M-Net is pulling the disastrous and cancelled Wicked City off its programming line-up while the weekend's terrorism attacks in Paris are also impacting South African viewers with programming changes regarding episodes of several shows across a number of TV channels and services.
After disastrously low ratings and scathing reviews from TV critics, M-Net is dumping the new crime drama anthology series Wicked City that was supposed to start on M-Net (DStv 101) on 30 December.
Meanwhile the horrific terror attacks in Paris saw British and American broadcasters pull this week's episodes of multiple shows set in Paris and dealing with violence or revolving around terrorism themes. The changes are directly impacting what South African viewers will see - or not get to see - this week.
The Britcaster ITV dumped Sunday's latest 4th episode of the visceral shock-drama Jekyll and Hyde with the latest episode which is added to Naspers' ShowMax subscription video-on-demand (SVoD) service within 24 hours after it is shown in the United Kingdom.
With no new Jekyll and Hyde episode shown, there's no new episode for ShowMax of the horror series, with no announcement from ITV as to when the graphic episode revolving around a kidnapping with a gun will be shown.
CBS pulled the latest episode of the 7th season of the forensic crime drama NCIS: Los Angeles entitled "Defectors" with no word from CBS on when the episode will be shown.
In South Africa M-Net is 3 weeks behind America with the forensic crime drama shown here on Friday nights at 20:30 and it's a sure bet that South African viewers also won't be seeing the episode in three week's time which revolves around the terror group ISIS recruiting young women as terrorists.
Monday's 4th episode of Supergirl has also been pulled and replaced by CBS impacting Vuzu AMP (DStv 114) in South Africa and Africa which is showing the same episode as in the United States on a weekly basis.
There's been no word from Vuzu AMP, an M-Net channel, but it's absolutely a sure thing that the planned Supergirl episode in which Kara deals with bomb explosions in National City won't be shown on Vuzu AMP on Thursday.
FOX International Channels (FIC) and FIC Africa are changing the episode of Legends which also saw the latest 3rd episode of the second season of the drama series abruptly pulled by the TNT channel in America.
The latest Legends episode entitled "The Legend of Curtis Ballard" was yanked since it's set in Paris and deals with Martin (Sean Bean) looking for someone while a peaceful protest is on the verge of turning violent.
"As a result of the recent tragic events in Paris, the originally scheduled episode of Legends has been postponed. Our thoughts and condolences are with the victims and their families," said TNT in a statement.
The same episode of Legends in the United States is shown in South Africa weekly on Thursdays on FOX Crime (DStv 126 / StarSat 132) at 20:30. FIC Africa is replacing it on Thursday with a repeat of the second season's premiere episode.
"Because Legends is screened close to the U.S. broadcasts and since the episode in question was pulled from the schedule last night in the United States, Africa will be putting replacement programming in Legends' place this week. There is no specific date at the moment when the episode (3) in question will be played," FIC Africa tells TV with Thinus.
Meanwhile viewers have had a hard time keeping up with TV news channels since the electronic programme guides (EPGs) on MultiChoice's DStv and StarTimes Media SA's StarSat have failed to keep up with special reports, and announced and adjusted programming focusign on the aftermath of the Paris attacks.
Over the weekend Infinity Media's ANN7 (DStv 405) dropped its own programming and switched to the channel feed of the French 24-hour TV news channel France24 which is a news channel only available on StarSat.
France24 has been lauded for its incisive and comprehensive coverage of the Paris attacks since Saturday and has started broadcasting its live channel feed for free on YouTube.
