''Tonight a very different show,'' said Carte Blanche anchor Derek Watts on M-Net earlier this evening on the pay broadcaster as the show started out - but this different turned out to be unquestionably brilliant.
The live hour of Carte Blanche celebrated the weekly investigative magazine's 22nd year on the air on M-Net. It turned into a very successful showcase and a pitch perfect production through the combined power of television and the show's viewers through the use of social media. ''We've got a few worried editors in the control room. This is an experiment and it's up to you to make it work. George [Mazarakis, executive producer], Peter [Griffiths, interactive editor] and Jessica [Pitchford, managing editor] are monitoring you're suggestions. They're hyperventilating a bit, so help them by becoming a part of our team, said Derek Watts.
But there was no need to worry.The venerable Carte Blanche showed exactly what it was once again capable of. Carte Blanche (and M-Net that obviously allowed it) had its plumage on full display in the great hour with Derek Watts deftly weaving intros from viewers and blending them with his own on air take - he even showed viewers his ear piece. ''Jessica, what's up next?'' he asked - just to continue on. ''Now they're in the control room and you might wonder how I know what to say, or try to say. Well, I have an ear piece here that you can see [as he turned his head] and I'm reading off the autocue which I believe in Afrikaans is the 'papegaai-skerm' – the parrot screen.''
The interactive birthday episode of Carte Blanche produced by Combined Artists deftly also included comments and questions from viewers live during the broadcast from Facebook and even Twitter. It did so without sacrificing the core content - the investigative pieces ranging from mercury levels in fish and whether dagga could lead to schizophrenia and even a profile piece on the photographers who photographed Nelson Mandela.
Carte Blanche and M-Net pulled of this first for South African television regarding live interaction with viewers (who also got to control the script and directing) with insight, the right balance and mix and showing forward thinking vision for the world of television. If the unofficial slogan for Carte Blanche since its inception has been ''The right to see it all'', it's now added a new one. ''The right to be involved in it all.''
ALSO READ: Carte Blanche's 22nd (interactive) broadcast a big success for M-Net; almost doubling its online fanbase.
ALSO READ: Derek Watts on Carte Blanche turning 22: ''People say, 'You can't do that.' Then I say 'But it's Carte Blanche, of course we can.''
