What’s up:
What Now producer Morgan Williams tells Kerry Harvey about the changes coming to the popular children’s show.
What’s next for TVNZ’s long-running kids’ show.
What Now is taking the show on the road this year. “We’re going to be visiting 40 different communities in 40 weeks so that’s very exciting,” says producer Morgan Williams. “We’ve been in the South Island for such a long time. It’s nice to be able to get out and see some of the kids who can never be part of the live show.”
Now in its 38th year, What Now is New Zealand’s longest-running children’s show. It began life in Christchurch in 1981 before moving to Wellington in 1999. Then, when TVNZ shut down its children’s department in 2003, it was sold to Christchurch production company Whitebait Studios – owned by Janine Morrell-Gunn and her husband, and former What Now presenter, Jason Gunn.
Williams says the decision to broadcast live from around New Zealand after 14 years in the studio is a response to the different ways people watch television.
“While we’re still absolutely smashing our timeslot, it’s time for us to deepen our engagement with kids who are in areas that might not be able to access digital platforms,” he says.
Children and families wanting to join the fun this year can register through the show’s website. The first show was broadcast from the Auckland suburb of Mt Wellington and this week’s show goes out live from Mangere.
Subsequent weeks will set the show up at eight other locations around the Auckland region.
“After that, we’d like to head down towards Hamilton, Wellington and Rotorua and, if we can, further up north and then probably finish up in Auckland,” Williams says.
“That’s where we would like to go, but nothing is guaranteed.”
However, what he can promise is non-stop fun for children who take part in the event which he describes as “Like the circus coming to town.
“We will be celebrating the quirky and the characters, bringing local heroes home and gunging mayors, profiling industry and achievements – from Manurewa boys’ enterprising marae-style dolls’ houses to Wellington’s first bush classroom,” he says. “The show’s presenters (Ronnie Taulafo and Chris Kirk and newcomer Erin Wells) are very excited.”
Williams, who grew up watching What Now, has no qualms about working in live television and he laughs when reminded of the old saying about never working with children or animals.
“We’ve been live ever since we started and we just ignore those warnings because sometimes we have both – but we love it,” he says. “They always do something you don’t expect and that’s the beauty of it. We just have to be good enough and on our game enough to be prepared for things being thrown at us from midfield.”
Williams says he loves his job, finishing each weekly show on a real high.
“The two hours just goes by so fast when you are in the studio and you see those kids and they’re absolutely loving it. It’s hot and everyone smells and there’s gunge everywhere, and foam under your feet and guests running around and there’s dogs – but the kids just go nuts,” he says.
“It’s a real privilege to be part of something like that. The show’s much bigger than all of us. I won’t be around forever but I feel like the show will just keep on going. It’s just an honour to be part of something that’s so steeped in Kiwi history.”