by Thinus Ferreira
Tali's Baby Diary on Showmax delivers as the best South African television of 2021 so far - meticulously crafted "super-television" that shines with incredible quality stitching visible in even the smallest production details.
As a second or follow-up season to the multiple award-winning Tali's Wedding Diary, the very DNA of Julia Anastasopoulos and Ari Kruger's TV baby brilliantly shines through in their latest TV stroller that they created and wrote, are executive producing, and with Julia also once again starring as the self-obsessed and deliciously borderline-delusional Tali.
With a set of familiar and some hilarious new characters added into the mix, Tali and everyone in her hapless orbit are sucked into a veritable baby shower hurricane in the next chapter of her vanity fair story.
Tali is once again more than ably supported by her long-suffering husband and wannabe-property mogul Darren (Anton Taylor) and his jack-in-the-box helper Rael (Glen Biderman-Pam) who are confronting a new set of rivals this season and who can very likely fully carry their own Showmax spin-off series with their blunders in Cape Town's property market.
A muted Ashley (Lucienne Bestall) is hilarious as Tali's "Dame Edna's Madge"-inspired assistant; even asked to go pee on a pregnancy kit to test it and for whom nothing is too much or too far serving as the help fluttering around the aspiring "mom-fluencer".
For superbly adorable low-EQ characters - captured so distinctly and vividly - all of the very deserved SAFTA wins from the first season of this show are proof that Tali's show wasn't and isn't a one-season wonder.
While the wait was longer than 9 months, Tali's Baby Diary, produced by Sketchbook, once again delivers incredibly well-done and incredibly funny television.
With its fine attention to detail in absolutely every aspect of the new season's production values, Tali's Baby Diary is a joy to behold.
The new episodes, the first two of which Showmax made available to critics to preview, have a high rewatch value.
You can go back and watch it over and over to find even more terrific awkwardness all created in Cape Town from carefully crafted cinematography, wonderful comedic timing from a comfortable-in-cringe cast with masterful editing.
Make a plan if you have a baby because Tali's Baby Diary is the best South African TV show of 2021 so far and 100% guaranteed to make you literally laugh out loudly.
Tali's Baby Diary brilliantly continues the local TV industry's investment in South African mockumentary making with a local show that can travel globally.
With its universally-relatable theme of having a baby, infused with neurotic-hilarious Jewish joy, Cape Town snobbery and its distinct ambient sunlight, and the Karen-nesque title character's crazy demands only a singular question remains: How long the wait until Showmax brings viewers Tali's Toddler Diary?
Tali's Baby Diary is now available on Showmax.
