You and Me (New Zealand TV series)

After winning a bidding process from a pool of competing proposals in 1991, TV3 received financial support for the show from NZ On Air. According to the scholar Ruth Zanker, it was "the first indigenous early-childhood production". The show's writers and directors were each certified in teaching preschool. Mary Phillips produced the programme. Every month, the show's staff spent two weeks in Dunedin producing episodes for the month. For each episode, she performed new renditions of the song ''It's Our Time'' and the farewell songs. By 1999, the show had concluded with Cato, though TV3 still aired reruns. ==Content==

You and Me uses the interactive television narrative technique. Young viewers are guided to feel that Cato, the presenter, is personally addressing them and to reply to her in kind. The show covers topics that can be challenging for parents such as a bird's and a goldfish's deaths. During one show, Cato illustrates what homophones are. She states that a "duck" has the dual definitions of bird and a movement and discusses "chairs" and "cheers". An adult who watched the television program was incensed when Cato cited "chairs" and "cheers" as homophones that differ in meaning. He lodged an objection with the broadcaster TV3, stating that the two words have distinct pronunciations and saying otherwise violated guidelines for decency and proportion. In support of Cato, TV3 stated that the audience was informed not that the words had identical pronunciation but that they sounded alike. The complainant escalated his grievance to the Broadcasting Standards Authority (BSA), which ruled in TV3's favour. BSA decided, "Although it hesitates to agree with TV3 that the words were pronounced correctly, the authority concludes the issue is not a matter of broadcasting standards." ==Spinoffs==

In the late 2000s, the show returned to New Zealand television airing on TVNZ 6 and TVNZ Kidzone 24. Various spin-offs based on You and Me have featured Cato. There was a version made for international release featuring Cato, except with the Maori words removed. An activity book was created for the show. Cable television networks across Australia, Singapore and Namibia broadcast a global edition of the program. ==References==