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Wellington Paranormal - A spinoff of What We Do in the Shadows - Sundays on The CW & Mondays on HBO Max

RatskyWatsky

RatskyWatsky

Are we human or are we dancer?
Member
Oct 25, 2017
14,931


In 2018, New Zealand channel TVNZ 2 debuted a spinoff of the film 'What We Do in the Shadows' titled 'Wellington Paranormal'. So far the series has run for 3 seasons, each consisting of 6 episodes, with the newest season airing this past February.

Unfortunately it's taken several years for it to reach the US, but the wait is finally over - the series will debut on Sunday, July 11 at 9/8c on The CW. New episodes will be available on HBO Max the following day.

Trailer


The series follows the adventures of Officers O'Leary and Minogue (Karen O'Leary and Mike Minogue, reprising their roles originated in the 'What We Do In The Shadows' film) hard-working members of the Wellington constabulary's paranormal unit who, under the supervision of Sergeant Maaka (Maaka Pohatu), investigate supernatural occurrences that arise in the capital of New Zealand on a surprisingly regular basis.

The series was created by Jemaine Clement and Taika Waititi.
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Reviews

The Gazette said:
Unique, bold and flat out funny, "Wellington Paranormal" is exactly the type of series that network executives should be embracing.
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Paste said:
From both a writing and acting standpoint, the mockumentary style is expertly employed, often allowing jokes to play out behind our clueless cops. Despite some minor pitfalls in terms of stretching jokes too far, the three lead actors are the perfect level of endearingly oblivious, carrying the series' few subpar bits to humorous ends anyway.
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Sepinwall said:
It's the kind of comedy that demands your full attention, because the best jokes often involve things happening in the background Minogue and O'Leary are focusing on something unimportant, but the overall pace and caliber of the jokes are much more relaxed than on something like the FX Shadows.
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Geist

Geist

Prophet of Truth
Avenger
Oct 25, 2017
4,579
Is it just one episode per week or is the entire series going up on HBO MAX?
 
MGPanda

MGPanda

Member
Feb 25, 2018
2,476
So is this any fun? I had low expectations of the show when it first came out and it ended up being as fun, if not more at some points, than the movie.
 
Lagamorph

Lagamorph

Wrong About Chicken
Member
Oct 26, 2017
7,355
I absolutely loved watching this.

I got a lot of Police Squad vibes from it with ridiculous situations being played completely straight at times.
 
Captjohnboyd

Captjohnboyd

Member
Oct 25, 2017
5,569
Oh wow! I've had it downloaded on my computer for like a year meaning to watch it but I'm so much more on board watching on actual TV as opposed to scrounging for it in the US
 
metsallica

metsallica

One Winged Slayer
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Oct 27, 2017
11,685
Looks like tonight's premiere is the first 2 episodes, btw. Next week it goes down to one paired with Dead Pixels.
 

Norwegian Rudo

Banned
Oct 27, 2017
1,078
If you're not sure after the first two episodes, make sure to give the third a chance. I did a recent re-watch of this and WWDItS (the series) and I think that was my favourite episode of either.

BTW, if you can, you absolutely need to watch with subtitles.
 
metsallica

metsallica

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Oct 27, 2017
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RatskyWatsky said:
I thought the plant monsters were pretty creative
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Were they censored originally (or on Max, I guess)? On the CW they put mosaics over them, consistent with stuff like Cops. Wasn't sure if that was part of the joke, since they did make some other edits like muting language. If they're going to make content edits for TV but not for streaming, I'll just watch it on HBO Max.
 
OP
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RatskyWatsky

RatskyWatsky

Are we human or are we dancer?
Member
Oct 25, 2017
14,931
metsallica said:
Were they censored originally (or on Max, I guess)? On the CW they put mosaics over them, consistent with stuff like Cops. Wasn't sure if that was part of the joke, since they did make some other edits like muting language. If they're going to make content edits for TV but not for streaming, I'll just watch it on HBO Max.
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I watched The CW feed too so I'm not sure
 
DanGo

DanGo

Member
Oct 25, 2017
6,738
It was enjoyably odd. Solid mix of riffing on cop shows and X-Files with the trademark lowkey Kiwi humor. Sergeant Maaka has some great stuff as a believer.
 
Saito

Saito

Member
Oct 25, 2017
1,802
Just finished episode 3; I'm liking it. The family at the end of episode 2 had me rolling.
 
SpillYerBeans

SpillYerBeans

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Oct 25, 2017
1,204
Sadly, this show isn't doing anything for me. I've watched all 3 episodes and the jokes are falling flat. I will give it a couple more episodes but What We Do in the Shadows I absolutely love though.
 
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RatskyWatsky

RatskyWatsky

Are we human or are we dancer?
Member
Oct 25, 2017
14,931
Genuinely surprised by the lack of interest this has generated here. Given how beloved the movie is, I thought more people would jump on this. 😕

Anyway, season one ended tonight (season two begins airing next week and then the show will go on hiatus until sometime next year when seasons three and four will similarly air back to back) and I enjoyed it a fair amount. It's not as explosively funny as the WWDITS show often is, but it's still a highly amusing romp with a winning cast.

Can't wait to see what kind of cryptids they tackle in S2. :D
 
chairhome

chairhome

Member
Oct 27, 2017
3,627
Orlando
I have tried. I get a couple of good laughs from some eps, but we bits go on too long and some jokes seem a tad outside of my humor.

It isn't as good as wwdits, but I think it's an acquired taste
 
nded

nded

Member
Nov 14, 2017
10,558
It's cozy and I like it, but the laughs don't come quite as often as the movie or the other show. Sergeant Maaka is often underutilized too.
 
DanGo

DanGo

Member
Oct 25, 2017
6,738
I forgot about the show until now because my DVR apparently stopped recording it.
 
Naijaboy

Naijaboy

The Fallen
Mar 13, 2018
15,248
It hasn't really gotten the laughs I thought it would, though the latest episode was pretty great with a lot of good gags.
 
metsallica

metsallica

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Oct 27, 2017
11,685
Can't say I enjoyed it overall, sadly. Maybe a sensible chuckle here or there.
 

Deleted member 8750

Banned
Oct 26, 2017
3,532
I loved the What We Do In the Shadows film and I've recently caught up with the TV series so I definitely have this one on my radar. I don't have HBO Max so I guess I'll watch it on the CW website
 

Adventureracing

The Fallen
Nov 7, 2017
8,027
I've tried to like this show because I love the movie but it just doesn't deliver for me. I enjoy the overall tone and some of the jokes hit the spot for me but the show can really drag. The biggest problem for me is they definitely stretch the jokes too far. Hell that's basically the premise of the whole show. I think these characters work better in short bursts and whilst playing off others.
 
Inquisitive_Ghost

Inquisitive_Ghost

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Oct 26, 2017
6,118
Apparently this was picked up in Canada too so I watched through it real quick. I like it but I don't think it reaches the heights of WWDITS. Sometimes it feels sort of...mellow. Like jokes go on too long or they're stretched a bit too thin or they're just not quite clever enough. That being said, it does improve over time (those first two episodes had me seriously questioning if there was any point in continuing) and it has had me smiling or laughing several times. I just wish it had a little more of a throughline. I like when even mostly "episodic" shows have character development or something as a background throughline and this barely has that at all. Cute show though and I'll watch later seasons as they come.
 
metsallica

metsallica

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Oct 27, 2017
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It aired on TV in the US last Saturday and has been up since around then.
 
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