e.tv's cancelled Nikiwe cast and crew still unpaid after months.

by Thinus Ferreira

The cast and crew of e.tv's cancelled Nikiwe are still struggling to get paid months after the show got canned and stopped production by Parental Advisory Productions which has since gone to ground.

In January TVwithThinus reported how Parental Advisory Productions co-owned by Thomas Gumede and Lungelo Radu imploded with huge amounts of debt with e.tv that cancelled the low-rated Nikiwe amidst serious financial problems inside the production and production company.

Hundreds of staffers who worked on the cancelled Nikiwe are still owed hundreds of thousands of rand in payment from Parental Advisory Productions months after the final scene was filmed.

Last year Thapelo Ramatsui, e.tv publicist, told the online publication ZiMoja that e.tv cancelled Nikiwe and the contract with Parental Advisory Productions due to the show's bad viewership and that PAP was paid what it was owed. 

The final episode of Nikiwe was broadcast on e.tv on 5 January 2024.

Cast and crew told City Press they haven't heard from either Tomas Gumede or Lungelo Radu since December 2023, with the final communication which was three days before Christmas Day in the form of an email on 22 December.

One Nikiwe actor told the newspaper "These people are failing us in that they spent the money instead of paying us. They are basically making fools out of us".

The corporate communications manager of e.tv, Bennum van Jaarsveld told City Press that Nikiwe was old news and that e.tv didn't want to comment but noted that e.tv had paid Parental Advisory Productions what the show was owed.

"It's just an old thing and we've moved on. There are so many other things happening; Nikiwe is an old story for us to comment on. Also, a lot of the stuff there was between the production and the cast, we were not involved in that."

"We had our contract and agreement with the production house and the production house had an agreement with the talent. We did what we needed to do, we met our obligations and the rest was on the production and that's where I think things sort of went wrong."

ALSO READ: Cast and crew of e.tv's cancelled Nikiwe unpaid in December and owed hundreds of thousands by Parental Advisory Productions 'left in huge amounts of debt with absolutely no notice'.

ALSO READ: e.tv cancels ratings-flop Nikiwe.

Coronavirus: SuperSport-produced HomeGround on Mzansi Magic shuts down over Covid-19: 'We've taken the decision to be off-air for a few weeks until further notice'.

by Thinus Ferreira

SuperSport and M-Net have shut down production indefinitely on its local celebrity and sports interview show HomeGround done for Mzansi Magic (DStv 161) due to the rapid increase of Covid-19 in South Africa as the global coronavirus pandemic keeps spreading.

On Sunday evening president Cyril Ramaphosa declared a national state of disaster and announced drastic measures to try and curb the spread of the virus in the country, including banning gatherings of more than 100 people.

Monday night's episode of HomeGround with presenters Lungile Radu and Minnie Dlamini-Jones was the last for the time being, with the lifestyle sports magazine show that features celebrity guests as well as artists who perform and is produced by SuperSport for Mzansi Magic.

kykNET told TVwithThinus on Wednesday that it won't be shutting down Tjoks & Tjops on its kykNET (DStv 144) channel, an Afrikaans sports lifestyle show that follows the same format but that the channel is relooking the show's format and content and will comment about it soon.

Similar to the BBC, the South African public broadcaster is postponing shows that would have filmed in April that makes use of an in-studio audience or performances, with the SABC that is also trying to pre-record some live shows to stock up in case it's needed.

kykNET's second season of its talent search reality show Maak My Famous with Emo Adams that uses an in-studio audience in Cape Town decided to postpone filming to later in April for the time being.

Since Sunday Mzansi Magic was asked several times which shows on its schedule has temporarily ended or been postponed because of growing coronavirus fears but didn't respond with a list.

"After the president's address we've taken the decision to be off-air for a few weeks until further notice," said Minnie Dlamini-Jones in Monday night's last HomeGround episode for now.

"We will be back. Make sure that you self-quarantine and look after yourselves and lets see if we can get that [Covid-19 infection rate] number down to zero so things can go back to normal as soon as possible because we can't wait to be back on your screen," she said as she demonstrated an elbow-bump with Lungile.

All 4 coaches of The Voice South Africa on M-Net back for the bigger, even better and extended second season.

All four coaches of The Voice South Africa on M-Net are back for the second season with Bobby van Jaarsveld, Lira, Karen Zoid and Kahn Morbee who are all once again swiveling in their red chairs to find South Africa’s undiscovered singing talent.

The blind auditions for the second season kicked off on Tuesday evening at Sasani Studios where the show is filmed, with all four coaches back in their red seats and listening to and picking talent for their teams.

The second season of The Voice South Africa will start on M-Net (DStv 101) on 29 January 2017 with several surprises for viewers.

Viewers can get ready for bigger and better in the second local season of the TALPA format show.

That goes for the various The Voice SA sets used during the blind auditions, battle rounds and weekly live shows and finale, but also the actual show itself: the episode order has been increased.

In the second season viewers will have more time to actually follow and enjoy the show and to hear the singers compete with a season that will span a longer time frame.

It will include more performances and several other surprises that M-Net says will increase the fun viewers will have watching the upcoming season.

The Voice South Africa roared back on Tuesday night’s first blind audition evening in Johannesburg with several singers who got standing ovations from the often surprised studio audience and the coaches fighting each other to try and secure them for their teams with simply-can’t-help-himself chair hopper Bobby van Jaarsveld back in top form.

Recordings for the blind auditions continue this week with Lungile Radu back as the presenter and Stacey Norman interviewing the contestants backstage.

With a new focus, Big Brother Mzansi - starting today and shown on 4 DStv channels - looks to recapture viewer interest in the format in South Africa.

Following Survivor South Africa: Champions on M-Net out of the gate, South African television's second reality TV show for 2014 - co-incidentally also starting on a Sunday - kicks off today when Big Brother Mzansi begins on Mzansi Magic (DStv 161) at 19:00 with a two hour launch show.

Mzansi Magic declined to answer a media enquiry asking for how many days Big Brother Mzansi will be running.

With several seasons of Big Brother Africa under the belt for production company Endemol South Africa, M-Net and MultiChoice are recasting and rebranding the voyeur format for South African television which hasn't seen a local version for the country since the second season of Big Brother South Africa which ended more than a decade ago in 2002.

Now with a black entertainment focus for the show, pay-TV broadcaster M-Net and DStv are hoping to jump start new South African popular culture interest in this reality TV format.

The past decade, since the start of the first season of Big Brother Africa in 2003, MultiChoice in Africa and M-Net Africa have managed to successfully leverage this entertainment reality show as a vehicle to drive viewership, DStv decoder sales and DStv subscriber growth across the African continent outside of South Africa with its eclectic mix, season after season, of misbehaving nouveau fame-seeking contestants.

Big Brother Mzansi, fronted by Lungile Radu, and with 102 microphones and 62 cameras, will broadcast on two Big Brother Mzansi TV channels on MultiChoice - DStv channels 197 and 198.

The Mzansi Magic (DStv 161) channel will broadcast the Big Brother Mzansi weekly nomination shows, daily highlight packages, a weekend highlights omnibus show, the launch programme and the finale.

Mzansi Wethu (DStv 163) will also broadcast daily highlights on weekdays, as well as a weekly highlights omnibus show on Saturdays.

DStv subscribers who are already paying to see the show, will however have to pay an additional R70 to really see it all. R70 payment must be paid to access the Big Brother VIP service, which requires a valid DStv Connect profile if viewers want to see one of the "shower hours" for instance.

While Big Brother Mzansi will have two "shower hour" sessions a day - one in the morning and one in the evening, only the evening shower hour will be broadcast on Big Brother Mzansi on DStv channel 197. The morning shower hour will only be available to Big Brother Mzansi VIP online subscribers of the show.

Subscribers who want to access the "VIP" content for the Big Brother Mzansi 2014 season, will have to login to Big Brother VIP with a DStv Connect profile, pay the once-off membership fee of R70 and then get access to Big Brother VIP for the duration of the show.