The APRA Silver Scroll Awards
(APRA's YouTube and Facebook channels)
After a woeful and extended run of pandemic-related postponements, APRA made the hard decision to can the in-person ceremony for the 2021 Silver Scroll Awards. However, the silver scroll-shaped lining underneath this Covid-shaped cloud is that this decision paved the way for the ceremony to move online, meaning that for the first time ever, everyone is invited.
Great news indeed, and a rare chance to see exactly what makes this particular awards show such a special night on New Zealand's musical calendar.
Log on to APRA's YouTube or Facebook channels from 6.30pm tonight and you'll be able to enjoy the half-hour pre-recorded ceremony, complete with nail-biting announcements and grateful winners' speeches. As ever, expect the highlight of the ceremony to be the musical performance, which will see some very special guests completely reimagining and reinterpreting the award-winning song.
For some pre- or post-ceremony viewing stick around on APRA's YouTube site where you'll also find videos of finalists Maisey Rika, Anthonie Tonnon, Tipene, Troy Kingi and The Beths telling the stories behind their nominated songs.
Streaming tonight from 6.30pm.
Atlanta
(Neon and SkyGo)
After an excruciatingly long, four-year wait, Donald Glover has finally dropped the third season of his acclaimed, innovative dramedy Atlanta.
While most details of what to expect have been kept quieter than a library after hours, the big talking point is that this season Earn, his cousin, the up-and-coming rapper Paper Boi, and their eccentric pal Darius aren't actually in Atlanta at all. Instead, we join them on tour in Europe where anything is likely to happen.
The show has always been artistically ambitious and pushed boundaries and there's no reason to expect Glover and co. to drop the ball now. Indeed, one critic wrote of this new season that the show "continues its path of becoming one of the all-time greats."
Streaming from Saturday.
Abandonment Issues
(TVNZ OnDemand)
If you've ever found yourself wondering "whatever happened to *insert random Kiwi celebrity name here*", you're not alone. The two-time Billy T Award-nominated comedian James Mustapic has also thought the same thing. The big difference is that he was not satisfied to let those random thoughts slip away. Instead, he's turned them into a new series in which he hunts down all the 2000s Kiwi celebrities that captivated him as a young queer boy in Dunedin back in the day before their disappearance from the public eye.
Mustapic will search high, low and in Hamilton to find people like former NZ Idol's Ben Lummis and Michael Murphy, the after-school kids show favourite Erin Simpson and his personal "white whale" Sticky TV's Drew Neemia.
Streaming from tomorrow.