Rude Awakenings (TV Series)

Aroview: Polished, darkly tinged suburban satire between a grassroots Kiwi family and their new latte-slurping neighbours, who declare warfare in the name of conquering Ponsonby’s lucrative property game.

Long-time renter Arthur Short (Wilson) soon draws a line in the sand as affluent powerwife-turned-real estate investor Dimity Rush (Cormack) sets her sights on acquiring ownership of their abode. A classic neighbours-at-war scenario, this is punchier and more assured than most New Zealand comedies, with extra bite coming by way of Danielle’s Cormack’s acute (and very Auckland) caricature of privilege, obnoxiousness, and the vacuous lifestyles of the rich and needy.