SABC3's Expresso and Afternoon Express produced by Cardova Productions leaving Sea Point studios in Cape Town on Friday after 9 years and moving to Tokai.

SABC3's morning show Expresso and Afternoon Express will leave its studio and office space inside The Equinox Building in Sea Point, Cape Town after 9 years and move to a new studio facility in Tokai from where the shows will broadcast from 24 June.

As TVwithThinus reported yesterday, both shows and the production company are leaving their longtime studio space berth atop the Sea Point high-rise after nearly a decade at the end of this week.

Cardova Productions, sister company of Tswelopele Productions, moved into the 7th floor penthouse space of The Equinox in October 2010 at 154 Main Road in Sea Point on the corner of Main Road and Milton Road where its been doing the weekday Expresso morning show and Afternoon Express from since.

The Hello Doctor/Dr Mol Show/Doctor's Orders show also produced by Cardova for SABC3 was also filmed inside The Equinox until it was axed, as well as programming for shows like Win a Home.

Using the top floor of The Equinox including exterior backdrops for its live broadcast the past 9 years has lend Expresso watchers a fascinating and constantly changing view on the ever-changing seasons and the vagaries of Cape Town's temperamental weather.

SABC3 in response to a media enquiry confirmed the move happening on Friday and says the shows will go live from the new studio on 24 June. 

Cardova Productions and SABC3 were asked why the production company and the shows are moving out of the existing building but didn't respond with an answer.

According to insiders the new studio will be based in the picturesque Westlake in Tokai, close to the Tswelopele Productions head office in the same suburb. 

"This is so that the shows can be loser to that head office," said a source. "Tswelopele and Cardova are sister companies, so it makes sense to house all production for Top Billing, Afternoon Express and Expresso within earshot of each other".

SABC3's morning show Expresso and Afternoon Express both produced by Cardova Productions getting ready to leave its highrise studio nest in The Equinox building after 9 years.

The streets are talking and SABC3's weekday Expresso morning show is apparently getting ready to say adios to its 9-year multi-floor penthouse studio and control room space in The Equinox building in Sea Point in Cape Town for a greener pastures elsewhere in the city.

Word is that the Cardova Productions produced shows Expresso and Afternoon Express will relocate soon to a new building after 9 years of using the 7th floor penthouse of The Equinox Building when Expresso launched in October 2010.

Afternoon Express, also produced by Cardova Productions, followed a while later, also done from the same space inside the building at 154 Main Road in Sea Point on the corner of Main Road and Milton Road.

The Hello Doctor/Dr Mol Show/Doctor Orders show also produced by Cardova for SABC3 was also filmed inside The Equinox until it was axed.

Cardova Productions and SABC3 were asked why the production company and the shows are moving out of the existing building, when the relocation will happen and where the shows will be moving to, but Cardova hasn't yet responded to the media enquiry made last week.

Using the top floor of The Equinox including exterior backdrops for its live broadcast the past 9 years has lend Expresso watchers a fascinating and constantly changing view on the ever-changing seasons and the vagaries of Cape Town's temperamental weather.

Bonnie Mbuli leaves Afternoon Express on SABC3 after 3 years.

Bonnie Mbuli is leaving SABC3's afternoon talk show Afternoon Express after 3 years since it started in 2016.

It leaves Afternoon Express, produced by Tswelopele Productions, with Jeannie  D and Palesa Tembe as presenters. Bonang Matheba was previously part of the show, as well as Danilo Acquisto who quietly existed and left in late-2018.

"I've built lifelong relationships at Afternoon Express and have had the opportunity to hear the stories of both international players and magnificent South Africans who are doing great things," says Bonnie Mbuli.

"Each and everyone of their stories impacted me positively and it has truly been an honour to be a conduit for such powerful and moving conversations".

Bonnie Mbuli has a role in the British drama series, Noughts and Crosses, that has been filming in Cape Town, South Africa.

CUTE ALERT. SABC3’s Afternoon Express ups the adorable quotient with baby animals Donut and Baxter.

The photo is not some shameless ploy to get you to drop what you're doing and to go all "ooh" and "aah" - it's a real puppy, on TV named "Donut", who together with a feisty kitten named "Baxter" are two telegenic creatures who've become part of SABC3's afternoon talk show, Afternoon Express.

Afternoon Express adopted the puppy and the kitten from Sidewalk Specials and in mid-March after viewers suggested named, announced on 15 March that the doggie will be named Donut and the kitten will be called Baxter.

The weekday show now does a pet insert every Wednesday between 16:30 and 17:30 sharing tips on how to prepare for a new pet, how to make your home puppy and kitten-proof, and is starting the "Kitten Kollege" as an interactive online programme to grow with your new pet and prepare them for the world.

Donut and the elusive Baxter are both on social media where Afternoon Express viewers can follow their life journey on Instagram at @the.adventures.of.donut and @the.adventures.of.baxter.

While the adorable Donut, like a true people's person, poses for photos and most likely allows for redo's to get the exact filters just right, it's apparently more of an effort to snap that other little hunter.

Hello puppy lovers, help welcome Donut to Instagram, a rescue pup and the newest member of @afternoonexpress #PedigreeSA . . . . . #becausedog #pedigree #pedigreesa #dogsofinstagram #dogscorner #pet #petstagram #instadog #dogoftheday #instapuppy #dogstagram #puppy

A post shared by The Adventures Of Donut (@the.adventures.of.donut) on Mar 14, 2018 at 3:54am PDT

Exhaustive investigative entertainment reporting that included scanning through Baxter's photos, reveals a more "adventurous" lifestyle - crawling under things, jumping on things, walking over a keyboard and already being an adorable, self-entitled creature fully owning what the interwebs were really always made for: cats photos.

I just signed up for #KittenKollege and I’m already top of my class. #1 #InItToWinIt #TheCatsWhiskas . . . . . #Cat #Instacat #Instacats #Meow #Kitty #Whiskas #WhiskasSA #Catofinstagram #Catoftheday #Kittylove #Instakitty #Catlove

A post shared by The Adventures Of Baxter (@the.adventures.of.baxter) on Apr 3, 2018 at 7:29am PDT

INTERVIEW. SABC3 channel head Aisha Mohamed on the channel's new schedule, The Amazing Race, Real Talk with Anele, Top Billing and Bollywood - and what's happening with the news and Supernatural.

At the beginning of February SABC3 once again changed its schedule, with SABC3 channel head Aisha Mohamed saying the channel's ongoing prime time evolution "is not the beginning nor is it the end. It's definitely the start of much more. It is our journey".

TVwithThinus sat down with Aisha Mohamed, to hear why the new schedule change happened and what it means, why Top Billing moved to Saturdays and why the news and Real Talk with Anele moved to later timeslots.

Aisha explains how SABC3 is trying to catch up with The Amazing Race, those Supernatural episodes that got cut and new seasons coming, what viewers' response are to the Bollywood content and how SABC3's schedule is responding to viewer feedback.




Why did SABC3 decide to change its schedule again from the start of February?
The changes have been coming for a while and we thought it would be really great to start a new year.

The changes are definitely part of our thinking and our strategy and we've spent a lot of time so that the changes we put forward from February are sustainable but also come with longevity. We decided to launch it in February and it can sustain itself to as soon as May when we get new titles in again, and then in the next 3 months again, we get new titles in again. So it made sense for me to start a new year with a new, fresh feeling.

We also had a lot of feedback and time to get feedback from viewers. So we've spent time reading that feedback, researching that feedback, having a look at what people actually want - you know, what are they saying to us.

What is nice about our audience is that they're very vocal. So they will tell you exactly what are the things that they like and that they don't like. And that actually assisted us in this process, with simple things like Real Talk with Anele that we've moved a little bit later. They're very much a part of those decisions, telling us things like "I'm not home when this is on" and SABC3's schedule is very much about those decisions - so we considered all of those things.

The thing is that you're never going to make everybody happy all the time. It's a competitive schedule for us as a channel, so we can compete aggressively but also make our viewers happy in the same vein.

Can you talk a bit about Top Billing and its 25th anniversary and what a show and a brand like that and its longevity means for South Africa and for the SABC and SABC3 and why did you decide to move it to Saturdays at 18:00?
That Top Billing has been on the air for so many years is a testament to the kind of product that it is and the fact that it has such high value. It is regarded in the viewers' mind as something that's really unique.

Top Billing is a very unique property. It encapsulates a little bit of everything. But also we found that in the viewing experience we're moving into a very different age. So as Top Billing is changing and evolving - and you would have seen if you've watched it for the last couple of months - it's definitely moving to a different direction.

It's moving to the direction that SABC3 is moving, but it's also moving in a digital age, it's savvy about how it's responding to it's viewers from a social media perspective, but it's also about ensuring that we give it a home that it can really shine.

And we felt that Thursdays are definitely our home for reality and for drama and that kind of thing. We found from a viewer perspective those people appreciated watching it over the weekend, so it's about giving Top Billing the opportunity tor really shine on a Saturday, and with a repeat on a Sunday. So we're really hoping to see good things in the new timeslot.

The move of the SABC's English TV news bulletin from 18:00 to 21:00, is that to make a less interrupted flow?
That's exactly what it is. So it was about flow and balance, and also allowing our viewers the opportunity to have news and lifestyle strands where they are.

We've got a 2 minute bulletin at 6 o'clock that's you'll still get that's very much the headlines. And then a very detailed bulletin at 9. So it's 2 minutes at 6 and then a very detailed bulletin at 9 encapsulating what's been going on the day.

Also our viewers are very savvy. They're aspirational. They are aware. They are aware of what's happening around them. Often a lot of the news stories, they've seen what's going on around them, they know what's happening. So it's about bringing it all together for a more detailed conversation at 21:00, which I don't think we could have done at 6 o'clock.

And then the rationale for moving the talk shows Afternoon Express and Real Talk with Anele to early prime time, is it to leverage the more viewers that potentially available later?
So definitely, definitely in terms of Real Talk with Anele that has been the feedback from viewers who told us "I have to catch it on YouTube", "I can't believe I missed it again today", "I can't believe I missed so and so" - it's all of that feedback.


So the later timeslot is a testament to the show's success?
Yes. Absolutely. Also, it's a SABC3 production. So we're invested it in. And we want to give it the best possible opportunity to shine. So 6 o'clock makes a lot of sense.

And I hoping that people are comfortably at home then and can enjoy the viewing experience as opposed to being still at work, which is the feedback we got.

Also Afternoon Express has sustained itself over time. It came on as a new show, we weren't sure how it was going to do, and it really has improved our schedule tremendously.

A lot of viewers have been scared about the possibility of Survivor and The Amazing Race disappearing from SABC3's schedule?
We've kept Mondays as adventure, so our reality and adventure on Mondays sustain itself. So Survivor is definitely still on a Monday.

We chose to put The Amazing Race on a Wednesday because we want to bring our seasons forward. So we're looking at what's happening with how many seasons there are and where we are at, and to bring things forward so that we can give viewers the next season sooner rather than later.

So we've got season 25 of The Amazing Race on Wednesdays and then we've got Survivor coming in shortly. And we've got further seasons actually. So there'll be a one and then a break and then another one. But again, just to make sure that we maintain interest and make it relevant, because we find that the gaps otherwise are a bit too far apart.


Will SABC3 ever show the last four episodes of Supernatural's stopped season?
We are still playing the last 4 episodes out. In the schedule change one of the shows that were affected was Supernatural on a Sunday night.

Unfortunately it is a little bit later, so it's not in the same timeslot that it was at, but we are most definitely showing it a bit later, so we are finishing the season. And it's nice that we also have the next seasons of Supernatural coming.

Do you know which ones?
I think its 11 and 12. So they're coming in and will come in on a drama slot on a Wednesday.


What has been the feedback in terms of the Bollywood content and will there be more of that?
So we're very excited about that. The viewer feedback has been well around Bollywood, also the pairing of Mela and Bollywood together was also very much in favour. The movies feedback was really great. So we got a lot of feedback around the types of movies.

We've also got really good titles, and we've got a good combination of for instance Hindi, Tamil and how we can pair them together and can ensure that both communities can enjoy that equally. So it is a bit of a touchy area sometimes. So we are very careful how we schedule them; so that we ensure we have enough titles, pair them nicely.

Also we try to get latest movies, we've just acquired a lot of new ones with some new titles coming on as well. I think we acquired 20 or 25 new ones.

SABC3 and Top Billing's Presenter Search on 3 returning for a 4th TV turn in May, will once again look for new on-air talent to join the channel's shows.

SABC3 and Top Billing's Presenter Search on 3 will return from May for a 4th time, once again looking to add new South African TV talent to joins shows like Top Billing, Expresso or Afternoon Express.

The Presenter Search on 3 will once again be produced by Tswelopele Productions with the search for a new presenter or presenters to join various SABC3 shows that is taking place to co-incide with the 25th anniversary of the venerable weekly gloss entertainment and lifestyle magazine show Top Billing that started on the SABC in 1992.

Previous seasons of the highly popular Presenter Search on 3 have made bona fide TV stars and celebrities of Simba Mhere and Jonathan Boynton-Lee with thousands of hopefuls who queued across the country in 2010 and in 2012 when it known as My Top Billing Dream.

The last season of Presenter Search on 3 was held in 2015 with the winners who were Zoe Brown who joined Expresso, Danilo Acquisto who joined Afternoon Express and Jade Hubner who joined Top Billing.

The show was however also a star vehicle launching pad for Chris Jaftha who made the Top 5 and was picked up soon afterwards by Top Billing as a presenter as well anyway, and who is currently also the co-presenter of Dancing with the Stars South Africa on M-Net (DStv 101).

Likewise Mishka Patel was picked up to join Tswelopele Productions' weekly Afrikaans magazine show Pasella on SABC2.

The presenter of the new Presenter Search on 3 will include among others Jonathan Boynton-Lee, Ayanda Thabethe and the evergreen Jeannie D.

Contestants will once again be put through their paces in grueling real-life TV challenges before and behind-the-scenes with various presenting tasks taking place in-studio and shot outside on-location to not just test the telegenic mettle of those who want to be on TV but also their adaptability and how they respond to unexpected production curveballs.

NO APRIL FOOL'S JOKE. SABC3 in yet another massive schedule shake-up as the channel's line-up is rejigged for the 3rd time in a year from April.

 In a desperate attempt to lift ratings, stem its ongoing viewership slide and slow its cash drains the SABC will announce yet another very dramatic schedule shake-up for its loss-making SABC3 channel that will come into effect from 1 April.

It’s no SABC April Fool's joke: SABC3's latest upcoming schedule shake-up will be the SABC's third for the struggling and loss-making channel in just a year.

SABC3's shake-up follows sister channel SABC2's latest big schedule change that was introduced in February and that angered a large number of viewers – SABC2's sixth big schedule shake-up since mid-2014.

Just as with currency fluctuations in an economy, public and commercial transport commuter timetables, and even a family's nightly dinner time, stability and predictability over time of a broadcaster's TV schedule – or the lack of it – is a strong indicator and signal to the organisational and systemic health or chaos behind the scenes.

Constant and erratic TV schedule changes – the SABC for instance again disrupted all three of its TV channel's schedules in January for Afcon 2017 coverage – confuse viewers who are creatures of habit and who struggle to find their shows and what they want to watch.

With every major TV schedule change of the SABC, some viewers sample competitor channels and programming, find new favourites, form new habits and never return.

SABC3 saw its ratings tank the past nine months following the SABC’s controversial former chief operating officer (COO) Hlaudi Motsoeneng's abrupt decree of 80% local content that was haphazardly introduced on the channel since July 2016. The badly implemented move saw viewers flee, viewership fall and then advertisers leaving.

The SABC introduced big schedule changes for SABC3 in April 2016, followed by yet another dramatic schedule shake-up just three months later in July 2016 – with a new SABC3 logo and-on air look.

That was also when Motsoeneng – now still currently employed by the SABC but ordered to stay at home with no job title – wreaked havoc on the cash-strapped SABC3 by abruptly ordering a decree of 80% local content for the SABC's only commercial TV channel.

Not a single one of the new and mostly badly produced local shows introduced on SABC3 since July 2016, except for a new season of Neill Anthony Private Chef, managed to lure enough viewers to crack SABC3's most watched month-on-month ratings list.

With disastrous AR's (audience ratings) in prime time for the batch of new content, the SABC still had to splash the cash to produce the ratings-failed content that viewers flipped the switch on.

The new SABC3 schedule shake-up is the first under SABC TV boss, Nomsa Philiso. 

She was appointed as the SABC's new head of television in August 2016 to replace the veteran Verona Duwarkah who was abruptly fired for refusing Hlaudi Motsoeneng's allegedly irregular content orders and dubious production contracts and reportedly accused him of of harassment and gross mismanagement.

There's growing buzz that the SABC could perhaps be shuttering the beleaguered SABC3 before the end of the year, while insiders are wondering how the SABC wants to programme and run its promised five additional new TV channels for digital terrestrial television (DTT) if it is struggling to keep the three existing channels on the air and just three schedule line-ups filled that's already stuffed with repeats.

Zandile Nkonyeni, SABC TV publicist, was asked about talk that SABC3 might be shutting down, what the situation is around SABC3's future, and what assurance there is from the SABC to viewers about the channel, but she didn't respond. 

Major programming moves

Now the SABC is again tinkering with SABC3's schedule in another big shake-up.

According to insiders, SABC3 will announce that it is switching a large number of its shows' timeslots with viewers who will once again have to adjust their viewing patterns.

SABC3 will introduce yet another new swathe of local content – some with dubious public broadcasting value – as it also gets ready to dump late night and overnight repeats to cut back on rebroadcast fees, cancels long-running programming like Interface and even moves its news bulletin, The Bold and the Beautiful, Top Billing, Special Assignment and other shows yet again to new times and days.

Zandile Nkonyeni was asked why SABC3 is doing yet another big schedule change again and what prompted the latest shake-up. She failed to comment.

SABC3's latest schedule do-over stretches from the very early morning to late night.

SABC3 will cut its breakfast show Expresso back by half an hour, with the morning show that will move from 06:00 to a new starting time of 6:30 in mid-April. SABC3 is also slowly moving the beloved American soap Days of Our Lives back from its midnight banishment to an earlier timeslot.

Here’s what’s happening on SABC3 from April

Major coming SABC3 changes from April include:

 ■ Expresso is being reduced again, back to two and a half hours, after its timeslot was increased in July 2016 to three hours. From Monday 17 April Expresso is set to start half an hour later at 6:30 to make space for a half hour of kids programming at 6:00 on weekdays.

■ The existing line-up of SABC3's 09:00 hour of repeats is dumped for repeats on weekdays of Real Talk with Anele from Monday 3 April.

■ After taking away the Venda-language soap Muvhango repeat on SABC3 in July 2016, it is suddenly back – at 11:30 on weekdays.

■ The weekday chatter, Afternoon Express that was moved from 16:00 to 17:00 in July 2016 as part of a failed experiment, will move back to 16:00 from Monday 3 April.

■ Real Talk with Anele gets upgraded and moves from 16:00 to 17:00. Basically Afternoon Express and Real Talk with Anele are switching timeslots, with SABC3 now believing that Real Talk – that constantly attracts more buzz – has more potential to lure a bigger actual audience.

■ The SABC is once again moving the public broadcaster's flagship daily TV news bulletin on SABC3 that's been hammered in the ratings and that shed tens of thousands of viewers over the past few months.

The news at 18:30 on SABC3 is once again becoming News @ 6 from April – a simulcast of the news done on DStv's SABC News (DStv 404) channel with anchors Peter Ndoro and Francis Herd.

■ That knock-on effect means that the American soap The Bold and the Beautiful is also once again shifting timeslots – from 18:00 to 18:30 on weekdays on SABC3 from Monday 3 April.

■ The hugely popular The Bold and the Beautiful, perennially the most watched show on SABC3, will now serve as the lead-in for the struggling local soap Isidingo that stays put at 19:00. SABC3 hopes that Bold’s buoyant viewership will filter through to the Endemol Shine Africa produced Isidingo.

■ The local talker Trending South Africa that started in daytime on SABC3, switched to night time and then got a 12:00 weekday repeat, is getting cut down from five days to four episodes per week, losing the Friday episode.

Trending SA will also no longer get any daytime repeat on SABC3 from April but will see its broadcast timeslot move half an hour earlier from 22:00 to 21:30.

■ From Thursday 6 April Top Billing sees yet another timeslot change in the glam magazine show long broadcast history – moving from 20:00 to 20:30.

■ SABC3's investigative magazine show Special Assignment is once again moving in April – this time from Wednesdays at 21:30 to Mondays at 21:00.

■ SABC3's long running Sunday night current affairs interview show Interface at 21:30 is apparently abruptly getting axed. Interface's last episode will be on Sunday 2 April, thereafter replaced by a celebrity-driven type profile show entitled Celebuville in the same timeslot from Sunday 8 April.

  

Flurry of unknown new local content

Instead of phasing individual new shows in over time to help them gain viewer recognition and support, SABC3 is unleasing a next new wave of unknown local content from April as part of the latest schedule shake-up.

This programming will all compete at the same time for viewers' attention, battling each other to stand out in a crowded nightly 19:30 to 21:30 timeslot.

The previously announced channel switch from SABC1 to SABC3 of Clover's latest season of the advertiser-funded production (AFP), Tropika Island of Treasure Seychelles will start on SABC3 on Monday 27 March at 19:30.

While TVwithThinus saw it already and this show's production values look much improved, the same can't be said for new and unknown SABC3 shows like the female presented car maintenance and driving test show Driving in Heels starting Tuesday 4 April at 21:00, Hostess with Lorna Maseko starting Tuesday 4 April at 20:30, and the food competition reality show Dinner Date set to start on Wednesday 5 April at 19:30.

After several pushbacks the delayed Uyanda It’s On that was originally scheduled for 2016 is finally set to start on SABC3 on Wednesday 5 April at 21:00. 

The reality show follows the former SABC1 publicist and socialite Uyanda Mbuli and her various worldwide luxury indulgences captured on video for public broadcasting consuption.

Friday 7 April will finally see the start of the new SABC3 half hour sitcom Soap on a Rope at 19:30 that was also originally supposed to start in August 2016 on the channel. The comedy stars Luthuli Dlamini, Melanie du Bois, Alfred Ntombela and Sonia Sedibe and is set on a fictitious TV show's set.

Publicist Zandile Nkonyeni was asked why SABC3 is introducing another batch of new local programming in a burst and what the programming strategy is behind the move but she failed to respond.

Late night changes

Days of Our Lives on SABC3 is moving from midnight to an earlier timeslot of 22:30 from 3 April.

The late night Isidingo and The Bold and the Beautiful repeats are both dumped in favour of the German TV news service Deutsche Welle that will now start at 23:30 and run until 02:00 in the morning.

From 02:00 the SABC’s feed of the SABC News channel on DStv will be simulcast overnight with the repeat of American TV series that used to be at 03:30 that's all getting axed in the latest shake-up.

SABC1 adds Rise from 12 May marking Kgomotso Matsunyane's return to talk TV exploding with rival shows all targeting a female audience.

Kgomotso Matsunyane is returning to television talk with a new local, weekly TV talk show entitled Rise which will start on SABC1 on Tuesday 12 May at 18:00 and which will join an intensely crowded line-up of talk shows all trying to lure the same viewers.

Rise, originally titled Rise Up and produced by One Man And His Dog Films, takes the original format of Barbara Walters' American talk show The View with Kgomotso Matsunyane who, like Barbara Walters, is not only the executive producer of the talk show but also one of the panelists comprising women of different age brackets talking about various issues affecting women.

Kgomotso Matsunyane is joined on the couch by Lebo Ramafoko and Khanyisile Mazibuko (19) and Nyiko Shikwambane (23).

It marks Kgomotso Matsunyane's return to TV talk who previously tried her hand at late night talk with Late Night with Kgomotso on SABC2 as well as Pillow Talk on SABC3. She was a commissioning editor at SABC1 before embarking on her TV talk show tries.

Kgomotso Matsunyane was a surprise guest during the final live episode of Three Talk with Noeleen on SABC3 two weeks ago, telling Noeleen Maholwana-Sangqu during her TV farewell that "you know how difficult and fickle this industry can be".

Rise will take place in conjunction with the roll-out of The Rise Young Women's Clubs across South Africa to try and help specifically young women with relevant information about health and lifestyle issues.

Rise will discuss topics like unplanned pregnancy, abuse, alcohol abuse and its consequences, sex and body image.

Rise forms part of  a rapid television talk show change on South African television with the addition of several new shows just the past two months to the already over-subscribed talk show genre, making it difficult for viewers to keep up and to stay loyal to any given programme.

SABC1 just added the American TV talk show The Talk on weekdays at 16:30 which will now compete with sister-channel SABC3's Afternoon Express at 16:00 which starts today.

Afternoon Express will be broadcast on weekdays with Bonang Matheba, Jeannie D, Bonnie Mbuli and one of the final three winners of SABC3's Presenter Search on 3 reality competition show.

The American talk show The Meredith Vieira Show started in March at 14:00 on SABC3, and e.tv took over The Steve Harvey Show on weekdays at 16:30 since the beginning of March which used to be on SABC1.

The recent addition of the new BET (DStv 129) channel with a better aligned schedule for South Africa viewers, means that The Wendy Williams Show, now at 16:35, is directly competing with The Talk, The Steve Harvey Show, Ellen on M-Net (DStv 101), and SABC3's Afternoon Express - in addition to the same-day-as-in-the-USA episode of Wendy being shown on BET International (StarSat 167) on StarSat at 19:00 in primetime.

The Real, yet another panel talk show with various women - Tamar Braxton, Loni Love, Adrienne Bailon, Jeannie Mai and Tamera Mowry-Housley - started at the beginning of April on weekdays on BET (DStv 129) at 17:25.

SABC3 plans to add The Real to its own schedule as well from later in the year.

Bonang Matheba, Jeannie D and Bonnie Mbuli to try and boost SABC3 afternoon ratings with new local weekday TV talker, Afternoon Express.

SABC3 is replacing Three Talk with Noeleen from Monday, 4 May at 16:00 with a new female-centric local talk show in the vein of The Talk and The View, with presenters Bonang Matheba and Jeannie D turning talk show hosts, hoping to bolster the channel's sagging afternoon ratings.

Afternoon Express will take over the 16:00 timeslot on SABC3 from Monday on weekdays, with Bonang Matheba - known as "Queen B" - and Jeannie D, both known as Top Billing presenters, as well as Bonnie Mbuli from e.tv's Traffic who will present the show as a live broadcast.

A 4th woman will join the existing three as a newbie on Afternoon Express within a month when the top 3 winners are announced from the Presenter Search on 3 reality show on SABC3, with the two others going to Top Billing and Expresso respectively.

Afternoon Express, produced by Tswelopele Productions which is also responsible for Top Billing, Presenter Search on 3 and other TV shows, will try to lift SABC3's viewership in the dull afternoon daypart similar to the ratings rejuvenation the morning breakfast show Expresso, also produced by the same company, brought to SABC3's early morning timeslot where viewership lagged.

With the added heavy lifting of the new weekday interactive afternoon talk show done from Cape Town, Bonang Matheba and Jeannie D will be featuring somewhat less on Top Billing in the future.

Afternoon Express, which will have a big social media interactive component in a sense similar to SABC2's afternoon youth block Hectic Nine-9, will cover female interests ranging from cooking and fashion to finance tips and inspirational stories and interviews. The show will also feature live musical performances similar to Expresso in the mornings.

"Afternoon Express is a first for South Africa and for SABC3," says Aisha Mohamed, SABC3 channel head. "To combine fun interaction, practical advice as well as engaging conversation into one show is definitely taking the quality of programming to the next level and we are proud to have this kind of uplifting and empowering content for women as part of our offering".

"The show will give women an opportunity to interact and engage daily," says Bradley van den Berg, Afternoon Express' executive producer, saying the talk show will inspire viewers "to take the courage to try something new and become their best selves".

"I am really excited to be stepping into a new terrain with SABC3 and the opportunity to co-host with Jeannie D and Bonnie," says Bonang Matheba.

"I'm very excited to be part of this experience and to be doing a new show with my Top Billing family," says Jeannie D. "This is a winning formula that keeps growing and growing."

"I'm so thrilled to be one of the hosts; it is a great concept and there is so much to look forward to," says Bonnie Mbuli. "I don't think there has ever been a more exciting time for television in South Africa - I can't wait".

"We hope that making a date with Afternoon Express will be making an appointment to have fun," says Patience Stevens, the managing director of Tswelopele Productions.

"We have three of the country's most talented presenters, we are very excited to have this opportunity and we are looking forward to this challenge".