A reality TV show gave us the best doggo ever
My experience on The Dog House NZ. Plus, is Scream VI any good? And all the TV and film recommendations you need to plan your weekend.
Kia ora, it’s Friday again so welcome to Rec Room! Forgive me but I’m going to get a little soppy today. In the middle of last year, I did something I never thought I’d ever do and joined the cast of a reality TV show. This wasn’t one of those nasty ones where you backstab fellow contestants before eliminating them. There were no challenges. No one had to eat a pickled bird foetus. Instead, it was a totally feel-good experience that involved doggos and changed my life for good. Here’s how that played out...
-Chris Schulz
Meet Astar, the dog with big brown eyes and a heart that needed healing
My wife wanted a dog. She needed a dog so bad. Every day, my phone would ping with photos of sad pound pooches along with the words: “How about this one?” Collected from various rescue centre websites, these were snaps of damaged dogs with haunted looks in their eyes. Bits were missing from their ears. One leg didn’t quite work properly. Another had a wonky eye. Life had been hard. They were in various states of distress. She wanted one for herself so she could nurse it and love it back to life.
This went on for months. She couldn’t choose. All these dogs needed her. We only had room for one. Even then that wasn’t a sure thing. With a 20-year-old cat that refuses to play nicely with other pets and a son traumatised by several bad dog experiences, getting a pet dog wasn’t as easy as just picking one from a picture. This family had opinions. It had reservations. It had questions. What kind? How big? Which breed? How damaged? “Can we call it ‘Audi’,” asked my car-mad son. Erm. No.
It would take a special kind of dog to meet all those expectations. No wonder we couldn’t choose. That is a problem a reality show has mined for entertainment purposes. On The Dog House, families are paired with rescue dogs. If you’ve ever seen the British or Australian versions, you’ll know how it goes. It’s emotional. It’s a tearjerker. Regularly, I would come home in the evenings and find my wife surrounded by tissues. She’d sit there, watching and wishing it was her getting her special moment with a new doggo.
You probably know what happens next. A local production company planned to import the reality show and host its own version of The Dog House in Aotearoa. My wife saw the Facebook ad and applied. None of us really thought about it again until we were asked to sit in front of a laptop for a Zoom interview with producers. My daughter beamed. My wife cried. My son had his arms crossed across his chest for the entire call. “We’ve got a cat,” he said. “We are not getting a dog.”
Yes we were. A few months later, after 2022’s bleak winter, when everyone was getting Covid and staying at home again, we headed out to South Pacific Pictures’ West Auckland set at 6am to meet the dog of our dreams. Or, maybe, not. Nothing was guaranteed. Masks were required. “Wear nice clothes, nothing sparkly, minimal make-up,” said the notes. My daughter couldn’t stop smiling. My wife seemed perpetually worried. My son was just grumpy. Would this dog click with us?
Finally, just before midday, after shooting interview sessions for several hours, we were told they’d found a dog for us. Before we could meet her, producers pulled us aside. They wanted to warn us. This dog had been through a lot. She’d been given up by her family. She’d lost her siblings, a brother and sister she’d lived with for the previous three years. She’d also been pregnant and had lost a litter of puppies. She was damaged. She was sad. She was depressed. She needed a lot of love.
Were we up for that? I looked at my wife. Tears were rolling down her cheeks. She couldn’t talk. She just nodded. Yes, this dog would do her just fine, thank you.
If you watched TVNZ 2 in prime time (!) last night, you’ll have already seen the results. We headed into The Dog House pen and were introduced to Fudge, a three-year-old terrier type bitser with big brown eyes, a nervous disposition and a need to have as many hands on her as possible at all times. My wife cried, I cried and my daughter fell instantly in love. Despite leaping up on the bench seat to start with, my son was soon feeding her bacon-flavoured treats. By the end, he was wavering, his stern tone replaced by something else. Hope?
We’ve changed her name – twice. Fudge became Maisie the first week we got her. My daughter rebelled and sulked for the next seven days, so the name Astar was chosen. Eight months on, she’s become part of our life in a way none of us thought possible. As time went on, Astar relaxed and seemed to shed the stress of what she’d been through. Soon, she was enjoying all the good doggy things: walks, cuddles, treats, and naps on the couch even though she knows it’s a no-no. The first thing my son does every single morning is give Astar a big cuddle. Even the cat seems OK with her.
Now, a complete and utter goofball has emerged. She gets manic zoomies and does the same crazed spins every time she meets another dog. When it comes to humans, it’s the eyes that seem to get to them. Everyone has the same reaction. They kneel down. They stare into those eyes. And then they start whispering things, quiet little secrets that only Astar gets to enjoy. It happens every time she comes to work with me or my wife. We start working, and so does she, as an accidental therapy pup.
Astar’s heart needed healing. Now, she seems intent on helping do the same for others. What a dog. What a show.
* The Dog House screens on TVNZ 2 on Thursdays at 7.30pm, and via TVNZ OnDemand.
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Why you need to see Scream VI…
From Stewart Sowman-Lund: I’m a diehard Scream fan and so I’ll happily take a new instalment of the franchise that won’t die. Last year’s reboot-sequel – or “requel” – did a solid job of bringing the franchise into the 2020s, with a fresh new cast along with legacy favourites and some clever commentary on modern horror. Just one year on and Scream VI is here. It’s darker, scarier and promises a high body count, but I don’t think it totally delivered on my expectations. While it sets up the “rules” of the film, as every Scream instalment does, they’re discarded in favour of a fairly predictable plot. Still, it has some killer set pieces and brings us the grittiest Ghostface yet.
Why you need to see Am I Being Unreasonable…
From Sam Brooks: Did you love Fleabag but for some reason wished it was a psychological thriller? Then Am I Being Unreasonable (TVNZ+) might be the show for you, you weirdo. The show stars This Country’s Daisy May Cooper (the hilarious MVP of Avenue 5, and star of Rain Dogs) as a mother stuck in a loveless marriage, grieving a loss she can’t tell anybody about. Even though there is a dark mystery at the core of the series, it strikes a perfect balance between being genuinely unsettling and truly hilarious.
On The Spinoff: Back on the Board
Amber Clyde has long been a champion for young women in skateboarding in Aotearoa. But what happens when she has to be a champion for herself?
All the new stuff you can watch, right now…
The greatest aviation mystery of the modern age gets the true crime Netflix treatment this week with the debut of MH370: The Plane That Disappeared. What happened to the infamous 2014 Malaysia Airlines flight? Was it an accident, or something more sinister? This three-part series attempts to get to the truth of it all, and while critics say it focuses a little too much on conspiracy theories, it remains a compelling watch.
Elsewhere, Rain Dogs (Neon) is this week’s other big new release. Daisy May Cooper’s caper about a single mum trying to keep her head above water has been getting rave reviews (“Demands to be played on repeat,” says TIME). Neon also has season two of Perry Mason, while Netflix unveils a Luther movie, part two of season four of You (read our review here) and debuts the South Korean drama The Glory.
If you’re heading out to theatres this week, you have two options. Either you pick the super-intense and gory Scream VI, or you can head to 65, Adam Driver’s epic sci-fi dinosaur survival story. Yes, it sounds like a lot and it’s had mixed reviews, but Driver has plenty of fans who’ll watch anything he does. If neither of those are for you, Triangle of Sadness follows a group of influencers stuck on cruise ship after a storm and sounds like a fun time. It’s playing in select theatres now.
Finally, don’t forget about the 95th Academy Awards on Monday. TVNZ 2 has all the movie star action, starting from 1pm. (Go, Tár!)
Everything you need to know…
It’s been eight months since Sky TV’s new Sky Box was due for release and it’s only finally making its way into homes now. Is it any good? Here’s our review.
The Academy Awards are on Monday so to prepare, here’s a solid argument from The Ringer that the Oscars should now be five hours long.
Did you see Cocaine Bear last weekend, as we suggested? If so, you might be keen to know that behind the bear suit is a New Zealander. Alex Casey spoke to him.
The team behind Serial has a new podcast that everyone seems to be bingeing all at once. Called The Coldest Case in Laramie, it’s about a small-town murder and has all the production values you’d expect from those behind S-Town.
Silo is a new Apple TV+ series based on a best-selling book about a group of people living – you guessed it – in a silo. The gripping first trailer looks intense!
Keen to relive the Wellington protests one year on? RNZ has a new 40-minute documentary called Boiling Point with new footage shot behind the front lines.
This (paywalled) Vulture piece profiles stunt performers about the hardest scenes they’ve ever pulled off. One of them worked out how to surf on a sliding motorcycle as Harley Quinn for Suicide Squad.
And finally, some talking points…
I have never laughed harder, nor been more appalled at myself for laughing so much, than during Stath Lets Flats star Jamie Demetriou’s new Netflix special A Whole Lifetime. Be warned: it starts out weird and only gets weirder. I couldn’t be bothered with Chris Rock’s live Netflix special Selective Outrage, but if you want to skip to the bits where he discusses the Will Smith slap, that’s in the last eight minutes. Finally, don’t forget to tune into The Last of Us finale on Monday night. If you’re yet to play the game, and haven’t spoiled it for yourself, you’re in for one heck of an hour of TV.
That’s it for Rec Room for this week. If you liked what you read, why not share Rec Room with your friends and whānau.
