‘I was a great big doofus': Suzy Cato on the joy of making 90s kids TV

The Spinoff

16 hours ago

The beloved children's TV presenter takes us through her life in television.
Ask a certain generation of New Zealanders about their childhood, and they'll reply with two words: Suzy Cato. Since the early 1990s, Cato has been a warm and colourful presence on our television screens, when she began hosting The Early Bird Show and 3pm on new channel TV3. She went on to entertain preschoolers every afternoon on You and Me (wearing a classic 90s Kosmik sweatshirt and singing the iconic 'see you, see you later' farewell song), and taught us all about how poop gets made in the science discovery series Suzy's World.
In more recent years, Cato appeared on reality TV shows like The Masked Singer NZ and Dancing with the Stars NZ, and acted in the film Red, White and Blue. But whether she's reassuring the nation's children through lockdowns or cheering us up with catchy tunes like ' Sprinkle a Little Sunshine ', one thing hasn't changed: Cato loves engaging with New Zealand kids. Her 35 years of dedication was acknowledged in the most recent King's Birthday Honours, where she was awarded the New Zealand Order of Merit for services to music, education and television.
The legacy of Cato's early work lives on, with the original fans of You and Me now bringing their own children to Cato's concerts and old episodes pulling in hundreds of thousands of views on YouTube. Cato says it's an honour to be remembered so fondly by fans of You and Me, which ran for over 2,000 episodes. 'Everybody involved in that programme just delights in the fact that it is still in the hearts and the minds and the DNA, basically, of so many people throughout New Zealand.'
Cato's latest project is Suzy & Friends, a weekly kids' podcast on RNZ where she and co-host Trevor Plant share songs, stories and adventures with listeners across the motu. Cato calls it 'theatre of the mind', encouraging children to think about the world around them while enjoying a healthy dose of silliness and fun. As always, Cato loves connecting with her audience who email her jokes, facts and ideas for the podcast. 'Often their thoughts are quite outlandish and wonderful, but you get to see inside a child's head. It's just marvellous.'
What's also marvellous is Cato's long and colourful life in television. It's our time, our special time of day, to ask Cato some outlandish questions of our own about those Dancing with the Stars NZ leather pants, her earliest TV crushes, and why she loved being a great big doofus.
My earliest TV memory is… The passing of prime minister Norman Kirk. It was on black and white television, and the whole family was gathered around. I remember it just being such a sombre event.
The TV shows I loved as a child were… Nice One – Stu Dennison was so funny and self deprecating, and never put anybody else down. Vision On was made in England, primarily for deaf viewers. It was full of sign language and so calm and engaging. It was all about creativity and had lots of stop frame animation, buttons dancing around the page and forming different patterns. It was fascinating, and pops into my mind quite often.
My earliest TV crush was… Probably John and Ponch from Chips, or the guys from The Dukes of Hazzard, or there was something sweet about John Boy from The Waltons.
My most pivotal TV moment is… The first time we got a letter asking for assistance with something happening to a child that the child did not like at all. I was 21, I was being paid to have fun, I was linking cartoons together on The Early Bird Show and 3pm. Crikey, the realisation that somebody put that much faith and trust into me – I found it way too overwhelming. I handed in my resignation, and they wouldn't accept it. They said, 'look, stay with us and help us reach these kids'.
Then TV3 had a big changeover and the shows that I was a part of were let go. When I came to audition for You and Me, a lot of people said to me, 'what are you doing? It's a preschool programme, it's a backward step.' But for me, the values, honesty and clarity of the programme were just so strong. We would educate by way of osmosis, without kids even realising that they were being taught anything. They were there to have fun. With Suzy's World, it was for me to be a great big doofus and make all the mistakes, while they were learning things.
The biggest inspiration for me on children's TV was… Catherine McPherson from What Now. She's the person somebody who could really connect with the viewer. She was so down to earth and so real. When all the other presenters around her were just larger than life, and in all the chaos of the studio, she would almost roll her eyes and then look back at the camera and carry on the conversation with you. You felt like you were there.
The TV ad I can't stop thinking about… [Cato begins to sing] 'Hugo said, you go, and I said, No, you go'. It was for KFC, with the family bumping along in a car.
My favourite moment from my own career is… There's so many, but most of them are off screen when you're meeting real-life friends of the show. Back in the day with You and Me, you'd do a live show and then a photograph opportunity, and you would have mum and dad in the queue, with a child. The child would come up and give you just the biggest hug, because you are a part of their family. Now viewers that used to watch You and Me and Suzy's World are having children of their own.
My enduring memory of The Masked Singer is… My goodness, it was like being a spy. Your face was covered. You weren't allowed to speak outside of the trailer that you were in, you had to whisper, and then you snuck in, fully masked. Nobody could know who you were. You had to drop your car off and then be picked up in an unmarked vehicle and driven across the city. It was so cool. You had to try not to wear clothing that would be recognisable as you, so I dug into my daughter's wardrobe and managed to find clothes to get me in there.
My favourite TV project was… You and Me. I got to fly down to Dunedin for two weeks every month and focus on nothing but You and Me. That was so special, because it really deserved that focus. The writers and directors were all preschool trained, so they had such awareness of what was required. It was so much fun.
Dancing with the Stars NZ was life-changing because… It scared me from the moment I stepped into that black leather outfit to do the dance off in the opening titles. To allow myself that opportunity to be seen like that, and the hair and the makeup and the glitz – I just loved every minute of it. To be a woman heading into her 50s, who actually had to start walking before she could start her dance training because she had no fitness whatsoever, I felt like I was representing real New Zealand.
My controversial TV opinion is… There should be a dedicated channel for kids. New Zealand on Air is doing some great mahi, but we need a dedicated channel like Kidzone, which wasn't connected to YouTube. It was destination viewing, with quality programming and within hours that kids should be up and viewing. We need as much Kiwi content as possible, that reflects them and their peers, as opposed to all the attitudes and the behaviours that we see from international programming.
The show I'll never watch, no matter how many people tell me to is… I attempted to watch Game of Thrones, but every time I walked into the room while my husband was watching it, I was like 'ugh, that's gross'.
The last thing I watched on television was… Endangered Species Aotearoa. It's that wonderful documentary with the comedian Pax Assadi and the fabulous Nicola Toki from Forest and Bird. It's brilliant. It's not sugar coating it, but it is giving you hope, and it's so beautifully shot as well.