#163: New Zealand OnScreen Celebrates Top 20

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THE GLOBAL LIFE OF NEW ZEALANDERS

From Brian Sweeney, producer NZEDGE.COM | 27 September 2013 | #162 | New York

We tweet four times weekdays and publish daily on Facebook. Cheers.

Dear NZEDGE.COM people, we love the organization NZONSCREEN, so
much so that we are sending for your enjoyment their latest newsletter with
their Top 20 Most Watched Titles representing 3.55 million views.
NZONSCREEN is celebrating its 5th birthday with 2150+ titles.
Congratulations Jane Wrightson, Irene Gardner and Paul Ward in particular
whom I have known from early days. This is literally a vision come true.
Bravissimo!

NZ On Screen is turning five and we’re celebrating with a special collection of our all-time ‘Most Watched’ titles.

Since going live on October 23, 2008, the website celebrating New Zealand’s screen culture has made 1000s of TV shows, films and music videos available, online, to the public — many for the first time since they were originally broadcast.

The Top 20 reflects the eclectic goodness on the site, from Billy T to topless newsreaders, Snell to Patu!, Kimbra to Kea, meat pies to motorheads, and Bob Jones biffo to Thingee’s eye pop. Five years of NZ screen culture = 3,550,000 visits (now 110,000+ a month), a Qantas Media Award (for Best Entertainment Website) and 2150+ titles.

“It was a great idea, but was it feasible?” Founding board member Professor Roger Horrocks looks back at the genesis of the project and on NZ On Screen becoming “an established part of New Zealand culture.”

“The challenge was immense.” And NZ On Air CEO and trustee on the Digital Media Trust Board Jane Wrightson reflects with pride on the journey.

Join Bruno and Greer in blowing out the candles and enjoy some classic New Zealand on Screen.

The NZ On Screen Team

	Britten: Backyard Visionary Television, 1993 This Ian Taylor-produced doco on John Britten (“the New Zealander who stood the world of racing-motorcycle design on its head”, Guggenheim curator Ultan Guilfoyle) is our all-time most-watched title connecting with racing communities from Slovenia to Southland.
	Police Ten 7 Television, 2009 It was the food safety advice heard around the world. The footage of a police officer’s deadpan response regarding a microwaved pie on TVNZ’s long-running crime series was picked up online after a replay, and became an ‘odd spot’ sensation. It never gets cold.
	Loose Enz – The Venus Touch Television, 1982 Rescued from the vaults by NZ On Screen this farce proved that topless could still transfix three decades later. The tale of a sexologist (Grant Tilly) and his eccentric patient (Bruno Lawrence) saw Angela D’Audney (as the doc’s wife) making the news rather than reading it.
	What Now? – Kimbra excerpt Television, 2001 In 2001 Kimbra Johnson was an effervescent 11-year-old investigating the mechanics of song recording in a series of segments for What Now?. A decade later she would grace the top spot of the Billboard US singles chart, generating international interest in this clip.
	Close Up – Big Dealers Television, 1987 This Close Up time capsule offers a fascinating portrait of 80s job du jour: ‘forex’ dealer. The intrepid reporter braves waterbeds and squash racquets and heads into “the pit” (trading room) to chronicle the working life of 25-year-old accountancy graduate John Key.
	Kea – Mountain Parrot Television, 1993 This NHNZ award-winner went viral overnight in 2009 courtesy of a mention on BoingBoing.net. Aghast twitchers checked out night footage that reveals the usually delightfully curious kea, starved and in horror movie mode eating live sheep.
	The Son of a Gunn Show – Thingee’s Eye Pop Television, 1994 Paul Casserly: “It really is a gem and some consider it to be the moment that this country truly became a nation. No offence to Gallipoli.” It took a show bloopers special to first unearth the ocular accident, and now the internet has sent the alien’s eye intergalactic.
	Tama T? Short Film, 2004 Six M?ori Battalion soldiers camped in Italian ruins wait in silence during a pause in fighting; the bros-in-arms distract themselves with jokes before they return to the fray. From Boy director Taika Waititi, the award-winner is the most watched short film onsite.
	The Best of The Billy T James Collection Television, 1992 This selection of Billy T’s classic TV skits affirms the timelessness of the humour from the bro with the golden towel. There’s Te News, the first contact gags, Turangi Vice, and the priceless Pixie Caramel and “where’d you get your bag?” advert spoofs.
	On the Run Short Film, 1979 Showing the mana of the legendary Kiwi running coach, this 1979 gutbusting gem blew out the archive cobwebs with laps of the running world’s websites and blogs. It showcases Arthur Lydiard’s training methods, with proponents including reigning Olympic 1,500m champ John Walker.