The 9th Channel O Music Video Awards 2012 which took place on Saturday once again made Channel O and M-Net executives in Randburg the laughing stock of the industry when the continental awards show supposed to honour African artists seemed like an amateur and unorganised mess yet again.
Host Bonang Matheba looked like death (fire you're makeup entourage, girl. When viewers remark that you look like a "widow" you've got a problem) but that was the least of this year's broadcast's behind-the-scenes problems.
Where Channel (DStv 320) for weeks promised that the awards show would be broadcast LIVE in big capital letters in effusive press releases (with no answers ever I might add to questions I've put to the M-Net run channel and production weeks in advance regarding aspects of the upcoming show), Saturday's somewhat haphazard Channel O Music Video Awards 2012 showed how unorganised it was when it was shown ... NOT LIVE.
The show done this year from a dome at the Walter Sisulu Square in Kliptown, Soweto with DStv and DStv Mobile as the sponsors (which seemed odd) and Bonang Matheba and Ice Prince as hosts was not quite as bad as the worst ever Channel O Music Video Awards.
The highly embarrassing, shambolic and utterly horrific 2007 Channel O Music Video Awards which left VIP's unable to get in, the event totally overbooked and with no-show celebs ignited a firestorm after the cringefest..
It was the terrible disaster of the 2007 ceremony in the Johannesburg City Hall which prompted M-Net executives to immediately take action and to pour real resources and effort and professionalism into the awards show after saying "never again". Ever since then it was stellar, with the Channel O Music Video Awards being the best organised and executed televised awards show done on South Africa soil.
After Saturday's new fiasco, people are however now wondering whether Channel O and M-Net have once again became complacent and have let their eye off the ball. Why is it not organised better and on standard? If you say you're going to show it live, keep the promise and work to put in place what is needed to do so, for why do you damage your brand and reputation with viewers by overpromising and underdelivering?
Again this year the event suddenly ran late. Again the 2012 Channel O Music Video Awards was suddenly overbooked leaving VIPs without seats and stranded upon arrival. Besides the actual event which dragged, viewers who tuned in on time and got an unprofessional late show, were less than impressed with a delayed broadcast and aspects of it.
South Africa's national TV critics, those who have consistently been invited and attended this awardfest in previous years, remarked two weeks ago to me how odd it was that there were no invitations for several of them this year.
In hindsight it was possibly the first indication that the 2012 Channel O Music Video Awards was not going to be how it used to be in years past. They're now all probably glad they missed the almost-rehash of the infamous 2007 implosion.
