A scene from Transparent.
None of the characters are entirely likeable (many are total dicks) but all have that brutal ring of truth to them, which helps it linger in the mind long after its too-brief 10 episode run is done. / DG
Where: Stream it on Lightbox
Movies:
The Frighteners
Isn't it nuts that this is last big movie PJ made before LOTR madness consumed him, the nation, and at least a decade of Air New Zealand safety videos? The Frighteners is the perfect encapsulation of scruffy old spook-loving Jackson. Tamer than Braindead, with the biting edge of Bad Taste, and the skillful blurring of genres he perfected in Forgotten Silver - it's Peej doing what he does best (kick ass horror-comedy). Considering the recent success of Housebound and What We Do In The Shadows, The Frighteners is a timely reminder that our weird little country has a spiritual cinematic home not just in Middle Earth, but deep inside the belly of genre-bending gore-ridden ghostly splatter. / AC
Where: FOUR at 8.30pm Saturday
A young Michael J. Fox in The Frighteners.
Bridesmaids
Bridesmaids has a simple premise: a ragtag group of women assemble as bridesmaids and chaos ensues in the lead-up to the wedding. Getting an A++, tearing the paper in two and storming right out of the Bechdel Test room, Bridesmaids broke major ground in terms of representing females in friendships and relationships without being overly feminine or cutesy. Girls and Broad City can tip their hats to Bridesmaids, if for nothing else than making it fine for women to talk to each other onscreen about regular stuff, like buttholes. Finally. / AC
Where: TV3 at 8.30pm Sunday
Bridesmaids.
Free to Air Shows:
It's Always Sunny in Philadelphia
Hugely underrated sitcom It's Always Sunny is centred around a dank dive bar called Paddy's, owned by four truly shambolic human beings in their early thirties. Also starring Danny Devito for some reason, it's been described as "Seinfeld on crack." One episode sees them take a baby to a tanning salon in order to try and get it cast in Latino commercials, "just to give it a base coat." Another has Charlie Day (who has hands down the best squeaky comedy voice) nervously eat an entire block of cheese before a date before ordering "milk steak, boiled over-hard, and a side of your finest jelly beans - raw." It's definitely insane, but you won't know if you like it till you try it. Just like a milk steak. / AC
Where: FOUR at 10.45pm Saturday
A scene from It's Always Sunny in Philadelphia.
Gotham
At first glance, pre-Batman-era Gotham seemed like nothing more than foggy crims and even foggier faces from the television noughties: Ryan from The O.C., the guy with the giant head from Spin City, and Will Smith's beloved wife. I argue that if you exchange your snobby Nolan-vision glasses for more of a non-era-specific fedora you will see that Gotham is slowly gaining momentum. Ben McKenzie snarls his way convincingly through the origins of troubled hero James Gordon, trying to rid the corrupt city of all our favourite Batman villains. The pace picked up recently when we got our first pre-Batman vigilante - who cuffs crims to hot air balloons and then lets them go (the balloons, not the crims). His name? The Balloonman. I think it's really about to... take off... / AC
When: TV2 at 8.30pm Sunday
Robin Lord Taylor in Gotham.
Sports:
The Grantland Basketball Hour
The NBA can go toe-to-toe with any league on the planet when it comes to bizarre behaviour. In recent weeks a major star has talked openly of bathing in red wine, the mascot was reprimanded for appearing at a Republican rally and Drake seemed to think he'd joined the Raptors playing roster. That requires a response in kind, one that conventional sportscasters are mostly either unwilling or unable to provide (our own Crowd Goes Wild a notable exception). Bill Simmons - an ESPN writer now running the excellent sports and culture site Grantland - is one man supremely capable of examining the league on its own strange terms. The Simmons-hosted Grantland Basketball Hour debuts ahead of next week's NBA season launch with guests including cantankerous ex-coach Jeff Van Gundy, and Zach Lowe, a Grantland columnist nicknamed 'Spock' thanks to his ultra-nerdy analysis. / DG
Where: ESPN at 10.30pm Friday
The Grantland Basketball Hour.
NZ TV:
No. 2
We're cheating with a movie in this slot, but Toa Fraser's hugely-anticipated pre-colonial action-epic The Dead Lands opens in New Zealand next Thursday, so this is the perfect time to revisit his directorial debut in the 2006 family drama No. 2. Based on his 2000 play of the same name, the story follows a Fijian Mt Roskill matriarch who pines for family festivity, ordering an assemblage of her grandchildren in order to name her successor during a giant feast. Starring the late Ruby Dee as Nana Maria, No. 2 is as much about family conflict as it is about celebration and togetherness. Plus, it's set entirely and awesomely in the sunny streets of Mt Roskill - the dream backdrop for a vibrant multi-cultural New Zealand. It's a lovely film, just soak it up - just bathe in the damn river for once in your life. / AC
Where: Heartland at 7.30pm Friday
A scene from Kiwi film No. 2.
Reality:
Storage Wars
California law allows for storage lockers which run three months overdue on rent to be sold to the highest bidder, and Storage Wars follows a few of the oddities who bid on these things. Aside from the 'white trash Antiques Roadshow'-style reveals, the main pleasure comes from watching 'the mogul' Dave torture his less flush competition by ruthlessly bidding up the terrible lockers they fixate on, with no intention of buying the depressing contents. This week it seems his strategy might, for once, leave him holding the baby. And while I enjoy watching affable imbecile Jarrod and his long-suffering wife Brandi try and convince themselves there's gold in their trash, it's also nice to see smug ol' Dave get his comeuppance once in a while. / DG
Where: Prime at 7.00pm Sunday
Storage Wars.
Sky:
The Fall
TV has been sending a strong message these past few years: if you live somewhere damp and cold, you've got a good shot at being violently murdered. And once murdered, it'll take the authorities forever to find out whodunit. Fine examples include The Killing, Broadchurch and our own superb damp-and-deathly Top of the Lake. Gillian Anderson helps make The Fall amongst the best examples of the genre, playing a smart, sexually voracious detective tracking a legitimately terrifying serial killer in bleak bleak Belfast. Its five episodes play right through from 5:30pm - a dark but riveting way to while away a Saturday night. / DG
Where: SoHo at 5.30pm Saturday
Gillian Anderson who plays DCI Gibson, Michael Colgan who plays Sheldon Scwartz, and John Lynch (beard) who plays Burns in The Fall.
More Spinoff:
• Two writers finally watching Mad Men in 'Catch Up Club' (featuring lots of jokes about smoking).
• Our recap of the week on The Block so you can swot for this weekend's open homes.
• Guy Williams' selecting the five best Jono and Ben at Ten sketches ever (shockingly some don't even have him in them).
- The Spinoff
