After years of losses and months of speculation, Three has finally been sold. We speak to the MediaWorks CEO, and its broadcast operations’ new owner Discovery, about their plans for the channel. This morning, the long-rumoured acquisition of MediaWorks’ broadcast operations (mainly Three, along with some extras) was formally announced, with US cable TV monster … Read more
On the 20th day of 2020, New Zealand’s current affairs shows finally came back to work. Or did they? Tara Ward tuned in to the first episodes of Breakfast, The AM Show, The Project NZ and Seven Sharp to find out just what the New Year would bring. Breakfast The Breakfast team were bloody stoked to be back. The … Read more
At 2pm every day this week, The Spinoff will be counting down 100 local television moments of the decade. Today, moments 100-81. 100) Kiwi Steve makes it through to Conan, 2017 Not strictly local television, but this moment had about a one in a bajillion chance of ever happening, and yet somehow… it did. In … Read more
Controversy erupted over The Project host Kanoa Lloyd’s decision to wear an ‘it’s OK to be white’ t-shirt this week. Newshub’s Sophie Bateman looks into the co-option of a seemingly innocuous slogan. The Rorschach test is a famous psychological tool in which patients are shown a series of random inkblots and asked what they see. … Read more
The launch of a party fronted by Destiny Church leaders was a media event to remember. Alex Braae was there. Somewhere along their journey through the public eye, Hannah and Brian Tamaki got the idea that the media hates them and their church. They have never been more wrong about anything. From the moment Destiny … Read more
Some have argued that non-Muslim women wearing headscarves today is a tokenistic gesture, or that the hijab itself is oppressive to women. Mahvash Ali, an associate producer for The Project NZ on Three, has this to say in response. Every time I get a call I stick my phone in my hijab and go about my … Read more
The Project and Seven Sharp screened their first episodes of the year last night – so how did they fare upon their return? 7pm newcomer Sam Brooks watched them both. I’ve never watched a 7pm show that isn’t Shortland Street. It’s not a television hour for me; usually I’m playing video games, catching up on a non-news related … Read more
Each week, Jesse Mulligan talks to hundreds of thousands of New Zealanders, through TV, radio and in print, and his voice is beloved throughout the country. He tells Alex Casey about the humiliating failures, awkward experiments and games of Strip Honk he endured along the way. This story originally ran in Barker’s 1972 magazine. Jesse Mulligan … Read more
Television saddo Alex Casey watched both Seven Sharp AND The Project on Monday night to bring you this harrowing report. Following the return of Seven Sharp this week, surely tens of people across the country are now tearing their hair out trying to choose their ideal 7pm current affairs team. Do you settle into the comfortable … Read more
Last night marked the return of several key shows to the coveted 7 pm time slot, so we deployed our television moles to watch and report back. Toby Manhire watched Extreme Cake Makers on TVNZ1 With Seven Sharp on an epic, host-switching hiatus, filling the 7pm slot on TVNZ1 is the similarly hard-hitting Extreme Cake … Read more
The shock resignation of Mike Hosking has led to Three playing some very aggressive media chess. “You’re looking very bronzed,” Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern told Duncan Garner on Monday morning. “A bronzed whaler,” he replied, assumedly not a confession of his summer recreational activities. Thereafter, they got into the serious business of Trump and shitholes … Read more
Alex Casey and Calum Henderson relive the top 10 most electric, shambolic and memorable New Zealand television moments of 2017. 10) When Wolf met Cheryl He was just a boy in a leather jacket, standing in front of a girl, asking her to let him steal a fistful of cigarettes. Episode four of Westside season … Read more
Alex Casey and Calum Henderson count down the top 10 local TV shows of the year, as voted by esteemed readers of The Spinoff. 10) Find Me a Māori Bride There is no better antidote to our extremely contrived, extremely white romance reality TV offerings than Find Me a Māori Bride. A faux-documentary which rips … Read more
It’s time to make some serious calls about New Zealand television in 2017, starting and ending with this short survey. As the end of the year looms around the corner like a nervous MAFSNZ contestant at the altar, it’s time we look back at the television that was made in New Zealand for our eyeballs this … Read more
The TV awards return after five years away and reveal an industry boiling with rage and extremely fun to watch. Last night, New Zealand television royalty – and The Real Pod – assembled in Skycity Theatre for the triumphant return of the New Zealand Television Awards after a five year hiatus. There was glitz, there … Read more
Following Metiria Turei’s resignation as leader of the Greens, The Spinoff TV writers report back on how our news outlets and commentators reacted to the political bombshell/earthquake/catastrophe. “A catastrophic, disastrous result… an absolute political nightmare,” said a typically chilled-out Paddy Gower last night as he thundered out the news of his Newshub poll, and Metiria … Read more
After a rocky start – and that toe-curling musical promo clip – it seems like Three’s 7pm infotainment show has hit its stride. Former US news presenter Pallas Hupé Cotter explains how The Project makes it look so easy. It turns out, it’s not just frothy and funny. The Project seems to have come up … Read more
It’s 24 hours since Jacinda Ardern assumed leadership of the Labour Party. Maddie Holden looks back at the waves of sexism that elicited from opposition MPs, media and others. If you have so much as a passing interest in the movements of New Zealand politics, you’ll be aware by now that Andrew Little has stepped … Read more
Tonight on The Project between burger talk and Hanson, Jesse Mulligan addressed a savage monologue to the Prime Minister of New Zealand. Here it is, transcribed for your eyes. I saw something on Twitter from the Prime Minister. I know what you’re thinking – historically, Bill English’s Twitter account has not been a very reliable source. … Read more
The Project showed its teeth this week, via Jesse Mulligan’s plea for someone, anyone to fix the Department of Conservation. It launched with a bang and a Bax and a song and a dance in February, but in recent weeks it’s been a little too easy to forget The Project NZ was on. Not because … Read more
Jane Yee, Duncan Greive and Alex Casey gather around the oval table and talk about the latest happenings in New Zealand television and real life in New Zealand. It’s a massive week on The Real Pod as Alex, Jane and Duncan discuss the one-two punch of Lorde’s new single and the nation’s new Bachelor. After a ten … Read more
Jane Yee, Duncan Greive and Alex Casey gather around the oval table and talk about the latest happenings in New Zealand television and real life in New Zealand. The dorks return for episode two, with a whole lot of new television to discuss. This starts with the impressive debut of The Project NZ, and Duncan’s terrified … Read more
Failed presenter Duncan Greive reviews the first episode of The Project, Three’s new 7pm current affairs show. The lights came on and, after two weeks of as-live rehearsals, they really were speaking to the nation. Even for the show’s guest Rove McManus, who has spent most of his adult life on live television, it was a big … Read more
For a strange week in November, The Spinoff’s editor Duncan Greive was on the longlist to host Three’s new 7pm current affairs show The Project NZ. Here he gives a blow by blow of a botching. “He’s a household name and needs no introduction – so why am I bothering? Ladies and gentlemen, would you … Read more
Rumour has it that when Mark Weldon threw Campbell Live down a well, a tearful John Campbell cursed the 7pm slot on TV3: Road Cops, Come Dine with Me and Story have all met grisly fates there since. But last night Spinoff prophet Calum Henderson watched a live dress rehearsal for The Project, and predicts … Read more
Tara Ward watches the new promo video for TV3’s new 7pm show The Project, and is overwhelmed with pumpkins, backflips and Jesse Mulligan’s cha-cha. Some might say that a song and dance routine has no place in the serious world of current affairs. To them, I kick-ball-change and pirouette in their face, for the promo … Read more
Duncan Greive finds some sweet reprieve in the shambles of The Crowd Goes Wild, the only seven o’clock show New Zealand can count on right now. In these times of dread and chaos it’s hard to know what induces more anxiety: being away from a constant supply of breathless reporting, or mainlining it ceaselessly. On … Read more
Will The Project usurp Hosking? Will Shortland Street bring back Lionel? Will Dominic Bowden take his place in The Bachelor circle of life? We look bravely to the year ahead and pluck out the most promising bits of local television programming. Survivor New Zealand It feels like 1000 years have passed since Lana Coc-Kroft had a deadly … Read more
Who will host 7pm current affairs show The Project when it comes to TV3 next year? Tara Ward makes some very early, very plausible predictions. All my dreams came true in one press release when Mediaworks announced the launch of current affairs panel show The Project. Scheduled in the troublesome 7.00pm timeslot, Mediaworks promises The Project … Read more