By FRANCES GRANT
Early rising young viewers and teens who enjoy a weekend lie-in will both be catered for by the new Maori language programme, Pukana.
The series, made by award-winning producers Hone Edwards and Nicole Hoey, begins this weekend and will screen in two slots on Sunday morning - on TV3
at 9.10 and sister channel TV4 at 11.10.
The show replaces the pair's innovative Maori langage children's show, Tumeke, which won best children's programme at this year's annual television awards.
This is the first time a programme entirely in Maori has taken the mainstream award.
Pukana is aimed at a slightly older audience - 10 to 16-year-olds rather than Tumeke's target audience of 8 to 16-year-olds - but features the same team of presenters, with Quinton Hita as anchor.
Edwards says it will also build on Tumeke's approach to Maori language, focusing on a whole range of activities, not just those which belong to traditional Maori culture.
The show's arts and technology segment, for example, will cover such topics as how to make home videos, the latest skateboard moves and how to surf the Internet to find good Websites.
Yes, this means new Maori words are invented on the show, says Edwards.
Visits to the Auckland Zoo for a look at animals such as meerkats pose a similar linguistic challenge.
The aim of creating new words, he says, is to encourage kids themselves to expand and revitalise the language.
The name Pukana is a metaphor for this approach. The word describes the female discipline of rolling the eyes during a dance performance to attract attention. The show is "flirtatious with language," he says.
Pukana will also feature competitions, practical challenges, a claymation segment starring figures who travel cyberspace and children performing waiata.
There will be time in the 50-minute weekly show, too, for a send-up or two.
