Appointment Viewing is a regular column which features a Spinoff writer watching one or more episodes of a current show and attempting to decode its appeal. This week: Calum Henderson watches Flog It!, a sub-par Antiques Roadshow with bizarre new wave beats. What’s it about? I first became aware of Flog It! via an ad which … Read more
A DOUBLE elimination this week! Joe and Finlay are gone! And with them go all the things we thought we knew about this show and what it stood for. Where are we going? Why are we here? Why can’t we just let Mae Valley win? Former The Wireless X Factor commentator Matthew McAuley and Tumblr … Read more
Chris Bell tuned in to a National Geographic special called Hitler the Junkie, intrigued to find out the dictator’s penchant for unusual recreational remedies. It wasn’t cocaine, barbiturates or crystal meth that got me hooked. It was Bulgarian peasant faeces. Since it was Adolf Hitler who supposedly ingested them, wouldn’t Aryan faeces have been safer? I … Read more
Alex Casey visited the Breakfast set this morning to enjoy an intimate concert with hairy guitar chaps Counting Crows. // This morning I woke up early, got in a big yellow taxi (small gold Uber) and made my way to TVNZ to watch Counting Crows play live on Breakfast. My Uber driver Plamen was keen … Read more
Sophie Smith shares health lessons learned from watching House, and how the show both helped and hindered her struggle with hypochondria. I have always been excessively anxious about my health. For as long as I can remember, any prolonged or acute headache has been followed by the declaration that I must have a brain tumour. Pain in my … Read more
The Spinoff knights meet at the television roundtable to discuss week nine on X Factor NZ, featuring the shock elimination of Finlay and Joe. Calum Henderson on 50 Shades of Broad I love the Invercargill sexyman Steve Broad. I love his damp charisma, his done-in confidence, the fact that X Factor is the third(!) reality singing show he has … Read more
Fragmentary Thoughts is a comic strip by José Barbosa, in which he’ll tackle a different television show or phenomenon each month. In this instalment, he shares his initial reaction to the first week of Paul Henry. // A week has passed since MediaWorks carpet bombed the country with the new Paul Henry show, Paul Henry. Landing … Read more
Tara Ward recaps episode 10 of Outlander, in which there are bad omens aplenty, Colum is surrounded by fools and idiots, and Claire knows best. // We begin with a bang, with world traveller Jamie going downtown to Chinatown. For the love of all things tartan, I may need to light a cigarette after that … Read more
Paul Williams takes us on a heartfelt journey through his ongoing online courtship of Lili Bayliss from The X Factor NZ. // Episode 13 of the second season of X Factor NZ will widely be remembered for one thing: Natalia Kills firing up at Joe Irvine for wearing a suit and combing his hair. While … Read more
Alex Casey goes through the Bachelorette’s pop quiz answers with a fine tooth comb, in order to find out what’s really lurking behind the smiley faces, scribbles and love hearts. // There is no better way to discover someone’s worldview than a hand-filled out form. So you can imagine my delight when I found out … Read more
‘Next Actor’ on Jono and Ben is one of their most well-known segments, placing a famous New Zealander into a regular pleb job and letting chaos ensue via an earpiece and a fervent need to destroy. When it goes well, you get Phil Goff blowing up a condom at New World. When it goes badly, … Read more
Double elimination. Two words, either heavenly or horrific. They sounded so sweet to us at home, carrying with them the promise of a shorter show, relieved of two more can’t-winners from this cursed season. To the performers they were a chill wind blowing through their mansion, a reminder that their dreamy existence – fame, coaching, … Read more
With the first full-time female referee appointed to the NFL last week, Elle Hunt examines the low-key feminist crusaders who blazed the fictional way in Friday Night Lights. // Friday Night Lights is ostensibly about a high school football team in Texas – but is actually about being a good friend and partner and parent, especially … Read more
Paul Henry, New Zealand’s most entertainingly obnoxious talk show host, is starring in a film about to premiere in America. Tomorrow. Seriously. David Farrier brings us this exclusive report and interview. // For two years Paul Henry has been sitting on a strange, fascinating secret. For a few months in between being fired in Australia … Read more
Calum Henderson continues his series of really stupid yet incredibly entertaining Spinoff stories by imagining ace ensemble comedy Party Down as an indoor netball team. // The thing about a good ensemble cast is that it can transcend space and time. You could transplant the casts of Friends onto a spaceship or Seinfeld into the current … Read more
News broke yesterday that Jono and Ben was being considered as a replacement for Campbell Live – which would have been up there with KillsMoon as the most scandalising TV moment of this or any other year. Thankfully a recent press release has informed us, in extremely certain terms, that the speculation was entirely, indisputably ill-founded. Phew. … Read more
My Life in TV is a weekly feature interview with a member of the television industry. This week, Alex Casey talked to Maria Mahony, head of programming at VOD startup (and Spinoff sponsor) Lightbox. // I’ve talked to Maria a few times already, as the head honcho TV buyer at Lightbox, but we actually first met … Read more
Joseph Harper responds to the outrageous revelations that Campbell Live may be on the outs. Tweet King and Herald media man John Drinnan dropped a bizarre and shocking shocker on us all this arvo with the revelation that Campbell Live could be facing the chop. Worse still, it could be replaced with a daily dose … Read more
You don’t really see ads on TV anymore. What with the mute function, DVRs and streaming, this once proud tradition is not necessarily dead – but definitely not as great as it once was. I’m not saying there aren’t still great ads – the drug driving ads in the dairy and takeaway stores are comic … Read more
In the third of a five-part series – here are parts one and two – James Milne signs up to watch Jennifer Love Hewitt’s cancelled borderline softcore porn series The Client List in its entirety. // I am a seeker of joy. I yearn to transcend society’s material concerns; to live a life strange and … Read more
With David Lynch dramatically quitting the return to Twin Peaks, another auteur will have to step into his slippers. Aaron Hawkins throws out a few contenders. // Twin Peaks ushered in the 1990s with eight glorious episodes that changed the way we thought about television forever. Almost a quarter of a century after it was … Read more
After a an exciting wet and wild week on The Bachelor NZ, Alex Casey delivers her fourth power rankings in our weekly series. If you missed previous power rankings, head here. // Yet another great week traversing the rose petal-lined path to true love. But before we begin, let’s check in with Art to see how his workout is … Read more
With Alex battling to complete her power rankings ahead of a trip to Melbourne, Duncan and Jane had a one-on-one in The Fantasy Suite (not like that) to discuss the week’s Bachelor NZ action. Topics covered include a week of not kissing, Natalie’s failure to launch and the dramatic showdown between Alyssa and Chrystal. All … Read more
Dr Who Of course this was first on the list, you Tardis. Ever since this bad boy first appeared at Number 76 Totters Lane in 1963, Dr Who has been all time travel, all the time. For the unfamiliar, Dr Who is a BBC sci-fi show wherein a Time Lord (The Doctor) flits across time … Read more
Alex Casey recaps the finale episode, of Lightbox’s much-anticipated Breaking Bad spinoff Better Call Saul. Contains spoilers, obviously. // This is it, we’ve come to the end of our time with Slippin’ Jimmy McGill, for now at least. It makes sense to open where he has treaded the con artist boards for so many years – … Read more
The Spinoff knights meet at the television roundtable to discuss week eight on X Factor NZ: One Hit Wonder edition.// Robyn Gallagher on Pleasing the Older Woman In week two, the show theme was “Biggest Records Right Now” and Twitter was filled with 30-somethings having existential crises because they didn’t recognise any of the music. It’s been easier since, … Read more
This week Sarah Spicer went home to her family. But what now? We must continue on. Forever on. But there’s is a ray of light in the tunnel in the form of Paul Williams’ love for Lili Bayliss. Will true love win through? Or at least make this show more fun to watch? Find out … Read more
“We ditched the drama this week – it’s all about the fun factor!” – Dom Bowden It wasn’t much fun, and I feel bad that slick, professional old Dom has to come out and lie to us every week. X Factor NZ is in a hole now, and I struggle to see a way out. … Read more
The Paul Henry Show landed this morning at 6am on TV, online and on the radio. Duncan Greive and Alex Casey dissect TV3’s new multi-platform experience. // The Host: After delightedly pressing the button, much like a kid allowed to honk a horn, Paul Henry’s sting “you can run, but you can’t hide – this … Read more