Reminder: National Geographic Dishes Up No Taste Like Home With Antoni Porowski This February Across Africa

Every dish tells a story. National Geographic has announced a mouthwatering new series NO TASTE LIKE HOME WITH ANTONI POROWSKI, set to premiere on Wednesdays at 20:30, from 26 February (ends 2 April) on National Geographic (DStv 181, Starsat 220) across Africa. This tantalizing six-part docuseries invites viewers to join culinary expert and Emmy® Award-winning star of “Queer Eye” Antoni Porowski as he guides celebrity guests on epic journeys to explore their ancestral gastronomic roots.

 

From the bustling streets of Italy to the lush jungles of Borneo, each episode promises an exploration of the rich heritage tied to beloved family recipes. With a star lineup that includes Emmy-winning actress Awkwafina (“A Real Bug’s Life,” “Awkwafina Is Nora From Queens”), SAG-nominated actor Henry Golding (“Crazy Rich Asians,” “The Ministry of Ungentlemanly Warfare”), Emmy-nominated actor James Marsden (“Paradise,” “Sonic the Hedgehog 3”), Academy Award®-nominated actress Florence Pugh (“We Live in Time,” “Dune: Part Two”), Emmy-nominated actress Issa Rae (“Insecure,” “American Fiction”), and Emmy-winning actor Justin Theroux (“The Leftovers,” “Beetlejuice, Beetlejuice”), the series serves up a delectable blend of food, culture and personal discovery.

 

“It’s a beautiful adventure to discover our past through the great connector that is food,” said Porowski. “I’m honored to go on this journey of self-discovery with new and old friends alongside National Geographic as we learn together about the ways different cultures celebrate food and experience their traditions.”

In each episode, Antoni and his guests uncover the unique stories behind cherished family dishes, such as the delicious origins of Theroux’s family pasta in Italy or the delectable flavors of Awkwafina’s Korean heritage. Along the way, they meet local travelers who share their own family stories and culinary traditions, culminating in a family meal that includes a classic dish from the region that will illuminate the beauty of each culture. From dining with royalty to off-roading 4x4s, each culinary adventure is filled with heartwarming moments, vibrant flavors, and surprising revelations that dive deep into the stories behind each guest’s ancestry.

Episodes include:

● “FLORENCE PUGH’S ENGLISH ODYSSEY”

Antoni helps Florence explore the origins of her family’s passion for food as they travel through Oxford, the Yorkshire coast and London. Together, they encounter delicious dishes and discover stories of ancestors whose livelihoods set in motion this embrace of food that has transcended generations.

● “AWKWAFINA’S KOREAN HOMECOMING”

Awkwafina lost her mother at a young age. Eager to help her reconnect with her South Korean culinary and ancestral heritage, Antoni curates a voyage of discovery filled with new experiences, family revelations, and evocative flavors, which combine to give Awkwafina a new perspective on her own identity.

● “JUSTIN THEROUX’S ITALIAN QUEST”

Seeking the origins of a family pasta dish, Antoni takes Justin on an Italian road trip full of delicious discoveries and surprising revelations. From chasing chickens to harvesting clams, they sample the region’s finest food and uncover how Justin’s Italian ancestry relates to a family dish that made its way across the Atlantic.

 

● “JAMES MARSDEN’S GERMAN DISH UP”

On the hunt for the origins of the Marsden family’s beloved chicken fried steak, Antoni takes James from the Texas plains to Germany. Together, they discover just how much the experiences of his German forebears have shaped James’ family history. While dining with royalty and scaling the Bavarian Alps, they unearth dramatic secrets behind James’ ancestors’ decision to emigrate.

● “ISSA RAE’S SENEGALESE ROYAL ROOTS”

Antoni takes Issa to her father’s homeland of Senegal, where they uncover ancestral stories of powerful women and royal connections. Through this culinary journey, Issa learns more about her family’s epic history and how it all relates to her own identity.

● “HENRY GOLDING’S MALAYSIAN ADVENTURE”

Antoni takes Henry to Borneo, where they unearth family stories and taste their way to a deeper connection with Henry’s mother’s Iban heritage. As they cook with long-lost family and newfound friends, Henry learns that genealogy in this oral tradition is about far more than storytelling.

Get ready for heartwarming stories, unforgettable flavors, and the joyous exploration of what it means to be connected to our past through food.

NO TASTE LIKE HOME WITH ANTONI POROWSKI is produced by Studio Ramsay Global, building on the prolific food programming relationship between Gordon Ramsay’s production outfit and National Geographic, a partnership rooted in creating four seasons of the award-winning food travelogue GORDON RAMSAY: UNCHARTED. As well as presenting, Porowski will executive produce the series alongside Ramsay and Lisa Edwards. The showrunner is Robin O’Sullivan, and the executive in charge of production is Jill Greenwood. The series is directed by Leo McRea, Jenny Dames and Graeme Hart. For National Geographic, Betsy Forhan is executive producer, Charlie Parsons is senior vice president of Development, Bengt Anderson is senior vice president of Unscripted Production, and Tom McDonald is executive vice president of Global Factual and Unscripted Content.

Play Room (Live) Vs. Teen Africa TV: Is Anyone Safe In This Game Of Cat And Mouse?

Play Room launched in November 2023 offering a mixture of live-action and animated content part of which were dubbed in local languages to consumers in South Africa. Prior to this, Africa's first channel for teenagers Teen Africa TV was introduced offering locally produced content ranging from reality shows, educational content and movies.

This was MultiChoice's second and third attempt at tapping into the local kids space following the demise of K-TV. With companies such as Disney pivoting toward streaming, MultiChoice was hoping to use Teen Africa TV and Play Room as channels to fill that gap.

Play Room had proved to be a popular addition to DStv following the launch of Play Room Live alongside diverse slate of local content with Bino And Fino (Nigeria), Jabu's Jungle (South Africa) and Akili And Me (Kenya). Teen Africa TV had a Nigerian adaptation of the musical La Voz Kids (The Voice Kids Nigeria) with Teen Street Live.

Fast forward to the present, you could say there have been some bizarre developments regarding Africa's Nickelodeon and Disney Channel.

Play Room has been rehashing if not piling up on content with Teen Titans GO!, Batwheels, Rainbow Rangers and Superhero Kindergarten. Not that it's a bad thing (entirely), most channels nowadays are zombified but viewers need consistency for which the channel lacks.

To make matters worse, Play Room Live appears to be in the danger zone with the channel dubbing it Play Room Live 2.0 following the holiday slumber. Not only has Play Room Live Reloaded been axed but now the youth show runs for half an hour.

At this point, I wouldn't be shocked if it got the boot I mean most kids don't rely on DStv nowadays to watch Cocomelon as everything can be streamed. I mean you don't often Hectic Nine-9 on SABC 2 and even K-TV had a youth show that too got the axe.

As for Teen Africa TV, I'd say it's in a much worser state than Play Room (Live) because now it's like Magic Showcase and broadcasts in certain parts of the day. From what I read, there was even some drama with the crew members for not getting paid for their work on the channel.

This is a channel that MultiChoice picked up in 40+ countries and viewers were perplexed by some of the content in hand particularly the dramas and movies. Disney Channel and Nickelodeon would often exempt themselves from any adult themes and this didn't extend to Teen Africa TV.

With very little marketing or much of a social presence, I wouldn't be shocked if Teen Africa TV were to end up like Media24's HONEY that was meant to be Africa's BBC Lifestyle. There's already a reduction in content and for whatever is commissioned barely gets press.

I wouldn't say the Teen Africa TV concept was a bad idea but it doesn't appear to be feasible which is where HONEY resided. This is a youth channel which is being distributed on a platform that caters for adults and this is the only kids channel with this much local content.

Play Room is more like Akili Kids with a reduced slate it's probably the most safest structure for any kids channel in this climate but if I'm being honest it appears Teen Africa TV is walking on eggshells.

Development Alert: Doodsondes Season 6 (Final) Launches In March 2025 On eExtra

After the final season of Doodsondes got crammed with eVOD following its earlier rollouts on e.tv and eExtra. The Turkish drama is set to bow out with its sixth and final season on eExtra from 10 March which would coincide with Kuiertyd's other longer running series Elif that is ending in the coming weeks.

Synopsis for the 6th season of Doodsondes 

It starts with a 2-year time lapse, Doğan and Yıldız's daughter Yıldız Su is born while Doğan is still in prison. Later, he is freed and him and Ender team up against Yıldız. Zeynep returns from the United States after divorcing Alihan and being married to someone else. She then marries Engin, Handan's poor turned rich brother. Kumru, Handan and Zeynep fall for doctor Selim, but he loves Kumru, so he stops his relation with Handan, her mom. After everything Kumru went through, Kumru is pretending that her name is Ezgi and lies about being poor because she wanted Selim to love her for being her, not because she’s rich. Doğan discovers his ex-wife Handan's relation with Selim, so he with Handan tries to stop Kumru & Selim's love. 

Known as Yasak Elma in Turkey, It starred Şevval Sam as Ender Çelebi, Eda Ece as Yıldız Yılmaz, Biran Damla Yılmaz as Kumru Yıldırım, Murat Aygen as Doğan Yıldırım, Sevda Erginci as Zeynep Yılmaz, Şebnem Dönmez as Handan Kılıç and Berk Oktay as Çağatay Kuyucu.

The show was written by Melis Civelek and Zeynep Gür, with Neslihan Yeşilyurt directing the first three seasons, Murat Öztürk taking over for the fourth season, and Ece Erdek Koçoğlu directing the fifth and sixth seasons.

Doodsondes S6 broadcasts daily at 19:30 on eExtra from 10 March replacing the first season of Blink Kant Bo once it ends.

Canal+ Could Seek To Revive It's Operations In Ethiopia Through Bid To Acquire MultiChoice

Last year, Canal+ SA made the decision to shutter it's pay-tv services in Ethiopia following its launch in the market by 2021. The French broadcaster had mentioned that they would continue to invest in content production for the region as it looks to complete it's acquisition of MultiChoice.

Africa's biggest pay-tv provider already offered services in the region with Abol TV, Zee Alem and SuperSport Liyu and with this acquisition they would basically supplement the former's local endeavours through DStv. Aside from local channels, DStv also packages various international channels viewed on Canal+ like History, MTV Base and Cartoon Network.

Canal+ SA seeks to be the largest broadcaster in Africa and for several years has made numerous investments within the region including ROK Studios (Nigeria), Zacu Entertainment (Rwanda) and Marodi TV (Congolese). Through this transaction with MultiChoice, they could seek to unite these services through DStv.

Both companies are giving themselves until April 2025 to finalize the transaction which is awaiting approval from South African regulators. If approved, Canal+ SA would extend its reach to over 40 million households giving them more exposure and resources to take on giants like Netflix and Amazon Prime Video.

Aside from MultiChoice, Paramount Global is also eyeing a potential tie-up with Skydance with the deal set to be finalised within the first quarter of 2025. With more developments set to be underway between Comcast and Warner Bros. Discovery who are looking to disinvest in their cable networks currently seen on DStv.

ARD And Canal+ Join Forces For Sherlock Holmes Spin-Off, Baker Street Four

Production has started on Baker Street Four. The animated series follows a ragtag trio of street urchins – and a cat called Watson – who act as legendary detective Sherlock Holmes’ eyes and ears on the ground.

German public broadcaster ARD has come on board the project, joining the previously announced French pay TV giant Canal+ and teeing up big-ticket European co-production.

The show is based on the successful French comic book series ‘Les Quatre de Baker Street’, written by Jean-Blaise Djian and Olivier Legrand, and illustrated by David Etien.

Folivari and Blue Spirit are making the series, bringing together two award-winning France-based animation houses. News of the series first surfaced at the Annecy animation fest in 2019. With ARD on board it is now full steam ahead on production.

Skewing to a 6-to-10-year-old audience, the series is directed by Francis Canitrot. It will run to 12 parts and hit screens in 2027.

Specifically, Baker Street Four follows three of Holmes’ helpers and is an inside look at some of the group known in the Arthur Conan Doyle’s stories as the Baker Street Irregulars.

From the slums of Victorian London, the Baker Street Four of the series are Billy, who see himself as the brains of the band of urchins, Tom, an acrobat and ace pickpocket, and Charlotte, the resourceful one of the group. Their stray cat Watson completes the quartet.

Folivari International – which is headed by Melissa Vega and was founded last year by her and Folivari founders Damien Brunner, Thibaut Ruby, Sarah Delmas and Didier Brunner – is across sales. Vega is at the Kidscreen confab in San Diego this week as the global rollout of the series takes shape.

“We’re thrilled to kick off production on the series, thanks to ARD’s greenlight,” she said. “We want the children to discover this series as their first co-viewing experience – one that brings the whole family together through thrilling investigations filled with comedy and adventure.”