Every major TV news conglom needs a Tally Atwater like in the movie Up, Close & Personal. Someone with heart to remind TV viewers that there's more than war in Afghanistan, destitute people doing drugs, and Soweto orphans (unless its about hugs for those orphans of course).
South Africa's Tally is definitely Tanya - Tanya Nefdt of the eNews Channel (DStv 403) who today met Tarzan.
And where Tanya goes, there goes a happy time of one or two minutes of television news that's a welcome upbeat tonic in an ocean of otherwise mostly dreary and terrible TV tales.
Whether covering Christmas trees that's recycleable, interviewing a female car mechanic, or hanging out at social events for the entertainment scoop, Tanya Nefdt is adept at covering the lifestyle and more lighter stories, just like Tally. If CNN has the quirky and offeat Jeanne Moos, the eNews Channel has the rinky-dink awesome Tanya Nefdt.
Always tilting her head ever so slighty to her right hand side like a happy hamster that first wants to ascertain a certain sound that it heard a little bit better, Tanya Nefdt then pirouettes and zooms in on her subject to bring a truly heartwarming story to the nation. And as viewers we are grateful. Really.
Today, lost in the jungle (okay, it was foresty George which is 4 hours' drive outside of Cape Town - but what real dedication) the delightful Tanya Nefdt found herself literally face to face with an
He's jobless, of course. Only wears a loin cloth and has big, uhm, dreams. And, as she wanted to show later in her story, there's also something really big between his legs. All of it is of course Tanya's speciality who excels at profile pieces in under 3 minutes of screen time. Try doing that Oprah Winfrey!
A very surprised Tanya Nefdt found Tarzan (or the former security guard De Wet Du Toit) in the woods and was willing to let him grab her hand. She also put thought into it since she clearly dressed for the occasion. Green for green. Because this is a real forest people. Nothing is shot against green screen.
Then, after some lingering shots of the physique of the man flesh she travelled 4 hours to find (because its important to show the viewer everything you get - TV is a visual medium after all), Tanya Nefdt got on top behind her Tarzan and rode off on an elephant and into the sunset. A happy Tanya Nefdt got her package. Until tomorrow.
The end-run story or happy news package is often unappreciated, disregarded as fluff, and discarded by serious news organizations. But it's actually a pleasant respite from the rolling doom-and-gloom and often distressing hard news coverage of 24 hour information operations such as the eNews Channel.
The slighty ditzy, very-bubbly Tanya Nefdt and her always-interesting, although breezier, stories reminds the TV news viewer that there's more to life and news than just things that went wrong. There's Christmas trees made from old carton boxes, female car mechanics who dream of becoming engineers, and Tarzans with big dreams who are willing to swing in to your rescue.
