Former Hawaii Five-O And Magnum Pi Star Taylor Willy Has Died

Wily’s death was confirmed by KITV 4 Island News in Hawaii. Musician Lina Girl Langi, who had been close friends of Wily and his loved ones, announced the news on her lifestyle show, “Island Life Live.”

“It is with a heavy heart that I share the news of the passing of a Hawaii celebrity who was also a family friend,” Langi shared on the broadcast on Thursday. “Taylor Wily, former wrestler, MMA fighter and actor passed away today in Hurricane, Utah.”

She added: “He would look physically menacing until you just folded right into a hug, and that was it. My heart is breaking.” 

Her co-host, Davey D, described Wily as one of the “kindest” and “gentlest souls.”

His cause of death has not been revealed.

Wily — whose real name was Teila Tuli — played Kamekona on the CBS drama for 171 episodes for 10 seasons between 2010 and 2020. He reprised his role for seven episodes in “Magnum P.I.”

Born in Honolulu, Hawaii, in 1968, Wily also appeared in the 2008 romantic comedy “Forgetting Sarah Marshall,” which starred Jason Segel, Kristen Bell and Paul Rudd. Other credits included “Radical,” “MacGyver,” “North Shore” and “Marker.”

Off-screen, Wily was a sumo wrestler under the name “Takamishu.”

According to TV Insider, he won his first 14 matches before becoming the first foreign-born wrestler to win the championship in the third-highest makushita division. In 2000, he lost to fighter Gerard Gordeau in the Ultimate Fighting Championship.

He is survived by his wife, Halona, and their two children.

Recap To The Week: Zee World Unveils Brand Refresh With New Tag Line "Living Every Moment"

Zee World, known for its captivating entertainment is thrilled to announce its much-anticipated enhanced channel offering.  The refresh which comes with a tag line Living Every Moment rolled out on Monday 17 June 2024.  The channel features new graphics and airs ‘everyday’ people sharing their thoughts and feelings on ‘living every moment’.

This rejuvenation celebrates the legacy of Zee World while refreshing it for audiences across Sub-Saharan Africa and the Indian Ocean Islands.

‘It is important for us to remind our viewers who we are at the core while extending it out to all age groups and cultures across Africa.’ said Somnath Malakar, CEO of Zee Africa. The tagline ‘Living Every Moment’ represents what Zee has always stood for and continues to be the inspiration that the brand endeavours to deliver to its audiences’.

Living every moment while being immersed in Zee World is not merely about escapism; it’s about finding meaning in the ‘right here, right now! It’s about embracing the magic of storytelling, which has the power to transport us to worlds beyond our own, keeping us connected.

To amplify the refresh, Zee World is expanding its programming schedule with more variety of series. Prime time now kicks off at 5pm, allowing viewers to indulge in their favourite shows sooner, with new titles at 7:30pm and 8:30pm.

It does not stop there! In July from 5pm to 10pm there will a total of eight shows, ensuring non-stop entertainment.

“Our channel refresh represents our unwavering commitment to delivering exceptional entertainment that resonates with viewers across the continent, and we are doing it with flair.’ said Desiree Pillay, SVP Content & Marketing at Zee. “A brand-new logo, a brand-new tagline and a whole lot of brand-new shows, we invite our viewers to join us in ‘Living Every Moment’ on Zee World as we embark on this exhilarating new chapter together.”

Tune in to Zee World, DStv 166 and immerse yourself in the excitement of our new channel offerings. Get ready to embrace change, embrace the new, and start Living Every Moment.

Development Alert: Sharkdog Formerly Exclusive To Netflix To Make Its International Debut On Nicktoons, The Nick Jr. Block Loses Its Daytime Slot For Nick In Your Language

A few months ago, it was reported that Nicktoons would be airing the Nickelodeon produced show Sharkdog from Netflix in May. But that was never the case as Nicktoons began to rebrand their offering with Sharkdog serving as the first initiative from the rebrand. 

A user known as Narq uploaded a Polish promo for the preschool show on his YouTube channel with the series slated for June/July premiere. This can only confirm that Sharkdog instead of serving as an African premiere will be more global/European. 

Sharkdog follows 10 year old Max and his best friend Sharkdog - half shark, half dog, all appetite. Blissfully unaware of his own strength, stealth and general sharkiness, Sharkdog often leaves a trail of chaos in his wake. But, like all good half-dogs, he's Max's BFF and Max is his.

It is created by Singaporean creator Jacinth Tan and produced by Paramount Global's ViacomCBS International Studios, in partnership with Singaporean based CGI animation studio One Animation.

Although a release date has yet to be confirmed, Nicktoons does however a timeslot vacated from 1st July at 17:00 which is where new Rock, Paper, Scissors was seen. So maybe Sharkdog will just swoop in within that timeslot since that timeslot is known for premieres.

Nick Jr. get less airtime on Nicktoons 

As seen later in the month, Nicktoons introduced Nick In Your Language which is basically Nickelodeon’s way of connecting to a local audience. By that we mean dub various shows such as SpongeBob SquarePants to IsiZulu and Afrikaans. 

Following its popular inception to the channel, Paw Patrol was the second program to get locally dubbed for the channel. This came at the price of the Nick Jr. block whose timeslot is being used to handle these shows with the only other means of viewing it at late nights.

The news doesn't come as a shocker to some as the late night preschool block was more productive than its daytime slot. Then there's also this thing of Nickelodeon supplying the block with Nick Jr. also having its own channel for most of the content. 

Development Alert: A Rebroadcast Of Case Closed And Until Money Do Us Apart Launches On Telemundo Across Africa Ahead Of The People's Doctor

During the month, it was reported that Telemundo would be airing a new anthology series in July, The People's Doctor. The first Christmas Miracles dealt with festivities, Decisions dealt with daily dilemmas with The People's Doctor entering the medical issues.

Zombie TV as some would already know is what you'd call the current status of Telemundo and most other TV channels. As more households continue to switch to dump their TV sets the likes of NBCUniversal will reduce the amount of content for their channels.

My Heart Beats For Lola and Ana's Revenge which serve as the many rebroadcasts will be ending in the coming days. Cased Closed will replace My Heart Beats For Lola from 29th June with Until Money Do Us Part from 2nd July replacing Ana's Revenge. 

Until Money Do Us Part follows poor salesman Rafael and wealthy business executive Alejandra are two strangers who suffer a car accident that changes their lives and intertwines their futures. It starred Carmen Villalobos and Sebastián Martinez.

Case Closed dealt with family laws as specialist Ana Maria Polo acts as a judge to mediate conflicts and disputes between two parties.

Paramount Global Is Believed To Be Ending Their Partnership With AMC Networks International For CBS Reality And CBS Justice

Not long ago, it was reported that AMC Networks International will be axing one of the few CBS branded stations in Europe as part of a joint venture with Paramount Global, CBS Europa. Other channels part of this agreement include CBS Reality and CBS Justice. 

As we've mentioned sometime ago, we don't envision True Crime replacing the remaining feeds for CBS Reality but more likely the African feed for CBS Justice. Unlike the UK, CBS Reality was positioned as a factual channel so maybe something like Reality TV.

AMC Networks International had been phasing out the CBS trademark across their portfolio this started out in the UK by 2022 and will reach Poland in the coming months. Since then, it has been long speculated that Paramount Global is looking to exit this partnership.

This means channels like CBS Reality and CBS Justice will be phased out in these endeavors seeing as Paramount own the CBS trademark.  It also means AMC Networks International will have to find new names for these channels or close them altogether. 

Their other partner Paramount Global is going through financial constraints and had since auctioned themselves to several bidders. It attracted interest from Sony Pictures Television and Apollo with more advance talks reaching Skydance Media. 

However talks with Skydance Media fell through as Shari Redstone backed out of the deal at last minute. 

Shari Redstone who serves as majority shareholder has been trying to keep her family’s company together and under immense pressure. It will have to look at shedding costs either by getting out of all deals (including AMC) or selling BET and Showtime.