by Thinus Ferreira
While A+E Networks Africa tried to turn 10 April 2021 into "Wendy Williams Day" in South Africa on its Lifetime (DStv 131) channel, it didn't work, with this past Saturday that was far from a "Wendy Williams Day" and small viewership of her biopic and documentary on the Lifetime channel on MultiChoice's DStv satellite pay-TV service.
Viewership ratings from South Africa's Broadcast Research Council (BRC) indicate that the claimed "Wendy Williams Day" only managed to hook a disappointingly small 49 219 viewers in the country during the 19:20 timeslot on Lifetime on Saturday for the Wendy Williams: The Movie made-for-TV movie.
The ratings increased very slightly to 50 107 viewers for the Wendy Williams: What a Mess! documentary that followed afterwards during the 20:50 timeslot on Lifetime on DStv.
In America the Wendy Williams biopic and documentary performed much better in viewership and audience share when it was shown on pay-TV there - also on a Saturday - in late-2020.
In March Wendy Williams mistakenly claimed in a YouTube video that 10 April is "Wendy Williams Day in South Africa", with South Africans who wondered where she got the wrong information.
The former female radio shock jock turned TV talk show host Wendy Williams partnered with A+E Networks' Lifetime channel in the United States to tell her life story following the implosion of her marriage to Kevin Hunter.
His infidelity that led to lurid tabloid headlines and almost spelt the end of her The Wendy Williams Show seen on ViacomCBS Networks Africa's BET (DStv 129) channel in Africa.
