The Breakfast broadcaster, former Silver Fern and now published author takes us through her life in television.
Jenny-May Clarkson has got a lot going on. On the day she chatted with The Spinoff, she had woken up at 3am to do Breakfast while battling a migraine, been in meetings for a netball commentary gig, and just got home after an afternoon signing books in the city. Her days are long and her starts early, but she wouldn’t have it any other way. “Life’s so busy at the moment for everyone, with people just trying to do the best that they possibly can to get by,” she says. “I like to see Breakfast as a part of those busy mornings – informing people while they are trying to get the kids out the door and get to work.”
In her new book Full Circle, she writes candidly about starting out as a presenter on Breakfast and struggling to control her emotions during heavier or more personal interview topics such as bowel cancer, which closely affected her family. “I don’t know whether you actually find a way to cope with it, but what I have learnt is to be able to control it until after the interview,” she says. “But sometimes ,I just I roll with it. I figure if I’m feeling emotional about something, then there’ll undoubtedly be people who are watching out there and feeling the same way as me.”
In those moments, Clarkson says she always returns to a mantra from her father: take people on the journey with you. It is an attitude that also inspired her to finally tell her life story for the first time in Full Circle, including her many different roles from Silver Fern to policewoman, TV presenter to mother, and reclaiming te reo Māori at home and work. “I hit 50 and I just thought ‘why not?’” she laughs. “I just hope that some of the stories that I share resonate with others, and they can see themselves in those stories, and hopefully feel a sense of hope as well.”
With that, Clarkson shared her life in television with us, including taping Paula Abdul on RTR, the allure of FBI crime shows, and why she will never stop watching the 6pm news.
My earliest TV memory is… It would have to be Ready to Roll and A Dog’s Show. Ready to Roll was always on at six o’clock on a Saturday at the same time as the news, so there was a bit of a fight in the house. But it would count down the week’s biggest hits, and it was the closest thing that we had to Spotify or CDs or anything like that. That was always pretty exciting in my household because I loved dancing – Janet Jackson or Paula Abdul videos that came out were always pretty cool. I’d videotape them so I could play them over and over again.
My earliest TV crush was… Charles in Charge, Scott Baio. I don’t know what it was about him. He was just cute, and I’m pretty sure I had a poster of him on my wall.
The NZ TV ad I can’t stop thinking about is… The McDonald’s ad where they are listing everything off for the Kiwiburger, and that one for some petrol company with the Rob Ruha song ‘That’s Where I’ll Be’. I love that song.
My TV guilty pleasure is… I love all FBI series. Chicago Fire, Chicago PD, all the FBI series. I am totally into that kind of programme. I don’t think it’s got anything to do with when I was a police officer, I just love the drama of it. When I was on Silver Ferns tours I used to read serial killer books, which used to freak everyone out. I love the psychology behind it all.
My favourite moment from Breakfast is… Probably the one that sits with me the most was the community in Te Karaka, when we had the anniversary weekend floods up here and Gisborne and all around the East Coast got absolutely wiped out. I was one of the first on the ground in terms of media in Te Karaka. I think of what that community went through on a number of levels, and to see the way that they came together to look after one another has been pretty amazing to be a very small part of that.
The TV project I wish I could be involved in is… I’m going to say Chicago PD because I really love that programme. I’d like to play the bad guy, I reckon that’d be quite fun.
My controversial TV opinion is… I think there’s still life in linear TV. I think people love being able to turn on live television every single morning and know that, for the next three hours, you’re getting Breakfast and not something you have to select off a streamer menu. I still believe that there’s power in that, and that people still want that. In a time when we crave being connected, I think linear television is one way to connect us all.
The last thing I watched on television was… The 6pm news last night. I’m still that guy. I still turn the TV on at six o’clock, even though I know what’s coming up in the bulletin. I guess it’s something we’ve always done when I was a kid, and we’ve continued that on in our household. It’ll always be kind of background while I’m cooking dinner, or on mute in the background when we’re eating. That’s such a TVNZ thing to say, isn’t it? But it’s true.
Full Circle by Jenny May Clarkson ($40, HarperCollins NZ) is available to purchase from Unity Books.
