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Pop CultureMarch 4, 2025

Is Endangered Species Aotearoa home to the best comedy duo on TV right now?

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Our unlikely intrepid pair are back for another season of discovery, and the timing could not be better. 

Nicola Toki and Pax Assadi emerge from deep waters of the Hauraki Gulf in a state of ecstasy. They’ve just had some rare one-on-one time with an enormous happy manta ray, and neither can contain their excitement. “Holy moly, thats one of the coolest things we’ve ever done on the show,” gushes Toki. “It’s like you’re a kid again right? And that’s the bit we lose when we are adults. I want it for my kid, and your kid, to have these experiences, and for us to remember what it is like to feel that magic.”

Magic is a pretty good word for Endangered Species, a local nature documentary series that takes a big swing by championing exclusively native wildlife and landscapes over Attenborough’s staggering savannahs and star-nosed moles. Hosted by “New Zealand’s favourite bird nerd” Nicola Toki and “humble comedy legend” Pax Assadi, the show traverses the far reaches of the country and tracks down our most vulnerable species, while also giving a gentle and compassionate education to those of us who might not have, as they say, touched grass in a while.

“Do you know what you are hearing?” Toki asks Assadi as they enter the forest of Tiritiri Matangi. “Lots of birds at once?” shrugs Assadi. “…Also known as?” she goads, as if encouraging a small child. Assadi’s eyes light up – one season down and he’s finally retained some information. “…The dawn chorus!”

There’s a lot to love about Endangered Species, but Toki and Assadi as a comedy duo is unbeatable. She takes the lead and brings enthusiasm and expertise, and he tags along as the wide-eyed and wise-cracking plus-one who, more often than not, just seems to want to take every critter home with him. “Is that for us to takeaway?” Assadi says, eyeing up a tiny tītipounamu in a cloth bag on Tiritiri Matangi. When they find an impossibly plush looking petrel chick, he’s at it again. “Nicola,” he whispers. “It’s a fluffy baby bird… It’s really cute.” Pause. “… Can I have it?”

Supporting the duo on their quest are a raft of remarkable volunteers, coordinators, rangers and experts. Up north, they catch a glimpse of the rare tara iti, or fairy tern, the most critically endangered bird in the country with only 30-odd left. “There’s more people caring for them now than there are birds,” DOC’s Alex Wilson explains, adding some good news – they’ve had nine chicks survive from the last breeding season. “Your enthusiasm and your positivity in the face of a very challenging situation is incredibly inspiring,” says Toki.

Toki and Assadi talking biodiversity in the Hauraki Gulf

Speaking of challenging situations, there’s also volunteers Simon and Morag who devote their days to helping monitor the tītipounamu, the smallest bird in the country that weighs no more than a postcard, and has a call so high it cannot be heard by most people. Toki and Assadi sit back to back in awe, watching the pair gently band the tiny legs and weigh their tiny bodies. A little bird that brings about huge joy in Assadi in particular. “I felt its wing flap against my face!” he gushes, star struck, after they release one back into the air. 

The show itself has as lightness of a touch to rival Simon and Morag, spending just enough time with each new species to deepen our understanding without ever dragging. It’s also not afraid to break the fourth wall, cutting back from the sweeping opening teaser to both hosts looking perplexed in the recording booth. “Feels like we are really stretching the budget this year,” says Toki. “I know, but I’ve run the numbers Nicola,” says Assadi, punching sums furiously into a calculator that one can only assume is displaying the joke number 80085, “and we’re good to go.”

Toki and Assadi post manta ray encounter

Endangered Species is also peppered with nods to the impacts of colonisation and how some of the species relate to te ao Māori. When we travel to Tiritiri Matangi, there’s a history lesson in how the native forest was cleared for farming in the 1800s, and how the tītipounamu were traditionally viewed as messengers to Tāne Mahuta, god of the forest. In show that proudly champions everything that Aotearoa has to offer, hopefully more of these historical and cultural links keep being made and more voices of tangata whenua included.

Back on the boat in the Hauraki Gulf after coming face to face with the mighty manta ray, Toki and Assadi are still brimming with glee. Assadi in particular looks like he has had something close to a spiritual encounter. When you have experiences like this, it does spark something in you that dies when you spend a lot of time in the city,” he says. It makes you suddenly want to protect all of it. This is our planet, and it is beautiful.”

Watch Endangered Species Aotearoa on TVNZ+

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Pop CultureMarch 3, 2025

New to streaming: What to watch on Netflix NZ, Neon and more this week

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We round up everything coming to streaming services this week, including Netflix, Amazon Prime Video, Disney+, Apple TV+, ThreeNow, Neon and TVNZ+

If you love family-friendly TV: Secrets at Red Rocks (Neon, March 9)

Jam-packed with adventure, thrills and fantasy, Secrets at Red Rocks brings to life the Celtic myth of the selkie and transports it to the awe-inspiring landscape of Aotearoa. The adaption of Rachael King’s beloved book features rising star Korban Knock as Jake, an eccentric 12-year-old who finds a magical sealskin and unwittingly unleashes a spell that threatens to destroy his family. Filmed on Pōneke’s rugged coast, Jake must muster up the courage to face this unexpected danger before it’s too late. Like Under the Mountain and Whale Rider, Secrets at Red Rocks will be sure to capture the imagination of the whole whānau.

If you like nature documentaries with a twist: Endangered Species Aotearoa (TVNZ+, March 3)

Comedian Pax Assadi and conservationist Nicola Toki are back to track down our most at-risk critters. The season kicks off with “armchair wildlife enthusiast” Assadi and Toki visiting Tiritiri Matangi Island to witness the banding and release of the adorable tītipounamu – Aotearoa’s smallest bird. Endangered Species Aotearoa “lifts viewers up with humour,” wrote Tara Ward in her review last year, “and then brings us back to earth by reminding us that as far as the planet goes, we’re up the freshwater creek without a paddle.”

If you enjoy offbeat documentaries: When the Cows Come Home (DocPlay, March 3)

It’s been seven years since Costa Botes’ last feature, but the icon of local independent filmmaking is back with When the Cows Come Home. Premiering at Whānau Mārama: New Zealand International Film Festival, Botes focuses his lens on farmer-philosopher Andrew Johnstone’s unique relationship with Tilly and Maggie, two cows he saved from slaughter. Described as the “most Kiwi film ever”, When the Cows Come Home explores human-animal commooonication, farming and the whims of fortune. This wonderfully idiosyncratic documentary about Johnstone and his bovine besties is sure to stand out from the herd.

If you like crime-comedy capers: Deli Boys (Disney+, March 6)

In this riotous new outing from Vice star Abdullah Saeed, the pampered lives of Mir (Asif Ali) and Raj (Saagar Shaikh) are upended when their convenience store magnate father dies in a freak accident. The Pakistani-American brothers soon discover that their father’s convenience store empire was a front – the actual family business has been dealing in drugs with a side of murder. À la Michael Corleone it’s now time for the reluctant (and incompetent) mafiosos to take up their fathers mantle in the criminal underworld.

If you like tear-jerking K-drama: When Life Gives You Tangerines (Netflix, March 7)

Set on the picturesque Jeju Island, the “Queen of K-pop” IU and Park Bo-gum star in the hotly-anticipated K-drama When Life Gives You Tangerines. Across four seasons from the 1960’s to the present day, the K-drama follows Ae-sun, a dream-filled rebel and Gwan-sik, a smitten square peg. With the tagline “Dedicated to you. Still blooming, always dreaming,” expect When Life Gives You Tangerines to shatter your heart into a thousand pieces and then put it all back together.

Pick of the Flicks: The Conquest of Everest (DocPlay, March 6)

The first successful summit of Mount Everest in 1953 by Sir Edmund Hillary and Tenzing Norgay is the stuff of legend, but few know that fellow Kiwi mountaineer George Lowe was there to film the expedition. Shot in majestic technicolour, the Oscar-nominated documentary The Conquest of Everest chronicles the history, the preparation and first ascent of the Goddess Mother of the World. One critic described the scene where Hillary and Norgay return from the summit of Everest as “one of the grandest, most throat-choking moments” they’d ever witnessed in film.

The rest

Netflix

Hot Wheels Let’s Race: S3 (March 3)

Andrew Schulz: LIFE (March 4)

The Watchers (March 4)

Larissa: The Other Side of Anitta (March 5)

Medusa (March 5)

With Love, Meghan (March 5)

The Leopard (March 5)

Tyler Perry’s Beauty in Black S1 P2 (March 6)

Love is Blind: Sweden: S1: After the Altar (March 6)

CHAOS: The Manson Murders (March 7)

When Life Gives You Tangerines (March 7)

Nadaaniyan (March 7)

Delicious (March 7)

Plankton: The Movie (March 7)

Formula 1: Drive to Survive S7 (March 7)

TVNZ+

Anger Management (March 3)

Hard Quiz S6 (March 3)

Endangered Species Aotearoa S2 (March 3)

Cold Case: Brett Fraser (March 3)

Get Carter (March 4)

Laid (March 7)

Hard Quiz (March 7)

Dope Girls (March 8)

Double The Money (March 8)

My Best Friend’s Wedding (March 8)

Coraline (March 9)

Limitless (March 9)

Neon

T.I.M (March 3)

Australia’s Open (March 3)

Billionaire Blooms (March 3)

The Watchers (March 3)

The Parenting (March 3)

Vida the Vet (March 3)

Who is Luigi Magione? (March 4)

Bonnie And Clyde (March 5)

It Ends With Us (March 6)

The Gentlemen (March 7)

The Baldwins (March 7)

Gold Rush S15 (March 7)

Aussie Gold Hunters S9 (March 7)

Show Dogs (March 8)

2001: A Space Odyssey (March 9)

Secrets at Red Rocks (March 9)

Prime Video

Hounds of War (March 4)

The Nanny S1-S6 (March 4)

Practical Magic (March 6)

Picture This (March 6)

Disney+

Daredevil: Born Again (March 5)

Deli Boys (March 6)

Another You (March 7)

Doctor Odyssey: Midseason Return (March 8)

Grey’s Anatomy: Season 21: Midseason Return (March 8)

Apple TV+

Immediate Family (March 3)

Hayu

Denise Richards and Her Wild Things (March 5)

Acorn/AMC+/Shudder

Satranic Panic (AMC+, Shudder, March 3)

Living with Chucky (Shudder, March 3)

The Retaliators (Shudder, March 3)

T-Blockers (Shudder, March 3)

Recipes for Love and Murder S2 (Acorn TV, March 3)

Dark Winds S3 (AMC+, March 9)

DocPlay

When the Cows Come Home (March 3)

The Conquest of Everest (March 6)