MediaWorks’ CEO asks us to imagine a world with only government-owned TV news. Unless something is made to change at TVNZ, he tells Duncan Greive, that could be a reality. The New Zealand media executive in 2019 is an individual suffering from a very specific type of exhaustion. This is true of people from all … Read more
Commissioners are among the most powerful and coveted roles in television. Suddenly, after years of little movement, there are five vacancies. Two stories hit players in the local television industry hard and in quick succession. The first came early in July when TVNZ announced the departure of its longtime head of scripted, Kathleen Anderson. Then, … Read more
Good morning, and welcome to The Bulletin. In today’s edition: National launches major policy on cancer drug funding, popular support swells for Ihumātao protectors as govt steps in, and ski industry workers face snow drought. National have announced big plans for cancer drug funding if they win in 2020. At the party’s annual conference, leader Simon … Read more
The state-owned broadcaster has quietly announced it sees no prospect of paying a dividend in the ‘foreseeable future’ TVNZ has told its government owner that it will in effect become a not-for-profit, with the goal of returning a dividend jettisoned in favour of a focus on “the future sustainability of the business”. In the annual … Read more
While researching NZ on Air for a recent history, Duncan Greive noticed a shocking 30 year trend. News broke over the weekend that Love Island NZ, Three’s biggest announcement of the year, will now not screen in 2019, and realistically is unlikely to be made at all now. The fall of a much-discussed, much-critiqued reality TV … Read more
For their latest ageing episode, Hilary Barry joins the On the Rag team to talk wrinkle creams, menopause and why people still think she is Jeremy Wells’ mum. This month’s episode of On the Rag is all about ageing. Time ravages us all, of course, but there’s no denying that women bear the bigger burden … Read more
They’re the two most important shows for TVNZ 2 and Three. And their ratings are changing radically, writes Duncan Greive. TV channels tell different stories about themselves depending on whom they’re talking to. When speaking to funding bodies, they emphasise the diversity of genres they air, and interest groups whose needs are met. When speaking … Read more
Let’s Get Inventin’ was a late-noughties reality TV show that pitted children and scientists against common sense. Josie Adams looks back at what made it great. Our screens have played host to many questionable children’s television shows over the years: Bumble, Drew Neemia-era Sticky TV, and Worzel Gummidge Down Under are just three examples. But … Read more
A lion escapes from the zoo and kills a Rotorua poodle. Weird story, but how did it actually happen? Jean Sergent watches Who Killed Lucy The Poodle?, a TVNZ documentary that attempts to get to the bottom of the legendary affair. For some reason, this story makes perfect sense to me. The premise of Who … Read more
Alex Casey woke up at 5.59am this morning to watch John Campbell’s Breakfast debut. Here are some of the highlights. Less than two weeks since the announcement that John Campbell was moving to TVNZ’s Breakfast to take Jack Tame’s place, there he was on the telly. It was 6am in the shiny pink studio and … Read more
A new miniseries adaptation of Les Misérables starts on TVNZ tonight – and it more than holds up to the novel, says Kate Langdon. We’ve all heard of Les Misérables in one form or another. It began with the historical novel by Victor Hugo, first published in 1862 and considered one of the greatest novels of … Read more
After years of hammy performances and ropey writing, The Bad Seed represents a landmark for New Zealand serialised drama. Duncan Greive reviews. Serialised New Zealand television drama is something of a paradox. It’s our most lavishly funded screen form – a single season will often cost more than the entire current affairs programming sector gets … Read more
This Sunday, two Charlotte Grimshaw novels come to the screen in the form of The Bad Seed. She writes about the experience of having her work adapted for TV. This month, a small team arrived at my door. As part of publicity for the adaptation of my novels The Night Book and Soon into TV … Read more
Killing Eve, last year’s critical sleeper hit turned actual hit, returns to our screens today. Sam Brooks is ready to dive back in. The most telling moment in Killing Eve’s second season premiere doesn’t focus on either deadly assassin Villanelle or the less deadly Eve, but mysterious intelligence officer Carolyn. Eve comes across Carolyn on a … Read more
Anika Moa Unleashed finished up its second season with its most coveted and triumphant get yet: a 20 year reunion of TrueBliss. Okay, so it’s not all of TrueBliss. But one less Carly Binding and one plus Anika Moa is still a pretty damn good effort at a reunion. I’m getting ahead of myself, though. I’m … Read more
Love Island has smashed streaming records all over the world and Three’s purchase of the global rights, along with a pricey local franchise, will complete a radical transformation of the channel. This week The Spinoff learned that Mediaworks, parent company of Three, plans on launching a New Zealand version of ITV’s megahit Love Island. The … Read more
The new local black comedy Fresh Eggs premieres on TVNZ2 tonight. Sam Brooks talks to the creators about what makes it so different. Fresh Eggs doesn’t look or feel like anything else on New Zealand televsion right now – or ever. The show, about two city-dwellers who move to the countryside after some life upheavals, has a … Read more
With a new season of the much-loved drama Cold Feet beginning next week on TVNZ on Demand, Tara Ward takes a trip down memory lane to remind us all why it remains such an iconic show. 2003 was a shit year for television heroines. I spent the year in a chronic state of dehydration, first … Read more
In Following Twain, which premiered on TVNZ One last night, Oscar Kightley follows the journey Mark Twain made around the country during his visit here in 1895. Sam Brooks reviews. The appeal of a travelogue show is one that has always eluded me. It’s the travel version of edging – all of the mildly pleasant bits … Read more
A psyschic medium has launched a social media broadside against a comedian and NZ’s biggest 7pm show. Alex Casey retraces the gory details. It’s official: Sue Nicholson is mad as hell and not going to take it any more. Best known for her recurring role on TVNZ’s Sensing Murder, where she can frequently be found … Read more
Alex Casey woke up at 6am this morning to flick between the first episode for 2019 of both The AM Show and Breakfast. Here are some of the highlights. Nothing captures Monday morning ennui like The AM Show. “Welcome back my friends,” belts out prog rock band Emerson, Lake and Palmer, “to the show that never … 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
Angel, Dove, Mercy and the rest of the flock are back, as happy as ever in blue. Writer Anke Richter, a cult observer, watches Gloriavale: The Return. This was originally published on 14 May 2018. The best thing I could do to prepare myself for Gloriavale: The Return was to catch up on the latest … Read more
In the first of a series on the major New Zealand media companies, sourced through anonymous conversations with senior executives, Duncan Greive assesses the state of NZ’s biggest TV network. ‘We’re buying to play on the channel, not to put it in the cupboard.” In a single caustic line, MediaWorks’ head of content Andrew Szusterman … Read more
Alex Casey talks to Medulla Oblongata following their shock elimination from House of Drag. Medulla Oblongata is the name of the stem that connects the spinal cord to the brain. It’s also the part that controls the gag reflex. It’s also the name of the recently-eliminated contestant from House of Drag, a non-binary former refugee … Read more
The latest forecast for our most beloved weather presenter? Cloudy with a chance of cheese rolls. It’s been four years since Jim Hickey left our screens, leaving a cavernous cumburger-shaped hole in hearts. Sure, Dan the Weatherman is 100% a living icon and has well and truly run with the catchphrase gauntlet. But it doesn’t … Read more
Alex Casey visits the chaotic House of Drag mansion, and meets the dragstars changing the face of local reality TV. At the end of the winding driveway of the House of Drag mansion, we are met with two drag queens luxuriating in nude underwear, eating cheeseburgers and dangling their feet in the enormous fountain. It … Read more
Alex Casey celebrates New Zealand’s king of the costume box, Rawdon Christie. Here at The Spinoff, we’ve always had a bit of a soft spot for the mystery man they call Rawdy. Gracing the couch on TVNZ’s Breakfast for four years, he was a beloved early morning oddity who interrogated politicians as sternly as he … Read more
The Real Pod assembles to dissect the week in New Zealand pop culture and real life, with special thanks to Nando’s. Call the police, because it’s time for a CHAOS POD this week. Cracking open a couple of ice cold Red Bulls, your friendly Real Pod team dissect all the real news and reality TV that … Read more