Development Alert (Rumour): Tyler Perry's Young Dylan Reportedly Cancelled On Nickelodeon, Could It Be Shipped Elsewhere?

Tyler Perry's Young Dylan is an American comedy television series created by Tyler Perry that premiered on Nickelodeon on February 29, 2020. The series stars Dylan Gilmer, Celina Smith, Hero Hunter, Jet Miller, Mieko Hillman, Aloma Lesley Wright, and Carl Anthony Payne, II.

It followed an aspiring hip-hop artist whose mother doesn't come home one day, his grandmother Viola moves him in with his uncle Myles and aunt Yasmine to have parental figures in his life. His style clashes with the styles of Myles' family.

Since its inception, Tyler Perry's Young Dylan managed to cross through 4 seasons with 72 episodes having being filmed. There were even rumours of a season 5 making it one of the longest running live-action shows alongside Henry Danger. 

But Nickelodeon apparently removed the show from their website and although this is not concrete evidence of cancellation. The network has been known for doing their non-SpongeBob shows dirty as seen with revivals of Blue's Clues and Rugrats.

If our hunch proves to be correct, this would make The Really Loud House the only live-action from the network. From the looks of it, we wouldn't be surprised if that went away as well considering Paramount+ cut a majority of their kids slate with some on rival platforms.

Spice TV: Could Zee Family And Star Select Also Exit Openview's Ultraview Or Could A Possible Restructure Be Underway?

Last month, it was reported eMedia Investigation would be axing OUTtv by the end of the month. As further content fold under the eVOD streaming service, while Ultraview came with a fee content from OUTtv comes at no charge.

Of course, what eMedia Investments failed to mention was that FUSE would also exit the platform as they form part of a new joint venture on eVOD, OUTtv Proud. Thus concluding eMedia's short run in the pay-tv world or at least for Ultraview's EDGE bouquet. 

Ultraview only launched a year ago and already it is being dismantled with the Indian channels serving as the remainder.

As some readers are aware, Ultraview has been met with heavy criticism for its price rates and content offering leading some to speculate its possible demise. Taking to account, load shedding and other economic factors like competition (e.g. DStv).

Ultraview is anticipated to have attracted 3/4 digit number cause again a lot had happened in 2023. With load shedding consumers had to cutback on expenses and that included DStv and also with Netflix onboard - Ultraview never stood a stance.

Of course, from what consumer feedback seemed to hint at most of that traction came from Spice TV's Zee Family and Star Select. This is due to the existing offering already viewed on Star Life and Zee One, sister channels to the mentioned offering. 

Another having to with the timeslot as EDGE was opened between 9pm to 11pm where consumption is low.

It's likely that eMedia Investments could be awaiting on contracts to reach their duration and depart from the pay-tv world. In the last months, they haven't done much marketing for these brands and honestly it could lead up to them scrapping Ultraview. 

Another could be a possible restructuring to the Ultraview platform which would see Spice TV form part of an expansive lineup of channels. Problem with OUTtv is that not everyone is accustomed to its target audience so rather unify it with eVOD.

As for the expanded lineup, one theory would be curating eVOD into a standalone channel similar to M-Net's 1Max. It would carry eVOD originals while also supplying other content and who knows maybe the offering could be divided into multiple channels.

Recap To Last Month: Nuus On SABC 3 Gains 100,000 Viewers In April As Turkish Drama Innocence Fails To Debut In The Top 20, Afrikaans Still Looming SABC 2 With Voetspore

After the public broadcaster wase warned that the removal of Afrikaans content on SABC 2 would lead to a decline in viewers and ad revenue. March proved to be an uphill battle for SABC 3 to gain these viewers as Nuus debuted at #10 with 317K.

Now on SABC 2, it was one of the leading Afrikaans shows following 7de Laan's demise pulling 621K viewers. Now for that to be halved and also remain below the top 10 makes it lose credibility during the month of March. 

The upside is that April saw Nuus add an extra 100k to its audience from March. This could prove to be a victory for SABC 3 as most content had fallen into the abyss but Nuus is helping shape up primetime and at the moment is the only Afrikaans show.

Innocence made its debut on SABC 3 a month ago and is nowhere in site while rebroadcasts of The Estate helped give the channel some purpose. It seems like the broadcaster's first attempt at rivaling with eExtra's Kuiertyd and KykNET went unnoticed.

On top of that Voetspore is dangling around the top 20 section of SABC 2 in April after promising to move that to SABC 3 making it the main network for Afrikaans content. The channel has not only needed to compete with third parties but even a brand like SABC 2.

Worst of all, Voetspore is pulling 455K viewers in the last month on SABC 2 while a majority of SABC 3 content is struggling to reach 420K as runner up Bundesliga, Soccer Build Up and Deal Or No Deal SA repeat had reached 400K to 419K.

Recap To Last Month: Ridiculousness Makes Its To The Top 20 Watched Shows On SABC 2

Ridiculousness is a comedic clip show produced by Rob Dyrek for MTV Studios and as DStv consumers already know this MTV's SpongeBob. It showcases the most hilarious viral videos divided into categories with the host interacting with various guests. 

SABC 2 acquired rights to the show sometime in 2023 and although no word was given on its audience number we can only assume it was low at the time. The last watched show Voetspore had 490k in March while in April Soul'd Out Sessions pulled 320k.

If we had to guess, consumers of SABC 2 were probably perplexed at some of the adjustments to the lineup that they were browsing for something to view. Surprisingly, Ridiculousness ranked at #11 last month with 520k viewers with some possibility of an increase.

It's not everyday where a program magically appears on these stats sheet especially eyeing a top 10. If Ridiculousness was going at a very slow and steady pace it would be sitting below the top 15 unless some form of marketing was associated with its viewers.

Similar to sports upbringing on SABC 3, we anticipate that Ridiculousness will be heavily disregarded as it currently broadcasts on SABC 2 every Sunday at 18:30.

Press Release: Disney Jr's Ariel Premieres This June Across Africa

Disney Branded Television announced the premiere date for the highly anticipated animated musical series “Disney Jr.’s Ariel.” Inspired by “The Little Mermaid,” the series will debut on SATURDAY, 29 JUNE, on Disney Junior at 8:30 a.m. CAT on DStv, Channel 309. Additionally, new recurring cast members were announced, including Yvette Nicole Brown, Melissa Villaseñor and Ron Funches.

To help build excitement for “Disney Jr.’s Ariel,” it was also announced that a new series of shorts titled “Disney Jr.’s Ariel: Mermaid Tales” will be featured across Disney Jr. beginning Monday, 24 June. Each two-minute short will highlight a different aspect of Ariel’s life in Atlantica.

Set in the Caribbean-inspired fairytale kingdom of Atlantica, the series follows young mermaid princess Ariel (Mykal-Michelle Harris) as she embarks on underwater adventures with her family and friends, including King Triton (Taye Diggs), Ursula (Amber Riley), Flounder (Gracen Newton) and mer-friends Fernie (Cruz Flateau) and Lucia (Elizabeth Phoenix Caro).

Each episode highlights themes of self-expression, curiosity and resourcefulness and celebrates the multicultural elements of the Caribbean through food, fashion, language and folklore. Dr. Patricia Saunders, professor of English and hemispheric Caribbean studies and director of graduate studies at the University of Miami, serves as cultural consultant on the series.

In addition to Brown as Aquatica, Villaseñor as Navi, and Funches as Delfino, the series recurring cast includes Kevin Michael Richardson as Sebastian, Parvesh Cheena as Ravi, Danni Washington as Tantie Chantale, Alanna Ubach as Cristina Cuttles, and Dana Heath and Jessica Mikayla as Ariel’s twin sisters Ayanna and Alanna, respectively.

Music plays an integral role in the series, with original songs inspired by the diverse genres of Caribbean music. The acclaimed songwriting teams are comprised of Anthony M. Jones (Tone), Sofia Quinn, Olivia Waithe, Chantry Johnson, Michelle Zarlenga and Rosemarie Tan. EmmyⓇ Award winner Christopher Willis serves as composer. Sean Skeete, dean of the Professional Performance division at Berklee College of Music, is the Caribbean music consultant.

“Disney Jr.’s Ariel” is executive produced by Lynne Southerland and is produced by Wild Canary in association with Disney Jr.