Mara Wilson

Hi, Rosabelle.

How are you?

I think I've got my podcast voice on.

Emotionally or geographically?

For our international listeners that may not know what Te Papa is, what is it?

Oh, that's okay then.

That's okay.

We won't sue just yet.

Just yet.

Now, today's question, I'll keep it brief because you've got work to do, but we are talking about being a child star with Mara Wilson.

She's on the show.

And I'm just wondering if you watched her in anything when you were a kid, like, I think it was Mrs. Doubtfire, Miracle on 34th Street, and, of course, Matilda.

Yeah, she's pretty great.

Do you have any sort of, do you remember where you watched them or what you were doing or any sort of emotions around them?

Well, they didn't have Robin Williams in them, so that would line up.

Look, do you think you were being Miss Trunchbull-esque or do you think that was a mischaracterization at the time?

I'm David Farrier in New Zealand, accidentally marooned in America, and I want to figure out what makes this country tick.

Now, last week was our Nickelodeon episode where Rob took me through a 50-something page slideshow demonstrating his love and affection for all things Nickelodeon.

It was a celebratory episode about childhood, about a time when children had the attention span to get through an entire episode of Rugrats and iCarly.

But of course, as we briefly alluded to, there is also a darker side to childhood TV, or at least a side that isn't as sparkly and whimsical as the shows themselves.