9 out of 10 TVs 
by Thinus Ferreira
Like a phoenix, risen from the ashes of the old, the revived Kokkedoor Vuur & Vlam reality show on kykNET and pivoting to a fire-inspired season, is both beautiful television - enjoyable to watch - and an enduring testament to the kind of high-quality TV South Africa can produce.
Kokkedoor, the long-running Afrikaans reality cooking competition show with English subtitles has been revived by kykNET (DStv 144) after four years.
So beautiful it's done that this Homebrew Films show is the perfect 13 weeks to spend Thursday nights at 20:00 in front of the television during the remaining winter nights throughout August.
Filmed on location in the caravan park of the quaint seaside town of Struisbaai - a stone's throw from the southernmost point of Africa - the average DStv subscriber will enjoy the entertainment, drama, stress and mishaps that all sizzle up when 20 South African braai contestants come together in the custom-built studio kitchen.
It's however the meticulous attention to detail in television making that is worth watching as well and which will delight and leave in awe, everyone from film students to anyone interested in the art of crafting quality video content.
With producers Jaco Loubser and Paul Venter, Tania Reed as line producer, the astoundingly creatively gifted Sanet Olivier as director, and with Chris Lotz as a true wizardly cinematographer, the production values of Kokkedoor: Vuur & Vlam flicker as export quality thermic television.
While the majority of viewers will be(come) more invested in which of the braai contestants are doing what and how they're advancing - and who's getting eliminated - part of the unmistakable joy of watching Vuur & Vlam is in giving your attention to the way it's made: it's filmatic quality, it's entire mise-en-scène, and the elaborate behind-the-scenes production work that surely went into getting everything you see on screen, exactly to look like you see it on screen.
Together, food producer Herman Lensing, technical director Willie Naude, art director Bathoni Robinson, content producer Errieda du Toit and content directors Marcel Spaumer and Annemie Lombard appear to be a Marvel's team of TV-making superheroes - utilise everything from shadows to lighthouses, tender cuts to pumpkins and old tin cans to movingly-mined backstories to craft high-quality commercial television that is simultaneously pause-and-stare worthy TV art.
It's probably no coincidence that the judges Bertus Basson and Kobus Botha are framed with the contestants behind a long table pastiche of Leonardo da Vinci's The Last Supper: The producers of Vuur & Vlam are literally giving the audience a visual clue that they're not just in the business of making television - they're also trying to make art that comes to life.
It seems obvious to state that after several seasons of doing Kokkedoor, Homebrew Films got the contestants mix, the pacing, the challenges, the veritable "food porn" on display, the hilarious contestant quips, the breathtaking landscape and slow-motion shots, the grading and colouring, as well as the music spot-on perfect down to a tee.
Yet it remains remarkable and wonderful to watch TV making maestros in motion, doing something right not just because they have to but have mastered the skills to and because they intrinsically love to.
Kokkedoor: Vuur & Vlam is a 13-course TV dinner served hot with delicate attention to absolutely everything. It's sizzling television.
While more South African television (sadly) isn't like this, the technical production values and what Vuur & Vlam shows on-screen is a vivid, vibrant and fiery in-your-face TV token of what's really possible and what can be made in film at the southernmost point of Africa.
