Latest news with #TheHuntingParty
The Spinoff
23-05-2025
- Entertainment
- The Spinoff
‘Freaking obsessed': Josh McKenzie on meeting his 90s child star crush
Josh McKenzie, local star of The Hunting Party, Filthy Rich and La Brea, shares his life in television. Like almost every New Zealand actor who has made it into a big snazzy international TV show, Josh McKenzie cut his teeth on Shortland Street long before he starred in enormous American productions like La Brea and The Hunting Party. Playing the role of executive assistant Nate, McKenzie says the soap opera was 'one hell of a training ground' for a young actor. 'You learn how to deliver dialogue at pace with one or two takes convincingly, and you've just got to be pumping constantly – otherwise you look like an idiot,' he laughs. It's this stamina and work ethic that he says sets New Zealanders apart in the international industry, and came in very handy on the set of The Hunting Party. In the fast-paced procedural, in which a task force is assembled to hunt escaped serial killers after an explosion at a top secret prison facility, McKenzie plays former soldier and prison guard Shane Florence. 'It's a very fast turnaround show, but still nowhere near as fast as Shortland Street,' he says. 'Honestly, after you do Shortland Street, everything else feels like a luxury.' And while he acknowledges procedural shows might not be 'hip' at the moment, McKenzie says they always have a place in his watchlist. 'I'm a real sucker for any kind of procedural – killer of the week, crime of the week, medical case of the week. They're all nice little comfort watches for me.' Auspiciously, he was deep into rewatching House when he got the call to join The Hunting Party. 'It's a very different backdrop, but a similar format – you've got the central unit of people who are trying to solve a problem, and everyone fills an archetype.' The first episode of The Hunting Party opens with its gigantic, secret citadel blowing up in the middle of nowhere, and McKenzie still remembers how it felt to be there. 'It's kind of like stepping into a theme park,' he says. 'You're on your first day on set and there's the ruins of a giant top secret prison right there. That feeling never really gets old for me, where that inner child wakes up and just wants to run around and have fun.' And while we are channeling childhood, we then asked McKenzie to take us through his life in television. My earliest TV memory is… I was so freaking obsessed with McDonald's Young Entertainers that I wrote a handwritten letter to Drew Ne'emia. McDonald's Young Entertainers really awoke something in me, it was like our version of the Disney Kids. The show I would rush home from school to watch is… Malcolm in the Middle was my big after school show, which I've also started rewatching again recently. It really holds up and you can see how much of a genius Bryan Cranston was. He's actually incredible. My first TV crush was… I would honestly probably have to say Drew Ne'emia. I served him a drink when I was working at Lone Star and I was about to say, 'hey, man, I wrote you a letter when I was seven' but I didn't. My first time on screen was… I played like a handless skeleton in a Halloween special for Where in the World is Carmen Sandiego. I got to choose my costume and I wanted the skeleton, but he was missing one of the gloves. They were like 'can you choose something else' and I was like 'no, I want to be the skeleton'. So that's how I was a handless skeleton on Where in the World is Carmen Sandiego. My TV guilty pleasure is… My partner is obsessed with Shahs of Sunset, which is a show about some of the worst people. I was building some Ikea furniture and watching it with her, and then I found myself being totally engrossed by the episode. My favourite NZ TV ad is… My little sister was in the Milky Bar ad where Jemaine Clement played the bad guy with a moustache. It was set in a saloon with all the little kids playing the hokey typical roles in a Western. She played the saloon girl, and I vividly remember remembering visiting on set when she was doing that. My favourite TV character of all time is… What Anthony Starr did in Outrageous Fortune with Jethro and Vann made a huge impression on me as a budding young actor, so those twins are definitely up there as some of my favourites. I also love Ted Danson's character in Cheers, Robin Wright's character in House of Cards, Gillian Anderson in The Fall is fucking epic. The TV project I wish I could be involved in is… The Sopranos or The Wire – every character has something going on. I'm also a video game fan, so The Last of Us would also be a dream. A show that I'll never watch, no matter how many people say I should is… I won't watch TV shows on Tiktok. I just can't. It hurts my soul. And I'm sure it's the future of how we're going to digest media, but I just can't bring myself to do it. My friend always sends me these these micro soaps, three minute long episodes, and they are all so bad. It's always the richest man in the world, but his wife is cheating on him, but she's actually richer than him. All these terrible setups and they just churn them out. The last thing I watched on television was… I watched the latest episode of The Last of Us and the last episode of The Pitt, both in the same night.
Yahoo
15-05-2025
- Entertainment
- Yahoo
The Voice Season 27 Finale Is Upon Us: Who Will Win… and Who Should?
The Blocks have been played. The Steals have been used. Even the Super Saves have been deployed. Now, all that's left of The Voice Season 27 is the two-night finale (airing Monday and Tuesday on NBC at 8/7c). Who's going to win? So glad you asked. Below, I've laid out the odds as I see 'em of each of the Top 5 emerging victorious. Jadyn Cree (Team Michael Bublé) | The daughter of Season 25 finalist Bryan Olesen seems to have found a fan base in kids. But as effervescent as she is, she's altogether outgunned by the competition. She's lucky she made the Top 5 over Bryson Battle, Conor James, Olivia Kuper Harris… heck, at all. Chances of winning: 5 percent. More from TVLine The Voice Season 28 Coaches Revealed: Who's Joining Snoop Dogg This Fall? NBC Fall Schedule: St. Denis to Lead Monday Comedy Block, NBA Tuesdays, The Hunting Party Replaces Found Chicago Med Very Nonchalantly Brings Back [Spoiler] After 5 Seasons - Plus, Hannah Gets Shocking News! Adam David (Team Michael Bublé) | Watching Adam, it's been easy to forget that he's a contestant, not a guest performer. He's just. That. Good. And though he hasn't generated as much hoopla as the rest of the Top 5 — he had to sing for the Wildcard Instant Save — the raw intensity of his vocals cannot be overstated. Chances of winning: 12 percent. Renzo (Team John Legend) | As the coaches have noted repeatedly, Renzo has star quality. But he isn't just a memorable image and compelling stage presence, he's got a formidable set of pipes that have allowed him to slay songs by everyone from Billie Eilish to Lynyrd Skynyrd. Chances of winning: 19 percent. Jaelen Johnston (Team Kelsea Ballerini) | You know a contestant has some heat behind him when his coach is branded a bad guy online for eliminating him. Easy on the ears as well as the eyes, the Super Save singer could well follow in the bootsteps of Season 22's victor, fellow country boy Bryce Leatherwood. Chances of winning: 26 percent. Lucia Flores-Wiseman (Team Adam Levine) | A frontrunner since the Blind Auditions, Lucia is poised, polished and blessed with a voice that's too uniquely tangy to be mistaken for anyone else's. She's not everyone's cup of tea, but even her detractors have to admit that she's special. Chances of winning: 38 percent. Every Winner of The Voice View List OK, your turn. Vote below first for the contestant that you think will win, then for the one you think win. Best of TVLine Young Sheldon Easter Eggs: Every Nod to The Big Bang Theory (and Every Future Reveal) Across 7 Seasons Weirdest TV Crossovers: Always Sunny Meets Abbott, Family Guy vs. Simpsons, Nine-Nine Recruits New Girl and More ER Turns 30: See the Original County General Crew, Then and Now
Yahoo
14-05-2025
- Entertainment
- Yahoo
NBC Shuffles Fall 2025 Schedule With NBA, New Comedy Block
The addition of the NBA to NBC's primetime lineup next season will bring about some changes to the network's schedule — but the network is also making a few moves independent of that, including the launch of a new comedy block. NBC, which last had rights to the NBA in 2002, is turning over Tuesday nights to pro basketball when the league's season tips off on Oct. 21. A second night of NBA games will follow on Sundays in early 2026, after NBC's NFL commitment ends. The NBA additions — Jeff Bader, NBCUniversal Entertainment's president of program planning strategy, told reporters the NBA is 'our biggest new show in the fall' — will reduce the footprint of the network's entertainment programming next season and were a big reason why NBC canceled five series on May 9. More from The Hollywood Reporter Why 'Suits LA' Was One and Done 'Krapopolis,' 'Grimsburg' and 'Universal Basic Guys' Extended at Fox Roundball Rocked: With NBA Return Looming, NBC Purges Scripted Roster The October start for the league is also leading to something of a two-track schedule for NBC in the fall. Two-hour editions of The Voice and the Jimmy Fallon-led new unscripted series On Brand will air on Tuesday nights in September and early October, with On Brand also airing a second episode on Fridays to start the season. When the NBA starts, the Tuesday Voice will go away and On Brand will run on Friday nights only. November will bring another change: NBC will launch a pair of one-hour comedy blocks on Mondays and Fridays, anchored by second-year shows St. Denis Medical (Monday) and Happy's Place (Friday). They'll be paired with … shows to be determined. The network has picked up The Fall and Rise of Reggie Dinkins, starring Tracy Morgan and Daniel Radcliffe and executive produced by Morgan's 30 Rock co-star Tina Fey. It also has a pair of comedy pilots in Stumble, a mockumentary about a junior college cheerleading squad from writers Liz and Jeff Astrof; and an untitled show from Rutherford Falls creator Sierra Teller Ornelas and fellow writers Jackie Kaliiaa and Bobby Wilson about the staff of a Native community center in Oakland, California. NBC will choose two of those three to join St. Denis Medical and Happy's Place in the late fall. The network has also renewed two first-year dramas, Brilliant Minds and The Hunting Party, for full second seasons. Medical drama Brilliant Minds will return to the 10 p.m. Monday spot it held last fall, while The Hunting Party, a crime procedural, will follow Law & Order: SVU on Thursday nights. The Wednesday all-Chicago slate and Thursday's two-hour Law & Order block remain intact. The lone remaining show on NBC's bubble, Grosse Pointe Garden Society, is still awaiting word on its future. After November NBC plans to ride with its schedule for the remainder of the season, save for the NFL/NBA swap on Sundays and something to fill the break between Voice cycles on Monday nights. The network will debut Surviving Earth, its natural history series follow-up to The Americas, sometime next season but hasn't set its spot on the schedule yet. 'We'll always be looking for other opportunities [in development], but the best thing that can happen to us is that all these shows work, and we can actually go back to having some full-season dramas,' Bader said. 'One of the things that you know, we're the reason that you're seeing these sophomore shows. Brilliant Minds only had 13 episodes in its first season. The Hunting Party only had 10 episodes. We need to give these full seasons and really lean into them to really get them established.' The Tuesday NBA games will be regional, with an 8 p.m. ET tipoff for viewers in the eastern half of the country and an 8 p.m. PT game for those out west. Both contests will stream live on Peacock across the country. NBC's fall lineup is below; all times are ET. Best of The Hollywood Reporter 22 of the Most Shocking Character Deaths in Television History A 'Star Wars' Timeline: All the Movies and TV Shows in the Franchise 'Yellowstone' and the Sprawling Dutton Family Tree, Explained
Yahoo
12-05-2025
- Entertainment
- Yahoo
The Hunting Party Among 2 Renewals at NBC
Two freshman dramas, The Hunting Party and Brilliant Minds, emerged unscathed from NBC's Friday bloodbath and instead have been renewed for second seasons. Season 1 of The Hunting Party averaged 4.2 million total viewers (with delayed playback). Out of the 11 dramas that NBC has aired this TV season, it ranks No. 8 (outdrawing the cancelled Found and Suits LA, and the theoretically on-the-'bubble' Grosse Pointe Garden Society). More from TVLine NBC Fall Schedule: St. Denis to Lead Monday Comedy Block, NBA Tuesdays, The Hunting Party Replaces Found The Voice Season 28 Coaches Revealed: Who's Joining Snoop Dogg This Fall? Beyond the Gates Renewed for Season 2 at CBS With 4.9 million total viewers, Brilliant Minds ranks sixth among NBC's 11 dramas, trailing the #OneChicago trifecta and the two Law & Order shows. Hunting Party stars Manifest alum Melissa Roxburgh as Rebecca 'Bex' Henderson, an ex-FBI agent leading a small team of investigators on the hunt for inmates who escaped from a top-secret prison (aka The Pit) after a mysterious explosion. The cast also includes Nick Wechsler (Revenge) as Oliver Odell, Bex's former partner and The Pit's onetime warden; Josh Mackenzie (La Brea) as Shane Florence, a former soldier and Pit prison guard; Sara Garcia (The Flash) as Jennifer Morales, an intel officer and major in the Army; and Patrick Sabongui (The Flash) as CIA agent Ryan Hassani. TVLine readers gave Season 1 an average grade of 'A-.' Brilliant Minds, based on the life of neurologist/author Oliver Sacks, stars Zachary Quinto as Oliver, a neurologist at Bronx General Hospital whose atypical approach to medicine irks his superiors but often garners surprising results. The show's freshman run ended with a bombshell: While Oliver had thought his father, Noah, died when Oliver was a child, it turned out he did not. When Noah (played by Mandy Patinkin) re-entered his son's life, he added to the shock by announcing he was ill and asking Oliver for help with treatment. (Read a finale post-mortem interview with executive producers Michael Grassi and DeMane Davis.) The Brilliant Minds cast also includes Tamberla Perry, Donna Murphy, Teddy Sears, Ashleigh LaThrop, Alex MacNicoll, Aury Krebs and Spence Moore II. TVLine readers gave Season 1 an average grade of 'A.' Want scoop on , or for any other TV show? Shoot an email to , and your question may be answered via Matt's Inside Line! 2025 Renewal/Cancellation Scorecard View List Best of TVLine Yellowjackets Mysteries: An Up-to-Date List of the Series' Biggest Questions (and Answers?) The Emmys' Most Memorable Moments: Laughter, Tears, Historical Wins, 'The Big One' and More 'Missing' Shows, Found! The Latest on Severance, Holey Moley, Poker Face, YOU, Primo, Transplant and 25+ Others
Yahoo
12-05-2025
- Entertainment
- Yahoo
Beyond the Gates Renewed for Season 2 at CBS
Beyond the Gates will lather up for a second season at CBS. The good news comes 11 weeks after the launch of the first new daytime drama in 25 years, and just hours after CBS touted that its daytime slate — led by The Price Is Right, The Young and the Restless and The Bold and the Beautiful — has reigned at No. 1 for a whopping 39 consecutive seasons. More from TVLine Lupin Renewed for Part 4 at Netflix The Hunting Party Among 2 Renewals at NBC Watson Season 1 Ends With a Crucial Fatality - Read Finale Recap Since its Feb. 24 debut, Beyond the Gates has improved its time period by 48% in broadcast viewership, while its multiplatform viewership is up 67% in multiplatform. Additionally, its broadcast audience draws 7% more Women 25-54 than ABC's long-running General Hospital. Beyond the Gates is set in a leafy Maryland suburb just outside of Washington, D.C., in one the most affluent African American counties in the United States. 'At the center of this community are the Duprees, a powerful and prestigious multi-generational family that is the very definition of Black royalty,' says the official synopsis. 'But behind these pristine walls and lush, manicured gardens are juicy secrets and scandals waiting to be uncovered. And those who live outside these gates are watching closely.' Tamara Tunie (As the World Turns, Law & Order: SVU) stars as Anita Dupree, the family matriarch who worked hard for her success while raising two daughters with her now-retired senator husband Vernon (Madam Secretary's Clifton Davis). Karla Mosley's Dani Dupree is one of Anita's daughters, while Daphnee Duplaix (One Life to Live) plays the other, Dr. Nicole Dupree Richardson. Beyond the Gates airs on CBS weekdays at 2 pm ET/1 pm PT, while streaming of the series is available on Paramount+ and CBS TVE ( app). Best of TVLine Yellowjackets Mysteries: An Up-to-Date List of the Series' Biggest Questions (and Answers?) The Emmys' Most Memorable Moments: Laughter, Tears, Historical Wins, 'The Big One' and More 'Missing' Shows, Found! The Latest on Severance, Holey Moley, Poker Face, YOU, Primo, Transplant and 25+ Others
