Disney Junior Africa Premieres Alice's Wonderland Bakery This June

Disney Junior’s “Alice’s Wonderland Bakery,” a fantastical animated series for pre-schoolers and their families inspired by the world of “Alice in Wonderland,” premieres this Saturday, 4 June 2022 on Disney Junior, DStv channel 309 at 08:30.

A vibrant new take on the classic 1951 film, the series centres on Alice, the great-granddaughter of the original heroine and a budding young baker at the enchanted Wonderland Bakery, where her magical treats help bring a new generation of friends and families together.

 

Featuring reimagined versions of familiar iconic characters and introducing memorable new ones, the series stars newcomer Libby Rue as the voice of Alice as well as a slew of celebrity guest stars. See the trailer to the series here.

Each episode of “Alice’s Wonderland Bakery,” comprised of two 11-minute stories, centres on Alice’s magical recipe adventures with her best pals, who join her in the bakery to whip up whimsical cakes and treats for friends and neighbours with enchanted kitchen tools and ingredients to help them.

“With so many already familiar with the magic and whimsy of the classic story of Alice in Wonderland – we are sure that this wonderful new series will delight and captivate a new generation of fans,” says Christine Service, Senior Vice President and General Manager of The Walt Disney Company Africa. “Disney Junior is delighted to introduce this series that celebrates the culture and creativity of food, highlights self-expression, and imparts age-appropriate social and emotional lessons about friendship, collaboration, and the importance of community,” she adds.

 
 

Geared to kids ages 2-5 and their families, “Alice’s Wonderland Bakery” features Alice’s recipe adventures with her best pals—Fergie, a white rabbit; Hattie, her madcap friend; and Rosa, the Princess of Hearts, as well as her great grandmother’s magical cookbook, Cookie. Alice is inquisitive, persistent and resourceful as she experiments with her baking and invents out-of-the-box solutions for problems that arise. Food is an important part of Alice’s identity, connecting her family from generation to generation and allowing her to discover the distinct family heritages of her friends, each with a wide array of tastes and traditions.

In addition to Rue, the lead voice cast includes Abigail Estrella (“How the Grinch Stole Christmas!”) as Princess Rosa, the Princess of Hearts and Alice’s most artistic friend; CJ Uy (“The Ball Method”) as Hattie, a “mad-hatter” boy and Alice’s silliest friend; Jack Stanton (“Outmatched”) as Fergie the White Rabbit, Alice’s best friend and biggest fan; Secunda Wood (“Jurassic World: Camp Cretaceous”) as Cookie, the magical cookbook that once belonged to Alice’s great grandmother; and Audrey Wasilewski (“Mad Men”) as Dinah, Alice’s pet cat who is always at her side. Max Mittelman (“Spider-Man”) recurs as Cheshire Cat, Alice’s mysterious and playful friend and one of the most iconic Wonderland characters.

“Alice’s Wonderland Bakery” is produced by Disney Television Animation. Emmy® Award-nominated Chelsea Beyl (Peabody Award-winning “Doc McStuffins”) is executive producer, and Frank Montagna (“Elena of Avalor”) is co-executive producer and art director. Ciara Anderson (“Harley Quinn”) is producer, Lisa Kettle (“Mira, Royal Detective”) is story editor, and Emmy-nominated Nathan Chew (“Elena of Avalor”) is supervising director. The writing team consists of Melinda LaRose (“Vampirina”), Michael Rodriguez (“Sharkdog”), Marisa Evans-Sanden (“Fancy Nancy”), Stuart Friedel (“Clifford the Big Red Dog”) and Sara Karimipour (“Ryan’s Mystery Playdate”), and episodic directors are Steven Umbleby (“Monsters at Work”) and Arielle Yett (“The Chicken Squad”). Emmy winner John Kavanaugh (“Sofia the First,” “Elena of Avalor”) serves as the series’ songwriter/music director and Matthew Margeson (“Rocketman”) is composer.

Without Prior Notice MultiChoice Removes e.tv's 4 Channels From The DStv Platform

MultiChoice and eMedia Investments got into a fist fight in March following regarding the four e.tv channels which were set to go dark on DStv by the end the same month but eventually got delayed for another 2 months as they tried to resolve the issue in court.

As seen by several DStv customers later today, MultiChoice silently removed these channels on DStv without notice on the EPG as seen with ITV Networks and Lifetime. To top it off, e.tv didn't even advertise the termination as seen in March.

Could it be possible that eMedia was left in the dark and only found out at the last minute? Who knows really?

 
 

One things for certain, e.tv is your only source of entertainment as stated in March for these 4 brands meaning those who choose to stay aboard the platform will have to wait much longer for some content while others air on a limited basis.

But on the bright side viewers can still view other e.tv brands like eNCA and eNuus on kykNET but is that enough to make up for the massive loss.

Replacements

1. DreamWorks replaced eToonz on DStv Premium, Compact+ and Compact with PBS Kids on Easyview.
2. KIX replaced the two eMovies channels on DStv Family and Access with a second movie channel coming soon.
3. MultiChoice will be rolling out 3 SABC channels as revealed in the court session.

 
 

Alternatives

1. kykNET & Kie will be rolling out Turkish dramas in the next two months so that will be replacing eExtra but Access customers will have to wait on that.
2. eExtra was part Bollywood so Zee World and Star Life are there but not for Access and Easyview again.
3. M-Net Movies, Studio Universal and TNT can make up for the bulk of international movies.
4. DreamWorks is basically eToonz repeats channel so there you have it.

New channels

1. NHK World Japan
2. Via duplicate channel
3. SABC Education
4. Second movie channel

5. Untitled Islam channel

eMedia Updates: Kindred Hearts Has A Release Date On eExtra While Naagin Returns For A Fifth Season And More Indian Awaits Viewers With Till The End Of Time And Twist Of Fate

While Zee TV's supernatural horror Dayan, Destructive Beauty now on eVOD launch on eExtra had been postponed. More news coming in is that Kindred Hearts one of the most anticipated shows on the channel is set to replace The Heir.

Aditya Jindal has a troubled marriage with the selfish Nisha Verma but remains with her for the sake of his family who think highly of her. He soon meets Jhanvi Agarwal and together they realise Nisha's true colors but will love keep them apart.

Some of the stars featured in this Zee TV soap included Sudeep Sahir, Disha Parmar, Ridhi Dogra, Manasi Salvi and Kunal Karan Kapoor.

 
 

Interesting enough, the show was replaced by Yeh Teri Galiyan in India and can you believe it aired on eExtra with reruns currently being viewed in the early hours of the week so some may view this as coincidence while others turn to it as fate.

The series airs 27 June but that's the thing Kindred Hearts isn't the only Zee World/Zee TV soap to be latched onto the channel.

According to sources, Twist Of Fate the ongoing drama from Zee World and a repeat of Till The End Of Time which became a Zee TV soap following the merger with Sony Pictures India are slated on the same day with Naagin being the only non Zee program onboard days prior.

 
 

Twist Of Fate (Kumkum Bhagya) told the story of the Arora sisters Pragya and Bulbul and their mother Sarla who had hopes of seeing them married. Soon entered, love interests Abhishek "Abhi" Mehra and friend Purab as well as enemies for the sisters Alya Abhishek's elder sister and partner Tanu.

Till The End Of Time (Beyhadh) likely season 2 follows Maya Jaisingh, internationally best-selling author, plans to destroy her biggest enemy Mrityunjay "MJ" Roy, to avenge the atrocities committed by him 10 years ago. She plans to get revenge from those who betrayed her using Rudra and Rishi, MJ’s sons.

Naagin 5 is set 10,000 years from the present when eagles had the power to shape-shifting but naags, naagins didn't. Naagmani, Lord Shiva blessed the shape-shifting ability to snakes and named the first naagin to get this power, Naageshwari - Sarvashreshth Aadi Naagin. She was in love with a naag named Hriday while the prince of eagles, Akesh falls in love with her despite the enmity between the clans.

 

As mentioned before, Kindred Hearts comes on 27 June alongside Twist Of Fate and Till The End Of Time while Naagin 5 will air immediately after season 4 from 22 June and the timeslots are as follows:

15:35 Twist Of Fate
16:25 Till The End Of Time
16:50 Kindred Hearts
17:40 Naagin

More Pop Coming To DStv Premium And AddMovies Customers As fliekNET Becomes A Pop-Up Channel From Mid-July

After almost 2 years, MultiChoice announced that South Africa's first and only Afrikaans movie channel fliekNET home to locally produced films like You Must be Joking, There's a Zulu on my Stoep, Sweet 'n Short and Agter Elke Man on channel 149 will stop airing on DStv from 15 July.

The channel began in 2014 as a pop-up channel and will live on a pop-up channel for the years to come with kykNET filling up their Saturday night movie schedule with new Afrikaans films. A 50 minute short film will be added alongside a 90 minute film by 2023.

Interesting enough about this timeslot, it kind of coincides with eMedia's eExtra channel movie block which too offers Afrikaans films. Except kykNET is going for the M-Net approach which is fresh while eExtra is just scrapping the pot for gold.

 
 

The two's rivalry doesn't stop from there as kykNET will be filing their stockings with Turkish dramas I mean it was bound to happen as they've dubbed several other things to Afrikaans. Point being made the idea for this was came due to its success with eMedia. 

 

eMedia is having an on/off relationship with MultiChoice for their channels so it possible that maybe the idea of phasing fliekNET had partially something to do with them or just the fact that there wasn't a lot of viewers or content to keep it afloat.

Honestly MultiChoice is not giving a straightforward answer just the same old:

Channel and content offerings are reviewed regularly in terms of viewing trends and consumer needs. This market research may lead to channel additions or terminations.

Possible Abomination: A Look Into Tshwane TV And GauTV

As streaming becomes another source of entertainment as cable starts dying down. There's still plenty of viewers in the mood for the same fast action or kungfu. This topic dives further below the glitz and glamour and more toward rural setting.

Community channels seek to be representative of their respective areas providing content that informs, empower and resonate with their audience. Often criticized for the quality of content and failure to keep up to a consistent schedule finally catch a break.

After nearly a decade, these fellow stations have begun getting some much relevant content. Soweto TV broadcasted their first reality show Single In Soweto, Mpuma Kapa TV got weekly live event Champion Pro Wrestling (CPW) and Cape Town TV has a local YouTube (not SABC) drama Mathata.

 
 

Within this excitement unfortunately there comes brands which in some way deserve to be put out of its misery if not saved at this point which is none other than Tshwane TV and GauTV.

Tshwane TV has been on air through the DStv platform for nearly a decade and what started out as a brand from Zallywood Inc. that offers news, documentaries and factual content has become a religious station. I mean that's all you're getting on primetime and it even spreads through weekends.

 

It's sister channel GauTV runs more like a news station but in retrospect seems to be doing way better than Tshwane TV. The channel served as a replacement to a defunct community channel on Openview and as it is Zallywood Inc. seems to have ghosted themselves.

I wasn't aware this brand existed until the pandemic and when you look at these stations. There's a lot to be sad about as mentioned above while others dive onto entertainment they dive to the niche parts of television which sparks questions over the fate of these channels.

 
 

As mentioned, Tshwane TV and GauTV seem to be a little off and this has been going on for several years. Other brands like Soweto TV and Mpuma Kapa TV got some rescuing but these channels ghosted themselves to the point where they're hardly on social platforms.

Tshwane TV's last post was made in November 2021 and it was about the birth of GauTV which again brings us to the question regarding the future of this brand including GauTV.

Could the channels be done for or at least Tshwane TV seeing that GauTV's appears more active or could they merge or get replaced by another channel?