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Rhainnon McCall’s life in TV
Rhainnon McCall’s life in TV

Pop CultureJuly 13, 2024

‘A feel-good experience’: Rhiannon McCall on making guilt-free reality TV

Rhainnon McCall’s life in TV
Rhainnon McCall’s life in TV

The My Dream Green Home host takes us through her life in TV, including her favourite news blooper and the award-winning show she’ll never watch again. 

In the lead-up to shooting My Dream Green Home, host Rhiannon McCall had one particular line she had to nail. “I practised it so much” she says of the tongue-twister show title. “I’m very well practised now. I can’t quite do it full speed, but at least medium speed.” But when they began filming, McCall found a new challenger to get her mouth around – “sus-tain-a-bil-it-y and sus-tain-ab-ly” she says slowly. “Gets me every time.” 

They are both words that appear extremely often in My Dream Green Home, TVNZ’s latest home renovation show with an eco-friendly twist. Helping families out across the country to achieve their sustainability goals at home, McCall says the series was a “feel-good experience” from start to finish. “I love all of the worst and most manipulative reality television shows, but I feel kind of guilty watching them. I like that this is genuinely trying to make a positive change.”

Rhiannon McCall and the My Dream Green Home team

Travelling across the country exploring everything from food forests to electric cars, McCall loved meeting all the people looking to make the world a better and more sustainable place. “I love to talk, I love to chat, so it all came quite naturally to me,” she says. It also helped that she’d been cutting her teeth as a reporter for Seven Sharp, as well as being a wise-cracking panellist on comedy shows such as 7 Days and Have You Been Paying Attention. 

Proud to represent the people in the audience who are “still learning along the way”, McCall says filming the series has inspired her to make changes in her own life. “I did end up examining a lot of things that I did. You don’t have to immediately throw out your car or give away little luxuries, but you can start using a keep cup for your takeaway coffees. I have also started trying to grow my own herbs at home,” she says. “But they do die a lot.”

McCall and some healthier greenery

My earliest television memory is… The Wiggles. I loved Jeff. My dad’s name is Jeff, and so I loved to pull a “wake up Jeff”. Loved Dorothy the Dinosaur as well, queer icon.

The show that you would rush home from school to watch was… Me and my brother were definitely too young for it, but we used to zoom home on our scooters after school to watch Home and Away. Instead of sitting on the sofa, we’d drag the coffee table forward right up to the TV and be seated, waiting for Home and Away. 

The TV moment that haunts me is… Do you remember that drinking ad where the guy swings the child round and round and lets go, and they smash into the bookcase? It’s so traumatic. I hated it, and I remember every time it came on, I’d be scared. I hated watching it, I hated feeling guilty for this drunk man, it was all just so traumatic. I hated the whole thing. 

My earliest TV crush was… I had a crush on the brother from Hannah Montana, because he was so kooky and funny and kind of mischievous. I think he was probably in his 30s when he played that role. Also evil Shego from Kim Possible.

My TV guilty pleasure is… I’m not guilty about it, but I’ve seen every episode of The Vampire Diaries. I really love the Vampire Diaries. And I also love Love Island, Love is Blind, Love on the Spectrum. Any TV show with the word “love” in the title and real people in it? I’m there. 

My favourite TV moment of all time is… I love news bloopers. One of them happens during a news story from the States where they’re describing a criminal on the loose. His name is Rodney Stanger, and he’s been accused of abducting a girl who was on lifeguard duty. It’s really grim, really serious, and they’re like “we have a picture of him now” and it cuts to a placeholder picture of a guinea pig. I also love jetpack fail.

My favourite TV character of all time is… I love Maura from Love Island. I loved when she did that iconic monologue after she overheard a dude wondering if she was all mouth. She pops off and goes [slips into Irish accent] “you tink I’m going to sleep wit you now?” That would probably actually be one of my favourite TV moments too. 

The most stylish person on television… This feels like a cop out, because she’s my friend, but Hayley Sproull dresses so cool. I feel like she’s had a bit of a fashion revolution recently where she is wearing a lot of black, and is dressing very cool and edgy with the Docs and the pink hair.

My favourite show I’ve ever worked on… I would say it’s definitely My Dream Green Home. The crew were all so nice, and I learned so much about sustainability and renovation that I feel like I’m a fully fledged builder and landscaper now. The families were really lovely, and it was a really feel-good experience. After that, it would probably be Funny Girls, RIP. I was just working with a lot of friends and a lot of like, heavy swinging comedy legends, and we just got to do silly, funny sketches and dress up in cool costumes and laugh all the time. 

A TV show you wish you could have been involved in is… I would love to be in a gritty drama, like One Lane Bridge, or Top of the Lake. 

The funniest TV show of all time is… Late Night Big Breakfast is pretty iconic and extremely funny. That would be up there. I feel unpatriotic choosing something that isn’t from New Zealand, but I do laugh a lot at the American Office. I also really laughed at the first season of Unbreakable Kimmy Schmidt, but then the rest of the seasons weren’t as strong. 

My controversial television opinion is… I think the news should still be on TV, which feels like a controversial thing to say at the moment. We need New Zealand-based current affairs and New Zealand content. I also don’t think you’re edgy if you hate Shortland Street. People think it’s pretty cool to bash on Shortland Street, but it’s such an important show with such an incredible legacy that gives so many people jobs. I also don’t think streaming platforms should give space to transphobic comedians. 

A show I will never watch, no matter how many people tell me to watch it is… I’ve watched episode one of Succession, and it made me really sad. I didn’t like how mean they were to each other. There was that one scene where he says to this young boy, “I’ll give you a million dollars if you make this home run”, and he doesn’t. I hated it, I’ll never watch it again.

The last thing that you watched on TV was… Kid Sister with Simone Nathan and Paul Williams on TVNZ+. I binge watched the whole thing, it’s so funny and there are so many good actors in it. Fantastic show, highly recommended. 

Watch My Dream Green Home here on TVNZ+

Just Janie’s perfect weekend is mindful and melodic.
Just Janie’s perfect weekend is mindful and melodic.

Pop CultureJuly 13, 2024

‘I cried in the best way’: Just Janie’s perfect weekend playlist

Just Janie’s perfect weekend is mindful and melodic.
Just Janie’s perfect weekend is mindful and melodic.

The folk artist talks us through her perfect weekend playlist, full of favourites old and new.

If you find yourself on a hike this weekend, headphones on and mind daydreaming about the Laurel Canyon, it might be the perfect time for Just Janie’s ‘Muse and Musician’.

The South Island singer-songwriter’s latest single is a love letter to Fleetwood Mac, musicianship and movement that signifies change, so it makes sense that all these elements also make up her ideal weekend. “I am a creature of habit and simplicity,” she says. “I have memories of days spent at that ever changing river hole. Of childhood with cockabilly nets surrounded by the popping broom. Sticky sunblocked skin. The river hole has always been a place I feel grounded.”

With ‘Muse and Musician’ now out in the world, Just Janie shared the tunes that make for a blissful, inspired and most of all perfect weekend, from a scorned lover’s ode to tunes that evoke memories of Dunedin student flats.

Fleetwood Mac – ‘Storms’

Stevie Nicks wrote Storms about her affair with bandmate Mick Fleetwood. It’s heartbreaking and raw. I also love her final description of herself: “I have always been a storm.” Fleetwood Mac inspired ‘Muse and Musician’, so they have to be included in this list! 

Tiny Ruins – ‘Out of Phase’

I went to a Tiny Ruins show in Ōtautahi recently and Hollie was inspiring. I’d worked a background music gig right beforehand and had experienced some really negative crowd behaviour so felt quite vulnerable and raw. Tiny Ruins’ show reminded me about the beauty of music and songwriting. I have listened to the entire discography for the past few weeks, but ‘Out of Phase’ in particular struck me, especially due to Hollie’s explanations of the songs meaning and her ability to share something so beautiful and painful. I cried in the best way. Absolutely mesmerising.

Sig Wilder & Friends – ‘Texasman’

This song captures America and Austin while also having the ability to transport me home, to the rugged dry landscape with its small town pubs left behind in a capsule. Cowboy grit and Americana folk, Texasman is relatable to anyone following their dreams and leaving home. Matt’s talent blows me away. 

The War on Drugs – ‘Under Pressure’

The War on Drugs is one of my favourite bands (ever) and their music sounds best when you listen to the albums in their entirety. It’s hard to pick just one song. The band have a mixture of Bob Dylan vocals, rustic rhythms and nostalgia for 80s rock. They’re the epitome of summer heat, blue skies and long road trips. 

Dire Straits – ‘Wild West End’

I mean anything with Mark Knopfler’s gritty voice and trademark guitar, but you asked for one! My first vinyl record was Dire Straits’ 1978 self-titled album and I can still remember dancing to this song in my student flat in Dunedin. 

Gregory Alan Isakov – ‘San Luis’

This song makes me dream of home, the mountain range outside my window. I found out recently that Gregory Alan Isakov is both a farmer and musician. As a musician, born and raised on a farm this multi-faceted identity is fascinating and a dream of mine. To have co-existing elements of one’s self. San Luis is a song that captures that to me. It’s also like a lullaby. 


Her’s – ‘What Once Was’

This song has been in my top 10 on Spotify Wrapped for three or four years in a row now. This song is a vibe! It features on all my road trips. 

America – ‘Ventura Highway’

I love the guitar in this track. Bit of 70s nostalgia seeped in warm yellow. 

George Harrison – ‘The Ballad of Sir Frankie Crisp (Let it Roll)’

This song got me through some difficult times. It can feel a bit tricky and complicated listening to it now as it sort of sits in a period of grief and struggle but is also healing. 

Mac Demarco – ‘Still Beating’

‘Still Beating’ sits in a time capsule for my years living in Dunedin as a student, of student flats, of crushes, of learning, and growing up.