All the best TV shows you missed this summer
The top dramas that dropped during the festive season, plus new Traitors UK, vintage Shortland Street, and Jodie Foster's return to the small screen.
Welcome back!
Kia ora koutou and welcome to Rec Room for 2024. Usually, I’d wish you a happy new year, but because we’ve missed the small but mighty window for sharing festive greetings, I’ll simply say hello as we launch another year of celebrating the best TV shows, movies, podcasts and pop culture content in Aotearoa and around the globe.
I’m Tara Ward, and I’ve been writing about television and pop culture for The Spinoff for almost as long as it’s been around. I live in Dunedin, where I’m a big reality TV fan who’s had the joy of being an extra on Shortland Street, talked all things television with everyone from The Briscoes Lady to Toni Collette, and had my framed photo added to the background of Seven Sharp. I love writing about our forgotten television memories and capturing the many weird and wonderful moments that make Aotearoa unique, including my love affair with a 40-year-old potato.
Now I’m stepping into the impressive Rec Room shoes of my colleague Duncan Greive, who sends this lovely farewell message: “It turns out Rec Room was a bit beyond me — but I'll pop up in here occasionally and will still be writing reviews and pop culture analysis on The Spinoff. Thanks for reading, and enjoy Tara's Rec Room — in my opinion, she's one of the best and sharpest entertainment writers in New Zealand. I'm thrilled to see what she does with Rec Room.”
It’s a new year, it’s a new Rec Room — and I can’t wait to salute all things pop culture here. Do you have a recommendation of your own? Let me know: tara@thespinoff.co.nz.
The best TV shows you might have missed this summer
We’ve had a fickle summer in the south, which means I’ve had plenty of inside time to finish the shows I started a gazillion years ago – like a little series called Succession (two thumbs up) and The Bear (delicious), as well as all ten seasons of Vanderpump Rules (some call it reality trash, I call it a piercing contemporary drama that investigates the personal struggles of a group of unlikely friends as they navigate a catastrophic world of their own making).
But while most of us enjoyed a break over summer, streaming services were still churning out new content. You might have missed these during the hectic festive season, so I’ve picked a few gems to get you started. I’ve just begun Boy Swallows Universe (Netflix), an Australian drama based on the book by Trent Dalton and starring Bryan Brown and Anthony La Paglia. The Guardian called it a “one of a kind Australian period piece”, and I have a feeling I’ll need my tissues for this one.
If you’re looking for a well-made, tense drama, you won’t go wrong with the second season of Vigil (TVNZ+). Sadly, it’s no longer set on a submarine, but Suranne Jones is back for another adventure full of sneaky military espionage and epic cliffhangers. TVNZ+ also has season two of the darkly funny Jamie Dornan cat-and-mouse thriller The Tourist, which ditches the dusty Australian outback of season one for the damp, green hills of Ireland.
For something lighter and sillier, try Fool Me Once, a thriller adapted from Harlan Coben’s bestselling novel that’s topped Netflix New Zealand’s most popular show list for nearly three weeks. It’s about a woman who sees her husband after he was supposedly killed, and while the plot stretches plausibility from the get go, it’s a wild ride. Speaking of wild rides, the Nathan Fielder and Emma Stone dark satire The Curse (Neon) has just dropped its final episode this. If you prefer your TV both brilliant and bizarre, then get amongst it.
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Why you should watch: Shortland Street’s entire 1992 season (YouTube)
Shortland Street might be on its summer hiatus, but the TV gods (aka South Pacific Pictures) have blessed us with a special treat: every episode from the show’s first year in 1992. You can now relive the humble beginnings of our longest-running soap by binging Shorty Street’s first 159 episodes, and guess what? It’s a delight.
You might scoff at the idea, but early Ferndale is a dramatic world filled with faxes, landlines and incredible perms. Sure, the show has its clunky moments, but it’s a reminder that Shortland Street tackled thorny issues from the very start and a fun chance to revisit the roles that springboarded the international careers of Temuera Morrison, Martin Henderson and Danielle Cormack.
It’ll take you roughly 61 hours to watch every episode of the Shorty Street 1992 season, but like Dr Love shagging his aerobics instructor during work hours, it’s time well spent.
Speaking of retro telly, be sure to check out:
Every episode of beloved Australian drama McLeod’s Daughters, fresh to TVNZ+ and featuring heaps of 2000s farmy drama.
American documentary Time Bomb Y2K (Neon), which covers the bonkers vibe of the late 1990s when the world tried to stop computers from shitting themselves when we hit the year 2000.
Why you should watch: True Detective: Night Country (Neon)
Ten years after the acclaimed HBO series first hit our screens, True Detective returns with a cracker of a mystery set in small town Alaska. It also stars award-winning actor and director Jodie Foster – and if Foster’s involved, it’s got to be good, right?
The Spinoff’s Sam Brooks certainly thinks so, having quickly hoovered up the first four episodes. “This is True Detective, but not as you know it,” he writes, explaining that Night Country feels a world away from the series’ other three seasons. “Director Issa López, mostly known for directing horror film Tigers Are Not Afraid, brings a chilly and more ethereal feel. Not only are the visuals literally colder – being set during Alaska’s seemingly endless winter of night – but even the aural cues are harder to pin down. When Billie Eilish’s ‘bury a friend’ plays over the opening credits, it’s clear we’re in a different world.”
More pop culture treats from The Spinoff:
All the new TV and movies hitting your favourite streaming service this week, including a new Julian Fellowes costume drama and Outlander’s Sam Heughan in a movie with…Celine Dion? (When did my fever dreams become a film?)
Alex Casey has all the details about where to watch the winning shows from the Emmy Awards earlier this week.
Before David Farrier’s unsettling documentary Mister Organ lands on Netflix today, read our review of the strange but extremely gripping car-clamping saga.
Why you should watch: The Traitors UK (ThreeNow)
Nobody does The Traitors better than the British, and as the show’s second season hits its murderous stride, I’m stoked to say it’s as gloriously hectic and twisted as the first. This is the murder-mystery party set in a Scottish highland castle, featuring brilliant host Claudia Winkleman and a diverse and curious cast of regular people, most of whom appear to have no clue about anything. The ante has been upped by some ruthless players who make killer moves the moment they step inside the castle, as well as surprising new twists. Best of all, ThreeNow (no longer munted!) is screening episodes only a day after the UK.
Other exciting Traitors news:
Cover me in sunshine and bury me in one of Claudia Winkleman’s high neck chunky jumpers, because I loved this piece about Winkleman’s tartan goth Traitors style.
Spoiler: The moment a banished Faithful falls off his chair after finding out who murdered him.
Are you a batshit backstabber? It’s your time to shine. Applications for the next season of The Traitors NZ close soon.
Before we pop off…
Huge news for New Zealand actor Morgana O’Reilly as she joins the cast of White Lotus season three alongside Parker Posey and Michelle Monaghan.
I adored this Country House Hunters NZ scandal about the couple looking to buy a holiday home who were shown a house they already owned.
The first of 2024’s two Emmy Award ceremonies (last year’s was delayed due to the writer strikes) saw Succession and The Bear take home the big awards - but really, we’re here for the frocks.
HBO cancelled Our Flag Means Death after two seasons, and while nearly 50,000 angry fans sign a petition to reverse the decision, you can sail back to Stewart Sowman-Lund’s visit to the show’s Auckland set last year.
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.