I can exclusively reveal and break the news that Anele Mdoda is returning to a regular public television gig as the moderator of a new local TV talk show that SABC3 is adding, with Tongue in Cheek which is set to start on Tuesday 9 September at 20:30 with an emsemble panel of talkers which will include Sashi Naidoo, Michael de Pinna and socialite Carolyn Steyn.
Tongue in Cheek will be similar in style to the American TV talk shows The Talk seen on M-Net and The View which was seen on SABC3 but since its a later night, primetime talk show the topics and conversations will be more risque, often with more controversial talk, and more serious topics in between lighter discussions including entertainment and popular culture.
Recorded in an upmarket house in Johannesburg, there will be 13 episodes in the first season of Tongue in Cheek with comedian Anele Mdoda moderating the panel who will bring divergent viewpoints.
The panel will include socialite Carolyn Steyn (wife of the insurance mogul Douw Steyn), the model and TV presenter Sashi Naidoo who will do red carpet coverage and inserts as a "roving" reporter, as well as Michael de Pinna, the only male on the panel (and best-known as the leopard-skin wearing yuppie in Vodacom's TV commercials).
Tongue in Cheek will discuss one serious topic per week, but then the main feature would be about what happened in the world, then the serious topic or issues, and then more light-hearted subjects.
A local celebrity will visit Tongue in Cheek weekly to sit down with the panel to talk about health or fitness. The show is literally "tongue in cheek" and will be a bit riskier than normal talk shows - it's like what and how ladies would be discussing and talking about on a night out with girlfriends.
Tongue in Cheek will be an opinionated show with Anele Mdoda, Carolyn Steyn, Sashi Naidoo and Michael de Pinna who were selected to be from different walks of life and different background and to bring those viewpoints to the talker.
Whatever the serious topic is, there will be 13 - one for every episode - and the panel will discuss it with an expert in the field. Tongue in Cheek will also cover what's been happening on the red carpet which could see editors and journalists from entertainment magazines joining the panel.
Tongue in Cheek will close every week with a celebrity visit, the show is hoping to attract international stars to sit down with the panel who might be in South Africa or visiting the country over the next 13 weeks.
The idea of Tongue in Cheek is to be an hour long new local TV talk show, broken up into three segments being gossip, a main serious topic and then celebrity update or health and fitness. A lot of it will be deep, there might very well be clashes between the panelists and a lot of it will be controversial.
