Is it you or is it me? Viewers react to shock Shortland Street move
Are you as shocked as these iconic Shortland Street actors are?
Yesterday, it was announced that Shortland Street’s famous hourlong winter Mondays will transform into a six night monster. And, surprisingly, some fans were not happy.
The incredible news that Shortland Street will screen on Sundays from September hit me harder than Chris Warner’s bathtub crashing through his kitchen ceiling. Shortland Street, six nights a week? Be still, my beating heart.
This was an announcement more unexpected than a secret Warner sperm child turning up out of the blue. Shortland Street is about to spread its soapy empire even further, invading our sacred Sunday evenings with more medical misadventure and hijinks of the heart. It’s a big deal. Country Calendar is probably shitting its moleskin pants in terror, and I can’t even think about how Prime is going to break the news to Storage Wars.
Six nights a week equals six times the chaos, six times the drama, six times six times six = so much Shortland Street goodness.
Or so I thought.
To gauge the reaction to this incredible revelation, I turned to the shuddering heart of public opinion that is the Stuff comments section. This is the front line of human emotion, where feelings flow as rampantly as the poo-nami in Drew’s house after his septic pipes burst. I was not disappointed. The nation had spoken, and it turns out nothing makes people madder than a free-to-air television soap gaining 22 more minutes in the televisual schedule of our hearts.
I was Leanne trying to change the photocopier toner, baffled and bewildered. I needed medical assistance, stat. Anchor me in the middle of your deep blue sea, Shortland Street on Sundays. Can I get an “AMEN”, New Zealand?
But like the great Sir Paul McCartney wrote, when I find myself in times of trouble, Michael Murphy comes to me. I let the wise words of the 2004 NZ Idol runner-up wash over my battered soul, much like the time a drunken Ali power-chucked over Dawn after Leanne spiked the Christmas trifle.
Tara Ward
Tara Ward has written about television and culture for The Spinoff for several years. She lives in Ōtepoti Dunedin, where she tries to avoid walking up hills.
