Ellen to end: Ellen DeGeneres to end her American daytime TV talk show with season 19 in 2022, 'ratings have tanked and she knows her time is up'.

by Thinus Ferreira

With plunging ratings of over 40% this year following revelations of bullying and a toxic workplace Ellen DeGeneres has announced that she is ending her American daytime talk show with season 19 of The Ellen Show in 2022 that will be the last.

Staffers at The Ellen Show were told on Tuesday and will discuss her decision in the episode that will be broadcast in America on Thursday with Oprah Winfrey as her sit-down guest.

According to sources who spoke to The Daily Mail who broke the news before Ellen was ready to announce it, "she has had enough and told her team that she's done". "The ratings have tanked and have been truly appalling this year and Ellen knows her time is up".

Ellen has lost millions of viewers in the United States in the latest 18th season that M-Net broadcast on VUZU (DStv 116) after shocking revelations surfaced of how staffers have been treated behind-the-scenes at the Warner Bros.'s Telepictures produced show.

Several top executives were fired after an internal investigation into the toxic workplace at Ellen.

The revelations severely damaged the reputation of Ellen DeGeneres known for her "be kind to another" public image, who opened her 18th season with an apology when she told viewers that "I learned that things happen here that never should have happened. I take that very seriously. And I want to say I am so sorry to the people."

On the episode of Ellen that was broadcast on Wednesday in America, Ellen said "Today I am announcing that next season, season 19, is going to be my last season."

Her audience laughed.

"So, the past 18 years, you have to know, has changed my life. You all have changed my life. And I'm forever grateful to all of you for watching, for laughing, for dancing, sometimes crying. This show has been the greatest experience of my life, and I owe it all to you."

"I want you to know that I've thought a lot about this decision. I sat with it for a while. I meditated on it. I talked to Portia. I talked to myself." 

Mike Darnell, Warner Bros. unscripted television president, in a statement says "Although all good things must come to an end, you still have hope that the truly great things never will".

"The Ellen Show started as the little programme that could and became an absolute phenomenon. Over the years, it established itself as the premier destination for both superstars and incredible heartfelt human interest stories."

"The show and Ellen brought comedy, joy, happiness, comfort (and dancing!) to countless millions every day for 18 years. It was and is an indelible piece of the television landscape, and it will be sorely missed."

Gone but not forgotten: Here’s why and how Ellen, TelkomONE, The Braai Show, Fight Sports and PBO TV all went MIA.

by Thinus Ferreira

The Ellen DeGeneres Show has quietly disappeared from MultiChoice's DStv, the SABC abruptly postponed The Braai Show with AKA, the TelkomONE streaming service failed to start on its promised launch date, e.tv has dropped the Fight Sports channel, and the PBO TV channel is missing from StarSat. Here's what happened to them all: 

Here's what happened to Ellen on DStv:

Last week The Ellen DeGeneres Show abruptly disappeared from DStv without any warning or explanation. 

The 17th season of Ellen ended on Thursday 29 October on VUZU (DStv 116) but the 18th season of Ellen that had already started in America didn't continue seamlessly.

Instead, M-Net (DStv 101) that is broadcasting the new second season of The Kelly Clarkson Show, is now rebroadcasting old episodes of the first season of The Kelly Clarkson Show on VUZU in the timeslot where Ellen used to be.

In the United States, Ellen has been engulfed in a behind-the-scenes production scandal that has seen ratings for the new 18th season plunge to series lows, not just in America, but in various countries, with viewers as far away as Australia saying they've been turned off from Ellen and her talk show.

Ellen and her talk show suffered brand and reputation damage since current and former staffers at the Warner Bros. show came forward with their stories of racism, sexual harassment, mistreatment, and the terrible working conditions behind-the-scenes, and how Ellen DeGeneres is not as "nice" as she claimed to be on TV.

The executive producers were fired. When the 18th season of Ellen started in America, the talk show host apologised on-air and said that she has "learned that things happened here that should never have happened. I take that very seriously and I wanna say I'm so sorry to the people affected."

"I know that I'm in a position of privilege and power and I realise that with that comes responsibility and I take responsibility for what happens at my show."

TVwithThinus asked M-Net what has happened to Ellen on the schedule. 

Nomntu Mngengi, M-Net spokesperson, in response to the media enquiry says that "the license for The Ellen Show is currently being re-negotiated with the studio. The Kelly Clarkson Show season 1 will therefore be scheduled on Vuzu until then".

Here's what happened to The Braai Show on SABC1:

On 26 October SABC1 announced that a new 13-episode series, The Braai Show with AKA would start on Thursday 5 November at 19:30 on the channel.

The Braai Show with Kiernan Forbes, known as AKA, would have seen the controversial rapper braai and get a "glance into the lives of Mzansi's most-intriguing and controversial South African personalities".

Yesterday SABC1 abruptly did a schedule change, quietly removing The Braai Show from its schedule without any explanation a day before it was supposed to start.

TVwithThinus asked executive produced David Phume of Cake Media what happened. 

David Phume says "Television stations change schedules for a variety of reasons. At this stage we do not know why SABC1 has made changes to their schedule. As such we eagerly wait to hear from SABC1 about a new time slot for the show."

Phillip Mabitsela, SABC1 publicist was asked why The Braai Show would no longer start on Thursday but in response gave no reason and said a new date will be communicated. On Thursday morning the SABC announced that The Braai Show has been moved to 12 November at 19:30.

Here's what happened to the launch of Telkom's TelkomONE streaming service: 

Wanda Mkhize, Telkom's executive for smart home and content, said that Telkom would launch its new TelkomONE video-on-demand (VOD) streaming service in South Africa on Thursday 5 November 2020.

Thursday arrived and TelkomONE failed to materialise.

On Wednesday night at 22:00, DNA Brand Architects abruptly cancelled a TelkomONE media launch event with the press that was set for Thursday without any explanation.

The SABC that plans to have the public broadcaster's linear TV channels added and be available on TelkomONE, also abruptly cancelled pre-arranged interviews with executives that were set up for Thursday, also without any explanation.

So far there's been no official communication or any explanation as to why TelkomONE failed to launch and what issues caused it.

Hi Fans, today we’re bidding farewell to Fight Sports.

Stay tuned as exciting news is coming your way! pic.twitter.com/ox8wxXpJ3M

— Openview (@openviewforever) October 29, 2020

Here's what happened to the Fight Sports channel on Openview:

e.tv quietly removed The Fight Sports channel after just a year on its free-to-air Openview satellite service last Thursday without any announcement to the media.

On 29 October Openview on its Twitter feed suddenly just said "All good things come to an end. Fight Sports". e.tv added the Fight Sports channel to Openview in November 2019.

Here's what happened to Premium BoxOffice Television on StarSat:

On 30 September China's StarTimes pay-TV service, run under the StarSat brand banner in South Africa, announced that it was adding the Premium BoxOffice Television (PBO TV) channel to StarTimes across sub-Saharan Africa, and to StarSat in South Africa from October.

The problem is that the channel from the Nigerian production company Big Idea Mediaworks that was supposed to go live on StarSat channel 184 as a Nollywood TV channel, broadcasting series, films, sitcoms, music and late-night comedy never materialised as promised.

After adding PBO TV to its website as a channel listing and an announcement, StarSat has now removed all traces of it after subscribers kept asking why it was announced and failed to start.

Luyanda Cele, StarSat publicist, told TVwithThinus in response to a media enquiry that PBO TV "is pending approval from the Independent Communications Authority of South Africa (ICASA) but it has been launched in other countries for StarTimes. Once we have a confirmed date for South Africa we shall communicate and share".

TV NEWS ROUND-UP. Today's interesting TV stories to read - 29 October 2020.

Here's the latest news about TV that I read and that you should read too:

■ Some of the responses to the scandal swirling around the cheater SABC3 Expresso presenter Katlego Maboe and Outsurance frontman shows that attitudes over abuse in South Africa need to change. (subscription required)

■ No sign yet of the GoBinge sit-down interview that the YouTube channel teased days ago with Monique Muller claiming that she endured physical abuse from Katlego Maboe.

■ SABC3's Trending SA show finally addresses the issue after days; Frames it as Katlego Maboe's "private life" although it is his private life, hotel sex cheating with another woman and allegations of a STD, that were made part of public life on social media.

- Katlego Maboe fans who are fine with the swirling abuse and cheating claims around the presenter, attack SABC3's Expresso on Facebook.

- Katlego Maboe becomes a meme using his infamous gown-wearing admission that he's a cheater.

■ Sylvia Tladi, SABC TV Licence fees boss, admits that under new plan where people will be forced to pay a licence fee even if they only watch Netflix SA or MultiChoice DStv consumers won't be getting value for money.

■ Zoom: A naked man shows up on Canada's morning TV.

- And another full frontal "wardrobe malfunction" with Joel Dommett on ITV in Britain.

■ The dark, distorted world of Nicole Kidman's new TV murder mystery The Undoing that will be on M-Net (DStv 101).

■ Ellen DeGeneres, seen on VUZU (DStv 116) but getting axed there soon, lost more followers in 2020 than any other celebrity because of her talk show scandal.

- Wendy Williams unmasked as Lips in The Masked Singer.

■ The overstaffed and overburdened SABC with a monstrous wage bill and dreary programming is a broadcaster that is very hard to like.

■ eMedia Investments refuses to talk about it but e.tv has upgraded its Openview decoders that have a WiFi hotspot option and functionality now - very likely in anticipation of the launch of its Openview Plus streaming service.

■ America's TV news and its plans for 2020 election night coverage.

■ The blessing of the Chinese censors? China's state-run CCTV shows a portrait of the Prophet Muhammad in a TV series.

TV NEWS ROUND-UP. Today's interesting TV stories to read - 12 October 2020.

Here's the latest news about TV that I read and that you should read too:  

■ "Too complex to break up" is the new excuse-slogan for "too big to fail".

The so-called "blue wave" is coming if America's Democratic Party wins the upcoming American election with the country's new wave of politicians who plan to break up the market dominance of Apple, Facebook, Google and Amazon.

■ How Fox News (StarSat 261) creates its news narratives to play out like daily, serialised dramas.

Tells stories in a surprisingly similar way to a show like Lost or Stranger Things on Netflix; draws viewers deeper into a created reality that it spins for the watcher.

■ More penises are appearing on TV and in film and full frontal male nudity increases - but why are nearly all of them prosthetic?

In the obsession with size, big penis mystique must preserve the power of the phallus through prosthetic.

■ How The Crown on Netflix recreated Princess Diana's iconic wedding dress.

■ Massive ongoing court battle between the disgraced and famously matricless former SABC COO Hlaudi Motsoeneng and the South Africa's Special Investigating Unit (SIU).

■ The second season of The Boys ends with a shocking masturbation scene that was originally cut from the first season.

■ MultiChoice Studios now wants to sell its South African and African content to broadcasters across the Middle East.

■ Channing Dungey dumps Netflix after less than 2 years in shocking departure, is she heading to Warner Bros TV?

■ Because of NBCUniversal downsizing and cost-cutting rivals E! and Access Hollywood are now forced to share studio space.

Awkwardness as both E! and Access Hollywood look down on each other. The E! people think they're the "cool hip crowd" and Access is outdated and old, while Access thinks they're on broadcast television and E! is small and irrelevant. 

■ Viewership for embattled Ellen DeGeneres Show keeps falling after scandal. 

■ Nominations have opened for a vacancy on the SABC board and the application process closes on 15 October 2020.

■ TV's wave of "un-renewals": Scripted shows getting cancelled because of Covid after they become too expensive and difficult to produce because of the global pandemic.

■ CBS updates its iconic eye logo as CBS Television Studios rebrands to CBS Studios to identify CBS programming in end-title card.

■ YouTube more representative of Britain than television.

TV NEWS ROUND-UP. Today's interesting TV stories to read - 5 October 2020.

Here's the latest news about TV that I read and that you should read too:  

■ Old TV set kept wiping out broadband for an entire Welsh village daily, at the same time and nobody knew that it was the reason.

■ Hollywood's new supervillain at the movies: Empty seats in cinemas.
Big-budget films now kept away from movie theatres because studios don't think they will make their money back if people don't attend.

■ Netflix's Ryan Murphy problem: Why has all of his TV series for Netflix been so bad from Ratched and The Politician to Hollywood?

■ "Ratings whore" Jeff Zucker helped to create the Donald Trump show. That show might now be ending.

A Frakenstein tale for the late TV age.

■ Has Donald Trump's Walter Reed hospital video been edited to get rid of coughing?

■ Ratings for America's 72nd Annual Primetime Emmy Awards fall again to a new record-low as video streaming becomes the new normal and takes over from broadcasting.

■ How Netflix is selling itself to the world.

Beyond series and films, Netflix is now spending millions to market itself.

■ For America's big TV channels November has become the new September.

Because of Covid-19 the usual new 2020 fall season that is supposed to start in September is being pushed to November which is when the new season of "real" shows like This is Us and Grey's Anatomy seen on M-Net (DStv 101) will hopefully start.

■ Staffers at Ellen DeGeneres' Ellen Show says her season 18 premiere apology turned their trauma into a joke.

Ellen's on-air monologue slammed as disingenuous and tone-deaf.

■ More TV documentaries are being made than ever before.

But they're skipping the actual journalism because of constant conflicts of interest.

■ South Africa's boxing community in conflict over planned public protest and march set for 4 November at the SABC.

■ Why Enola Holmes on Netflix is a disappointing Sherlock Holmes movie.

■ Prince Harry and Meghan Markle alarmed at Netfli'sdemands - "They have to pay a price".

■ How Grey's Anatomy seen on M-Net (DStv 101) will tackle Covid-19 in the upcoming new season 17.

"We've actually reinvented the wheel."

■ What the TV viewership shift towards streaming means for advertising and advertisers.

■ South Africa's financially struggling SABC that already has corporate marketing and communication staff, as well as several other publicists, has appointed an external PR company to do its work.

■ With its explosion of unscripted content Netflix is putting its rivals on notice about reality TV.

■ Discovery Inc. is quietly ruling the reality TV world with guilty-pleasure programming.

Netflix and HBO will have to find their own 90 Day Fiance.

TV NEWS ROUND-UP. Today's interesting TV stories to read - 18 September 2020.

Here's the latest news about TV that I read and that you should read too:  

■ Do you speak Fox News (StarSat 261)?
How Donald Trump's favourite TV channel became a language.

■ Pedro Pascal allegedly went cray-cray during filming of season 2 of Disney+'s Star Wars The Mandalorian and suddenly demanded to film scenes without his helmet on so that he can be seen.

- Has "difficult" Pedro Pascal quit Star Wars The Mandalorian?

- "Big change" coming halfway through season 2 as season "shifts away from Mando".

■ Netflix's Cheer star Jerry Harris arrested by FBI, charged with producing child porn.

■ Reality TV space series wants to send contestants to space in 2023.

■ The darkness of American daytime TV: It's awful at Ellen and other Telepictures produced shows:

Staffers who worked for Ellen DeGeneres detail how they had to sign contracts from which they couldn't quit, had to work until 11pm and weekends, were "blacklisted and fired" if they complained, extra freebies for top execs.

■ Damaged WarnerMedia is still playing catch-up with the Ellen scandal as Warner Bros executives on Thursday continued to be "concerned and disappointed" by ongoing reports of abusive workplace behaviour.

■ Poverty in South Africa - and the fear of jailing TV owners - is why the SABC struggles to collect SABC TV licence fees.

■ Celebreality was already on the decline. The cancellation of Keeping Up with the Kardashians on E! (DStv 124) just put it out if its misery.

- Nene Leakes is done with The Real Housewives of Atlanta. Again.

■ Is Netflix losing subscribers over the shocking Cuties scandal?

■ More and more Disney content is disappearing from MultiChoice's Showmax streaming service. Is it because Disney plans to eventually launch Disney+ in South Africa?

■ Research: Producers of high-end TV series face delays of up to 12 months because of the Covid-19 coronavirus pandemic.

Reality TV used as filler on TV channel's schedules.

■ Netflix CEO Reed Hastings rejects demands for streaming content quotas in Australia.

- Netflix hikes subscription fees in Australia.

■ Trash-TV returns: Nigeria's shocking sham, TStv is once again attempting to launch as a pay-TV service despite countless lies and content theft in the past, setting 1 October 2020 as its latest launch date.

■ Prince William is livid over Prince Harry and Meghan Markle's Netflix deal.

■ MultiChoice's temperamental and constantly broken DStv Now streaming service has some unexplained "temporary service outage" problem again.

■ Netflix can show gay content in Saudi Arabia. Just not anything that criticises Mohammad Bin Salman.

■ Fox News (StarSat 261) fires staff in restructuring, but not because of Covid-19.

No more hair and make-up for guests.

■ Bloomberg plans a video streaming relaunch.

Says Bloomberg TV (DStv 411 / StarSat 264) still has value but that business viewers have moved away from linear pay-TV.

■ Netflix tells Britain's parliament it doesn't want to destroy the BBC.

■ Everyone thought appointment television was dead but in 2020 with a global pandemic it's thriving as a weekly collective viewing of a show helps bring structure to people's lives.

■ The Game of Thrones sex scene that was ruined by a "visible excited" horse.

■ Samsung South Africa keeps churning out press releases about TV but PRs can't bother to actually send it out to media.

■ Uganda loses 110 000 pay-TV subscribers because of Covid-19.

TV NEWS ROUND-UP. Today's interesting TV stories to read - 16 September 2020.

Here's the latest news about TV that I read and that you should read too:  

■ The Crown on Netflix will show Princess Diana's heartbreaking battle with bulimia.
Could set up a clash between Netflix and Prince Harry and Meghan Markle and their multi-million contract with the video streamer.

■ Donald Trump announces that he's getting weekly showtime on Fox News (StarSat 261) as bewildered Fox News hosts say it's fake news.

■ American anchor Jim Cramer on CNBC (DStv 410) calls Nancy Pelosi "Crazy Nancy" on TV ... in her face.
- Meanwhile CNN (DStv 401) is getting sued.


■ Nigerian filmmakers are risking jail with their lesbian film Ike.
Nigeria's Film and Video Censors Board (NFVCB) is monitoring and trying to prevent producer Pamela Adie and director Uyaiedu Ikpe-Etim from screening and releasing their Yoruba-language film in the West African country.


■ South Park tackling the Covid-19 virus with its first hourlong episode.

■ I'm not interested. Bye," is all he has to say about it: Idols judge Somizi Mhlongo accused of stealing the Dinner with Somizi show idea on 1Magic (DStv 103) from Hastings Moeng (subscription required).
Producer says he send concept to Somizi in July 2014, and met with him and Dinner with Somizi executive producer Legend Manqele in 2016 to discuss putting the show together. Somizi's comment on the report is "I'm not interested. Bye."

■ Netflix's Ratched is wretched viewing; drama has no story to tell with incoherent characterisation and limited vision.

■ WWE trying to see if it can host WWE Raw and WWE SmackDown seen on SuperSport at outdoor venues in order to get people back to attend wrestling matches again.

■ Zambia praises China's StarTimes for funding its public broadcasting switch from analogue to digital terrestrial television broadcasting.

■ The shocking departure of Anna Faris from Mom seen on M-Net (DStv 101) is a nightmare for the comedy series.

■ John Cena shows off his shocking physical change before his TV return as the new host of Wipeout.

■ Ellen DeGeneres: From sweetheart to degenerate - a timeline.
- Is this the perfect time for Drew Barrymore to launch her own TV talk show?

■ 250 000 people less are paying their BBC TV licence fee in the United Kingdom as younger viewers flee to streaming services.

■ Jerry Harris from Netflix's Cheer under FBI investigation for soliciting sex from boys.

■ How reality TV shows find and cast the "right" people - a director explains.

TV NEWS ROUND-UP. Today's interesting TV stories to read - 10 September 2020.

Here's the latest news about TV that I read and that you should read too:  

■ E! cancelled Keeping Up with the Kardashians after family's pay increase demands although ratings kept going down.
Wanted at least $40 million per season but E! couldn't keep paying the Kardashians the same or even more money for half as many viewers.
- Keeping Up with the Kardashians on E! (DStv 124) couldn't keep up with itself - why the reality show got cancelled.
- Kardashians: The reality TV family who reinvented fame.
- How Keeping Up with the Kardashians changed everything from beauty to celebrity.


■ Ellen DeGeneres was a terrible person in her mansion to household staff: Allegedly took pleasure in firing staffers, ran it military-style boot camp, tormented workers over misplaced salt shakers, would leave passive aggressive notes about what's wrong, would lay traps, says ex-staffer.


■ South African National Editors' Forum (SANEF) calls for investigation after EFF political party harassed reporter Nobesuthu Hejana TWICE.

■ Netflix subscribers upset over its 4K streaming quality.

■ Netflix CEO Reed Hastings: "Netflix isn't a media company or a technology company. It is an ..."
- Says Netflix bundling isn't an option (subscription required).
- Why Netflix will never have commercials.

■ Pearlena Igbokwe the new boss of NBCUniversal's global TV studio operations.

■ Netflix shocker: Bela Bajaria taking over to lead it's global TV operations with Cindy Holland exiting.

■ How MultiChoice's Showmax decides if and when a series will be acquired and placed on the video streaming platform.

■ Fox News style TV channel planned for the United Kingdom will only broadcasting during prime time, will have a comedy show.

■ Bollywood actor Sushant Singh Rajput's death grips Indian with frenzied TV coverage.
- India's TV news serves up celebrity death coverage to distract from the country's Covid-19 disaster.

■ Disney will move allof the content of its linear Disney channels to its Disney+ video streaming service in the United Kingdom when it ends its linear channels there.

■ Will The Walking Dead seen on FOX (DStv 125 / StarSat 131) end like the comics did?

■ The hunt for new TV in 2020 brings a last gasp of new shows - and perhaps a shift in old habits.

■ Ukonwa Ojo the new chief marketing officer for Amazon Prime Video and Amazon Studios.

■ Streaming television can eventually replace pay-TV.

■ Black Mirror predicted what reality TV audiences would look like during the Covid-19 pandemic.

■ After 18 years off-air, the godfather of reality TV has revived his passion project.

TV NEWS ROUND-UP. Today's interesting TV stories to read - 9 September 2020.

Here's the latest news about TV that I read and that you should read too:  

■ "Is this the best you can do for R900?"
DStv Premium subscribers continue to complain about the lack of value and quality content as BBC Studios' BBC First channel is also ripped away and subscribers say they have had enough of "junk viewing".

■ Another reader angry about the axing of ITV Choice and now BBC First, says DStv hasn't bothered to reply while having to pay R1000 monthly to watch repeats.
"What led MultiChoice to the belief thatno-one watched BBC First on channel 119?" asks the reader that wants to move from DStv to Netflix.


■ The disturbing photos from Ghana's trash-bad imitation TV version of M-Net and MultiChoice's Big Brother Naija.
Horrific production values as the so-called Biggy 237 trash show is marred by technical problems; contestant housemates sleeping in dirty, unkept room on student matrasses on the floor; organisers lied about the show being part of MultiChoice Ghana.


■ New BBC director-general Tim Davie against a switch to subscription.

■ New BBC boss Tim Davie to crack down on BBC staff posting their personal views on social media.
- Won't hesitate to shut down BBC TV channels if they no longer offer enough value.
- Says BBC has reached end of linear TV expansion.
- "There is still too much bureaucracy."

■ Star Wars actor John Boyega slams Disney and says he was pushed to the side.

■ How Netflix reinvented entertainment as well as corporate culture.

■ Covid-19 has wiped out 2020's new TV schedule in the United States.

■ Hollywood is filled with fear and loathing over the new stranglehold over cinema of video streaming services like Netflix and Amazon Prime Video.

■ Andrew Lloyd Webber warns that the arts is "at the point of no return".

■ Away on Netflix is another mission-to-Mars TV drama that doesn't achieve liftoff.

■ Reporters from the Australian Broadcasting Corporation and Australian Financial Review flee China after media crackdown.


■ "Shame on you Unilever! Shame on you TRESemmé!"
eNCA (DStv 403) continues its slide into activism and blended in-news commentary, blurring the line between just reporting the facts in TV news bulletins and giving personal opinion.
- EFF political party harasses eNCA reporter Nobusuthu Hejana.
- EFF political party harasses eNCA reporter AGAIN.


■ South Africa's auditor-general (AG) questions the SABC's R63 million contract with 5 international news agencies - BBC, Reuters, Feature Stories, Associated Press (AP), and AFP awarded in 2017.

■ Ellen DeGeneres will address the behind-the-scenes scandal at her talk show on the air when the new 18th season starts.

■ Global pirate viewing will start on 30 October when the second season of Star Wars' The Mandalorian is released on Disney+ that hasn't yet launched or announced any launch date for Disney's video streaming service in South Africa or Africa.


■ What the end of Keeping Up with the Kardashians on E! (DStv 124) says about the changing TV industry in America.
- The internet today would not be what it is without the Kardashian influence.
- The influencer/creator culture we have today would not exist without Keeping Up with the Kardashians and The Hills and The Simple Life.


■ "Very bad form": Prince Harry and Meghan Markle pull out of a fundraiser linked to a video streaming rival to Netlifx after they had already said yes but are now producers for Netflix (subscription required).

- Prince Harry and Meghan Markle's "money panic" played amajor role in their decision to sign a production deal with Netflix.
- Netflix viewers cancel their subscriptions after Prince Harry and Meghan Markle announce their Netflix production deal.

TV NEWS ROUND-UP. Today's interesting TV stories to read - 18 August 2020.

Here's the latest news about TV that I read and that you should read too:


■ MUST READ: August 2020 is the month that Old Hollywood finally died.
In the desperate aggressive race to transform into video streaming services as the golden rivers of money from pay-TV are drying up, get ready for a ruthless new culture, mass firings and upending everything in the brutal final scenes of "Hollywood" as we knew it.


■ Ellen DeGeneres fires 3 producers as she tries to salvage toxic talk show.
Executive producers Ed Glavin, Kevin Leman and Jonathan Norman all fired.
- Infamously cruel Ellen DeGeneres tells staffers in video conference call she vows to interact more with staffers, is introverted and has "good days and bad days".

- Insiders blame Telepictures and reveal how fired producers fostered a toxic culture:
"They allow people like Ellen the ability to do that because they are such a cash cow, they are basically printing money. They know these people are terrible, but they don't care."

■ Netflix is now terrible at email marketing.

■ In Tanzania's ferocious ongoing crackdown on press freedom and the media, Star Media, MultiChoice Tanzania and Azam Digital forced to apologise for broadcasting news for 7 days straight and fined.

■ Disney looks like it's done with Hulu when it comes to international streaming plans, and will now focus on Disney+ and launching its video-on-demand services internationally under the Star brand.

■ Google enhances search for live TV programming.

■ The planned Star Trek: Strange New Worlds spinoff will be more like the original series with episodic stories.

■ In Belarus hundreds of staffers go on strike ove censorship as viewers see empty studios on-air:
"If we can’t do honest journalism, then we won’t work."

■ What actually happens when a TV episode gets pulled?


■ The big hurdles facing America's TV industry because of Covid-19 as it gets ready for the 2020 fall TV season line-up.
- The advent of scripted coronavirus TV is here after months of widespread lockdowns and scripted shows filmed Covid-19 restrictions.
- Every new and returning 2020 fall TV show premiere.


■ How we made Flash Gordon.

■ Henry Cavill's curls as Sherlock Holmes in Enola Holmes.

■ Traditional television is still popular with kids in Canada.

■ American TV anchors allegedly threw a banana and fruit at a basketball player who wants an apology.

■ Video streaming watching habits may already have peaked.

■ New Zealand television accidentally shows rude bits when Naked Attraction plays in the newsroom background during a report.

TV NEWS ROUND-UP. Today's interesting TV stories to read - 17 August 2020.

Here's the latest news about TV that I read and that you should read too:


■ Meghan Markle and Prince Harry using money from her Suits reruns on Netflix to pay of their new Santa Barbara home.

■ Selling Sunset's Jason Oppenheim slams Netflix, says he feels Netflix duped him over the nature of the reality show.

■ Ellen DeGeneres called out over video showing her berating ayoung translator.

■ The British soap Hollyoaks starts a guardian scheme to address racism.

■ Even cows are better represented on Australian television than the country's diverse population.
"Who gets to tell Australian stories?" report finds shocking lack of on-air diversity in Australia's TV news industry.
- "You can't be what you can't see."


■ How MultiChoice's Showmax video streaming service deliberately bans and blocks gay content in Nigeria and Kenya.

■ Nigeria continues its relentless attack on MultiChoice; country wants to tell a private firm to stop increasing its prices, wants to force it to introduce a hysterical non-existent "pay-per-view", and wants to take away pay-TV operator's exclusive content rights.

■ Why the rich and famous are fleeing Hollywood.

■ State TV staff in Belarus join strikes and country's growing public protest.

■ Marge Simpson of The Simpsons tels the Donald Trump campaign to stop the name calling.

■ The fired Diamond & Silk slams FOX News (StarSat 261) after they got axed, saying Fox News has "a racist double-standard in giving them the boot for saying the same things its white stars regularly claim" (subscription required).

■ In India TV anchors encourage cockfights on television.
News readers decided their role is no longer to educate but to belittle people with views different from theirs.

■ A new Rolling Stone long-read: How FOX News (StarSat 261) kills the truth.

■ Trouble for New Zealand's existing pay-TV operators like Sky when Disney launches its video streaming service and keeps its content.

■ Netflix's controversial Indian Matchmaking will change in an important way if there's a second season.

■ Sky is done and getting out of pay-TV in Spain.

■ UEFA is looking for a new anti-piracy service provider to protect its sports content.

■ Ryan Reynolds trolls by launching a video streaming service ... playing just one movie - but it's free.

■ European media groups should consolidate in the video streaming era.

TV NEWS ROUND-UP. Today's interesting TV stories to read - 14 August 2020.

Here's the latest news about TV that I read and that you should read too:


■ The Covid-19 pandemic will make the upcoming TV shows and fims look like nothing we've ever seen before.

■ After Selling Sunset, Netflix is doing another rip-off real estate series of Bravo's Million Dollar Listing with Million Dollar Beach House.

■ At WarnerMedia its streaming service HBO Max is the new golden child. Now WarnerMedia wants to create a new news streaming services like CNN and CNN International (DStv 401) but going directly to consumers instead of through pay-TV.

■ Series finale of Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. seen on M-Net City (DStv 115) has an "emotional, happy ending".

■ As background: Apple hates Bloomberg, as in Hates - and has blocked its reporters from for instance attending iPhone launches. Bloomberg keeps scooping with Apple new, for instance this new report that Apple plans to launch "subscription bundles" for things like its Apple TV+ video streaming service.


■ Nick Viall says his "sex narrative" on The Bachelor was difficult to watch.
- While virgin Bachelor Colton Underwood teases his reality TV comeback.
- Host Chris Harrison replaced by JoJo Fletcher.
- Leaving us all just trying to understand what's going on.


■ Meanwhile the Big Brother Naija 2020 housemate Nengi on DStv says she will have sex on the MultiChoice reality show if she wants in front of the cameras, as housemates complains that the condoms are being used up too quickly.

■ A look at the messy, complicated legacy of The Legend of Korra.

■ VICE is a failure in Europe and is starting to withdrawn its TV channels from across Europe after just 4 years (subscription required).

■ New Zealand's TV reporters mask up because of Covid-19 coronavirus - but it's tricky.

■ The reputation of Ellen DeGeneres is in freefall. Can she stop the bleeding?

■ So bad, they're brilliant: Why villains are the true stars of reality TV.

■ TV comedy in crisis: Why class snobbery in 2020 is leaving viewers alienated.

TV NEWS ROUND-UP. Today's interesting TV stories to read - 7 August 2020.

Here's the latest news about TV that I read and that you should read too:


■ MUST READ: The cringey rush to defend Ellen DeGeneres.
The power dynamics of how and why it's so difficult to hold powerful people accountable when other powerful people shield them and give them platforms.

■ Hollywood has increasingly started to censor itself in order to keep China happy.
Changing scripts, deleting scenes and altering other content as America's film and TV industry fears offending Chinese censors who control the gateway to the country's 1.4 billion consumers.

■ MultiChoice says DStv is providing the best content during the Covid-19 lockdown.

■ Is the real estate reality show Selling Sunset on Netflix real or scripted?
Viewers don't think the glamour and gossip are real.

■ "Stay Tuned": The 1992 film in which a couple is sucked into an alternate reality world where they have to survive the one TV show after another is turned into a TV series.

■ Uganda's Magic1 TV channel says it has nothing to do with the "replica" Magic 1HD that popped up on StarTimes.

■ Grey's Anatomy seen on M-Net (DStv 101) will start production soon on season 17 - with Covid-19 pandemic changes.

■ DStv subscribers in Zambia are unhappy about MultiChoice Zambia's latest price hike of DStv and GOtv.

■ The Good Doctor seen on M-Net (DStv 101) will kick off its 4th season with a Covid-19 coronavirus storyline.
- The SHOCKING production stand-off behind the scenes of The Good Doctor in Vancouver where the entire crew got fired: In-fighting between unions over testing for Covid-19 led to pre-production being put on hold.

■ Pumping men's buttocks.
The male characters in the BBC's Harlots are largely reduced to pumping buttocks with hypocritical heads attached.

■ Amazon Prime Video is working in introducing a "random episode" button.

■ Making TV shows during the Covid-19 pandemic requires more money and time.

■ Anti-heroes disrupted TV. Now they're the status quo.

■ How do they track the golf ball on television during a golf broadcast?

■ The BBC received 18 600 complaints from viewers after reporter used the "N"-word racial slur in her news report.

TV NEWS ROUND-UP. Today's interesting TV stories to read - 6 August 2020.

Here's the latest news about TV that I read and that you should read too:


■ How the conspiracy theorist David Icke "confused" Gareth Cliff who eNCA (DStv 403) was happy to put on its TV news channel for likes over lives.
Gareth Cliff's for-profit misinformation show on eNCA makes money from sensationalist pandering.


■ The Covid-19 coronavirus pandemic and dramatic cost-cutting at NBCUniversal and Comcast have claimed another victim (subscription required):
Comcast, NBC News and Sky News (DStv 402) will no longer create the NBC Sky World News channel to take on CNN International (DStv 401). The more than 50 staff who were hired were told on Wednesday it's over because the "business model has become unviable".


■ Discovery Inc. is close to announcing its own video streaming service it plans to launch.
New direct-to-consumer service will "encompass all its brands and characters, will work with distribution partners and may or may or may not include advertising", will be "a new SUV" with "large, fresh content".

■ MultiChoice Nigeria once again dragged to court in Nigeria.
This time over the pay-TV operator's alleged refusal to renew a subscription after payment.

■ The global Covid-19 pandemic is creating a class divide as wealthier people sit home and watch more TV, while lower-income people go out to work (subscription required).

■ SHOCKING! See the moment that the Beirut blast hit the BBC bureau in that city while an interview took place.

■ Disney shocks cinema owners in the United Kingdom with its decision to release Mulan on Disney+ first.

■ Ellen DeGeneres turned kindness into a brand. Now that brand is bringing her down.

■ The revealing and disturbing story of America told through 20 years of reality dating shows.
Find out the exact moment American culture went off the rails.

■ Research: Some children enjoy watching TV more than others.
A clip of Disney's Fantasia shown on repeat to 10-month-old babies in a study determined that children's temperament drives the amount of television they want to watch.

■ Remember when we could all touch each other. Well, TV does.

■ That already-iconic "Ta-Dum" "sound-logo" of Netflix almost included a goat's bleating.
And how the "Ta-Dum" you hear now was actually created (hint: wedding ring and a cabinet).

■ How American reality TV can confront its very real racism problem.

■ Amazon Prime Video is gaining subscribers thanks to Covid-19 quarantine.

■ 12 tricks and tips to get more out of your Netflix subscription.

■ The non-TV story of the day: A Must-Watch video with a prediction about the upcoming 2020 American election.
From Alan Lichtman who has never been wrong and explains why in a fascinating 7-minute video.