Looking for something great to watch on broadcast television this Christmas? Good luck. It’s been a grim year, and if you’re facing Christmas without streaming options like Netflix or Neon, then you should prepare for the worst. There’s nowhere grimmer than free-to-air TV this festive season, unless you like repeats of Tipping Point: Lucky Stars, … Read more
With the future of Mediaworks’ TV business hanging in the balance, Al Jazeera news presenter Kamahl Santamaria reflects on what the imperilled channel meant, and continues to mean, to him. I always liked the logo. The fresh bright colours, the nod to a koru in its shape, and just the fact that it was something … Read more
MediaWorks’ owners have called time after years of losses from its TV division. Sources say the company will announce it is for sale – if no buyers emerge, it will close within months. Three is facing the biggest crisis in its three decade history today, as its ownership will soon announce the channel is for … Read more
Jamie Wall reviews Jonah, the two-part Three telefeature that follows the life of our most famous All Black, and finds it an effective but mixed retelling of the legend. Honestly, it’s a wee bit disappointing that the only notable on-screen dramatisation of the All Blacks in recent years was centred on replacement first five Stephen Donald. … Read more
Sam Brooks reviews Mean Mums, the new sitcom from Three that manages to make putting a great show together look easy. When it premiered as part of Three’s Pilot Week last year, I called Mean Mums the winner of the bunch. Nearly a year later, my enthusiasm for that initial pilot hasn’t dimmed. It was the … Read more
Will we ever truly reach peak TV? Maybe! And if we do, 2019 might be the year when it happens. Sam Brooks and Alex Casey run down all the things you absolutely cannot miss in 2019. Golden Boy / Mean Mums (TV3) The successful pilots from TV3’s inaugural pilot week are presumably coming this year, both having … Read more
Will Jacinda Ardern and her new cabinet mess with our beloved remote? Duncan Greive inspects the broadcasting policies of Labour, NZ First and the Greens to find out. The elevation of Jacinda Ardern to prime minister has led to torrents of words being typed – about her youth, her gender, her impact on national sporting … Read more
The live auction final of The Block NZ tonight delivered more thrills and spills than Peter Wolfkamp on a motorised chilly bin. Devoted blockaholic Jane Yee was in the thick of it, and bring us this harrowing report. What a night to be at the Grand Millennium. I arrived expecting to be part of an … Read more
Duncan Greive and Toby Manhire rate the current crop of political shows on New Zealand television right now. Most New Zealanders, as John Key was fond of calling them, would very likely be shocked and appalled to discover that our politics shows run just about all year, every year. Irrespective of the election cycle, or … Read more
A new promo video for The AM Show has unearthed a grisly revelation: Duncan Garner is not only replacing Paul Henry, he is… becoming him. Everyone is talking about +HR=E this week, be it the confronting new rebrand or the inexplicable colonial garb worn strictly by comedians in their bold new channel vision. But there’s … Read more
So farewell then, TV3. New Zealand’s third channel is now the 100% numeral-free Three, complete with a new visual identity that attempts the rare feat of being both “vibrant, playful and inspiring” and wholly mathematics themed. Madeleine Chapman, José Barbosa and Calum Henderson weigh in on the changes. Exclusive: The TV3 Pinterest board Following a convoluted … 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
It’s been a long, lazy summer for many of our morning news outlets, which are finally set to return on Monday after a month off air. But who provided the best holiday cover for Hosking, Ferguson, Barry and the rest? Duncan Greive grades the breakfast news stand-ins. Thanks to the internet and aeroplanes and probably My … Read more
Fresh from reporting on the American Trumpocalypse, Newshub’s larger than life political editor Patrick Gower tells Toby Manhire about the lessons his US experience offers to NZ media, and how he’s preparing to tackle an election here in 2017, all over the course of a mere seven hours, in the latest instalment of On the … Read more
Former Mediaworks news chief Mark Jennings writes on the background to the departure of TV3’s heaviest hitter, the huge hole it leaves, and the challenge ahead for heir apparent Duncan Garner. When Paul Henry’s expletive-laden interview appeared in the New Zealand Herald eight days ago it looked like a clear case of presentercide. By deliberately labelling … Read more
Alex Casey previews episode one of Funny Girls, and we debut an exclusive clip ahead of the show’s return tonight on Tv3. No pressure on Funny Girls season two but, as the hapless but impeccably-dressed producer Pauline says, all they have to do with their late night 22-minute comedy sketch series is “further all women and … Read more
A rare experimental edition of On the Rag featuring Laura Daniel and Madeleine Sami, two key players in TV3’s female-driven sketch comedy Funny Girls. In this special edition of On the Rag, Alex Casey chats to Madeleine Sami (director) and Laura Daniel (writer and star) of Funny Girls ahead of the second season. What does it take … Read more
TVNZ’s Terry Teo remake is a return to form for New Zealand family programming, says Ethan Sills, and a shining example of what our local television should be. What will it take for the rest of the industry to take note? When you’re a kid, nothing seems impossible. You have the whole world ahead of … Read more
Westside has finished for another year, but the good news is there could be at least 23 more seasons to go. Calum Henderson previews some highlights coming up between now and 2039. Season two of Westside concluded on Sunday night with the West family right in the thick of the 1981 Springbok tour. The Outrageous Fortune … Read more
Kanoa Lloyd’s job is to present the weather for us every night on TV3, so why do people care so much about her clothes? Anny Ma tells armchair fashion critics everywhere to sit down and shut up. I can safely say that my life is made more spectacular from seeing Kanoa Lloyd’s face light up … Read more
Ethan Sills has a radical solution for NZ on Air’s long-running drama problem: letting the public be more involved in choosing which shows get funded. Public funding hasn’t had a great few years here in New Zealand. Since the end of Outrageous Fortune and the cast swap on Go Girls, many local dramas this decade have more-or-less failed, … Read more
Yesterday afternoon three legends of news had lunch at (where else?) Prego. The Herald‘s former editor-in-chief Tim Murphy and ex-Mediaworks’ head of news Mark Jennings interrogated ’90s news icon Bill Ralston about his run for Council. Ahead of our publication of Murphy’s account of the lunch, Jennings remembers the glory days of his former colleague. Bill and … Read more
Our resident Blockaholic Jane Yee recaps the highs and lows from week one of The Block NZ, including wild pranks and the Dylz/Dyls conundrum. Hello, my name is Jane and I’m a Blockaholic. I did the quiz on the TV3 website, it’s official. The Block holds a lot of appeal for me. Not because I … Read more
The kid from Milton has established herself as a journalist to be reckoned with, but much will depend on the Sam-and-Mike chemistry, writes Mark Jennings, former long serving TV3 news chief. Samantha Hayes’ appointment as Hilary Barry’s replacement is big news – in Milton. Hayes hails from the South Otago town of 2,000 people, best … 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
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
Think media celebs are spoilt rotten? They are, confesses Jesse Mulligan – right up until the day they say goodbye. Hundreds of thousands of New Zealanders will watch Hilary Barry deliver her final bulletin on TV3 this Friday night, but the real tragedy is that only dozens will get to attend the party afterwards when … 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
Mark Weldon misrepresented Hilary Barry in a company-wide email before his resignation, writes Hayden Donnell. On Monday night Mark Weldon sent an email to all MediaWorks staff. It was mostly a defence of his tumultuous tenure as the company’s CEO: assertions its finances were in good order, potshots at “spurious” speculation over its ability to survive. There was … Read more