"And they feel really arrogant about it, and they don't acknowledge what people actually like, because they want some dark, moody Norwegian thriller."
He also claimed "there aren't many real reviewers in New Zealand" and "standards of journalism... are f**ked".
Greive responded: "The standard of journalism is infinitely better than the standard of television script writing at the moment - and we don't have the benefit of $80 million a year in subsidies".
Greive's critical coverage of Filthy Rich - which earned him a Canon Media Award for Reviewer of the Year - called for New Zealand's TV industry to do better, and he says the whole idea of a "Grey Lynn 500" is part of why we haven't yet.
"There is something in that critique to be fair... amongst certain critics and consumers of comedy and drama there's a desire for us to shoot for a world class level [but]... because it's considered elitist to want to do that, we literally never, ever shoot for it," he says.
"Because of the fear of that... they are self-consciously not making ambitious work. Everything seems to be in this kind of stodgy, lacking-in-ambition-and-vision kind of space and I'm just bored of it. I think a lot of people are."
The problem, he says, isn't a lack of talent, it's that we're not utilising it.
In his original review, Greive wrote: "Young talent should be getting turns at the wheel...the current system doesn't allow for that. Instead, a vanishing small group of people get to make what feels like variations on the same solid-yet-unspectacular drama, over and over again, apparently for all eternity."
He points to TVNZ's New Blood [web series competition] as proof that the industry has options.
"You can see the energy and the creativity of a zero budget that's coming out of there, and then you see these phenomenally expensive productions that just don't seem to have evolved their creative approach since the mid-90s and this just can't be good enough."
"In general, I don't think the solution to the anxieties and agonies of our television production industry right now is to ignore criticism of it or pretend like it doesn't matter. It's to work harder, think harder and just be bolder and more daring, because it doesn't feel like these kinds of cookie-cutter shows are doing that."
Despite the critical mauling and lacklustre ratings season one drew in, Filthy Rich managed to nab $7m of public funding for a second season.
This is on top of season one's funding which, at a total of $8.25m, made it New Zealand's most expensive drama ever.
Filthy Rich returns to TV screens at 8.30pm Tuesday, July 11 on TVNZ 2.
