by Thinus Ferreira
e.tv has released a new locally-produced drama series, HouseWives, on its eVOD service with the story that revolves around desperate housewives starting a drug cartel that will unspool on its video streaming offering first before it is broadcast on e.tv.
HouseWives - produced by The Milton Empire (TME) with Siphosethu Tshapu as executive producer, Siphosethu Tshapu as head writer and Sevetian Su Ong Maslamoney as director of photography - consists of 26 episodes and filmed two seasons over 3 months, with the first episode that is now available on eVOD.
In releasing series episodes for streaming, eVOD is taking a weekly approach like Showmax, Apple TV+, Disney+ and Amazon Prime Video, instead of releasing all content at once like Netflix, with a new episode of HouseWives that will become available on eVOD every Thursday.
HouseWives is available subscription free on e.tv's eVOD app or through the website with a broadcasting date on e.tv that hasn't been determined yet.
In HouseWives, the lives of three housewives are changed forever when their husbands are killed by a drug cartel boss.
Akhona Khumalo (Sive Mabuya), Summer Pietersen (Angela Lieveaux), and Lawrencia "Lolo" Ntsimane (Gabisile Tshabalala) are left with the heavy debt left by their spouses' criminal activities and are forced to work for the Colombian drug cartel leader to pay off the debt - however, they end up deciding to outsmart the cartel boss and open a syndicate of their own.
Also starring in the show are Renate Stuurman as Dragon, Terrence Gumede as Loyiso MacDonald, as well as a supporting cast including Mavuso Magabane, Van-Lee Johnson, Louis Ngcayiya, Senzo Radebe and TK Sebothoma.
Gabisile Tshabalala in an interview on Thursday's edition of e.tv's The Morning Show said that shooting the series for her was "emotionally draining".
"It was tiring. I literally had to go on holiday alone, just to detox and debrief because I was literally living this person."
About playing three housewives who have to team up and support each other in a ruthless environment, she said "we built a very special relationship between the three of us because we really went in. We went all out into bringing out these characters."
Angela Lieveaux about depicting her character of Summer says "daily it was a struggle - I had to centre myself; there were moments that were very quiet on set for me before getting into a scene. There were moments where tears weren't coming, but the feeling was very much there. I was living, eating, breathing Summer".
She says that what viewers, especially women, watching HouseWives might come away with when seeing these women and their stories, is that "our adversities may appear different but we are so similar in nature. We are driven by inner strength and if we listen to that innate, resonating sound of our inner voice, we can go towards anything if we draw from our core strength."
"It's so important that we hear women's stories because we all have a story that should be told and it's powerful."
