There’s something special about local content in Aotearoa.
Maybe it’s hearing our accents on screen, seeing locations that are meaningful to us, or inevitably having one degree of separation from some part of the show in a way that’s so New Zealand.
If your uncle wasn’t the boom operator and you didn’t go to school with someone from the cast, then you probably spotted the star at some shady bar in 2008.
While many local favourite shows didn’t stand the test of time, and even our beloved Shortland Street dropping from five nights a week to three, there are plenty of gaps that could be filled with homegrown content.
And with the Government announcing budget updates for local film and television production, could there be hope that local favourites can return to our screens once more?
We’ve rounded up our favourite local shows that we wish would come back, and just what made them brilliant.
1993–1999, 2004-2005
No show had a bigger chokehold on me in the 90s than obstacle-themed canine show Tux Wonder Dogs. I’d spend hours in the backyard trying to train our labradors by bribing them with those triangle-shaped biscuits, having them loop around the clothesline and walk on 2x4s. Ultimately, 5-year-old Jenni never made it onto the show, but its appeal and catchy jingle still live rent-free in my head.
- Jenni Mortimer, chief lifestyle and entertainment reporter
2015-2018
The skit comedy show launched by Rose Matafeo and Laura Daniel was a beacon within our TV schedules – reliably crack-up with a touch of absurdity. In the time since it dropped off screens in 2018, we’ve seen great swings at sketches. But overseas, skit comedy has entered a new era. From Tim Robinson’s I Think You Should Leave to A Black Lady Sketch Show and SNL’s revised style, sketches have gone full-on bizarro. I would love to see our local comedy scene unite and go nuts with a big budget for a new and hot take on Funny Girls, leaning all the way into excessive silliness (we’ve got enough existential vibes in Aotearoa to power it at the moment).
- Madeleine Crutchley, lifestyle journalist
2012-2018
While it’s awesome to hear Jono and Ben on the radio (and see Jono in his show Vince), the pair were titans of the late-night sketch show and produced some impeccable television for Jono and Ben at Ten. Who can forget such laugh-inducing moments like Jono running into Ben’s room at midnight with a chainsaw to scare the living s**t out of him, or Ben getting absolutely annihilated by a boxing Hayley Holt while blindfolded.
- Mitch Hageman, entertainment reporter
2008-2009
I’ve advocated for this show before, and I will continue to advocate for it until the end of time if necessary. This two-season wonder, starring the real Jaquie Brown playing a heightened, egotistical, self-destructive parody of herself, was a glorious treat when it aired close to 20 years ago. It may be a time capsule of that era of New Zealand celebrity, but you can still rewatch it now and appreciate how unhinged it was.
The second season also ended on a giant cliffhanger that never got resolved, one that desperately needs to be resolved, but a return would be great, just to see how Jaquie would survive in the era of the influencer.
Honourable mention in this category of unresolved TV hits - where’s Season 3 of Creamerie? We at least need a telemovie there to wrap that one up.
- Ethan Sills, Head of Podcasts and entertainment reviewer
2020-2021
TV3’s failure to renew the drama series about rival high school rugby teams (and so, so much more) was a travesty. Actor and show matriarch Miriama McDowell summed it up best in a 2021 social media post: “Haere rā Head High. You were important to us because you were the first prime-time drama in four decades to be set around a Māori whānau. You were important to us because you were set in South Auckland. You were important to us because seven out of the top 10 cast of the show were Māori, Pasifika or Asian. You were important to us because you gave Māori and Pasifika talent an opportunity to learn and grow, behind the camera and in front of it.
- Kim Knight, Senior Journalist
From 2001
Celebrity Treasure Island has had many iterations over the years (lest we forget Fans vs. Faves), but from the years 2001-2004, the show peaked with castings such as Nicky Watson, Sally Ridge, Matthew Ridge, Marc Ellis, Louise Wallace and Josh Kronfeld. Most of the cast was shirtless, and those who kept their tops on exclusively did so in Ed Hardy. It was television magic. The show was last filmed in 2024, with no current news of any seasons in the works. To breathe life back into the winning show format, TVNZ need to give us something juicy like All Stars, Celeb Rivals out for vengeance, or another casting as jaw-droppingly good as Tāme Iti.
- Jenni Mortimer, Chief lifestyle and entertainment reporter
2023-2024
If we’re advocating for more reality TV, then another round of The Traitors is really what we need. After the uncomfortable first season, which awkwardly blended hopeful members of the public with celebrities on a corporate retreat, the second season was one of the best local shows of 2024.
With a cast made entirely of reality TV newcomers (many of whom were aspiring actors, but New Zealand does have those in excess), it was full of bite, with the various players keen to make an impression and delivering at every challenge and roundtable. Paul Henry as the host is on par with Claudia Winkleman (The Traitors UK) and Alan Cumming (The Traitors US), while still making the role his own, and I’ll never complain about having him on our TV.
Get this back for Season 3 - and if that can’t happen, scrap the celebrities and let Treasure Island return to its roots. We need more interesting, real characters on our screens.
- Ethan Sills, Head of Podcasts and entertainment reviewer
1993-1998
There’s no better person on the planet to entertain tamariki than Suzy Cato, and from the years 1993-1998, You and Me was the “it” show for Kiwi kids. Cato helped us grow up gently, learn by osmosis, be kinder and ultimately have wicked cool style. It’s the pure content that 2025 desperately needs.
- Jenni Mortimer, Chief lifestyle and entertainment reporter
New York Times: From movies and TV shows to music, the habit is no longer taboo.