The last regular episode of the longrunning, weekly Afrikaans magazine programme Pasella on SABC2 will be broadcast on 22 May..
After 15 years the Tswelopele Productions with Amor Engelbrecht as executive producer and which has been on a continuous production cycle as an all year round and popular local TV show will be replaced in the Wednesday evening timeslot from 29 May by a new local travelogue show Mooiloop.
Pasella which has endured many different days and timeslots over its continuous run will be going on its longest broadcast break on SABC2 ever since it started exactly 15 years ago in March 1998.
Pasella was/is consistently one of the most watched weekly programmes on SABC2's weekly ranking of most popular shows, now getting replaced with an unknown on-air property.
Removing Pasella from the schedule - although the channel says "not permanently" - also does away and breaks down some of the inherent "appointment television" cache SABC2 had. Most television viewers are creatures of habit and television is a habit-forming medium - viewers come to know where their shows are and they keep tuning in for the same programmes.
When Pasella leaves the air at the end of May there will definitely be loyal Pasella viewers, and therefore SABC2 viewers, who specifically tuned in for that show, who will very likely explore other options on other channels and might never return to Wednesdays at 19:30 to SABC2 once they form a new viewing habit.
"Pasella will not be permanently removed from the schedule," says Zandile Nkonyeni, SABC2's publicity head.
"Alternative viewing will be introduced in the form of a new programme that will sit on the same slot as Pasella as part of the new SABC2 look and feel direction. This, as you may know, is seen in many of our programmes, for instance 50/50 who have been on the schedule for 30 years but go on alternative breaks after each season."
"It's Gospel Time and and Gospel Classics on Sundays are some of the similar examples of the said alternative offering. The last episode of Pasella airs on 22 May. It will then be followed by a new travelogue programme called Mooiloop. Pasella's new season will then follow at the end of Mooiloop's season," says Zandile Nkonyeni.
