Jaquie Brown
British-born Jaquie Brown moved downunder at age 15, and began winning radio awards in the late 1990s. After co-hosting TV2's late night music show Space, she presented on C4 and reported for Campbell Live. In 2008 Brown co-created double Qantas award-winning comedy The Jaquie Brown Diaries. She played a once popular TV personality trying to recapture her fame. Since then Brown has presented parenting series Keep Calm and Carry On, and madcap game show Pop Goes the Weasel. She co-wrote Cannes-nominated short film Nothing Special, and has been a guest host on Three's primetime show The Project.
The Jaquie Brown Diaries - Brown Sweat (Episode Three)
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.
The Jaquie Brown Odyssey - Brownward Spiral (Episode Seven)
TV personality Jaquie Brown plays (and plays up) herself for further delightful comic effect in the second series of The Jaquie Brown Diaries (renamed The Jaquie Brown Odyssey for DVD release). In the Qantas Award-winning TV3 satire Brown is an egomaniacal reporter looking to climb the media ladder any which way she can. This episode sees Brown googling herself, and a late-night forum post sends her spiralling towards celebrity booze binge self-destruction on K Road. In her wake Auckland’s Metro social pages set are skewered with self-referential glee.
The Jaquie Brown Diaries
TV personality Jaquie Brown plays (and plays up) herself for delightful comic effect in this hit TV3 satire. Former Campbell Live reporter Brown plays an egomaniacal journalist 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 second series was retitled for DVD release as The Jaquie Brown Odyssey; both series won acclaim and Best Comedy gongs at the Qantas Film and TV Awards. The Listener gushed: "A local sitcom that doesn't suck."
Kiwi Comedy On TV
This collection celebrates Kiwi comedy on TV: the caricatures, piss-takes, and sitcoms that have cracked us up, and pulled the wool over our eyes for over five decades. From turkeys in gumboots and Fred Dagg, to Billy T, bro'Town and Jaquie Brown. As Diana Wichtel reflects, watching the evolution of native telly laughs is, "a rich and ridiculous, if often painful, pleasure."
Jaquie Brown: On not being Jackie Clarke...
Jaquie Brown's first TV role was as co-host of youth culture show Space with Dominic Bowden in 2000, before becoming one of the two main anchors on burgeoning music channel C4. From there, Brown moved into 'grown up' TV with John Campbell and Carol Hirschfeld, in the series A Queen’s Tour, before becoming a reporter on the current affairs show Campbell Live. Brown then stepped into the challenging realm of programme-making, forming her own production company with Gerard Johnstone. One season later and The Jaquie Brown Diaries was a hit with critics and viewers, and was named Best Comedy at the 2009 Qantas Film and Television Awards.
Top 10 NZ Comedy Series
Every now and then here at NZ On Screen, we like to stick our necks out and choose a Top 10. And our collective opinion is that these are the funniest New Zealand television series to date: from bro' Town to Billy T, from Gliding On to the tag team hijinks of 7 Days. Plus 10 runners-up that we couldn't agree on. Read on to find out more.
TV3 Turns 25
November 2014 marks 25 years since New Zealand TV’s third channel began broadcasting. This 25th birthday sampler pack looks back at iconic drama (Outrageous Fortune), upstart news shows (Nightline), fresh youth programming (Ice TV, Being Eve) and comedy high watermarks (bro’Town, Jaquie Brown, 7 Days). As the launch slogan said "come home to the feeling!"
Nightline
TV3's late night news show was devised in 1990 to provide a mix of credible news and entertainment. Once the serious news of the day was dispensed with, the brief was that the show could be a bit "off" with few rules - and the freedom to push boundaries. That's exactly what presenters like Belinda Todd, Bill Ralston, Dylan Taite and David Farrier proceeded to do in the show's often infamous "third break". Meanwhile, newsreaders including Joanna Paul, Janet Wilson, Leanne Malcolm and Carolyn Robinson did their best to keep a straight face. "Yo Nightliners!"
Rocked the Nation
Rocked the Nation launched in 2008 with six one hour-long shows. Production company Satellite Media ransacked the archives and interviewed protagonists, to survey 100 key moments in Kiwi music history: including smash hits, riots, TV talent shows, and sex, drugs and rock’n’roll. Hosted by Karyn Hay, the series screened on C4 during NZ Music Month, and was the channel’s highest-rating series to that date. Follow-up series counted down 100 New Zealand Pop Culture Stories (2009, hosted by Rhys Darby) and 100 New Zealand Sporting Moments (2011, hosted by Dai Henwood).