Kiwi T.V.

Now I can't say that I've gotten a chance to watch much t.v. while I've been in NZ but everyone is very interested in knowing how secluded (or not) I am being away from home. Surprisingly, I don't feel secluded at all on the news or entertainment front. We've gotten plenty of election coverage including Obama's and McCain's speeches and anchors from Denver reported on the DNC. The leading story on the news tonight was regarding Hurricane Gustav. The morning shows were all reporting on Angelina Jolie's post-partum depression, Pallin's daughter's news.

Any clip of Bush that could or does demonstrate his naivete is shown over and over (they love Bush-bashing on all channels)


I think that we get every primetime show here in NZ that we get at home although a lot of shows are a season (or two) behind. I'm considering using my knowledge of storylines from watching the episodes at home to start a small gambling ring predicting what characters will do next. Stay tuned for how long that will last :-)

NZ even is starting to get it's own versions of gameshows. Tonight is the new "NZ's Who Wants to Be a Millionaire" and they have "NZ Deal or No Deal" (but regular citizens holding the suitcases instead of models). It is pretty impressive how many "NZ" shows there are considering the country's entire population and geographic size is smaller than Colorado.

There is even similar entertainment news including "Entertainment Tonight" However, I have noticed that the hosts for their entertainment channels are not the decked out beauty queens but some just seem like your regular guy off the street. I think that is either becuase of their limited population or becuase like in everything else I've seen, NZ is just less into "looks" and drama.

They are also hooked to our same talkshows i.e. Rachel Ray, Tyra, The View.....You can never escape!

The news has sections dedicated to the US but the bonus is you get other world news as well so it's a bit of everything.

The equivalent of TIVO is just being introduced on their satellite t.v. and it's all the buzz. We just have the four basic channels which really has most of what you need and blends from multiple networks in the US and across the world.

Their commercials are a mix of US commercials (some with dubbed over background commentating by a Kiwi), Australian and some home-grown Kiwi commercials. The Kiwi commercials seem to play over and over. I'm not going to lie. This is my favorite commercial (and he pops up on your computer too) http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=x_poYUF5znQ&watch_response

The morale of the story is, not only does the island have running water and electricity but it also has all the smut t.v. you could want mixed in with some odd Australia soap operas, some British t.v. and the local Kiwi sitcoms are the best. For those of you who watch Flight of the Concords at home (on HBO about two Kiwis in the US) there is plenty more of that kind of humor and bad outfits here too.