The 1st of October 2018 marked a historic milestone in South African TV viewing. The country’s first and only independent free-to-air TV channel celebrated 20 golden years of broadcasting.

The channel has brought viewers, from all walks of life, quality programs including international series such as ‘The Sopranos’ and ‘How to get away with murder’, sitcoms ‘How I met your mother’ and ‘Modern Family’ and reality shows ‘Fear Factor’ and ‘The Biggest Loser’ that have left many captivated, thrilled and entertained. Their premier Sunday night blockbuster movies are a weekend highlight to many.

The channel also brought viewers the phenomenal WWE empire which saw the likes of RAW on Sundays and the ever popular Smackdown on Wednesdays, thrilling millions of South Africans. Pity the wrestling stable has since migrated to payTV which has left a dent in the hearts of many including an uncle of mine and my little nephew – nothing a migration can’t fix, I think. This is the channel that will forever be remembered as one that introduced viewers to WWE.

Are there any viewers who recall the Women of Wrestling (WOW) show that brought the female version and flavour to wrestling? The show was once broadcasted on the channel as well.

Still on the international front, shows such as ‘America’s Next Top Model’, ‘Empire’, ‘My name is Earl’, ‘Six feet under’ and ever popular daytime talkshow ‘Ricky Lake’ come to mind with many viewing memories they’ve been able to leave in our hearts. The channel has been successful at ensuring that the best in popular international programming is served to their local audience.

It has also boasted the best in international TV soap operas with the likes of ‘Passions’, ‘Dallas’, ‘The Young and the restless’ to mention a few that were once broadcasted on the channel. The channel is currently home to the long-running and ever popular ‘Days of our lives’ which is broadcasted weekdays just after 5pm.

Etv logo image from etv.co.za

It hasn’t shied away from putting local programming in the spotlight and has over time, been able to successfully foster a greater focus into local shows than what would have been a majority of international shows previously. I remember waking up to ‘The Toasty Show’, back in the days, a morning TV breakfast show with variety and flair. I look at some of the current breakfast shows on TV, and I can’t help but to see some elements of what ‘The Toasty Show’ seeked to achieve back then reincarnated. The show was later changed into a full-on news and current affairs show called ‘Morning edition’ which was hosted by some of the current TV news broadcasting greats such as Sindy Mabe, Samm Marshall, Romy Titus, Juliet Newel, Francis Herd and Nothemba Madumo. Morning edition also brought a unique element to it in that it had a dedicated team of African languages news bulletins at 5.30am and then again at 8am which was and I think, still is a first for early morning TV shows. ‘Morning edition’ was later changed to ‘Sunrise’, which was eventually canned, after in totality being on-air for over a decade, during the first quarter of 2018 to the current ‘The Morning Show’.

It has also been the home of local TV sitcoms ‘Madam and Eve’, ‘Scoop Schoombie’ and ‘SOS’, variety and lifestyle shows such as ’20 something’, ‘The showbiz report’, ‘Hush’, ‘Coke Studio’ and ‘I love South Africa’.

Etv has also offered the little ones and the youth a platform to belong and engage in through ‘Little-E’ and ‘Craz-e’ by offering flagship shows such as ‘Cool cats’, ‘Sistahood’ and ‘Shiz niz’. This is the kiddies stable that introduced the viewers to the talents of Mmuso and Morena Sefatsa, Salamina Mosese, Stephina Zwane, Jafta Mamabolo and Caitlin Foxx to list only a few.

Backstage image logo from etv.co.za

I remember the youth hit soapie ‘Backstage’ which was set initially, at a Cape Town-based performing arts college. The daily soapy was produced under the Morula Pictures production house then under Mfundi Mvundla who is well known to be the master behind ‘Generations’. I think the troubles started to creep up on the show once it made the move from the Cape to Jozi. Cast members changed drastically and so did the production houses that were responsible to make the show. It almost felt as if a number of people were taking turns to handle and look after a baby, which eventually got the little one unsettled overtime. Even though the show was canned end of June 2007, it brought us memorable on-screen characters such as ‘Duke Ngcobo’ (played by Carlo Radebe), ‘Ipeleng Theledi’ (Grace Mahlaba) and ‘Kaybee’ (Keabetswe Motsilanyane) to mention about a few. Big acting names were also once a part of the cast including Bonnie Mbuli, Thobi Mkhwanazi, Rami Chuene, Tselani Tambo, Lorcia Cooper, Dini Nondumo and the late Precious Simelane and Marubini Mogale. A stellar show this was about young people with big dreams and the many struggles they have to conquer in order to accomplish them. That’s why it was hit with young people.

With the end is sight of ‘Backstage’, a new youth daily show was in the pipeline and ‘Rhythm City’ was born on the 9th July 2007. Set in the backdrop of the local music and entertainment industry, the show has since been on-air for over a decade, boasting a steadily increasing viewership in the highly competitive 7pm time slot and numerous SAFTA awards that it has garnered over its reign.

Scandal! Image logo from etv.co.za

‘Scandal!’ is one etv’s success story worth sharing. Launched in January 2015 as a direct rival to ‘Generations’ on the 8pm time slot, it was set up in a newsroom for the once weekly edition of ‘The Voice’ newspaper. The show’s publication later changed to the weekly ‘The Daily Voice’ & later on the story, a tabloid magazine “Scandal” was also added as part of NZH’s new publication. ‘Scandal!’ follows the daily lives, challenges and shenanigans of the journalists and the newsroom. Top names were roped in as part of the stellar original cast including Rami Chuene, Luthuli Dlamini and Siyabonga Thwala. The show starred Sandy Mokwena, who appeared on the show’s very first episode until his untimely passing in January 2018. He was the longest-serving cast member of the soap. The biggest change for Scandal! that took place was a decision to move it from the highly competitive 8pm to the current 7.30pm slot – which they rightly command. The show is the most-watched show on the channel at the moment with a viewership figure of over 6 million.

Gold diggers logo image from etv.co.za

The advent of telenovelas hit the country by storm and the channel did not shy away from exploring their potential for uplifting and showcasing local content and trialing it to offer their viewers variety and choice with regards to viewing. The riveting telenovelas that etv showcased included ‘Ashes to Ashes’ seasons 1 and 2, ‘Gold diggers’ seasons 1 and 2, ‘Broken vows’ season 1 which all had a fairly successful run while aired on the competitive 8pm time slot – following the #Generations16 debacle. The channel also has a fresh weekday drama based in KwaZulu Natal that airs at 9.30pm called Imbewu: The seed which started in April 2018. The show is produced by Word of Mouth Pictures under the leadership of Anant Sigh, Duma Ka Ndlovu with Leleti Khumalo. Khumalo is also the show’s Executive producer and also stars as Nokubonga ‘MaZulu’ Bhengu one of the lead characters in the show.

The channel has also profiled different cultures, practices and religions during their Sunday night local documentaries where ordinary filmmakers were invited to send through proposals for short stories to showcase from across the country. A number of regular shows have resulted from this proud display of our cultures including ‘Mahadi – Lobola’.

Old enews logo with slogan image from etv.co.za

Then there’s eNews – a news agency that has stood the test of time, always committed to providing a different perspective from the rest. I remember my late uncle who used to watch news like crazy, he’ll be hopping between the various SABC news bulletins and etv. When I asked him one day about why he does this, he said “You always need to have a good mixture and balance with regards to news, one perspective is not the be all.” And I have learnt later on the years how true his statement was to a point where I always try to get different perspectives on news be it via print or TV.

The channel has brought viewers news that is balanced, without any bias under the emphatic ethos of their slogan “No fear, No favour.”

I recall the days of their blue studio background and brand with news anchors San Reddy, Udi-ya Nakamhela and Chantal Rutter. The news stable has produced phenomenal and trusted storytellers and broadcasters who have delivered news stories that are captivating, engaging and that speak to the ordinary South African. Impressive names such as Sally Burdett, Deborah Patta, Annika Larsen, Andrew Barnes, Scheherezade Safla, Zikhona Tshona and Nolwazi Tshabalala are some of the phenomenal on-air personalities that eNews has produced.

ENews had its original headquarters in Cape Town but has since been migrated to Hyde Park in Johannesburg with only their worldclass weather department still stationed at the scenic Cape. The news stable took its growth to a new level when it established a 24hr news channel on the 1st June 2008 called ‘The eNews Channel’, on DSTV channel 403. The channel changed its name to ‘eNews Channel Africa’ (eNCA) from the 20th August 2012.

Looking ahead…

More golden moments and local shows in store where quality programming is concerned.

The launch of Open View and its many sister channels in HD is proving to be competitive in the TV space where the need to offer viewers choice in TV viewing has seen them, just recently, sell and instal over a million decoders countrywide. The growth and development of Open News which launched on the 1st November 2018 is something I will watch and observe with keen interest. The growth of eNCA is also something worth mentioning. I forsee it, together with etv, breaking more television boundaries in the next 20 years.