In a wide-ranging interview Melanie opened up about how she feels (''I am a little scared''), her return to television after 8 years (and why now!), what it is that she wants to achieve with Let's Chat . . .with Mel and how she first heard the news!
Click on READ MORE below for the complete interview!
I think it was unexpected and unplanned to a large extent. My background as far as TV is concerned, is that I've done a lot of music shows. But then I transitioned into radio and I think that was a great base for me to get to where I am now. With radio there's a lot of reading and talking involved and that is exactly what I'm doing with Let's Chat . . . with Mel as well now.
Doing a talk show on South African TV has always been a notoriously difficult genre to crack.
Like the kiss of death (she laughs).
There have been a lot of attempts – some more successful than others – but we haven't had a really big break-out locak talk show star emerge besides almost Noeleen Maholwana-Sangqu and 3Talk. How do you think you will be different and what will you do differently from what we as South African viewers have seen before?
Firstly I think that each person who tries should be admired. I think the TV market here is notoriously critical. We're very quick to judge. We're very quick to write off a season after you've watched one episode. You watch one episode and goes: Aaaawh, I think I'll pass. I think it comes down to personality. It comes down to the person hosting the show. I think if you're open and honest and you're real with people, that resonates. I think it's when you're false and you sit there and you're pretending and going ''Ooh, I'm talking about the most interesting thing'' and people can see you think you're not into that, that you will fail. I think it's about authenticity.
I think it's finding and having the ability to say what I want and being allowed to say the things that I would naturally say that I have to get used to between going with the script and the little moments in between.
In terms of the topics, how do you come up with the content?
I think the important thing is if the stories are interesting enough, anyone will stay and watch, even though it might be more for a female audience. Hopefully if you come across it, and you're a guy and if the person being interviewed is interesting, you will stay and watch.
You're making history because it's the first local show on the M-Net Series channel. Given the SABC's problems, how do you see local TV content, given that it's an expensive thing to do?
For me, given what has been happening at the SABC – and I know M-Net and M-Net Series has commissioned a lot of new local programming – I know people in the industry who are desperately out of work. I know production companies and I know people who are writers, who are directors, who are PA's, people who are all these things in our local TV and film industry who are out of work at the moments.
And there is a desperate need for work at the moment. I think at the SABC, the fact that the thought exists that we won't or can't commission new content to the extent that they did before, for a while - it's just incredible that it has come to this. That is their core business. You've got to put money in it. I think that M-Net has come to the party and by saying let's commission local shows - that's wonderful. Saying we can't do 40 but let's do 4, is magnificent. Is there pressure? Yes. Yes, there's pressure. I so want this to succeed. I'm so petrified for when the first episode goes out! You want it to be good. You want it to work. I am a bit intimidated. Yes. I am a little scared.
It was awesome. I had come through and auditioned. They said they will let me know in a few days. I think it was a Friday. I was running around and I got a call and they said ''We've got it.'' And I went, ''awesome'' and ''but what does that mean for me?'' And they went, ''No, you've got it!''
I think the timing is just awesome. And this is why I haven't done TV for a long time. When I left the TV show on SABC that I did, I felt that there wasn't really anything else that I wanted to do. I didn't feel that I desperately want to be on television. So I haven't been on TV for 8 years because there wasn’t a project that I really believed in. Then 8 months ago my husband said I should do a talk show. And here it came.
A TV talk show is such a powerful genre on such a powerful medium. What is it that you want to achieve and do and bring under people's attention?
You hope that you affect change in someone's life. For me a big part of the ethos of the show is to not be prescriptive. We're not saying be this or do this. We're not going to say this is how you have to be to be the perfect woman. We're saying women are so different. So diverse. We're saying that as long as you're doing the best you can, that is okay. I hope that in people seeing that message, that that resonates back to their lives.
Let's Chat . . . with Mel on Wednesdays at 20:00 on M-Net Series (DStv 110), from 13 January.
