Showing posts with label Married at First Sight South Africa. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Married at First Sight South Africa. Show all posts

Saturday, October 14, 2017

A+E Networks Africa apologises for stuck-on-repeat Married at First Sight SA broadcast blunder on Lifetime as DStv subscribers slam the show.


Disappointed and angry viewers divorced and tuned out the first new episode of the second season of Married at First Sight South Africa on Friday night when unexplained technical issues marred the broadcast on Lifetime (DStv 131) and saw the episode stuck in an endless loop of repeating the same insert without any intervention.

On Thursday the Lifetime Africa channel run by A+E Networks Africa, a subsidiary of A+E Networks UK, told viewers to "brace yourself for the unexpected season two of Married at First Sight SA".

The unexpected thing that however ended up happening on Friday the 13th, turned into an embarrassment for sponsors Telkom and 1Life, MultiChoice, A+E Networks Africa and production company Oxyg3n Media headed up by Rebecca Fuller-Campbell, when the same 15 minutes of the episode kept repeating four times over without any fix or on-screen advisory, apology or notification.

During the show Lifetime Africa on social media said it's a technical glitch and that it will be "sorted out soon", however the hour ended with no fix and yet another repeat after the last in-show ad break.

It's not the first time that the stuck-on-repeat happened with Married at First Sight SA on Lifetime and viewers slamming the "internal deficiencies" were not happy.

After the Groundhog Day-like endless repeating started, furious viewers who wanted to watch the second season of Married at First Sight South Africa said they're tuning out of the show, while some started mocking the show, saying they know what's going to happen next and after the next commercial break.

"MAFSSA just got a 100% divorce rate," said Michelle on Twitter, while another viewer weighed in with "why is the same thing showing every 15 min followed by an ad break? Married at First Sight SA - what a waste of an everything. Poor show."

Thabang Mawela wanted to know why "Lifetime South Africa are trashing a good franchise. This is a joke" and another viewers remarking that "guess there will be a new position open for a logger on Monday. Hit me up."

"Sorry, after watching the overseas ones, sorry this is just pure incompetence. You're not ready yet," said Mambhele Manaka.
"Why are you playing the same over and over, I'm never watching this show again...first impression lasts," said Yonwaba Boyana.
"Fire everyone Lifetime SA you guys need new staff! Clearly not a single individual can take charge and sort this out," said Lynne Nietz.




"I knew she'd say, 'I woke up one day, I was 26 and I was single' in tears because it's repeated three times. Lifetime you owe us two times the episodes," said Nkosazana.

— Luvuyo Mkumatela (@Luvuyom) October 13, 2017 I'm going to watch Muvhango rather," said Luvuyo Mkumetela - referencing SABC2's Venda soap.

The show that did a special reunion episode last week to catch up with previous participants, will screen the same episode of last night - hopefully corrected in its full hourlong length - tonight at 19:10 on Lifetime.

A+E Networks Africa quickly responded to a media enquiry made Friday night about the show's broadcasting blunder on Lifetime caused by the playout centre, apologising for the "Friday the 13th" mistake but not explaining why the technical mistake happened.

Lifetime Africa said sorry to viewers who tuned in and who didn't know what was going on and that A+E Networks Africa is themselves disappointed that fans couldn't watch the episode.

"Due to technical difficulties during episode 2, segment one was repeated throughout the show," said Nazarene Khan, head of marketing and sponsorship at A+E Networks Africa in response to a media enquiry from TVwithThinus.

"Lifetime Africa apologises to our loyal viewers for this technical hiccup. We are disappointed that fans of the show were unable to watch it in its entirety. The good news is that viewers will have chance to catch up during the following slots."

The episode will repeat on Saturday (14 Oct) 10:55 and 19:10, Sunday (15 Oct) 21:40, Monday (16 Oct) 07:35 and 14:20, Wednesday (18 Oct) 07:35 and 14:20 and Friday 20 Oct at 20:00.

This will be followed by the 3td episode of Married at First Sight SA in its correct timeslot at 20:50.

"Please note that this will affect the broadcast of Bride and Prejudice (episode 2) on Friday 20 October. This will be moved out by a week to accommodate the double bill of Married at First Sight South Africa season 2," said Nazarene Khan.
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Sunday, September 24, 2017

DStv SHOWCASE SEPTEMBER 2017: South Africa 'one of the trickiest territories' in which to produce Married At First Sight SA, says executive producer; addresses lobola and gay marriage questions.


Married at First Sight South Africa is "one of the trickiest territories" in the world in which to produce the format show from Red Arrow International, says the executive producer of the South African version, Rebecca Fuller-Campbell, who touched on issues ranging from lobola to gay marriage at the DStv Media Showcase on Thursday.

"Married at First Sight is a social experiment. It's an experiment that's taken place in 25 territories, there have been multiple versions of it, and at least a 50% success rate, so actually it's more successful than normal marriages," said Oxyg3n Media's Rebecca Fuller-Campbell at the DStv Media Showcase panel discussion session.

Married at First Sight SA is A+E Networks UK's second local commissioned show for South Africa, following Four Weddings SA also on Lifetime (DStv 131).

"We've got one of the trickiest territories to produce it in with 11 national languages; multiple - absolutely diverse, and we really have to consider that," Rebecca Fuller-Campbell told the press.

"We're genuinely looking for people that want to find love, that had difficulty finding love but have tried everything."

Rebecca Fuller-Campbell said Married At First Sight South Africa has "to represent South Africa and its diversity. We're not looking to match three Afrikaans couples. We're looking to find different people so we can represent our own diversity here."

"There are many challenges that we came up against. One of those is the obvious question of lobola. How do we tackle that?" she said.

"If lobola is important to a family - is part of a tradition in a culture - we have to look at it. What we do in Married At First Sight that is one of the things that we are looking for when we are assessing, is, 'Is this something that is important in your tradition?"

"And if it is, we have a lobola negotiator, we work with the families. We don't pay the lobola, it's still on you - just so you know that," Rebecca Fuller-Campbell said.

"Don't enter if you want your lobola paid, it's not going to happen."


Rebecca Fuller-Campbell was asked by panel moderator Neil Andrews if Married At First Sight South Africa will include gay marriage.

"I think it's very much something that we're looking at going forward in the future. In principle we are very, very open to it. We'd love it, it's happened in another territory."

"There's sensitivities around it, bearing in mind that we flight all the way through Africa, and so we have to be respectful of different cultures and different opinions."

According to Rebecca Fuller-Campbell no gay people have applied to be on Married At First Sight South Africa.

If there were to be more seasons of Married At First Sight South Africa, it will be interesting to see if gay marriage will be included, given the important issue of the growing censorship-creep of content seen across a growing number of DStv channels as other African countries clamp down on freedom of expression as far as TV shows are concerned.

It is something that is becoming an even bigger issue and problem, and that in turn directly affects what South Africans can or can't see.

The second season of Married At First Sight SA will start on Lifetime (DStv 131) on Friday 6 October at 20:50 and the first episode will be a reunion show.

The first episode of the new season will revisit everyone who participated in the first season and show where they are now. The next 8 episodes will then follow the new participants.



PERSONAL TAKE:
■ The Married At First Sight SA panel session was the only awkward session of the DStv Media Showcase.


■ It carried on for way too long, moderator Neil Andrews wasn't properly briefed and didn't know it was the second season already that is starting. He kept speaking, asking questions and commenting as if it's a new show, until he was corrected.


■ Presenter Sam Cowen wasn't present and part of the panel with no explanation about her absence - unless it was said and I missed it. It wasn't "wrong" but just struck me as odd. The other panelists working on the show, besides Rebecca Fuller-Campbell, were not that interesting - I doubt that there will be stories about what they said.


■ No trailer or sizzle reel was shown that was about the upcoming second season - again very weird when you've assembled a room full of media and TV critics to showcase your show.

Visuals (that was actually from the first season) confused Neil Andrews who said "that blond chick worries me. I've only seen a little snippet but she looks like hard work and I haven't even met her."

 Rebecca Fuller-Campbell had to explain that "what we've showed you was clips from the last series, so from the first series, because we don't want to give away to much about the coming series. So that was last year."

Compare that to the effort and utter wow-factor when BBC Worldwide and MultiChoice later in the day showed a beautiful sizzle reel of the upcoming Blue Planet II on BBC Earth (DStv 184) and did trust the media enough to show something new to stimulate excitement with the press.


■ Married at First Sight SA didn't work that well as a drawn-out panel discussion and I thought it could/would have been much more effective and impactful if A+E Networks Africa and the show just did a type of "activation" like Lifetime maybe "sponsoring" or redressing one of the DStv Media Showcase tea breaks.

The 10:30 tea break could have looked like M-Net's brilliant recent media launch of The Wedding Bashers.

Imagine one of the tea breaks with flowers, little "wedding cakes" and pop-up banners from Lifetime and the show.

Imagine 3 or 4 "couples" just silently standing around, two-by-two, in wildly differing wedding regalia - lets say a black Xhosa man next to an Indian woman - and so on, making for jarring contrasts and driving home the must-watch gawk-factor that compelling TV thrives on.


■ A brouhaha erupted on the sidelines of this panel that involves me, and that I was blissfully unaware of until the end when there was a tea break.
Live-tweeting the panel discussion on social media, in one of the tweets I said "Married at First Sight SA exec prod says wont include gays on Lifetime (DStv 131) since channel's seen in rest of Africa."

There was no thanks about the ongoing reporting and attention given to the show (and lets be clear: none is ever wanted nor expected) but instead just criticism, and over one tweet.

It's obviously a sensitive issue and I fully get that. However, when you approach a journalist or editor to complain or criticise, perhaps pull the person aside, introduce yourself first, say something like "Hi, I'm so and so, thank you for [think of any compliment like covering our show]," and then criticise and bring up your issue or complaint.

Also: The gay marriage Married at First Sight SA issue wasn't a question originated by one of the invited journalists and wasn't brought up by the attending press - it was brought up by the DStv media showcase and the show - something they decided to highlight.
I covered what was presented, as well as other newsworthy aspects of it. If it wasn't brought up, it wouldn't have been a "thing".
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Tuesday, September 6, 2016

Married at First Sight South Africa on Lifetime adds Sam Cohen as presenter; selects 5 specialist relationship contributors to guide married couples.


Radio talker Sam Cohen has been added as the presenter of the first season of the reality series Married at First Sight South Africa that will start on Lifetime (DStv 131) early next year, with 5 specialist contributors that's been added to guide the couples before, during and after the cameras have stopped rolling.

Almost 300 South Africans signed up for the reality show, willing to be paired and then to get married as viewers follow their on-screen experiment to see if it leads to wedded bliss or disaster. The producers are currently selecting the participants.

Married at First Sight SA is A+E Networks UK's second local commissioned show for South Africa, following Four Weddings SA also on Lifetime.

Morning radio host Sam Cohen will present, with 5 relationship experts working with the participants on the show.

Sam Cohen's previous TV presenting work was on e.tv's parental guidance programme Great Expectations and she recently released her book, From Whiskey To Water.

Rebecca Fuller-Campbell of Oxyg3n Media producing the show, says "We are now in the process of selecting the men and women and preparing them for the day they will meet each other for the first time at the altar."

In order to match the couples as scientifically as possible, in the hopes that they will find true love, the producers have selected a number of specialist experts who will work with, and closely monitor, the individuals.

These in-show experts for Married at First Sight South Africa will include Gary Kayle (financial coach), Dr. Shingai Mutambirwa (sex therapist), Neo Tshireletso Pule (counselling psychologist), Paula Quinsee (relationship expert) and Anna Trapido (antropological advisor).

"I'm very excited to be a part of Married at First Sight South Africa and I'm looking forward to watching our couples find true love both during and after filming ends. I am, and will always be, a hopeless romantic," says Sam Cohen.
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Thursday, June 9, 2016

Married at First Sight South Africa coming to Lifetime on DStv as A+E Networks UK's second local commission for the channel in Africa.


A+E Networks UK has commissioned a second local show for South African and Africa's viewers with a South African version of Married at First Sight, entitled Married at First Sight South Africa that will be broadcast on Lifetime (DStv 131) from early 2017.

Married at First Sight South Africa will be produced by Oxyg3n Media, and follows Four Weddings South Africa that's also on Lifetime.

In the show - the original also broadcast on Lifetime - different couples, pre-picked to be perfect fits - get married and are then tracked as newlyweds to see if the relationships and marriages will last.

Already 25 local versions have been produced and the South African version of Married at First Sight will look to lure the receptive audience that's made shows like Our Perfect Wedding on Mzansi Magic (DStv 161) viewership hits.

"We’re delighted to announce a local version of this hugely successful international format," says Heather Jones, A+E Networks UK's senior vice president of content and creative in a statement announcing Married at First Sight South Africa.

"The American version of Married at First Sight is one of the best performing A+E Networks shows in the African market. So we have high expectations for this local series, which will be a great addition to our very popular wedding content scheduled on Lifetime in Africa".

 "It's great news that Married at First Sight is heading to Africa on Lifetime," says Bo Stehmeier, the senior vice president for global sales at the format's distributor Red Arrow International.

"The show is a hit wherever it travels and is one of the most talked-about formats of the decade. We can't wait to see this brand new version".

Oxyg3n Media's Rebecca Fuller Campbell says "We are delighted to be working with A+E Networks on this Red Arrow original. We have no doubt that this will be a very special series for African audiences. This is a truly innovative social experiment for those dedicated to finding love".

Married at First Sight South Africa has been commissioned by Koulla Anastasi, A+E Networks UK's director of programming for the Lifetime channel seen in Africa.
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