towatchinlockdown

Pop CultureAugust 26, 2021

What has New Zealand been watching this lockdown?

Staff writer
towatchinlockdown

Lockdown means we are all watching more television than usual, but what shows did we turn to during the first week of level four? Tara Ward crunches the numbers. 

For many of us, lockdown is a chance to cram more television into our lives. It informs us, it entertains us and, most importantly, it keeps our kids distracted while we hide in the pantry and eat crispy noodles out of the packet. But what specific shows have we turned to during the first week of level four lockdown? The results are in, the Chaser has been caught, and our lockdown TV habits are ready to be laid bare. New Zealand, this is your lockdown television life. 

We bloody love the news

This “news” series has really taken off in lockdown (Image: TVNZ)

Although the news is depressing, we can’t get enough of it at the moment. Newshub Live at 6pm and Newshub Breaking News were Three’s two top rating shows last week, while TVNZ news programmes 1 News, 1 Breaking News and Seven Sharp were the three highest rating shows on all free-to-air channels. TVNZ reported an average of 63% of all viewers watched 1 News each day since lockdown was announced, and over 2.14 million of us have tuned into 1 News at Six and 1 Breaking News Specials sometime during level four. 

We love Love Island UK too

Chloe reading Neon’s streaming numbers (Image: Neon)

The British reality series was Neon’s number one show during the first week of lockdown, perhaps due to viewers wanting to know how to do lockdown the Love Island way. The White Lotus and War and Peace topped out Neon’s top three, confirming there’s a real comfort in watching shows about people trapped in more awkward situations than we are.

Everyone loves on-demand

“I want it NOW” is a chill attitude to go into lockdown with, so thank goodness for on demand television. Both TVNZ and ThreeNow recorded huge increases in viewers last week, with TVNZ OnDemand streams up a whopping 38%. TVNZ said this was largely driven by Covid-19 live updates, which explains why 1 News Special was the top rating programme on TVNZ on Demand last week for viewers age 13+. 

Three Now also saw a significant rise in viewers, with 30% more viewers than the average over the previous four weeks. The Block NZ was the big winner, with more viewers watching on demand last week than all season. Nothing like being stuck at home to inspire you to knock out a wall or chuck dried flowers around a lightbulb, right?

We’re embracing New Zealand content 

Lealani Siaosi as Melani Anae in The Panthers (Image: Supplied)

The Panthers — the new local drama about the rise of the revolutionary Polynesian Panthers — was the third most watched show on TVNZ OnDemand last week, behind 1 News and soapy powerhouse Shortland Street. We called The Panthers essential viewing in our review, and it seems New Zealand agrees. 

Several other New Zealand shows popped up in TVNZ OnDemand’s top 20, including My Life is Murder, One Lane Bridge, Taskmaster NZ (no doubt reliving comedian David Correos’s incredible freestyle rap battle), Give Us A Clue and Kura. 

Paw Patrol remains a lifesaver

A true cartoon classic and a balm to stressed parents everywhere, unless you think dogs shouldn’t wear hats. Paw Patrol was the fourth most popular show on Neon last week, because screen time is fine! TV is good for child development! Paw Patrol marathons for everyone!

We love our soaps, no matter what

Thank goodness doctors are always wearing masks. Photo: TVNZ

Shortland Street, Home and Away and Coronation Street all landed in TVNZ OnDemand’s top 10 shows last week, suggesting that the more things change, the more they stay the same. Chris Warner is our hero and the Rover’s Return our rock, and like the great philosophers say on Love Island UK, it is what it is.

We’re fond of a film or two

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Netflix has three movies at the top of it’s New Zealand top 10 list (The Equaliser 2, Sweet Girl and The Loud House Movie), with Sandra Oh’s new drama The Chair and post World War 2 thriller The Defeated rounding out the top five. Over on Neon, the Liam Neeson thriller Honest Thief, The Croods: A New Age and The War With Grandpa are the most-watched films. 

We’re always keen on a bit of free-to-air comfort TV…

Country Calendar, The Repair Shop, Tipping Point: Lucky Stars and Give Us A Clue all made it to the top ten of free-to-air shows last week. The Chase even made it into the list, twice. There’s a lot to be said about the restorative joy of watching the Tipping Point machine push metal discs off a shelf, while The Repair Shop continues to be the nicest show on television.

…and a bit of Jeremy Clarkson? 

Nicole Kidman’s new drama Nine Perfect Strangers is the most watched series on Amazon Prime Video, followed by two Jeremy Clarkson shows, Clarkson’s Farm and The Grand Tour: Lochdown. Cars and dirt are fine, but when can we expect to see old mate Clarkson pop up on Tipping Point: Lucky Stars for some jaunty disc shelf fun? That’s the ratings winner we need right now. 

Keep going!
loveisland

Pop CultureAugust 25, 2021

Farewell Love Island, it’s time for me to recouple 

Guest writer
loveisland

Yawynne Yem farewells Love Island UK, the show that turned our heads in lockdown and never gave us the ick.

The following review contains spoilers for the finale, don’t get mugged off if you haven’t watched it yet. 

I always complain that I can never cry because of my antidepressants. But over the past eight weeks, I’ve found an unlikely kryptonite in Love Island UK. I genuinely believe that the emotional twists and turns of the villa have been the ultimate equaliser and escape. It felt like nobody could resist talking about the show, from trendy Yu Mei bag-toting Kingsland florists to the Devonport rugby lads in my university classes.

Especially in this past week of nationwide lockdown, Love Island has given us a much-needed daily holiday from the news. The emergence of the delta variant has been the ultimate bombshell in our villa of a country. I mean, just seven days and she’s already turned all our heads. But in Love Island’s bikini-clad world of snogging and mugging, the only real reminder of Covid-19’s existence on the show was the socially distanced family episode. 

With season seven coming to an end tonight, I am, naturally, devastated. I feel like an Islander who’s been kicked off too early to score a fast-fashion brand deal. No longer will I sit refreshing #loveisland on Twitter with the same rate as I do the Ministry of Health’s locations of interest page. No longer will I let out a big whooping “reaaaaaaaallllllllyyyy?” at random intervals. 

Love Island, saviour of lockdown

I’ll admit the Love island finale was far from perfect. If you’ll allow me to mirror the dramatic and overwritten declarations of love from the series: Dear Love Island, you don’t have to follow crystal-charging TikTok to believe in fate, but it is certainly fate that has allowed you to ease me into lockdown. Yet, despite all our love, how could you mug me off with that ending?

In a completely cookie-cutter move, the British public handed the £50,000 prize over to Welsh bricklayer Liam Reardon and Millie Court, a fashion buyer’s administrator from Essex. In the words of runner-up Chloe Burrows, no whey! Milliam, who I’m sure are probably nice people, yet perfectly fitting the boring mould of a stock-standard influencer couple.

Sure, they had a giant hurdle with Casa Amor, but so did every single other couple in the final. Are we forgetting Teddy walking in with Faye’s teddy alone? I quite literally sobbed into my flatmate’s bamboo sheets. This has been a season where villain arcs and sympathies changed faster than MIQ spots filling up. Was it too much to ask for the finale to mirror this chaos? 

Given the effort poured into group chats around the world, the ending just didn’t feel satisfying enough. I, for one, have to bid farewell to not one but two chats dedicated to debriefing the Islanders’ antics and the mic drop moments from the season. Remember the deathly silence from the girls after Liberty revealed that Jake finally said “I love you”? Anyone who’s ever been in a toxic relationship will know that silence all too well. It was the kind of foreshadowing that you couldn’t script.

Another great unscripted moment

In the grand scheme of things, it’s the moments like those that make up for the disappointing ending. My heart is still racing over Toby’s dizzying indecisiveness and quick two-week evolution into one of the season’s most loveable characters. And let us pay a moment to Mary’s mermaid outfit in the heart rate challenge. This season has also been the most diverse in Love Island history, with Kaz and Tyler (Kyler <3) being the first black couple in the final. 

They say that if you truly love someone, you have to let them go. So farewell Love Island and hello to the journey ahead, one centred on regaining the braincells I’ve lost from all those terrible pop covers I’ve had to endure the past few weeks. The time has come for a recoupling with the reality of our lockdown, one that will have to continue without the welcome distraction of Love Island UK, and me asking my boyfriend “would your head turn for me?” in a thick British accent.

Although it is all over, I will be taking one thing from the villa with me. It will likely be a while before we can all experience quality oat milk iced lattes from our favourite cafes again, so this lockdown is the perfect time to master the art of the truly terrible iced coffee, preferably served in a plastic palm-tree-print cup. Cheers to you, Love Island. 

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