In a sure sign that budgets must have improved, SABC3 unveiled its programming line-up for June to August at a glitzy function held at Johannesburg’s Hyatt Regency Hotel on 31 May.
Said the channel’s Acting GM Ed Worster: “SABC3 will launch a new look and feel in October with lots of exciting new shows.”
In the meantime during June, July and August, SABC3 will continue to broadcast locally produced staples such as the popular soapie Isidingo, 3Talk with Noeleen (which will launch a new look in July), the glitzy lifestyle show Top Billing, the morning show Expresso, and the fairly recent addition to the channel, Hello Doctor.
There will also be a documentary about indentured Indians in South Africa called, White Gold, as well as a special produced in honour of Nelson Mandela’s 93rd birthday on 18 July.
All those SABC3 viewers who enjoyed the Royal Wedding of Prince William and Kate Middleton in April will be happy to learn that channel will broadcast another Royal Wedding on 2 July – that of Prince Albert of Monaco to South African ex-Olympic swimmer Charlene Wittstock.
International shows to be aired on SABC3 during this period include Survivor XVIII; Accidentally on Purpose; Outsourced; Worst Week; CSI New York; Melrose Place; and On the Couch. Fans of British TV will be pleased to learn that there will be more UK content on SABC in the next six months, with BBC documentaries and dramas.
At the event, the new face of the SABC3’s award-winning investigative magazine show, Special Assignment, Ashraf Garda, talked about the cutting edge nature of the show. “It represents important journalism that sometimes gets lost in the quagmire. To date we’ve hardly done any studio shows on Special Assignment and concentrated on specially made documentaries and inserts only. We will now include some studio shows with panelists, to make the show even more informative.”
The event also served to introduce to the media the newest family to invade the Isidingo world, the Sibekos, with the patriarch played by Vusi Kunene. The Sibekos arrive on our screens on 14 June.
Worster noted that the Sibekos were created in response to audience research which revealed that black viewers felt under-served in the soapie. “They wanted to see a rich black family come into the Isidingo world. Wealthy families in soaps always provide lots of opportunities for dramatic storylines.”
