From Beyoncé and Barbie to Bottoms and Below Deck, here are a few of The Spinoff’s very favourite pop culture offerings from 2023. 

Well folks, we made it to the end of 2023 and what a weird year in popular culture it has been, both here in Aotearoa and beyond. Twitter became X, Logan Roy died, Taylor Swift made one hundred bajillion dollars, Tāme Iti was on Celebrity Treasure Island, Matthew Perry died, The Project NZ ended, Rihanna revealed her pregnancy at the SuperBowl, Bubbah got a huge tattoo on Taskmaster NZ, Prince Harry wrote about his chilly todger, and Angela Basset did the thing. 

With so much happening all the time, you’d be forgiven for not being able to fully absorb all of the glorious television, music and movies that have also been released in 2023. If you’re looking to fill in the gaps over the summer holidays, The Spinoff writers put their heads together and came up with this: a giant megalist of the very best things that we watched, listened to and enjoyed this year. Have a wonderful summer and we’ll be back for whatever 2024 has in store. 

Our favourite television of 2023

After the Party (TVNZ+)

For years, we’ve been told we couldn’t have the prickly Scandi-style dramas so beloved by critics because our networks needed broad shows to acquire broad audiences. Then TVNZ commissioned this deeply uncomfortable show about a maybe-paedophile teacher and his drunk, obsessive ex-wife. Somehow, it became a huge and beloved hit, gaining viewers as it went on – it’s surely the most talked about New Zealand show in years. Because it has also been picked up by the UK and Australia, there’s a decent chance this will become a global buzz show in 2024. It cost a lot but has become a triumph for the whole team that made it — and its success might also bring dividends for the whole country’s screen industry. / Duncan Greive

The Curse (Neon)

Is it illegal to choose a show that I haven’t even finished yet? I don’t care, because The Curse is under my skin and now living in my head rent free, just like one of the Siegel’s lucky, lucky tenants. Starring Nathan Fielder and Emma Stone as an insufferably well-intentioned couple doing televised good deeds in a town that wants nothing to do with them, The Curse is a frequently excruciating journey through the hell of gentrification, white guilt, and performative activism. Co-created by Fielder and Benny Safdie of Uncut Gems fame, it is the perfect marriage of the former’s obsession with the facade of television and the latter’s obsession with slow, stressful zooms. It took a while to get it here but, now that it’s on Neon, you gotta get stuck in over the holidays. I’m sorry and you’re welcome. / Alex Casey

Fionna & Cake

I mostly watch TV for comfort, which roughly equates to constant rewatches of Adventure Time. (Yes, I do sing along to the theme song and all the other songs too). I have tried other cartoons but none have soothed my heart in quite the same way, so when I found out Fionna & Cake was in the works, I tried very hard not to get too excited, because I am easily crushed by disappointment. Fionna and Cake live in a different part of the multiverse than the classic Adventure Time crew, but luckily BMO does make an appearance or two. Here, the Ice King is Simon Petrikov, and for longtime fans it’s an opportunity to learn more about his backstory. Would recommend for tender hearts. / Gabi Lardies

Tour de France: Unchained (Netflix)

As a teenager, I would stay up all night watching Miguel Indurain grind away at the mountain stages of the Tour de France. Then, the drug scandals of the 2000s whittled away at my interest. This year, before the great race, Netflix released Unchained, a documentary following the 2022 event, which revealed a new great rivalry between Jonas Vingegard and Tadej Pogačar. Unchained did what Drive to Survive has done so spectacularly for F1 and gave you the personalities inside the lycra – making this year’s sensational race far more appealing as a result. / DG

Only Murders in the Building (season three, Disney+)

I can’t get enough of this silly, delightful show that gently satirises showbiz and the global obsession with true crime podcasts. The wonderfully unlikely combination of Martin Short, Steve Martin and Selena Gomez is enhanced by a stellar performance by Meryl Streep and a ludicrously sassy turn by Paul Rudd. It’s worth watching just to catch the return of Jane Lynch as the unhinged stuntwoman Sazz Patki, who steals the show every time. Not since Broad City has New York-inspired TV made me laugh so genuinely and joyfully: great gags, superb lines, perfectly placed moments of the surreal. / Claire Mabey 

Pamela, A Love Story (Netflix)

Truthfully I was tossing up between Beckham and Pammy (the enduring image of David Beckham pensively frying a single mushroom will stay with me for years to come) but no other celebrity documentary of 2023 comes close to the revelations and utter devastation contained within Pamela, A Love Story, which details the life of pop culture icon Pamela Anderson. From her groundbreaking privacy case to her real-time reaction to the Pam & Tommy Hulu series, this is a shattering and extremely overdue reframing of a human who had the misfortune of becoming a global punchline. Plus, what lovely linens she has! / AC

The coronation of King Charles III (TVNZ+)

Forget The Crown, because the best royal show of 2023 was a little something called “the king’s coronation”. The empire’s cleverest screenwriter could never have thought up some of the batshit stuff we saw during this one-off TV special, which included a very rude cushion, the king tucking a long rug into the back of his pants, and a shocking twist about Mike Hosking’s new shoes. If you haven’t seen it already, here’s a spoiler: the king has a lot of gold. Here’s another one: rich people love to sing. Extremely fine, absolutely normal, God save the television. / Tara Ward

Somebody Somewhere (Neon)

You know those shows that are a litmus test for if you’re going to get along with a person? That if they like the show, you know you’ll like them. That’s Somebody Somewhere for me. This low-stakes, low-key comedy starring Bridget Everett as Sam, a slightly messy woman in her 40s with a massive heart, returned for a second season this year and once more, there was no show that demonstrated how much better the world would be if we all tried to understand each other more. It also has the funniest toilet humour I’ve ever seen in a series. / Sam Brooks

Succession (season four, Neon)

This year marks the end of HBO as the most powerful aesthetic force in television, as it gets sucked into the Warner Brothers Discovery/Max content soup. It’s a major cultural loss, but at least we got the final season of Succession — a sprawling, riveting portrait of the end of a media dynasty. The culture it portrayed is definitively waning – maybe creator Jesse Armstrong’s next show could turn the same gaze on big tech? / DG

For All Mankind (season four, Apple TV)

The latest season of this show beats out a crowded cohort of fantastic 2023 releases – including Silo and the best Star Trek since the 90s – to be this year’s best sci-fi. Set in an alternative history where the space race accelerated humanity’s cultural, social and technological development, season four brings For All Mankind into the 21st century. It doesn’t focus on spaceships, space-stations or intergalactic wars, but instead on how space exploration affects the relationships of families, friends and enemies. By doing so it provides a refreshing take on an oftentimes stale genre in a realistic and relatable package. / Tommy de Silva 

Below Deck Down Under (season two, Hayu)

The most recent season of Below Deck Down Under (set in Australia and featuring multiple New Zealand crew including its star and heart, Aesha Scott) did all the things that make the show uniquely compelling. But it also dealt with one of the most shocking unintended incidents I’ve seen on a reality show. That it navigated a moment of such complexity with such care is part of what elevates what could easily be another tawdry workplace show to something way beyond the usual formula. Watch it all on Hayu. / DG

Our favourite music of 2023

Caroline Polachek – Desire, I Want to Turn Into You

Polachek has been making brilliant pop songs for over a decade, starting with the band Chairlift a lifetime ago. But her solo work is what has made her one of the most electrifying musicians on the planet. The album kicks off with ‘Welcome to My Island’, shimmering like 80s Miami freestyle. It confidently takes glitchy, shape-shifting hyper pop (‘Bunny is a Rider’) and soaring, skittering breakbeats (‘I Believe’) into something modern and wholly singular. Most of all, Polachek sounds like she’s loving figuring out this era, which, given my deep ambivalence about it, I really needed and appreciated. / DG

Home Brew – Run It Back

Home Brew, the outfit that made Tom Scott a household name, triumphantly returned to our airwaves this year with a killer new album. Run It Back is Home Brew’s first studio album since their 2012 award-winning self-titled release, and it has reached the acclaimed heights of the latter – #1 album on the New Zealand charts. This album represents a relaxing respite from the hardcore jazz-rap and political messages of Avantdale Bowling Club, Scott’s latest persona. While all of Run It Back’s tunes are great, my favourites are ‘Drinking In The Morning’, ‘Mum’s Stash’, ‘Holding On’ and ‘Probably’. / TDS

Tiny Ruins – Ceremony 

I have played ‘Dogs Dreaming’ from Tiny Ruins’ fourth album, Ceremony, approximately 48,239 times since it was released in April. It is precisely my kind of song: beautiful lyrics that build a miniature world inside a song. The tune is jangly, like fairy bells, easy to listen to; but the more you do the deeper and more melancholic the music becomes. From ‘Dogs Dreaming’ you get to the 60s guitar and sultry vocals of ‘Daylight Savings’; then the dirtier rock and roll distortions of ‘Dorothy Bay’. Hollie Fulbrook’s songwriting is a treasure. Everything about Ceremony is exquisitely done: from the cover art (take me there) and the individual artworks that go with each song, to the lush, mystic font on the website. Buy the album, support one of Aotearoa’s best songwriters. / CM

Erny Belle – Not Your Cupid

I really thought the drawn out, glitchy “it’s been a… loooong… tiiiiime… coOooOom-ing” from the opening moments of Taylor Swift’s Eras tour would be the defining pronunciation of that phrase in 2023. That was until I heard the opening line of ‘Inertia’ on Erny Belle’s new album Not Your Cupid and was absolutely thrown for a loop. Her sophomore album is a shimmery summer must-have, packed with Dirty Dancing references, the odd sitar, and the same playfully disembowelling lyrics and endlessly catchy melodies as her exquisite debut. I’ll be cranking this all the way to Coro for Newies, and that’s a promise. It’s been a long time coming. / AC

NZ Trio and friends – Force of Nature 

I’ve already raved about Force of Nature, which debuted at the Auckland Arts Festival in March to coincide with Forest and Bird’s 100th anniversary. That the organisation celebrated with an album of new classical compositions inspired by New Zealand species probably says a lot about the demographics that sign up to Forest and Bird events; as does the fact that the album has only had a few hundred plays on Spotify (I assume it has many more on CD). Using piano, cello, violin, percussion and taonga puoro, Force of Nature is simply gorgeous. The album is textured and weird, with some bits that sound like being inside a forest and others that are more melodic. I listen to it whenever I long to be outside. / Shanti Mathias

Central Cee, Dave – Sprinter

I’ve always loved the name Dave – so unassuming, but the underlying audacity to think you can own the mononym of one of the most popular and boring names in the western world. Sprinter featured him and Central Cee trading humble brags over gentle plucked guitar, with lyrics referencing a Toyota Yaris and the whole conceit about a panel van. It gets you rolling through London late at night, even when you’re trudging through Mt Albert. / DG

Raye – Escapism feat 070 Shake

She’s been threatening for ever, Raye, behind a succession of songs that were right at the edge of breaking out but maybe a little too poised, a little too restrained. Escapism was the sound of her losing her cool – out, heartbroken, leaning into the chaos of the night. “I don’t trust any of these bitches I’m with / In the back of the taxi, sniffin’ cocaine / Drunk calls, drunk texts, drunk tears, drunk sex / I was lookin’ for a man who was on the same page”. Mike Sabath’s production drives relentlessly, as sweaty and cathartic as her and 070 Shake, together they recall the apex of Rihanna, as high a compliment as I have. / DG

AP, Deera Meelan, Deadforest – WEH!

Four years ago, part of this combo created Fire Sale, one of the most perfect and original hip hop songs this country has ever birthed. A few months ago they did it again with WEH!, recruiting AP, and it’s honestly that good again. Is that a harpsichord at the top? Then some very pitched vocal samples sliding in and out of focus while a bass drum builds and builds. Is it hip house? I cannot tell you – but WEH! is undeniably special, the sound of artists disregarding the data and just making something they love. Here’s hoping it has the long-gestating half-life to a hit that ultimately befell Fire Sale. / DG

Baby Queen – We Can Be Anything

There’s a lot of self-consciously 90s sound around right now, and honestly no complaints – Olivia Rodrigo’s Guts is basically perfect. Baby Queen is there too, evoking post-Britpop charmers like Baby Bird and Cornershop, with a sound that takes from anthemic genre tropes while feeling very fresh. But it’s the conversational lyrics which really bring this to vivid life, scratching at this era’s natural ennui before erupting into… is that joy in the chorus? Joy? In this economy? Out of time, and all the better for it. / DG

Luke Combs – Fast Car

There’s really no explaining how Fast Car came to be the hit it did. Combs’ cover of Tracy Chapman’s beloved 1988 single really doesn’t bring a lot more to it than she did – a little muscle, maybe some bigger drums, even keeping the gender – giving it a subtle homoeroticism which really works for Combs. Still, it proved irresistible, peaking at #2 on Billboard Hot 100 and going platinum here around the time Combs played a sold out and adoring Spark Arena. / DG

Our favourite movies of 2023

Renaissance: A Film By Beyoncé

An elderly couple at the end of our row got up about 30 seconds into the Renaissance movie, which could only mean they thought they were in for a documentary about Michelangelo. But they should have stuck around, because what transpired over the next three hours contained more jaw-dropping skill, spectacle, dedication, physicality, pain and humanity than the Sistine Chapel ceiling friggin’ wishes. Sorry to the Eras Tour Movie, but Renaissance is so much more than a cash-grab concert film – it felt like it contained the whole damn universe. / AC

WHAM! (Netflix) 

When the great pop canon of the 80s is assembled, it’s typically headlined by Prince, Madonna and Michael Jackson, and a well-trodden path from there. Wham! are often left out of the narrative — but Netflix’s documentary made a kinetic case to put them right at the heart of the conversation. It glides on a massive trove of archive footage, which shows just how much the modern architecture of stadium pop is built on their foundations. / DG

How to Blow Up a Pipeline 

This is probably the scariest movie that I’ve watched this year, even though the enemy is oil infrastructure – the titular pipeline – rather than any particular person or force. You can, and I have, had dinner table debates about the efficacy of direct action in responding to the crisis, but you don’t have to be concerned about the philosophy of it all to enjoy this film. With an ensemble cast, each with a unique motivation, it barely mentions the climate crisis at all. Instead, it’s an incredibly shot, taut heist movie – which will, ironically, leave you feeling like pipeline bombardment is the last thing you’d ever want to do. / SM 

Bottoms

Just the silliest, funniest, most ridiculous queer comedy you’ll ever see. Ayo Edibiri, who seemed to be in every second movie or show this year, delivers some outstanding monologues about absolutely nothing, and the whole thing just makes you want to say some dumb shit for fun. A perfect antidote for a bleak year. / Mad Chapman

Talk to Me 

There was a moment in Talk to Me, the bone-chilling Australian horror film made by YouTubers RackaRacka (sounds bad, but bear with me) where I was genuinely frozen, petrified with fear, a single tear rolling out of one eye. This elevated seance movie is a moonwalk through hell, a dance with the devil, a tango with terror, and easily the best horror movie I’ve seen in years. Tip: if you need a hand to hold while watching, just make sure it’s the right one. / AC

Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse

While it may not have changed film animation like its predecessor, Across the Spider-Verse was 2023’s best superhero movie, a worthy sequel to 2018’s Into The Spider-Verse and a great continuation of Miles Morales’ big screen story. Although it received some criticism for its “to be continued ending”, to me, Across the Spider-Verse is a superb second entry in what will be a trilogy. It progresses the stories of Morales, Peter Parker plus Gwen Stacey and introduces a swathe of new loveable spider-people (with some legendary cameos) – while setting up the moral dilemma to be fought over in the trilogy’s finale. / TDS

Barbenheimer

Neither of these were my favourite movies of the year but you have to admit that as a viewing experience, a cultural moment, a meme machine, Barbenheimer went absolutely thermonuclear. I can’t remember the last time that absolutely everyone was talking about The Movies with such passion and fervour as they did in July of this year. Whether is was discussing Barbie’s beauty standards, why Emily Blunt was out of focus for so long in Oppenheimer, how Margot Robbie held her feet like that, or what bronzer Cillian Murphy was wearing on the press tour, my greatest fear is that we’ll never get a monoculture moment quite like it ever again. / AC

Rye Lane

I find myself watching When Harry Met Sally every year for two reasons. 1. It’s one of the best movies of all time and far and away the best romcom. 2. There just aren’t many good romcoms being released these days. Every time I see a new one pop up on a streaming platform I hope for the best and experience the worst. But Rye Lane has renewed my hope in the genre. The directorial debut of Raine Allen-Miller, Rye Lane takes place in a single day and pairs two strangers who’ve recently been through break-ups as they assist in each other’s romantic recoveries. Not a lot happens but the two leads (David Jonsson and Vivian Oparah) have delightful chemistry and enough heat to truly cheer for. Plus the movie has a barbecue music scene that made me laugh until it hurt. / MC

May/December

Although it’s technically not out here until February, this film had an early bow at this year’s film festival and I’ve not stopped thinking about it since. Very loosely based on the Mary Kay Letourneau scandal, it follows Elizabeth (Natalie Portman, tremendous at playing an average actor) as she visits a small town to study Gracie (Julianne Moore, nauseating in the best way), 20 years after she had an affair with a 13-year-old, who she is still with to this day. That’s a lot of hook to hang a film on, but what makes May/December brilliant is how it plays with narratives – the stories we tell about ourselves, and even to ourselves – in order to make sense of things. What I think the film is actually about changes weekly: is it an indictment on the true crime genre? Is it about femininity as a performance? Or am I complicating it entirely, and it’s a story about how abuse is sometimes, literally, just abuse and we should view it as such. / SB

How to Have Sex

While the title may lead you to believe this is just another Jennifer Lawrence career-relaunch raunch comedy, do not be fooled. How to Have Sex is an enthralling and frequently devastating journey through one UK friend group’s rite-of-passage summer trip to Greece, the beginnings of which feel a bit like a gender-flipped Inbetweeners movie or the first episode of Love Island. Of course, teenage girls have a very different experience when it comes to drinking, partying and hooking up than boys, and the movie quickly descends into one of the most shattering and realistic examinations of the complexities of consent I’ve ever seen anywhere. But also somehow it’s incredibly funny and touching and the perfect ode to messy teen girl friendships? A miracle. I couldn’t stop thinking about it for weeks after I saw it in the film festival, and simply cannot recommend it enough when it gets a general release here in 2024. / AC

Our favourite podcasts of 2023

Scamanda

The true crime genre is now well established as the most popular form of narrative podcast, and con-people is a popular sub-genre within that (the best NZ-connected example being ABC’s Snowball). Which is to say it takes a lot to break out — but Scamanda undeniably did. The story of a mother who faked a cancer diagnosis to inveigle her way into a family and a church was relentlessly shocking in its audacity, and masterfully told. / DG

Blowback Season 4 

I’ve been listening to Blowback since the first season about the Iraq War. It’s a history podcast about the violence of the American empire, with seasons about wars of the last century that the US has been involved in. This year’s season about the Afghanistan war was was one of their best yet. It’s meticulously researched, funny and very very angry about the negligence, stupidity and corruption that preceded the Taliban returning to Kabul in 2021, and all the civilians who lost their lives in the process. / SM

The Urbanist Agenda

In 2023, sustainable transport and urbanism nerds were blessed with the release of The Urbanist Agenda – a perfect accompaniment to the famous War on Cars podcast. Hosted by Jason Slaughter of Not Just Bikes fame – the crown jewel of urbanist YouTube – this podcast makes complex urban issues understandable for laypeople like me. Slaughter speaks to other content creators, some of whom are planners by trade, about kaupapa like 15-minute cities, micro-mobility, car-dependency, housing and public transport, among other issues. / TDS

Constellation Prize: Nightwalking

This podcast, from US literary magazine The Believer, has an ostensibly niche premise: producer Bianca Giaver and writer Terry Tempest Williams spend a month in the middle of the Covid pandemic going on walks at night and writing letters about it. But beautiful music and the intimacy and immediacy of the voice notes make this four-episode series so much more. It ends up being a meditation on doubt and uncertainty, friendship in hard times, and the respite of darkness. Perfect for summer nights! / SM 

Tom Sainsbury’s Small Town Scandal 

My official stance on both scripted comedy podcasts and true crime parodies is a firm “not for me thanks”. So imagine my surprise when I started listening to comedian Tom Sainsbury’s scripted true crime parody podcast earlier this year and realised I actually loved it. Think of it like a longform version of Sainsbury’s social media output: he voices all the small-town characters encountered by disgraced former journalist Toby Buchanan as he attempts to solve the murder of his Wairarapa lawnmower magnate uncle (season one) and figure out why someone in Ruatuna sent him a severed toe (season two). If you’ve laughed knowingly at a Tom Sainsbury reel this year, and/or you’re partial to a cosy murder mystery, give it a listen this holidays. / CH

Our favourite miscellaneous pop culture of 2023

Rita Ora’s half a Sāmoan 

It was a Friday night and I was sitting on my couch, scrolling scrolling scrolling, when my friend sent a text with a clip of Rita Ora being a judge on The Voice Australia. I had seen the clip a few days earlier – wherein Ora speaks to a Sāmoan contestant and proudly states that she is “married to half a Sāmoan”, despite her husband Taika Waititi being not at all a Sāmoan. I also assumed that everyone else had seen it too, but when I searched I found that Ora had very nearly gotten away with it. So I slid my laptop onto my lap at 8pm and wrote the silliest thing in the world about the silliest thing I’d ever heard and now it’s (embarrassingly for all of humanity) the most-read piece on The Spinoff in 2023. Malo Rita. / MC

Harry Styles does the census

What happens when you take one of the world’s most sparkly and exuberant popstars and the single most mundane piece of civilian admin of all time? Nothing short of a nationwide frenzy at the notion that Harry Styles, here for his Love on Tour show on March 7, 2023, would have to fill out the census like all the rest of us plebs. Early on in the show, Styles addressed the “census thing” to a screaming crowd. “I’ve been told that if anyone hasn’t done it, then we’re gonna have to stop the show, fill out the paperwork, and then we’ll be able to continue.” He wasn’t alone either – Jason Momoa and Rob Brydon were here on census night 2023 too. / AC

The Fifa Women’s World Cup 

Have I ever watched sports before? No. Have I ever cared about manicures before? No. But when Ali Riley sported her rainbow nails on the field (or pitch?) at the Women’s World Cup I decided if I was ever going to like sports, it was now. I went to my first-ever sports game at Eden Park and it was very exciting. There were five children under five seated behind us and they kept earnestly trying to start Mexican waves. It was super cute. Then of course there were the suits worn by the US team, which made us all rethink our standard of dressing. I can’t remember who won, just that I swooned over sports players for the first time ever, and it was fun. / GL

Ed Sheeran giving everyone a surprise

In February this year, our country was haunted by a flaming-haired man with brightly coloured tattoos. Ed Sheeran was here on tour, but was hellbent on making as many surprise appearances as possible around the motu. We mapped everywhere that Sheeran had given members of the public a surprise and the results were staggering. From Featherston to Hobbiton, Green Bay Dental to the Hamilton Gardens, absolutely nowhere was safe. / AC

Charlisse Leger-Walker’s historic college basketball run 

Twenty-two-year-old Waikato native Charlisse Leger-Walker is New Zealand’s brightest basketball star. Earlier this year, she was named conference MVP after leading her college to a historic championship as the lowest-ever-ranked champion. Although her Cinderella run didn’t last into March’s NCAA tournament, she has started the new season off with a bang, including making history again by becoming the second woman in Washington State University history to record a triple double. Her fantastic play, alongside being ranked as one of the top female college basketball players in the States, strengthens her case to soon become New Zealand’s second WNBA player – watch this space. / TDS

John Oliver hijacking our Bird of the Year competition

New Zealanders always seem chuffed when our wee little country appears on TV overseas. This year proved it didn’t even matter that appearance ended up making an ugly AF bird (sorry pūteketeke but it’s true) our bird of the century, and messed with democracy. Also, Oliver did not look cute in his bird costume. Still – it happened, and it was popular, so here it is on the list. It’s important to have things to gripe over, not just swoon. / GL

Up the Wahs

Let me start with a mea culpa: I am a bandwagon jumper. I had never watched a Warriors game before this year and would have struggled to name any players other than Shaun Johnson (love you Shaun). Embarrassing, I know, but better a Johnny-come-lately than a Johnny-lives-a-sad-Wahsless existence, right? And how could you not get swept up in the Warriors’ 2023 season – such talent, such passion, such personality, such dedicated fans, such a damn catchy phrase. Up the Wahs! Sure, it grated a little when the politicians got involved, but as an endpoint it seemed inevitable and almost natural. Will Up the Wahs persist into 2024 or feel excruciatingly played out? I don’t know, but I do know one thing: it’s our year.  / Alice Neville