As far as bubblegum television goes, Blame it on Fame - the new e.tv reality show with cameras trailing claim-to-fame ''twinz'' starlets Hlelo and Ntando Masina on Mondays at 20:30 - is an enjoyable, watchable, and well post-production produced show.
Blame it on Fame produced by Rapid Blue with Kee-Leen Irvine and Duncan Irvine as executive producers, proves that it's not necessary to go to Hollywood (cough, cough) to successfully tap into the propagated fantasy zeitgeist of aspirational showbiz-onality right here in South Africa and Johannesburg's glam-infused social circles.
Blame it on Fame has a done-it-right intro theme. The show also very successfully and very deftly managed to do, and then merge, what the biz calls ''interviews'' - the bits where reality stars appear to talk to camera to explain, extrapolate and move the narrative of an episode forward - but are in fact asked questions by producers of certain filmed events. The post drop-in backdrop, the quite animate twins, and the styling of lux couture make the talk-to-camera interview sections look polished, well-done and of a high-gloss production quality.
Hlelo Masina jokingly throwing her hands up in the air as she interviews in the first episode, saying ''We are the twins and welcome to our reality show'' - then go ''This is soo cheesy!'' Brief self-referential moments like these make the show endearing by showing that neither the twinz-stars not the producers are trying to make or pretend that Blame it on Fame is anything other than what it is: a please-look-at-us romp using the Masina girls' growing fame to film interesting events and be a fly on the wall for relational dynamics.
Somewhat detracting (because we're now conditioned to want our ''reality television'' shaped) is the real reality of a cold South African winter intruding into Blame it on Fame, clearly limiting outdoor scenes and a subtle reality check inside the reality show on the perceived fame-level of the girls: In the first episode they make the Mail & Guardian newspaper's list of 200 young South Africans but at the launch event of the special supplement, the newspaper's own editor has never actually met them.
Showing the real Masina family over a braai and the extremely upset and angry mom (cue hilarious, ominously ''shark-attack-imminent'' music) after Hlelo and Ntando Masina decided to get tattoos was dramatic, but clearly really real. The family scene setting also worked perfectly to introduce the various members who will, presumably, feature in some dramatic interactions in future episodes.
Narrow facial close-ups to capture even the smallest tinge of whatever expressions and feelings are emoted, seemingly non-sensical quotables by Hlelo and Ntando Masina as well as post-production added pregnant pauses before conversational answers during banter, reveal that the production team of Blame it on Fame has studied the overseas reality show paint-by-numbers genre very well to create this local TV copy that pass the grade.
''It's like you have a fruit bowl, says Ntando Masina, ''and theres always fruit inside. And all you keep doing is eating grapes. You're not going to know how good the pears are if you're always eating grapes.'' Blame it on Fame is likewise an enjoyable enough TV fruit to venture back into the reality television bowl for another taste.
ALSO READ: Will e.tv's new Blame it on Fame reality show with Hleo and Ntando Masina fail or fly?
