-sought after Lindauer sponsorship, and drank it watching a landmark television event: the end of New Zealand’s first ever Bachelor franchise. It promised much and delivered more, from bad bottom animals … Read more
Lightbox have rolled out their platform to a plethora of new compatible devices. Alex Casey, with the help of some canine friends, breaks them down for you. Like Johnny Depp in Transcendence, video-on-demand service Lightbox has escaped the boundaries of traditional technology to bring television almost anywhere. Here are a few of the places you can … Read more
Alex Casey watches the first returning episode of Days of Our Lives, and notes a few things you need to ease you back into the extraordinary soap. One of the longest running scripted television shows in the entire world, Days of Our Lives has washed back up onto our shores courtesy of Lightbox this week. Five … Read more
Aaron Yap watches the first two seasons of sci-fi series Orphan Black, and hopes for just as many fast-paced, character-driven clone thrills from the lead roles in the third season. When Orphan Black debuted on BBC America in 2013, it seemed to come out of nowhere. A bolt of fresh, femme-powered lightning into a television market … Read more
With a few minutes before showtime, I took in the crowd at the Comedy Festival’s One Man Breaking Bad show. Unsurprisingly, they were a picture of Breaking Bad fandom. Balding. Novelty t-shirts. Pleather. I was particularly taken by one t-shirt featuring the Disney castle, with Walt Disney’s name replaced by Walt White. Much like the gates … Read more
Joseph Harper uses his Playstation 2 version of The Sims to decide the final outcome of The Bachelor NZ. Speculation is rife going into the final week of The Bachelor NZ. All three remaining bachelorettes seem to have a crack at the title of Art Green’s girlfriend. Alysha has the nice accent. Matilda has a nice … Read more
The brave Spinoff knights meet at the television roundtable to discuss week 12 on X Factor NZ, including Steve’s real age, Shelton’s fake hat and Stan’s copycat tears. Robyn Gallagher on the Charity Single Remember the charity single? It was released only three weeks ago, but a very a strange thing is happening in the … Read more
Joseph Moore is joined by X Factor NZ warmer-upper Eli Mathewson and Lili fan Paul Williams to discuss the week of Kiwi classics. In a noisy Balmoral McDonald’s, they discuss meat ethics, Broad farewells and the controversial Tiki Taane backlash. Fresh from the live show, inside scoops include Steve’s set mayhem, Brendon Thomas and the Toilet … Read more
Tara Ward recaps episode 13 of Outlander, including the arrival of the Black Watch to Lallybroch, a birth more momentous than the Royals, and Jamie’s incredible sense of smell. We last left Jamie and Claire firmly ensconced in the familial bosom of Lallybroch. But wait, what’s this? A pair of grubby bearded men in the kitchen, … Read more
Joseph Harper splits a Rekorderlig with three members of The Hunter’s Club and finds out why their show stylistically slaughters the rest of their outdoor TV competitors. You notice pretty quickly that The Hunter’s Club doesn’t look like our more familiar hunting and fishing shows. Where shows like Outdoors with Geoff often feel procedural – … Read more
This is the debut of ‘Reissue’, an occasional column which will bring back a classic feature from the vaults to pleasure a nation anew. First up: Rose Hoare’s discovery of the dimly-lit daytime pleasures of Days of Our Lives, which returns to New Zealand screens after a two years absence via Lightbox today. Originally published in … Read more
Last week I was in Ohakune for the X Factor NZ live show, hungover from a 40th the night before, and therefore in the perfect intellectual state to consume 1.5 hours of TV singing show. Around 5pm I turned on the rental bach’s hitherto unused television – an LG old enough that it was two … Read more
Duncan Greive watches Rose Matafeo grow up really fast at the Basement. Last year, Rose Matafeo ordered pizza. This year she staged her funeral. The gulf between the enormity of those events aptly illustrates the swelling of her ambitions as a comic in the past 12 months. Everything about this year’s show was so much … Read more
Sitting on the couch of scrutiny right next to the barbecue of trust, Alex Casey delivers her seventh power rankings in our weekly series. If you missed last week’s power rankings, click here. As visionary artisté Skylar Grey once sang, “I’m coming home, I’m coming home – tell the world I’m coming home” and this was … Read more
What to do with Krishnan Guru-Murthy and his TV interview with Robert Downey Jnr? What to think, what to learn? What, above all, to make of that lamp? It’s more than a lamp. It’s like the corner of Ponsonby Rd and Jervois Rd: it’s three lamps. A lot of sand died for those lamps, whole … Read more
Jane Yee, Alex Casey and Duncan Greive gather again to the Fantasy Suite to discuss the hometown visits week of the Bachelor NZ, and farewell the wonderful Poppy, farted her way into our hearts all those weeks ago. We discuss Alysha’s big straddle, Dani’s doorway pash and Matilda’s adorable old dad Ken. It’s an emotional … Read more
This Throwback Thursday, ex-cinema usher Alex Casey watches an Aardman claymation built entirely around real conversations between real foyer girls. You will know Aardman Animations now for the dynamic moon-eating duo Wallace or Gromit, or perhaps, for the more culturally unrefined, the screaming toilet slugs of Flushed Away. They’ve really done it all – Chicken … Read more
We tackle the decathalon of emotions that was Bruce Jenner’s heroic 20/20 interview with Diane Sawyer. Jane Yee and Alex Casey are joined by Kardashian fanatic Sacha Moore to chat about Bruce’s revelatory announcement that the gold medal-winning athlete is transitioning into a woman at the age of 65. We discuss his ripped athletic history, … Read more
After gorging himself on a strict diet of food television and cooking reality shows, Finlay Macdonald examines the skills required to be the perfect public eater. The announcement last week that “celebrity chef” Al Brown would be one of the judges on TV3’s forthcoming “reboot” of the familiar Masterchef format was big news for gob-watchers … Read more
Calum Henderson takes a television roadie in a car full of poshos through the bleak bartering wilderness of Antiques Roadtrip. What’s it about? After Flog It! proved far from the genuine article, I did what any antiques peddler would do after an auction failure and scrambled to recoup my losses. I MySkyed several episodes of … Read more
Tara Ward recaps episode 12 of Outlander, in which the Fonz comes to Lallybroch, Jamie goes commando and Claire shares some wisdom about meeting the parents. Lallybroch, Lallybroch, oh Lally-lally-lally-lallybroch. For eleven episodes we’ve heard Jamie wax lyrical about Lallybroch. That Scottish Shangri-La, the hallowed Highland haven of Clan Fraser. Whatever could go wrong as … Read more
With his predictions going hugely awry for the last few weeks, Duncan Greive decided to take some time out from the noble task of power ranking. Spending the long weekend in Ohakune, he meditated next to the giant carrot – hoping to gain the strength to be able to see anything promising in the dark … Read more
The weary few remaining Spinoff knights meet at the television roundtable to discuss week 11 on X Factor NZ Talia Smith on Milky Bar Broad I have finally decided who Steve Broad/Bored is and I am bloody happy because this mystery has been plaguing me for weeks. He is the grown up version of the … Read more