This six-part All Blacks history showpiece series was commissioned by TVNZ in time for the lead-in to the 1999 Rugby World Cup. Broadcaster Keith Quinn and a six-person crew set off on "one of the most enjoyable and stimulating experiences" of Quinn's career. With Quinn as a genial guide (as both fan and expert), the episodes are framed around the All Blacks’ great rivalries with Britain, South Africa, and Australia; the Rugby World Cup; All Black captains and coaches, and a fascinating episode dedicated to the shift to professionalism after the 1995 World Cup.

A continuation of the classic 70s UK TV series cherished by herds of horse-loving girls, the New Adventures follow Vicky Denning (Amber McWilliams) who has emigrated to the antipodes with her step-mother, where she is captivated by a mystic black horse. The co-production was set in NZ, produced by Tom Parkinson and features many Kiwi names in front of and behind the camera (Illona Rodgers, Ken Catran). Key original cast and the famous original title sequence and tune are reprised, but now with Beauty galloping along a west coast beach. Two seasons were produced. 

These short profiles of then-current All Blacks were made for TV3 as part of a pre-Rugby World Cup 2007 series. Each involves an interview with the player in a formative context for them, eg. their hometown, club ground, old school or favourite surf beach. The interviewer is James Gemmell, and interviewees included tighthead prop Carl Hayman, flanker Jerry Collins, hooker Anton Oliver and fullback Mils Muliaina. The players are relaxed and surprisingly candid, as Oliver says when reflecting on the burden of captaincy: “I was sh*tting myself for a while.”

Among a number of high profile acting parts, Temuera Morrison is most indelibly associated in New Zealand with his 1994 role as Once Were Warriors’ abusive husband ‘Jake the Muss’. In 2013 he became the subject of a reality show. Made for TV One by producer Bailey Mackey, The Life and Times of Temuera Morrison follows the actor for six months as he attempts to breathe life into an acting career that has spanned 35 years, beginning as an 11-year-old. The Listener’s Diana Wichtel called the seven-part series “entertaining, good-hearted stuff, cut with an arch but sympathetic eye”. 

Never broadcast on local TV, Men of the Silver Fern was made for the NZRFU (now known as New Zealand Rugby) for its 1992 centenary. Four hour-long programmes provided a chronological celebration of all things All Black, told via archive footage and over 40 interviews with players, officials and historians (reenactments illustrate the early era). Originally planned as a single programme, it was decided to release the four episodes as a ‘collector’s edition’ VHS box-set. Peter Coates directed, and produced with Keith Quinn and rugby administrators Ces Blazey and Ivan Vodanovich.

80s show Close Up had a similar brief to earlier current affairs show Compass: to present mini-documentaries on topical local issues. Stories in the primetime hour-long slot were wide-ranging, from hard news to human interest pieces, including a profile of 25-year-old foreign exchange dealer, future-Prime Minister, John Key. The show won Feltex Awards for most of the years that it was on air. Close Up is not related to the post-nightly news show of the same name, which was hosted by Mark Sainsbury until 2012.

Five-part series The New Zealand Wars took a new look at the history of Māori vs Pākehā armed conflict. It was presented by historian James Belich, who with his arm-waving zeal proved a persuasive on-screen presence: "we don't need to look overseas for our Robin Hood, our Genghis Khan, Joan of Arc, or Gandhi". The popular series reframed NZ history, and its stories of Hōne Heke, Governor Grey, Tītokowaru, Te Whiti, Von Tempsky and Te Kooti, easily affirmed Belich's conviction. The New Zealand Wars was judged Best Documentary at the 1998 Qantas Media Awards.

Teacher Mr Gormsby believes in brutal honesty - and that the education system has gone all namby-pamby. In desperation, a dysfunctional low-decile school employs him.director/co-creator Danny Mulheron was inspired partly by an old school teacher who wore a military beret, and has irreverent fun with the archaic antics of Mr Gormsby. The Dominion Post compared Gormsby to Fred Dagg and Lynn of Tawa; The Sydney Morning Herald found it "darkly funny". Running two seasons, it was nominated for Best Script and Best Comedy in the 2006 NZ Screen Awards.

Producer Ric Salizzo followed a series of All Black tour videos with this popular long-running live show. The Sky Sport (later TV2) series featured interviews and skits, and gathered a loyal following for its recipe of sports fandom mixed with schoolboy pratfalls (and tension between larrikin ex-All Black Marc Ellis and co-host Lana Coc-Kroft). Other members of the circus that Salizzo tried to wrangle included That Guy (Leigh Hart), Eva the Bulgarian (Eva Evguenieva), Graeme Hill, and the Human Canonball (Ben Hickey). The show made a brief comeback in 2008.

The concept of this reality TV series was to take away an important element of a person’s everyday life, then capture the results. The essentials that subjects were deprived of included Mum, make-up, clothes, electricity, and in the case of radio DJ Kevin Black, sleep. Black’s 60 hours without sleep produced hallucinations and delirium over the airwaves. Living Without screened on TV One. It was produced by NZ reality TV pioneers Touchdown Television (which in 2006 became Eyeworks Touchdown, and in 2014 was purchased by Warner Brothers).