The Almighty Johnsons

For the second year in a row, The Almighty Johnsons has been nominated for a Sir Julius Vogel Awards.

The awards celebrate the best endeavours in the science-fiction, fantasy and horror fields across a range of media including TV, Movies, books and artwork.

The Almighty Johnsons will be up against The Hobbit in the Best Dramatic Presentation category.

The awards are named after former NZ Prime Minister Sir Julius Vogel, who is credited as the first Kiwi to write a full-length science fiction novel. Continue reading »

Fancy getting your hands on a bit of signed Almighty Johnsons merchandise?

A TradeMe auction in support of the New Zealand Breast Cancer Foundation is underway for two signed season 1 and 2 DVDs and a signed poster.

The items are signed by main cast members Dean O’Gorman, Emmett Skilton, Tim Balme, Jared Turner and Ben Barrington.

The auction closes on Friday. Continue reading »

TV Guide has announced a few of the winners from their viewer-voted Best on the Box Awards.

Shortland Street claimed four awards, with 7 Days, The Crowd Goes Wild, 3 News and Campbell Live taking home two apiece.

Shane Cortese (Nothing Trivial, The Almighty Johnsons) and Amanda Billing (Shortland Street) were deemed to be the best actor and actress the country has to offer.

Shortland Street’s Ben Mitchell is apparently the ‘sexiest male’ while Go Girl actress Anna Hutchison is regarded as the ‘sexiest female’. Continue reading »

I thought the title of this press release was the announcement of a new show.

South Pacific Pictures this month welcomes the return of Simon Bennett as Producer of Shortland Street as the show’s departing Producer Steven Zanoski steps into the Head of Development role.

Both Zanoski and Bennett have had a long involvement with South Pacific Pictures. Continue reading »

We may no longer have the NZ Television Awards to celebrate but at least we can still find out whether Ali Mau is hotter than Rachel Hunter.

The nominees for the TV Guide’s Best on the Box awards have been announced and voting is now open.

So if you really want Mark Richardson to take home the ‘Sexiest Man’ award then we suggest you head over to bestonthebox.co.nz and get your vote in.

Of course, there are some genuinely interesting categories in the awards, such as ‘Best News’, ‘Best Drama Series’ and ‘Best Current Affairs’ (although Seven Sharp was too late to make the list). Continue reading »

It seems we’re not the only ones getting excited for the third season of The Almighty Johnsons.

Cast members Emmett Skilton, Ben Barrington and Jared Turner have all posted photos of their new scripts for the first episode ‘An Orchard of Trees’ on Twitter.

Skilton (Axl) tweeted his pic with the caption: “Just over a month till we start shooting Season 3 of #The AlmightyJohnsons #itsgonnabegooooooood” Continue reading »

It’s not unusual in New Zealand for local shows to be given a short run season that develop a solid following, end with a cliffhanger that leaves options for a second season only to be dumped either by the network or the funding body.  Just over a month ago there was speculation that The Almighty Johnsons were going to unceremoniously vanish from TV without wrapping up any of the questions from the ending of season 2.  The fans became upset and a campaign was launched to post twigs in the mail to the decision makers.  There is only so much wood that you need, as any good Settlers of Catan player will tell you, and as such, the wood has been traded for gold and that gold has been provided as funding for a third season.

I, like many other fans, will be interested to see which direction the third season takes and whether or not the funding was granted for the purpose of wrapping the show up or if it will manage to develop enough to secure further seasons.  Time will no doubt tell on this one.

New series of The Almighty Johnsons and 7 Days and a variety of new and returning TV programming is being supported by NZ On Air.

In the latest funding round a third season of The Almighty Johnsons has been supported for TV3 and 7 Days gets the green-light to return to the channel in 2013. Continue reading »

Word is going around that The Almighty Johnsons has been given the axe following two great seasons on TV3.

The news is yet to be confirmed by TV3 but several cast members and the show’s creator have said that the show’s future looks bleak.

Emmett Skilton, who plays the role of Axl (Odin), said on Twitter: “Sadly friends, Odins quest has ended for now.. It was such a great pleasure to create and share the world with each and every one of you.”

Series creator James Griffin said that ideas to wrap up the second season cliffhanger in the form of a third season or telemovie were declined by TV3. Continue reading »

A load of familiar kiwi faces are currently appearing in a great new campaign that aims to cut out inequality in New Zealand.

The WTF campaign is looking for change when it comes to discrimination against gay, lesbian, bisexual and transgender people in this country.

Among the celebrities taking part are Tamati Coffey, Jo Cotton, Colin Mathura-Jeffree, Alison Mau, Leigh Hart and Danielle Cormack as well as a whole lot more from the likes of Shortland Street, The Almighty Johnsons, Go Girls, Spartacus, Underbelly and other shows.

Check out the website to see how you can get involved.