TV
Spartacus: Gods of the Arena
PACIFIC RENAISSANCE PICTURES
premieres 21 January 2011 on Starz
The House of Batiatus is on the rise, basking in the glow of its infamous champion Gannicus, whose skill with a sword is matched only by his thirst for wine and women. These are the times a young Batiatus has been waiting for.
Poised to overthrow his father and take control, he'll freely betray anyone to ensure his gladiators are in the highest demand. And he'll have his loyal and calculating wife Lucretia by his side for every underhanded scheme, drawing on the brazen talents of her seductive friend Gaia when it counts.
Together, they will stop at nothing to deceive the masses, seize power, and bleed Capua dry in the audacious prequel to Spartacus: Blood and Sand.
Joining returning stars John Hannah (The Mummy, Four Weddings and A Funeral) as Batiatus, Lucy Lawless (Xena: Warrior Princess) as Lucretia, Peter Mensah (300, The Incredible Hulk) as Oenomaus, Antonio Te Maioha (Legend of the Seeker), will be additional cast members Dustin Clare (Underbelly) as Gannicus, Jamie Murray (Hu$tle) as Gaia and Marisa Ramirez (General Hospital) as Melitta.
Watch the trailer here.
Amanda Billing on Good Morning
Amanda Billing talks to Sarah Bradley on Good Morning about her current play Cabaret.
Watch the video here.
TV Review - A Night At The Classic
Taken from NZ Herald, by Deborah Hill Cone.
Kiwi stand-up comedy series A Night At The Classic is appointment viewing, says Deborah Hill Cone.
Comedians hold a special comfy possie in hell for reviewers who divulge their best lines so I hope I won't be giving anything away to say the subject matter for TV2's new Wednesday series A Night At The Classic covers the usual: cannibalism, sexual perversion, Westlake Girls' High and Brendan Pongia. A lot of Pongia, come to think of it.
In a sort of Seinfeldian homage, A Night At The Classic goes behind the scenes as well as in front of the mike, attempting to build a comedy TV show around stand-up. All of it is set at Auckland comedy club The Classic, and both onstage and backstage segments are presented by MC Brendhan Lovegrove.
A Night At The Classic is billed in the network press release as New Zealand stand-up comedy "like you've never seen it before" and they might be right. It's actually funny.
It opens in the backstage "green room" - a slummy green cupboard to be more precise - as Lovegrove talks about the first stand-up comic about to appear on the "pro" night. That would be Andre King (brilliant in mockumentary The Pretender) who is using the hairdryer to blowdry his shirt. Lovegrove tells viewers: "He's very solid on stage. He plays the race card, which isn't really surprising if you look like a massive rapist. But you don't have to fulfil all the stereotypes do you?"
A Night At The Classic spends as much time behind the scenes teasing out rivalries and bitching between the comedians as it does showcasing the onstage talent. It's not a bad plan given the great real-life material there to be exploited: all the dented egos, sour sweat and existential dread that must get generated as comics ready themselves for the intellectual equivalent of a bungy jump with a thin cord.
The show's makers understand the secret sadism of audiences: watching comics shrivel and die makes the actual laughs funnier. And there is plenty of potential for running gags in Lovegrove's David Brent-like persona. "Its not like he's been ROve. (Beat). I've been on Rove."
But all the backstage repartee in the world won't save you if the material isn't funny. The first episode starts with a deliberately low-key opening, as MC Lovegrove tries to entice reluctant punters in off the street then asks the doorman how many bookings they have.
"Thirteen," he's informed.
"What's the cut-off point for us doing a show?"
"Thirteen."
This self-deprecatory riff will only pay off if the three "pros" on pro-night, Andre King, Irene Pink and Ben Hurley, actually nail it. Yay, they do.
I'm going to exercise exemplary self-discipline and resist getting a stolen laugh by nicking some of their best lines for this review. I just suggest you watch it. Besides, some of the best ones were too rude to print here.
A Night At The Classic, TV2, Wednesday, 10.30pm.
Watch episodes online here.
TV Pick of the week - Spies and Lies
Taken from NZ Herald.
Serial trickster Syd Ross knew he would have the New Zealand Government eating out of the palm of his hand when he fabricated a story about a Nazi plot to take over the country.
In 1942, after being released from prison, Ross called Prime Minister Peter Fraser to tell him of the Nazi plans of sabotage and assassination. Suitably shaken, Fraser contacted the head of security, Major Kenneth Folkes, a British import who had set up the Security Intelligence Bureau, the precursor to today's Security Intelligence Service.
Ross was quickly presented with a car, money, accommodation and new identity and was tasked with gathering evidence on this Nazi scheme. His lies made it into Major Folkes' secret dossier, and the immensely embarrassing hoax become one of the Government's most tightly bound secrets.
The book The Plot to Subvert Wartime New Zealand, by Hugh Price, long an anti-SIS campaigner in his years as a Wellington publisher and bookseller, unravelled the facts, and now the story is making its way to television.
South Pacific Pictures' Spies and Lies, starring Antony Starr, is a dramatised, but true account of what happened in 1942. Producer-director Simon Bennett who was drawn to the tale because it seemed outrageous that such a far-fetched story could actually have taken place right under New Zealanders' noses.
Although it is set in the past, he says Major Folkes' involvement in the scam highlights a New Zealand tendency to hire international talent for jobs they are unqualified for. Folkes knew nothing about security, but when he was brought over to set up the Security Intelligence Bureau during World War II, he was given the rank of major, and one of the most highly paid jobs in the country. British actor John Sessions, known for his comedic-bent as well as his dramatic roles, travelled to New Zealand and brushed up his Birmingham accent for the role. Bennett says he sought an actor from abroad as he wanted to convey the "otherness" of the character - and New Zealand actors were too recognisable.
Meanwhile Antony Starr was the ideal candidate for the lead role of Syd Ross. Bennett says he knew he would bring a wry sense of humour to the role. He had just come off the gruelling project After the Waterfall (currently in cinemas), and Bennett says the lightness of the feature appealed to him. "Syd Ross is also wildly different from Van and Jethro in Outrageous Fortune, which I guess is why Antony wanted to do it."
Bennett has also been working intensively on Outrageous Fortune for the past few years and says he leapt at the chance to do something period, and based on truth. Working with a relatively small budget meant the crew had to be rather ingenious making the locations look like Wellington and Rotorua in the 1940s. "It is interesting in that you think, my goodness this actually happened, but it's a ripping yarn set in New Zealand in the 1940s of schemes and scams and people being made fools of," he says.
LOWDOWN
When: Sunday, 8.30pm
Where: TV One
What: Truth is stranger than fiction
TVNZ puts faith in superheroes
Taken from NZ Herald, by Jacqueline Smith.
TVNZ is putting its own family of superhereos up against new local series The Almighty Johnsons, which has been named as a pillar of TV3's 2011 scheduling.
Screening on TV2 next year, No Ordinary Family, from the makers of Grey's Anatomy, Desperate Housewives and Lost, is also about a family with supernatural powers.
Neither TVNZ nor TV3 have said when their superhero shows will screen, but The Almighty Johnsons is being touted as the replacement for TV3's flagship local drama Outrageous Fortune, which screens its final episode tonight.
TVNZ's head of programming, Jane Wilson, said the American-made No Ordinary Family would be the "next big thing on New Zealand TV".
She also hailed another new comedy-drama by South Pacific Pictures, creators of TV2's high-rating comedy-drama Go Girls, called Nothing Trivial, about love, friendship and pub quizzes.
New Zealand actor Martin Henderson, who started out on Shortland Street, appears in TV2's new international medical drama Off The Map, by the makers of Grey's Anatomy and Private Practice.
Other new TV2 shows include new zombie series The Walking Dead, which has been well-reviewed in America and picked up for a second season, and an adaptation of Stephen King's supernatural series, Haven.
Its comedy bill includes Hot in Cleveland, starring Betty White, and from the makers of Two and a Half Men, a series called Mike & Molly about a couple who meet at an overeaters anonymous group.
TV One adds to its international line-up a new medical drama, Body of Proof, starring Desperate Housewives' Dana Delany as a surgeon turned coroner, Matt Le Blanc's new series Episodes by the BBC and the makers of Friends in which he plays himself, and a new Australian series Offspring by the makers of McLeod's Daughters.
Also in the local line-up is a follow-up to Marcus Lush's award-winning show South, this time showing off the best of the North Island and Do or Die, which confronts New Zealand's obesity epidemic.
Masterchef New Zealand returns early next year after a successful first season. It will be accompanied by a spin-off, Masterchef Masterclasses, featuring high-profile chefs.
What Outrageous Fortune told us
Taken from NZ Herald, by Jacqueline Smith.
As Outrageous Fortune heads to its last round (and become a museum exhibit) Jacqueline Smith wondered what we've learned from six years of life with those wicked Wests.
Pascalle's broken-hearted, again. Judd's leaving the wild West house with a scar that rivals Draska's. He's given Van the money to buy Elena the pretty Russian from her fat, old husband. Loretta's finessed her blackmail skills and seems to be using them for some good - enough to put dirty old Grandpa in his place. Jethro's latest falme Bailey is getting her 15 minutes of fame. It's thanks to her, but mostly Judd, that Cheryl's finally home...
For thousands of Outrageous Fortune fans, it's hard to imagine New Zealand drama without the Wests, but from 9.30pm on Tuesday they will exist but as memories, and DVD box-sets. The show will also receive one final salute with an exhibition at Auckland Museum.
On December 15, the West's lounge will be opened to the museum's visitors, giving grieving fans a chance to see how their favourite characters came to be.
Curator Amanda White says the series warrants such a send-off because not only did it show off brilliant writing and acting of New Zealand drama - winning 60 awards over six seasons - but also a story people connected with.
"It's been phenomenally popular," she says, "yet it's a series about this completely dysfunctional family that has it's own moral code, which is all about loyalty.
"These are quite universal ideas. It says something about who we are as New Zealanders, but also who we are as humans, especially when all of those characters are faced with questions. dilemmas and issues that force them to think about where their loyalties lie."
White prefers not to talk about what we learned from the series, but rather what it reveals about its audience - "the kooky things about being a New Zealander. The in-jokes. It's like looking in the mirror."
West Auckland's Penny Hulse, who is now the deputy mayor of Auckland's Super City, says that like most of her fellow Westies she has always been a fan of Outrageous Fortune.
There's always a steady trickle of cars going past the West's house in Te Atatu and there's a great deal of pride in the series, she says.
Some West Auckland residents have accused it of being a Ponsonby resident's take on the area. And, yes, it may be fictitious and stereotypical, but Hulse says that in general Outrageous Fortune has done a good job of putting Westies on the map.
"There was some huge stereotyping. If you really wanted to cover the West you would have had artists and playwrights and university professors and you don't see a hell of a lot of them on Outrageous Fortune. But there's quite a few West family members out West, no doubt about that."
Despite being based on a distinct Auckland subculture, Kiwis right around the country have been able to identify with the characters, especially the way members of the West family always have each other's back, she says.
"Even though everything they did was vaguely dodgy and questionable, there was some sort of misguided honour attached to a lot of the things they did."
Charles Crothers, a professor of sociology at AUT University, says as with all media consumption, it's important viewers see something of themselves on their television.
"Outrageous Fortune tries to pick up the working class nature that a lot of people associate with West Auckland, the mixed ethnicities, the relatively easy mixing. Recently there's even been a Yugoslav asppect. It's all very laid-back, barbecue, beer-drinking, West Auckland culture. Of course it's very different to some suburbs, like Titirangi and Piha, but it's reflective of others."
The very New Zealand content of the show is important, as it forms a connection between fiction and everyday life, he says. "The characters show a somewhat livelier version of the dull lives we lead. They give us vicarious entertainment, we take a virtual adventure with these somewhat similar folk and don't have to do it ourselves, thank goodness."
Dr Geraldene Peters, a senior lecturer in Communication Studies at AUT University, says it was the West Auckland setting that drew her into the series - she gew up around V8 cars and the black jumpers.
Putting on her academic hat, she says: "I think bogan subcultures get a bit of a hard time. There is that connection, maybe not so much in the criminal aspect of the West family but certainly in terms of a cultural group that does exist in New Zealand and is portrayed quite well in the series. There's a bit of caricature in there but it gives a bit of class to a New Zealand subculture that doesn't have a lot of class."
Stereotyping and caricature are difficult to avoid when you are getting a drama into a prime slot, she says.
"I'm not so sure that anyone would watch Outrageous Fortune in order to learn how to be in society, but it would be for the pleasure of identification of some aspect. It doesn't have to be Outrageous Fortune, it could be another programme, but that value of a primetime New Zealand drama about a New Zealand culture group is what's most important.
"Clearly people identify with the characters and that's why they tune in each week."
What we really learned from Outrageous Fortune, as its ratings swelled and awards accumulated, is how good local drama can be.
"We learned it's possible to produce good New Zealand drama that the broadcasters and audiences will support," Peters says.
LOWDOWN
What: Outrageous Fortune's final episode
When and where: 8.30pm Tuesday, TV3
Facts and figures: The series has enjoyed six seasons on TV3. This final run has pulled the highest ratings, which can partly be attributed to its earlier timeslot of 8.30pm.
So far it has won 60 awards for scriptwriting, acting, image and sound, editing and directing, as well as being voted the best drama on New Zealand television and the best show on New Zealand television.
An American adaptation of the series, called Scoundrels, aired this year.
Kirk Torrance and Antony Starr have been named sexiest man by Metro magazine and TV Guide respectively.
Robyn Malcolm is often named sexiest and best female television personality.
Just to leave you hanging: In this week's penultimate episode, Cheryl came home from prison. The episode closed with lawyer (and Jethro's lover) Bailey giving a statement to reporters, while Cheryl's besties raced her home for a boozy celebration.
It was Judd who provided Gerard's damning police file, and this essentially got Cheryl off her charge, but he was seen packing his life into boxes as he prepared to take off somewhere, leaving Pascalle looking forlorn at Loretta's brothel.
Peter Rowley talks Billy T James
Taken from Stuff, by Bridget Jones.
Comic Billy T James' wonderfully unpolitically correct jokes and his trademark chuckle are about to be celebrated again in a new DVD.
Billy T & Me, which will be released on Wednesday, is a personal tribute by Kiwi actor Peter Rowley. He spent five years working with the funnyman, writing and starring in homegrown sitcom The Billy T James Show.
"It's basically a bunch of friends who worked with Billy getting together to tell a wee story about his Pakeha cohort, how he got into it, the fun they had and the mischief they got up to," Rowley says.
That included the pair being caught shooting targets in Northland. Instead of being cautioned, the local police just wanted to talk about the TV show.
"The constable just said, 'Looking forward to nest week's episode. see ya'. It was bizzare," Rowley recalled.
"We used to shoot old TV sets and ten take them to the dump.
"The guy there would ask what was going on and Billy would just say, 'Don't worry, some of our jokes just bombed'."
Rowley admits some material wasn't exactly sophisticated. But Billy T, who died of a heart attack in 1991, was a master of delivery.
"Some of the gags were pretty simple, some people would use the word lame, but when Billy delivered them, they were never lame.
"He could say hello and people would laugh."
Rowley, who has appeared on shows including Pete and Pio and Letter to Blanchy, is convinced Billy T would still have something funny to say today, despite the abundance of political correctness the pair resisted so much.
"There's just as much ammunition today. What would he say about Bishop Brian Tamaki? The seabed and foreshore?"
But he says the duo never crossed the line.
"Billy and I were never crude, just politically incorrect, mischievous, cheeky little boys."
Rowley feels privileged to be able to tell the Billy T story. "There's only one person who can tell the story - because I was there.
"There is only one guy. It's part of our culture.
"At the time you don't think it, you're just giggling away writing, but looking back 25 years later it's extraordinary."
But the hours spent trawling through old footage has left Rowley wondering what might have been.
"In 1990, we decided, 'Let's do it again'. We were writing a new series when he passed away."
He said of his time with James: "It was a once in a lifetime experience. Most people don't get it, but I won lotto by being associated with Billy."
Watch the NZ Herald video here.
The Kitchen Job returns to TV3
Taken from Throng.
The Kitchen Job is back! Returning to our screens on Tuesday, October 26th at 7.30pm on TV3, the reality series sees restauranteur extraordinaire, John Palino, saving restaurant and cafe owners around New Zealand from the brink of ruin.
The restaurant business is no place for dreamers or the inexperienced - yet every year in New Zealand, from the far north to the deep south, hundreds of new restaurants and cafes open, and half of them fail within the first year!
"I found it very sad going into some of these restaurants, meeting the owners who were usually in a state of desperation and completely lost," says Palino, explaining the amount of despair that some of these establishments are in.
"Often they would be only weeks away from closing the doors, with very little hope in sight for them."
And this is where Palino comes in! With over 30 years of restaurant experience under his belt, he knows how to turn around struggling establishments and educate owner - he knows the industry inside and out.
"Meeting them and trying to turn their business around wasn't an easy task," Palino continues. "But seeing them find a little hope for their future made it a pleasure to help."
Unlike the series' first season, Palino explains that this year he will not be visiting the restaurants undercover. "Instead I get to spend one full day working with the owner before I make a plan." he says.
"In that day I will look for what's not working with the restaurant," he continues. "The owners and the staff will give me their opinion and I make my own as well. It gives me the opportunity to experience the skills of the staff and what I can achieve with them in the restuarant."
So what will his plan for struggling Titirangi restaurant Toby's be? Find out when The Kitchen Job returns for a brand new second season, Tuesdays at 7.30pm on TV3.
Outrageous Fortune (season VI)
SOUTH PACIFIC PICTURES
now available on DVD
Season 1, 2, 3, 4 and 5 of Outrageous Fortune are also available for purchase from most major retailers in New Zealand and Australia and online through Real Groovy, Gumboot , Mighty Ape and Fishpond.
Major Changes for TV3 - C4
MediaWorks Media Release.
MediaWorks TV announces exciting relaunch of FOUR and change for TV3.
MediaWorks TV channel C4 is to be re-launched as a mainstream entertainment channel known as FOUR.
The channel is to adjust its target audience to 18 - 49 year olds (currently 15 - 39) and become broader in its appeal, with programming which attracts a wider, and more mature audience.
TV3, which has a current target audience of 18 - 49, will evolve its target to the 25 - 54 year old audience. While the FOUR change will be immediate, commencing early in 2011, the TV3 adjustment will take place over time, as it is a more subtle adjustment.
"This is a decision about where the biggest audience opportunity exists," said MediaWorks TV CEO, Jason Paris.
"FOUR will be a channel which appeals to anyone looking for great entertainment. Everything the channel does will be entertainment. No news, sport or information, just pure escapism.
"Our research indicates there is a massive appeal for this broad, entertaining content, especially at a time when there are economic challenges which mean the easy escapism of television is even more compelling for people."
Viewers can look forward to some exciting product on FOUR as announced at this morning's Wellington new season launch announcement.
Shows including Joel McHale's new comedy, Community, the highly anticipated drama The Gates, which is set in a neighbourhood with a dark and delicious secret, and Top Chef: Just Desserts, a spin-off of the Emmy winning Top Chef series are all new to FOUR.
As well as new shows, popular shows such as America's Next Top Model and The Simpsons will move to FOUR.
Coming to TV3 in 2011 viewers will also be treated to some hot new shows including Hawaii Five-0, the long awaited remake of the popular cult classic and The Defenders, a comedic-drama about two colourful Las Vegas law attorneys, starring Jim Belushi and Jerry O'Connell, The Graham Norton Show starring the popular and outrageous comedian, Graham Norton and a new series with James May - James May's Man Lab which sees James on a mission to save modern man!
Great new local content to TV3 will include The Almighty Johnsons, starring Tim Balme, and created by the award winning team behind the hit Outrageous Fortune.
Jason Paris adds: "We have done some careful analysis of how our combined two channels can attract the strongest audiences, and it has become clear that these two target audiences are where the biggest potential lies.
"It's no surprise this is also where the largest revenue opportunities lie for us as a business. Advertisers want to be where the most appealing audiences are. We intend to deliver those audiences in strong numbers to our clients, across both channels."