The Spinoff TV debuts on Three tonight, promising to bring a sharp, witty take on current affairs, pop culture, and basically anything else the hosts fancy.
Alex Casey is a senior writer and podcast host for The Spinoff, and Leonie Hayden is the editor of , Ātea, The Spinoff's Māori content channel. Together they will front the show, and attempt to corral the chaos that is the NZ pop culture and media landscape into half an hour of television gold.
"It's going to be fun," Alex says of the show.
"News, but fun!" offers Leonie. "Cool news."
The show will follow 7 Days on TV Three, at 9.45pm - a watershed time slot that allows for a bit more leniency when it comes to content.
"We get to be a bit rude. We get to swear, sometimes - within reason. It's not going to be effing and jeffing all over the place."
But after years of dissecting Kiwi TV personalities and public figures for the website, are they ready for the tables to be turned?
"I'm just going to put my phone on flight mode, I think." Alex says. "If you want to get in touch, send a letter."
"People criticise us all the time," says Leonie. "And actually that's fine, it can be a conversation.
"It's like 'here's our opinion on something, what the hell do you think?'"
The pair has a weekly feminism podcast, On The Rag, along with Michelle A'Court, and we're likely to see some of that content crossover to their new platform.
"We'll maybe more readily talk about feminist concepts, or intersectionality," says Leonie.
Alex agrees. "It might shock some people."
With the show's premiere mere hours away, I decided to perform my own official investigation into Alex and Leonie's knowledge of New Zealand television - you know, just to make sure.
I devised a set of Kiwi TV trivia questions. These were mostly informed by my YouTube history, which is comprised of grainy TrueBliss music videos, clips from Married At First Sight NZ, and footage of sausage dogs (the latter unfortunately not applicable in this case).
With TV test in hand, I set out to answer the question: how much do Alex and Leonie really know about television in Aoeteroa? Heaps, actually.
Together they made very short work of my carefully crafted quiz, proving that teamwork really does makes the dream work. They could even sing the entirety of Suzy Cato's 'It's Our Time'.
Damn.
So, not that anyone actually asked me, I have herby concluded that the hosts of The Spinoff TV are more than qualified for the job at hand.
The Spinoff TV is made thanks to production partners at Great Southern Television, the team at Three and funding from NZ on Air. It premieres on June 22 at 9.45pm on Three and then on ThreeNow.
Newshub.
