Pop Culture

strong

 The Spinoff’s weekly guide to the very best in entertainment, delivered to your inbox every Friday.

The Spinoff Members

bettermanfeature.png

Review: Robbie Williams goes chimp crazy in Better Man 

Tinas-Test-Feature-image-1.png

'I thought there would be more meditation,' said one woman in the line for the toilet. 'Me too, but then it was pretty cheap, so can’t complain,' added her friend.

What happens when Rachel Hunter sells out a Christchurch school hall?

MLITV_Bubba.png

'I didn’t even know what a Fiat was before these ads.'

‘Sometimes I’ll get a free drink’: Bubbah’s double life as Tina from Turners

featureselfie.jpg

10.53am: Our next film is a British 60s flick about a bunch of little kids. Their tiny British accents are adorable, but I don’t care about their sad little lives. What about mine?

Munchies and mania: surviving a 24-hour movie marathon

heavenly.jpg

Happy 30th birthday to one of the most ambitious, bizarre, beautiful and brutal films New Zealand has ever produced. 

Rewatching Heavenly Creatures, three decades on

MLITV_Josh-Thomson.png

'I looked over and saw Dai Henwood just shaking his head.'

‘The room went dead quiet’: Josh Thomson on his worst 7 Days moment

FeatureImage_TheSouthlandKidsMovingPictures.png

Meet the Southland principal who wrote and directed a feature length fantasy epic starring the whole school.

‘Primary school LOTR’: The principal giving Peter Jackson a run for his money

MLITV_Christian-Cullen.png

'I like the home comforts: the food, the bed, the couches, the Sky TV...'

‘You’ll love it, but you’ll hate it’: Christian Cullen on becoming CTI’s most unlikely star

FeatureImage_MAFS-Lucinda.png

A soul-to-soul with Married At First Sight's spiritual star, who doesn't own a TV and thinks the show is 'trash'.

A drink with Lucinda Light, the greatest MAFS participant of all time

FeatureImage_Bugger.png

It’s 25 years since a dog said ‘bugger’ on TV... and changed the nation forever.

‘It was just the right word’: When ‘bugger’ took New Zealand by storm

badjellyfeature.png

How Mukpuddy conjured up a bold new vision of Badjelly the Witch

FeatureImage_MamboNo-5Warehouse.png

Ladies and gentlemen… this is really, really bad.

What has The Warehouse done to my favourite song? 

office.jpg

Only read this if you've also had John o' Groats, Fray Bentos and the sword of Damocles stuck in your head since 2002.

A complete list of things I only know about because of The Office

FeatureImage_SummerBachDVDs.png

There's nothing better than having your movies curated by a total stranger. 

An ode to the weird bach DVD collection

Claire Mabey

Screenshot-2023-06-29-at-4.05.06-PM.png

Did you love or hate season three of The Bear? We argue the pros and cons.

Does The Bear suck now? A hater and an enthusiast argue about season three

claudia-mushin-2.jpg

'It obviously spoke to the children,' says the woman responsible for promoting fish and chips at breakfast, lunch and tea.

Meet the unsung icon behind the primary school hit ‘Fish and Chips’

MLITV_FeatureImage_Jack-Tame.png

The Q+A host reflects on his career in broadcasting, and the moment he realised it was all worth it.

‘I’ve never lived it down’: The Breakfast live cross that still haunts Jack Tame

Copy-of-Copy-of-Tinas-Test-Feature-image-2.png

'For blokes, it's probably the child they never knew about. And for women, it’s probably the child they’ve never spoken about.'

‘One hell of a shock’: Why not everyone wants flowers from David Lomas

broTown.png

The groundbreaking show has had mixed reviews over the past two decades. 

Reviewing the very first episode of bro’Town, 20 years on

FeatureImage_TomtomtomtomCruise.png

I watched all 46 of Tom Cruise's films over the past 12 months. The question on everyone's lips: why?

‘The mission is clearly possible’: On watching every single Tom Cruise movie ever made

AWM_repoting_google_maps.png

Google Maps navigation now lets you report police sightings while driving. But should you do it?

Is it OK to nark on the cops? An argument with myself

Liams-images-35.png

Local elections will decide the future of Māori seats on councils, with referendums testing New Zealand's commitment to equitable representation and Te Tiriti principles.

The fate of Māori seats on councils lies with those who vote

climate-change-and-banks-story.png

Despite making net-zero commitments, big banks have lent fossil fuel companies billions of dollars.

How banks can make climate pledges – then keep funding fossil fuels

bulletin-seymour-Untitled-design-33-850&#215;510.jpg

David Seymour has welcomed the huge amount of public interest in his controversial proposed law.

Treaty bill submissions have closed. Now what?

IMG_3079.jpeg

A parent shares their experience and fears as public submissions are sought on the use of puberty blockers for gender-affirming care.

‘She knew before she could read’: The reality of raising a trans child

United Tribes flag

A symbol of Māori sovereignty, political agency, and the nation's early steps toward self-determination.

The first official flag of Aotearoa and what it represents

shortsightedness.png

Shortsightedness in kids is skyrocketing overseas. Is New Zealand next?

Staring down the ‘silent epidemic’ of myopia in children

Screenshot-2024-06-19-145648.png

With the considerable benefit of hindsight and creative licence, we present July 16, 1984, as it happened.

Live updates: 16/7/84, one of the wildest days in New Zealand politics

Four members of the Spinoff staff and one completely unbiased stranger run down their favourite shows on Lightbox.

What do Alex Casey, Leonie Hayden, Alex Braae, Toby Morris and one person who is definitely not Hayden Donnell watch in their time off? Check it out here.

The Spinoff staff and one unbiased stranger pick their favourite Lightbox shows

This content was created in paid partnership with Lightbox. 

Pop CultureMarch 28, 2019

VIDEO: The Spinoff staff and one unbiased stranger pick their favourite Lightbox shows

More Reading

Loading...