Design: Alex Casey

Pop CultureMarch 29, 2024

What to watch and listen to over the long weekend

Group Think

A bunch of people

Design: Alex Casey

From Steve Martin to Ricky Stanicky, a pick’n’mix of things worth watching and listening to this long weekend.

This is an excerpt from our weekly pop culture newsletter Rec Room. Sign up here.

If you’re at a loss for something to occupy yourself with this Easter, don’t panic: The Spinoff’s got you covered. We’ve pulled together this fantastic list of the very best television shows, movies and podcasts that we’ve either recently enjoyed, or are looking forward to watching or listening to over the next few days. There’s something for everyone, like a fascinating new documentary about comedian Steve Martin, a remake of a Patrick Swayze classic, and a podcast about a champion ten pin bowler who uses both hands to bowl. Enjoy!

Mr Bates and the Post Office (TVNZ+, from March 31)

There’s nothing like a trusty old British drama to get you through the long weekend, and this one looks like a stonker. Following the shocking true saga of how one defective IT system saw hundreds of innocent posties wrongly accused of theft, fraud and false accounting, it stars Toby Jones (Infamous; Tinker, Tailor, Soldier, Spy) alongside acting heavyweights such as Hayley from Coro, and Becky from Coro. If that’s not compelling enough, the series allegedly “shook up” Britain when it aired earlier this year, with over nine million people tuning in, then a million-strong petition submitted to Parliament calling for justice, and within weeks the British government announced law changes due to the public outcry. The power of television! / Alex Casey

Road House (Prime Video)

The original Road House is totally batshit 80s action, featuring Patrick Swayze as a bouncer defending what we would call a rural pub from a malevolent businessman’s henchmen. It features the truly psychotic line “I used to fuck guys like you in prison” during an iconic fight scene, and generally transcends all known boundaries of taste and logic. Weird choice for Jake Gyllenhaal (All Too Well 10 Minute Version) to remake, with the similarly slumming it Doug Liman (Swingers) directing. Still, while not quite as kite high as the original, it is definitely stupid fun throughout, with Gyllenhaal doing a great Jack Reacher impression as haunted MMA fighter Elwood Dalton and amazingly funny bad acting from Conor McGregor and his bulging bare butt. / Duncan Greive

Immaculate (in cinemas now)

Call me old-fashioned, but all I want for my Good Friday is to blob out and watch Sydney Sweeney deal with her demonic immaculate conception in a dusty 1960s nunnery. Yes, there’s been a total glut of freaky religious flicks in recent years, but my hope is that Immaculate will repent for the sins of Pope Russell Crowe having a huge ass mouth and The Nun having her own Wild Things moment. Vulture said it is “an art film at heart” and Time called it “bad-gal blasphemy of the highest order”. In Sweeney we trust, amen. / AC

Everything I Know About Love (TVNZ+)

I do not watch much TV – I finish maybe one limited run-series a year, and half heartedly start and don’t finish two or three others – but the bubbly and delightful Everything I Know About Love from a few years ago is one of the few shows I think I could rewatch. It’s short, perfect to watch over a long weekend, surprisingly hilarious, and makes me want to be more chaotic, which is a good thing (I think?) / Shanti Mathias

It’s Personal With Anika Moa (RNZ)

We’ve already written at length about how Anika Moa is one of the most surprising and disarming interviewers in the country, but her talent has always been compacted into the rigid confines of television, or the soundbites of commercial radio. Her new RNZ podcast, It’s Personal With Anika Moa, allows her to fully unleash in longform with the likes of Robyn Malcolm, Chelsea Winstanley and Kaiora Tipene. I can’t wait to get stuck in during my long Easter dog walks – and not just because in the first few moments of Robyn Malcolm’s episode she says her one regret in life was not getting into dogs earlier. / AC

Extraordinary (Disney+)

You might be thinking, “oh, not another superhero show”, but Extraordinary surprisingly punches through. The show follows Jen, a 25-year-old who doesn’t have a super power and is struggling to deal with it. She is supported by her friend Carrie who can summon ghosts and communicate through her body and Kash, Carrie’s boyfriend who can rewind time. The show is fun, funny and can be a little bit dark and dirty but that’s the charm of it. You’ll find yourself laughing but also thinking about the things that make life so beautiful. Season 2 kicks off from where the first season ends, and it just keeps getting better! / Isaiah Tour

You Hurt My Feelings (Prime Video)

A writer finds out that her very supportive husband hates her new book and has been lying to her about loving it. This drama starring an unsurprisingly excellent Julia Louis-Dreyfus is a great depiction of life and the lies we tell each other. Hot tip: Don’t watch this movie if your partner is someone who is brutally honest, because they will turn to you after the credits and they will say “that whole situation could have been avoided if he’d just been honest from the beginning”. / Mad Chapman

Steve! (martin) a documentary in 2 pieces (Apple TV+)

I simply cannot wait for this two part documentary series that promises to feature extremely long sequences of present-day 75-year-old Steve Martin doing laundry and playing the banjo. Heaven. Directed by Morgan Neville (20 Feet from Stardom), the appropriately-whacky named STEVE! (martin) a documentary in 2 pieces follows the comedy legend as he reflects on his standup career, reinventing the artform, pivoting to movies, and finally finding happiness in his art. Also features interviews with Jerry Seinfeld, Tina Fey, Selena Gomez, Diane Keaton, Larry David and truly so many more. A must watch for comedy fans. / AC

Ricky Stanicky (Prime Video)

I wondered what John Cena was up to when photos of him dressed up as Britney Spears turned up on the internet, and it got weirder with his OnlyFans announcement. When Ricky Stanicky landed, it all made sense. A group of childhood friends create an imaginary friend named Ricky Stanicky to take the blame for all their mishaps, which finally catches up with them when they’re adults (played by Zac Efron, Jermaine Fowler and Andrew Santino). In order to keep up this ruse, they enlist an actor called Rod (John Cena) to become Ricky Stanicky. It’s a good watch if you need something easy and even better if you go in with low expectations. Expect some laughs. / IT

Joyland (Apple TV+)

Joyland is the first Pakistani drama starring a trans person, and it’s about an out of work man who finds work at an erotic dance theatre and falls for one of the performers. The film is worth watching for all the beautiful, tender, funny relationships between the women in his life. This is ultimately a film about the ordinary ways we betray each other, and the sometimes devastating consequences thereof, but it’s a film that will stay with you for a long time. Also the cinematography is gorgeous and nearly made me want to move to Lahore. / SM

This podcast episode about a 10-pin bowler who bowls two-handed (Spotify)

American sports/pop culture/yelling podcast Pablo Torre Finds Out is one of the many pods I follow but never get around to listening to, so I can’t vouch for any of the other episodes… but I couldn’t resist the hook of this one about the Australian guy who became arguably the greatest 10-pin bowler the world has ever seen by defying the purists and bowling two-handed. And guess what… it didn’t disappoint! / Calum Henderson

Keep going!

ĀteaMarch 28, 2024

Whakaata Māori and the future of Māori media

Dan Taipua

Guest writer

While creating a slate of world-class shows, Whakaata Māori also developed a generation of world-class creatives.

Television is an odd word. It mixes the Ancient Greek and Latin languages, and its most literal meaning is “far-off sight”.

In the contemporary and living language of te reo Māori, “whakaata” as a noun includes the meaning “reflection”, and as a verb, “to reflect, display or exhibit”. “Whaakata Māori” then is a reflection of Māori, an image presented back to ourselves.

On the 20th anniversary of our national broadcaster, I’d like reflect on a legacy in television that has survived technological and political upheaval, brought Māori and non-Māori closer together, and built a precious record of our shared histories.

How long is 20 years?

An eternity, especially in the past two decades where just about every media organisation on earth went through an existential crisis. When the Māori Television Service sent out its first analogue signal on March 28, 2004, CD stores existed, phones were connected to your house, newspapers were broadsheets, magazines filled retail shelves, and only 2.5 million kiwi used the internet. TVs were cube-shaped.

Cut to the present day and Whakaata Māori has two digital broadcast television channels, one multilingual and one exclusively in te reo, an on-demand streaming service through the Māori+ app, an online news service through Te Ao Māori News (also an app), and multiple social media channels. While other media outlets struggled and some drowned in the seas of change, Whakaata Māori has been able to stay afloat, survive and lead.

That’s an incredible achievement at a technical and logistical level. Undeniable. Amazing. The sheer amount of change involved at each stage of digital transition has sundered larger but less-agile organisations, many of which were backed by huge amounts of foreign capital. We tend to think of television as the shows and content that appear on-screen, and of Māori television as an indigenous version of that content, but it’s the persistent training and retraining and education and upskilling of staff and clients and stakeholders that holds everything together. This adaptation is also Māori television.

How long is 20 years in politics?

Two eternities; possibly more. The security of state funding has been a major advantage throughout the above period of technological change, but brother, the funding ain’t that secure. An inherent risk of public funding is that the rug can be pulled out very quickly – while private sector services are able to decline until they fail, public sector services can be cancelled point blank.

Whakaata Māori is now in its fourth cycle of government (fifth by coalition count), seventh general election cycle, and second generation of voters – an impressive stretch but one that could fold on a whim. Consider just how many government departments and enterprises have been launched, shortly cancelled, revived and flopped in the intervening two decades, regardless of which party or coalition is in power. Consider also how many moonshots have directed funds into private pockets, how many major private sector ventures have folded of their own accord, and how thinly-spread the accountability for either has become.

While it’s currently trendy to be upset at the renaming of government departments, I think we can link the survivability of Whakaata Māori directly to the increased political value of te reo. The growth in exposure to the Māori language over two decades has strengthened its value to New Zealanders in general, increasing the mana of te reo by gathering allies.

Who is Whakaata Māori for?

It’s for everyone. There’s no whakapapa thermometer attached to our television remotes, and no percentage dial attached to the facial recognition chips on our smartphones. Indeed, the foundational promise of Whakaata Māori is to promote and normalise the taonga of language and culture – all are welcome to view and none are kept away.

Māori make up 17% of the national population and represent 33% of all viewers for Whakaata Māori content, figures that clearly demonstrate a strong demographic appeal. The remaining two-thirds of Whakaata Māori viewers are New Zealanders of all stripes – multi-generational New Zealanders, recent immigrants, permanent residents, international visitors, our friends and family and colleagues. I asked my own English-born mother why she spends significant time watching the channel: “Because it’s good,” she stated with the plain authority of anyone named mum, “and because my sons are Māori.”

Whakaata Māori reporting on the Christchurch earthquakes in 2011.

Whakaata Māori is and always was designed to appeal to tangata whenua; and we value it dearly. What we’ve come to understand over 20 years is that many other people also value the image and outlook of Māori, that a Māori worldview isn’t shunned by New Zealanders and that Māori contributions to media have a lasting appeal. This appeal also extends outside Aotearoa, to a network of indigenous broadcasters, including the Sámi of Norway, the Aboriginal and Torres Strait Island peoples, the indigenous peoples of Taiwan, and the First Nations people of America.

What will the next 20 years look like?

No one can tell, and if they say they can, don’t believe them. The global media landscape is in a state of flux that is so rapid it has quantum properties. What remains certain is the real and lasting effects of Whakaata Māori’s existing work will ripple into the future, affecting our approach to history and storytelling for a long time to come.

The archival value of Māori television cannot be overstated. Twenty years of our history have been collected and committed to record: the words of cherished kaumatua who have now passed, images of the young who have now grown, accounts of national significance and captured memories of everyday life in Aotearoa. From news and current affairs, to Anzac Day commemorations and Sidewalk Karaoke, we have an indelible resource that can be referenced forever, and one that can’t be written over with false narratives. The real-time record of our reo alone is a treasure.

The ripple effects of Whakaata Māori can already be seen in the media of Māori youth, as created by Māori youth. Browsing TikTok reveals rangatahi with tens of thousands of followers, hundreds of thousands in some cases, and millions of views drawn from Aotearoa and across the world. When I hear them speak and watch the way they present their stories and their lives and the whenua they live on, I see 20 years of Whakaata Māori shining back from the screen.

If you shine a light into a mirror, that light will be reflected back to you.

‘If you value The Spinoff and the perspectives we share, support our work by donating today.’

Anna Rawhiti-Connell
— Senior writer