It's a romance fit for the 21st century: millennial Lizzie (The Killian Curse's Ivana Palezevic) is obsessed with social media, and indecisive about staying with her Tinder boyfriend Ryan (Ben Zolno) or travelling overseas. Status Pending follows the couple for one day as Ryan tries to help Lizzie by getting her to tick off her life goals, like building a house (albeit out of bed sheets). Time is running out: Lizzie needs to decide about a cheap around-the-world deal. Written and directed by Zolno, the semi-improvised film premiered at US festival Cinequest. It was released online via Amazon.

"I like uncovering people and getting them to fess up to **** and to be more real with themselves." So said Anika Moa to TV Guide of her late night Māori TV talk show. In the first episode, the forthright Moa has two Real Housewives of Auckland on the couch. Moa trades laughs with champagne fan Anna Batley Burton, while Gilda Fitzpatrick shows actor Madeleine Sami the high life, and Sami shows her the thug life. There’s giant knitting needles and innuendo; hip hop artist Kings performs hit 'Don’t Worry Bout It', and The Spinoff’s Alex Casey previews Sensing Murder. 

Prime Minister Jacinda Adern shows off her comedy prowess in this Funny Girls special, celebrating 125 years of Kiwi women attaining the right to vote. Adern corrects the blatant lies of "Pauline the producer" (Jackie van Beek), and puts up with Pauline kissing her. This episode is a who's-who of female Kiwi comedians, featuring (for the first time) live stand-up from Melanie Bracewell and Justine Smith — plus sketches by Angella Dravid and Brynley Stent. Suffragette Special followed series three. Funny Girls was created by comedians Rose Matafeo and Laura Daniel for Three.shimpal - internt cop

When Jordan Watson made his first How to Dad video in 2015, the internet went wild. His short clip on "How to Hold a Baby", where he holds his infant daughter Alba in various poses (e.g. hide your beer belly, rugby ball hold), racked up 250,000 views in 10 hours. This How to Dad collection includes the five most popular videos in the series, covering tips like how to be a Kiwi dad (sprint in jandals, blow on pies), how to put a baby to sleep (bribe them) and how to get a baby to clean. The last video amassed over 16 million views on Facebook. Watson has released two How to Dad books. 

The Hook twins (Jessica Hansell aka rapper Coco Solid, and Rizvan Tu’itahi) pimp their social media profile in the penultimate episode of Hansell’s animated comedy series about a suburban band with stars in their eyes. They go the cheap route by posting a sensationalist clip of their ex-army dad (Frankie Stevens) freaking out over a kitten (he is kittenphobic), however Kowhai recovers her morals and apologises in a lyrical highpoint of the series: “Oh dad, I’m so sorry/ I threw a baby cat in your face/ Oh dad, I’m so sorry/ I was panderin’ to my fanbase.”

Polyfest, the annual secondary schools' Māori and Pacific Island cultural festival, attracts around 90,000 people and 9000 performers from 64 schools to Manukau Sports Bowl. The 2017 Māori Television coverage, hosted by Sonny Ngatai, showcased every kapa haka performance over 50 30 minute slots. This episode features former winners and 2016 runners-up Ngā Puna o Waiōrea (Western Springs College), who perform routines including poi and haka. Puawai Taiapa (Pūkana) and social media stars Cougar Boys and Chardé Heremaia (Memoirs of a Māori) interview rangatahi.

For this 2017 feature film, eight Māori women each directed a 10 minute segment of events circling around the tangi of a boy named Waru. Each director had a day and a single shot to capture their take on the context behind a tragedy. After its debut at the 2017 NZ International Film Festival, Waru won a rush of social media attention, and screened at the Toronto and ImagineNATIVE festivals. The Hollywood Reporter praised it for bringing "a sense of dramatic, urgent realism to a story that plays out like a suspenseful mystery". Waru was produced by Kerry Warkia and Kiel McNaughton.

In this first episode of the 2015 Māori Television series, three rangitahi answer a Facebook call for sailors who are up for reconnecting with nature and their culture, on a six week waka journey circumnavigating the North Island. The te ao Māori twist on the fish out of water reality show sees a trio of young Māori (including Boy discovery Rickylee Russell-Waipuka) set sail on Hoturoa Barclay-Kerr’s waka Haunui, where they’re separated from social media, face seasickness and rough seas, and learn the "ancient laws of voyaging". The winner gets the chance to join a voyage to Rarotonga.

In the second part of this controversial, no-holds-barred portrait, Neil Roberts And Louise Callan look at Robert Muldoon’s tenure as Prime Minister — and claim that his best days were behind him before he took power. They examine Muldoon’s brutally divisive leadership style, which saw him at odds with officials, ministers, unions, the media and social groups that opposed him. The tumultuous events of 1984 that resulted from Muldoon’s desperate attempts to cling to power — calling a snap election and all but refusing to leave office after his defeat — are explored in depth.

TV personality Jaquie Brown plays (and plays up) herself for delightful comic effect in this hit TV3 satire. Brown plays an egomaniacal reporter looking to climb the media ladder any which way she can. Auckland's aspirational set: a cast of Metro social page alumni and wannabes, are skewered with self-referential glee. The show won Best Comedy at the 2009 Qantas Film and TV Awards. This episode sees Jaquie striving to exit Woman's Day's 'Plump it Hottie' section, appropriating a tampon, and performing in a celeb singalong.