Insidus

Friday, July 23, 2021

August 2021 On Curiosity Channel Africa | Super Science Mondays | History Lovers Tuesday | Wildlife Wednesdays | Travel & Adventure Fridays | Human Story Saturdays | Best Of Curiosity Sundays

SUPER SCIENCE MONDAYS

METEORITE MEN
Brand New Episodes - premieres 02 August 2021 CAT: 22:00
Episodes: 6x 60 mins – ends 06 September 2021
For thousands of years, meteorites have slammed into the Earth's surface carrying an invaluable record of the origins of our solar system. But finding meteorites on Earth, some buried over centuries by thick layers of dirt and sediment, is no easy task.
Meteorite hunters Steve Arnold and Geoff Notkintravel to some of the most remote locations around the world to explore the scientific and financial value of meteorites. Featuring treks in Chile, Sweden, Australia, the US, Mexico, and more, these meteorite men meet with top scientists, geologists, astronomers, and meteorite experts to reveal a deeper understanding of how meteorites have helped to build our solar system and shape our planet.

THE WORLD OF BRIDGES
Brand New Series - premieres 09 August 2021 CAT: 19:00
Episodes: 4x 60 mins (stacked back-to-back premieres)
Bridges are cultural monuments. Their construction has completely changed over history and impacted the lives of everybody that uses them.

HISTORY LOVER TUESDAYS

JOHN RABE
Brand New Documentary – Premieres 17 August 2021 CAT: 21:00
Episodes: 1x 30 mins
He is revered in China as a Buddha, as the 'Schindler of Nanking'. But his deeds have barely been recognized in the West. The German John Rabe, a Siemens manager and fervent admirer of the 'Führer', saved the lives of more than 200,000 Chinese in 1937.

SECRETS OF THE THIRD REICH
Brand New Series – Premieres 31 August 2021 CAT: 21:00
Episodes: 5x 30 mins - ends 28 September 2021
What happened to trainloads worth of Nazi-gold at the end of WW2?

WILDLIFE WEDNESDAYS

DOUG TO THE RESCUE
Brand New Episodes - premieres 04 August 2021 CAT: 21:00
Episodes: 4x 30 mins – ends 25 August 2021
A team of animal rescuers, led by aerial cinematographer Doug Thron, travel into the devastation left by natural disasters to rescue lost animals and reunite them with their owners. From hurricanes to wildfires, they go into the hardest hit areas - relying on nothing but each other and the supplies they carry on their backs –to conduct a search-and-rescue mission to find animals that are lost or left behind. The team’s secret weapon is a specialized drone carrying a sophisticated array of cameras equipped with infrared technology that detects the heat signatures of warm-blooded animals. Once safely retrieved, Doug and team use social media to help find the pet’s grateful owners.

TRAVEL & ADVENTURE FRIDAYS

ANTHONY BOURDAIN, PARTS UNKNOWN Brand New Episodes – premieres 06 August 2021 CAT: 21:00
Episodes: 4x 60mins – ends 27 August 2021
Anthony Bourdain travels the world uncovering lesser-known places and exploring their cultures and cuisine.

TRAVEL MAN
Brand New Episodes – premieres 06 August 2021 CAT: 20:00
Episodes: 18x 30mins – ends 01 October 2021
Travel Man is Richard Ayoade's chance to show us where we're going wrong by having the most culturally efficient holiday possible.

HUMAN STORY SATURDAYS

4TH and FOREVER ALCOA
Brand New Series - premieres 14 August 2021 CAT: 23:00
Episodes: 8x 30 mins – ends 02 October 2021
In the shadows of the Smoky Mountains lives a football dynasty. Alcoa High School is southern Appalachia's true football powerhouse..

BEST OF CURIOSITY SUNDAYS

WHAT WENT WRONG
Brand New Series - premieres 01 August 2021 CAT: 19:00
Episodes: 4x 60 mins (stacked back-to-back premieres)
Small errors in the construction of buildings and vehicles can lead to a disaster.

TERROR!
Brand New Episodes - premieres 15 August 2021 CAT: 19:00
Episodes: 6x 60 mins – ends 19 September 2021
This groundbreaking series revisits significant terrorist attacks that changed history.

LEGENDS OF SPEED
Brand New Series - premieres 22 August 2021 CAT: 19:00
Episodes: 3x 60 mins – ends 05 September 2021
Legends of Speed is not just a chronology about happenings in racing, but a profound view on the humans behind the wheel.

Saturday, July 17, 2021

New Channel Alert: MyChannel Africa Launches On DStv

On Friday, MultiChoice silently introduced a new Portuguese entertainment channel which is said to replace Record TV or TV Globo in various African markets on DStv and this comes at a time tvN is scheduled to close on the platform.

MyChannel Africa is a general entertainment space, which will broadcast diverse content, 24 hours a day, 7 days a week. The channel is of Brazilian origin, it's fully spoken in Portuguese, it brings proposals, programs and faces known to the local public.

The channel will offer soap operas, reality shows, series, movies and auditorium shows such as Genesis, Proof Of Love, Top, Power Couple and A Hora Do Faro.

Basically, TV Globo and Record TV recieved a new shed of paint with all shows starting from the very beginning.

Record TV recently shuttered the Ugandan feed while the feed in Angola was suspended till further notice so this channel is basically there to make up for the loss.

This new version is available to DStv Premium, Compact+ and Compact customers on channel 515.

In other developments, MultiChoice will be introducing two Maisha Magic channels (one is yet to be confirmed) and a Mozambique entertainment channel likely to make up for the loss of SIC International but this channel is local and it wouldn't shock me if it were to be made available in Southern Africa.

August 2021 On WarnerMedia Africa | Women's Month With Leading Woman On TNT And Cartoon Network | New Series: The Jungle Beat | More

TNT:
Three developments occur on the channel first is Leading Women featuring Scarlett Johansson's Lucy, the second might be a stunt called Mob Ties with the the last being Robin Williams' classic film The Price Of War. For some reason, they haven't mentioned a TNT Original Movie this month.

Cartoon Network:
Women's Month
Consisting of series and movies from the D.C. Superhero Girls franchise including Lego's Brain Drain and Galatic Wonder.

Craig Of The Creek Season 3 - New Season
In the fictional suburban Baltimore/DC area town of Herkleton, Maryland, a boy named Craig Williams and his two friends, Kelsey Pokoly and John Paul "J.P." Mercer, have their many adventures in the titular creek, described as a kid utopia of untamed wilderness in which tribes of children reign over tree forts and dirt bike ramps.

Adventure Time: Distant Lands Together Again
Finn dies and arrives in the Dead Worlds, and he attempts to get to the 50th Deadworld to meet Jake. After stopping the scheming of Life and Death's son, New Death, Finn and Jake are reincarnated.

Boomerang:

Lamput Season 3 - New Season
Lamput is an orange gooey creature that escaped from the laboratory of Specs and Skinny. They try to catch Lamput but never succeed because of Lamput's ability to shape shift.

The Jungle Beat - New Series
The series follows the adventures of a monkey in extreme weather conditions.

Happy Feet 2
Follows a young penguin that has struggled to find himself now he faces a new mission.

New Series Alert: Date My Family Makes It's Free-To-Air Debut On eReality

Date My Family is a South African reality lifestyle romance television series produced by Connect TV for Mzansi Magic. The show has also been viewable through Mzansi Wethu, Africa Magic and Honey.

The series aims to help singletons find their love interest by setting them on dates with their potential partner's closest friends and families.

The series might be part of the new eKasi block on eReality as the show is slated for 25 July which is on a Sunday.

P.S: Hawaii Five-O replaces MacGyver on e.tv

Friday, July 16, 2021

Updated 19 July: tvN Is Working On Becoming A Permanent Channel Following It's Closure On DStv

tvN is the third pop-up channel to exit DStv following ZooMoo and Timeless Dizi Channel's exit back in June and March respectively with TLNovelas scheduled to close in August where a new program will be allocated.

tvN has put up a channel termination on the EPG informing viewers that channel will stop airing by the end of July and thanking viewers for their support. This came after the channel was extended for a month.

Even though the channel will stop airing on DStv. CJ ENM has expressed interest in bringing back it full-time with the brand unveiling a batch of programs they had hoped to show viewers but that's not happening or at least not on DStv. Could it be possible that StarTimes (StarSat) will pick it up?

MultiChoice has host several pop-ups that are permanent on StarTimes such as WarnerMedia's Toonami, Televisa's TLNovelas and SPI International's Dizi with Blue Ant Media's ZooMoo being a permanent fixture on Zuku TV.

Timeless Dizi Channel started from scratch on StarTimes when the pop-up was terminated on DStv so if tvN had to become a permanent fixture there I'd expect them go the same route thereafter new content will be added.

There's chances that the content on tvN will still be available on Showmax. The streaming service already distributes content from other parties which had a platform on DStv ranging from Adult Swim, ITV Choice and OUTtv.

Update: The channel termination banner is removed it looks like some good news is coming and it also looks like Multichoice will be relaunching some pop-up channels.

Could MultiChoice Be Prepping Up A Rival To Timeless Dizi Channel On StarTimes?

Aktüel Televisyonu (Actual Television often stylised as aTV) is a Turkey's most popular entertainment channel which is owned by Kaylon Group. Besides Turkey, the channel is viewable in some parts of Europe.

aTV is home to shows viewers may be familiar with through Timeless Dizi Channel such as Black Money Love (Kara Para Ask), The Red Scarf (Al Yazmalım), Karadayi, The End (Son) and Ezel.

Last year, MultiChoice rolled out three telenovela channels out of those channels only 1 didn't have any original content in this case Timeless Dizi Channel.

So maybe viewership had nothing to do with its demise but originality the second last channel in Dizi's position being Glow TV was told that they weren't performing well and MultiChoice refused to provide any stats.

Thereafter Star Life comes in with original content part of which have been viewable on Glow TV.

Perhaps the reason for MultiChoice not wanting such channels is due to streaming since most of their partners are depriving them from certain content for their own platforms and most that don't dwell on originality are likely to become obsolete as more people opt to streaming.

MultiChoice's streaming service Showmax has deals put in place for Telemundo and Zee TV for their content even went after tvN which is regarded as a pop-up channel.

With that in mind, it's possible that most of the third party channels available on DStv will likely have an agreement with Showmax put in place to distribute their content on the platform to fill the avoid Disney+, Discovery+ and Paramount+ will put on Showmax.

SABC, e.tv And DStv Ratings For June 2021

SABC 1:
Uzalo (Drama) - 8 024 208
Generations the Legacy (Soap) - 6 468 962
Generations the Legacy (Repeat) - 6 154 395
Skeem Saam (Drama) - 5 840 007
Zulu News - 3 973 900
Xhosa News - 3 872 578
Nyan Nyan (Reality) - 3 764 925
Judas Kiss (Movie) - 2 945 746
Now or Never (Documentary) - 2 884 266
Shay'iround (Reality) - 2 809 260
Lip Sync Battle (Various) - 2 676 991
Instapreneurs (Reality) - 2 558 572
Skeem Saam (Repeat) - 2 451 778
Uzalo (Repeat) - 2 411 197
Live Amp (Music) - 2 365 635
Siswati/Ndebele News - 2 336 340
Uzalo Omnibus - 2 267 505
Ubettina Wethu (Various) - 2 251 826
The Ranakas (Reality) - 2 226 921
Khumbul' Ekhaya (Magazine) - 2 118 704

SABC 2:
President Ramaphosa's Address to the Nat - 4 734 276
Muvhango (Drama) - 3 981 941
Speak Out (Actuality) - 1 835 930
7De Laan (Soap) - 1 174 559
Kelebone (Drama) - 876 484
Nuus - 872 537
Our Wedding Story (Reality) - 813 321
Voetspore (Magazine) - 776 757
Ses/Tsw/Sep News - 768 544
Muvhango (Omnibus) - 716 616
Music - 715 402
Mamello (Drama) - 715 629
Die Sentrum (Drama) - 668 018
Venda/Tsonga News - 664 065
Aksi' Spaza (Drama) - 617 738
Muvhango (Repeat) - 606 562
Skeem Saam (Repeat) - 596 308
Keletso (Drama) - 575 815
Swartwater (Drama) - 566 124
Musiek Roulette (Music) - 562 390

SABC 3:
International Friendly South Africa vs U Spor - 731 009
Seven Worlds One Planet (Documentary) - 721 755
Natural World Pangolins the World`s Mos (Documentary) - 543 035
Natural World Animal Weapons (Documentary) - 517 077
News - 501 083
The Estate (Drama) - 492 127
The Estate (Omnibus) - 475 009
The Greatest Dancer (Reality) - 427 161
Baby Chimp Rescue (Documentary) - 403 317
The Estate (Repeat) - 389 852
Unpacked with Relebogile (Magazine) - 345 203
More Than Honey (Documentary) - 340 964
Employee of the Month (Movie) - 320 395
The Insider Sa (Magazine) - 317 206
The Fighter (Movie) - 314 002
Special Assignment (Actuality, Repeat) - 306 345
Unpacked with Relebogile (Repeat) - 289 969
Gangs of New York (Movie) - 283 958
The Switch (Movie) - 278 771
Survivor (Reality) - 277 417

e.tv:
Scandal (Soap) - 5 185 260
Ican with Absa Drive (Advert) - 3 968 883
Imbewu (Drama) - 3 906 801
Rhythm City (Drama) - 3 891 554
Shanghai Knights (Movie) - 2 796 676
Kong: Skull Island (Movie) - 2 736 317
Family Feud South Africa (Variety) - 2 724 431
Shanghai Noon (Movie) - 2 642 024
Durban Gen (Drama) - 2 611 212
News - 2 075 418
Pirates of the Caribbean: Salazar's Reven (Movie) - 1 920 405
Bumblebee (Movie) - 1 905 210
South Africa Tonight News - 1 903 857
Jurassic World: Fallen Kingdom (Movie) - 1 864 030
Imbewu (Repeat) - 1 809 581
Doodsondes (Drama) - 1 802 659
Just for Laughs Gags (Sitcom) - 1 729 586
Iron Man 2 (Movie) - 1 657 043
Modern Family (Drama) - 1 651 773
Checkpoint (News) - 1 593 533

DStv:

MZANSI Gomora (Drama) - 1 269 245 & 1 544 027
MOJA Uyajola 9/9 (Reality) - 1 234 769 & 1 510 925
MZAN The Queen (Drama) - 1 026 858 & 1 281 713
MWET Our Perfect Wedding (Drama) - 884 021 & 1 142 527
MZANSI The River (Drama) - 777 525 & 954 788
MZANSI The Real Housewives of Durban (Reality) - 735 717 & 822 779
MZANSI Diep City (Drama) - 734 492 & 949 072
MZANSI Rockville (Drama) - 701 595 & 863 096
MOJA Isencane Lengane (Drama) - 690 226 & 875 335
MZANSI Date My Family (Reality) - 689 350 & 841 997
MWET Abazali (Reality) - 685 084 & 867 606
MWET Isibaya (Drama) - 587 466 & 741 117
MWET The Queen (Repeat) - 582 832 & 801 075
MWET Sengkhathele (Magazine) - 568 950 & 690 249
MOJA Finding Bongani Fassie (Documentary) - 551 876 & 684 837
MM4 Rush Hour 3 (Movie) - 519 137 & 680 326
MZANSI Pastor Wants a Wife (Reality) - 518 684 & 653 072
MBIO Iphela Lase Voslo (Drama) - 506 323 & 670 746
MBIO Uyangenza (Drama) - 489 771 & 649 477
MOJA Mamazala (Reality) - 485 835 & 561 283
MWET The Queen (Omnibus) - 481 910 & 596 552
MZANSI Love Back (Drama) - 473 264 & 583 597
MWET The Republic (Drama) - 472 119 & 616 858
MBIO Kwanele! (Drama) - 458 938 & 646 546
MWET Lockdown (Movie) - 455 020 & 603 402
NEWA Presidential Address News - 453 324 & 553 043
MM4 Rush Hour 2 (Movie) - 444 208 & 589 851
MWET The Queen (Movie) - 443 183 & 585 780
MBIO Iqhawe Lokuthula (Drama) - 426 314 & 576 257
MBIO Mama (Drama) - 424 029 & 549 776

August 2021 On ViacomCBS Africa (Entertainment) | New Seasons & Episodes On Comedy Central And MTV

Comedy Central:

MODERN FAMILY SEASON 10
WEEKDAYS FROM 16 AUGUST @ 21:00
In Season 10 of "Modern Family," Haley (Sarah Hyland) reconnects with her old flame Dylan (Reid Ewing), but their reunion has accidental consequences. Alex (Ariel Winter) is about to graduate from college but expresses fear of living in the real world. Luke (Nolan Gould) clashes with Phil (Ty Burrell) regarding the idea of Phil teaching in Luke's school. Cam (Eric Stonestreet) and Mitchell (Jesse Tyler Ferguson) raise Cam's nephew Cal (Marcello Reyes) and worry about their daughter Lily's (Aubrey Anderson-Emmons) odd behavior. Gloria (Sofia Vergara) suspects Manny (Rico Rodriguez) is gay. Claire (Julie Bowen) considers accepting a job at another company and fights with Jay (Ed O'Neill) about it. Jerry (Ed Begley, Jr.) drops by with news about DeDe (Shelley Long). The season also stars Jeremy Maguire as Joe, Chris Geere as Arvin, and Elizabeth Banks as Sal. Guest stars for the season include Nathan Lane, Mira Sorvino, Andrew Daly, Josh Brener, and Fred Willard.

IMPRACTICAL JOKERS SEASON 2,3,4,5
WEEKDAYS FROM 2,6 & 8 AUGUST @ 21:30
Four prank-loving friends compete in extremely awkward social experiments in this hidden-camera series. The loser must partake in a particularly abominable practical joke. Starring Brian "Q" Quinn, James "Murr" Murray and Joe Gatto.

AWKWAFINA IS NORA FROM QUEENS SEASON 2
SATURDAYS FROM 14 AUGUST @22:30
Creator and writer Awkwafina ( Crazy Rich Asians) stars in the Certified Fresh half-hour scripted comedy inspired by her real-life growing up in Queens, NY. Raised by her Dad (BD Wong) and Grandma (Lori Tan Chinn) alongside her cousin (Bowen Yang), Nora Lin leans on herfamily as she navigates life and young adulthood in outer borough-NYC.

NOT SAFE WITH NIKKI GLASER SEASON 1
SATURDAYS FROM 07 AUGUST @ 23:20
It's safe to say Nikki Glaser is in love with sex talk. That relationship equal parts open, honest, shameless and salacious is the comic's calling card, providing a platform for the self-proclaimed "curious perv" to talk about it during her act and, in the case of this series, examine with her comedian friends the things people do, the things people think about doing, and the things people would never do. "Not Safe" allows comics to joke, learn, and share personal stories about all things sex. The frank, fast-paced episodes feature panel discussions, field pieces, and social experiments that aim to be both hilarious and titillating.

MTV:

CATFISH UK
WEDNESDAY 18 AUGUST – 22 SEPTEMBER 2021 AT 21:30 CAT
This hour long documentary series focuses on the issue of teen pregnancy, with each episode detailing the wide variety of challenges marriage, adoption, finances, gossip and graduating high school among them a pregnant teenager faces while still coming of age.

THE CHALLENGE S37
MONDAY 16 AUGUST –13 DECEMBER 2021 AT 15:00 CAT
Reality stars party, fight and hook up in exotic locales while competing in insane physical challenges and scheming to win cash prizes on the competition show that started it all.

Why eMedia Investments Stopped Distributing Turkish Dramas In English?

Kuiertyd was introduced in October 2018 on eExtra offering a mix of reality, lifestyle and drama series from kykNET as well as some Turkish dramas which was the reason for the Afrikaans block's success.

The first dubbed Turkish show Gebroke Harte (Paramparca) pulled almost half a million viewers following its debut on eExtra. From what I remember these dramas didn't get this much attention when they were available in English.

So pretty much eMedia Investments is the reason Afrikaans folks are giving dubbed programming a chance. From what I remembered most would either 7de Laan or binge watch Devious Maids or Game Of Thrones.

Besides distributing international content, eMedia Investments has catalogue of original programming ranging from Imbewu, Rhythm City and Scandal.

If you look at these dramas none of them are in Afrikaans so dubbing these Turkish dramas is sort of their way of making up for the times wasted and eMedia doesn't have any of its own Afrikaans reality shows so they borrowed from kykNET.

Why go after Turkish? Character I presume they wanted individuals Afrikaans folks can idolize and relate to, second being these shows are time consumers with all the plot twists and lastly accessibility as not a lot of platforms harper these type of shows.

e.tv had tried getting local content onto other channels back in 2013 all of which were black based before it didn't work out so eExtra is targeting an audience SABC 2 has been very distant with.

It looks like eExtra and possibly eMedia will invest more time in Kuiertyd soaps than Telemundo and Azteca soaps as their streaming service seemingly has these shows absent perhaps due to international content rights so maybe it will be obtainable later.