What to watch after Mare of Easttown – TEEKS on FIRST – Doc Edge
THIS WEEK'S RECS
Kia ora, welcome to this week’s newsletter.
Last year it was an orphaned chess prodigy, then a bunch of Regency hornbags – now we’re all obsessed with Kate Winslet’s vaping detective. There’s no rhyme or reason to it as far as I can tell, it’s just nice when everybody’s watching the same thing at the same time.
Now that Mare of Easttown has finished, we’ll all go our separate TV-watching ways again for a while. Another big series will come along, but it’s impossible to predict what it’ll be until it happens. So what can we watch in the meantime to fill the Mare-shaped hole in our viewing schedules?
That’s the question I put to the room this week – scroll down for a few ideas.
–Cal
This week’s new podcasts
On When the Facts Change [Apple | Spotify], Bernard Hickey got stuck into the idea of a social insurance scheme with two of its biggest fans: Kirk Hope from BusinessNZ and the NZCTU’s Richard Wagstaff. On The Fold [Apple | Spotify], Duncan Greive spoke to Stuff senior reporter Kirsty Johnston about impact journalism and the difference between the Herald and Stuff. On Business is Boring [Apple | Spotify], Simon Pound spoke to Bread and Butter’s Isabel Pasch about the business and politics of bread. The Dietary Requirements [Apple | Spotify] crew cast their minds back over the yummest things they’ve eaten in the last few months, while Remember When… [Apple | Spotify] took a nostalgic stroll down the aisles of Big Fresh, the greatest supermarket we’ve ever known. And The Real Pod [Apple | Spotify] welcomed special guest Rhys Nicholson to spill some behind the scenes tea on Drag Race Down Under the Covers, as well as covering the latest episodes of The Apprentice Aotearoa and The Masked Singer NZ.
Doc Edge Film Festival
New Zealand’s biggest documentary film festival starts tomorrow, with over 80 docos from Aotearoa and around the world to choose from. They’re available to stream online and/or in cinemas (if you’re in Auckland or Wellington), so have a digital leaf through the programme at docedge.nz and see which ones take your fancy. To get you in the mood, I recommend having a watch of The Dental Reunion, a very charming and poignant local short from last year’s programme.
Shetland
I will never stop telling people to watch Shetland. It’s just a bloody good show! Very underrated! If you miss Mare of Easttown’s cold, gloomy locations and glum but loveable detective investigating crimes while dealing with painful family stuff, you’ll find all that and more in Shetland. Should DI Pérez and Mare get married and start solving murders together in a trans-Atlantic crossover series? I’d definitely watch it.
Fate: The Winx Saga and Shadow & Bone
Leonie says: “Netflix has two excellent YA supernatural offerings at the moment. Fate: The Winx Saga is about a Hogwarts-esque high school for faeries. I believe it’s a live action reboot of a Nickelodeon cartoon, but these teen fairies fight, do drugs, have threesomes and the Draco Malfoy of the class straight up murders people, so you could say it’s probably a bit grittier than the source material. Secondly, centred on an orphan with undiscovered powers (yes I know), Shadow & Bone, adapted from the popular Grisha trilogy by Leigh Bardugo, is a worthy heir to Game of Thrones in my books. An intriguing fantasy universe with a sprawling and complex tangle of character arcs and relationships.”
FIRST
TEEKS is one of those people that has such an amazing singing voice that it’s kind of buzzy when you hear them speak and it just sounds like a regular voice. Not sure what I was expecting it to sound like exactly, but you know? In this week’s FIRST he talks about how his childhood savings strategy backfired, buying Adele’s 21 CD and how no song has ever made him cry. (Listen to the podcast version for exclusive Yi-Gi-Oh and Dragon Ball Z content.)
Happy Valley and Bloodline
Toby Manhire says: “The thing people who love and are missing Mare of Easttown should absolutely watch next is Happy Valley, which is on TVNZ OnDemand. It's gut-punchingly good and hard to imagine it wasn't one of the inspirations of MOE. Also the first season of Bloodline on Netflix is beguilingly engrossing in a way that I think would appeal to Mare fans. Florida Keys is very much not Easttown, Pennsylvania, but the setting in this ensemble thriller is similarly sewn into the story. And as with Mare, it's all about layers of family, generations and secrets. It's called Bloodline after all. And the cast: sheesh! Ben Mendelsohn, Coach Taylor, Sissy Spacek, Sam Shepard. (Don't bother with seasons two and three.)”
For All Mankind
Sam says: “For All Mankind is the dad show that’s for the whole family. There are two seasons on Apple TV, following an alternate timeline in which Russia won the space race and changed US (and world) history entirely. It’s got super interesting things to say about race, class and gender, but also manages to be a genuinely gripping, inventive drama beyond that. Come for the space helmets, stay for the wigs.”
The Jaquie Brown Diaries
Stewart says: “For a change of pace from the real world grittiness of Mare, The Jaquie Brown Diaries recently dropped on TVNZ OnDemand. This remains one of my favourite NZ comedies and I’ve been waiting for it to find a new streaming home after it became impossible to find online a few years back. Starring Brown as a twisted version of herself, along with Madeleine Sami, Jonathan Brugh and an endless supply of cameos, it’s an excellent satire of TV news in New Zealand. I’ve been campaigning for this show to return for the last decade and am keeping my fingers crossed it finds a new audience on TVNZ so we might see that happen.”
Good 4 U
Duncan says: “Ridiculous to recommend a second Olivia Rodrigo song within the space of a few months, but ‘Good 4 U’ is irresistible and demands attention. Alex Casey described Rodrigo as a "ratking of Lorde, Taylor Swift and Paramore" and this song is all those teenage dreams in one song, the first perfect punk pop belter of the new decade. Both in terms of the brilliantly informal lyrics and the sugar rush chorus, has an intense kinship with Kelly Clarkson's ‘Since U Been Gone’ and Miley Cyrus' ‘See You Again’, which is the highest praise I have.” (For more of a 41-year-old man frothing over pop music (his words!), check out Duncan’s appearance on RNZ's The Mixtape from the weekend.)
Te Aorangi
Sam says: “Te Aorangi came across my Spotify seemingly at random, and I couldn’t be more delighted about it. I’ve been listening to their album An Ocean’s Worth on repeat nearly constantly; it’s the kind of instrumental work that makes anything you’re doing seem that much more beautiful, poetic and weighted with feeling. It’s gorgeous stuff!” (Find Te Aorangi on Bandcamp here.)
Tasti Bitz
Charlotte says: “Delightful made-to-order Indian chaat (street food), Madras coffee and masala chai wasn’t something I expected to find on my travels through Southland – a region we all probably associate more with cheese rolls, oysters, blue cod and swedes. But I stumbled upon Tasti Bitz, a well-stocked Indian supermarket in central Invercargill / Waihōpai, and their chaat offering did not disappoint. Especially impressive was their dahi puri: eight little flavour bombs stuffed with mashed potato, chickpea, yoghurt, date and tamarind chutney, red onion, coriander and sev. I recommend chucking them back whole just as you would a plate of half-shell Bluff oysters.”
That’s all for this week! Please reply to get in touch and share with anyone else who might like to subscribe too. See you next Wednesday 👋
