7de Laan's 'Oubaas' gets a makeover as actor-director Pierre van Pletzen resurfaces on kykNET soap Getroud met Rugby as a new character.

The tousled side-hair are gone. So is the moustache. 

Oubaas got a big makeover and looks strikingly different - as the actor and director Pierre van Pletzen is getting ready to make his appearance as a brand-new character in kykNET's (DStv 144) Afrikaans soap Getroud met Rugby from early 2018.

After he got unceremoniously fired in June by Danie Odendaal Productions producing the SABC's Afrikaans weekday soap 7de Laan on SABC2, Pierre van Pletzen was snapped up for his acting and directing services by several TV productions doing shows for rival pay-TV broadcaster M-Net's Afrikaans language kykNET channel.

This year Pierre van Pletzen started appearing in kykNET's comedy Phil 101 and the reality show Die Ooms se Band on VIA (DStv 147) while the number of his 7de Laan scenes earlier this year dramatically got downsized and dwindled until he got his marching orders.

Some of the other older 7de Laan actors who were also abruptly changed from permanent to on-call status, remain with the show.

Now the widely respected and veteran artist Pierre van Pletzen has found new professional life both on-screen and off - just like during his heydey on 7de Laan when he was allowed to do more than one job at the same production before the rules were unilaterally changed due to SABC mandated orders.

From 15 January Pierre van Pletzen will make his first appearance on-screen on kykNET's Afrikaans soap Getroud met Rugby as a new character.

The clean-shaven character - complete with gold chain around the neck - is light years removed from the curmudgeonly, bumbling, old-man jersey wearing caretaker of The Heights where Pierre played a character decades older than his real age.

Pierre van Pletzen - who said that he won't set a foot back on the 7de Laan set just after an awkward press statement from the show that said it was looking forward to the character returning in the future when the news of his exit was announced - told Beeld newspaper last week that he is shocked about the latest in absentia twist for the Oubaas character.

It has now been revealed in 7de Laan through other characters, that Oubaas has secretly been carrying on an extra-marital affair with another woman for years, something that Pierre van Pletzen said is a "slap in the face of Oubaas, for the public, and for me as an actor".

"Why would you suddenly change the most dependable character, who loved his wife for 17 and a half years, who praised her and ate her bad food, in a philanderer?"  

Besides his on-screen role in Getroud met Rugby, Pierre van Pletzen is also heading up the directing team at the new kykNET comedy, Die Kasteel (The Castle) with Josh Rous and Andre Odendaal. 

Episodes of Die Kasteel is currently being recorded at Sasani Studios in Johannesburg in front of a live studio audience as part of a 26-episode first season order.

Die Kasteel, also starting in January 2018 on kykNET is produced by Rous House Productions.

Starring Dorette Potgieter and Hannes Muller as former beauty queen Tina-Marie and her husband Eckard, a high society couple decides to turn their "castle" - their mansion in the posh suburb of Waterkloof - into a boutique hotel due to financial problems, where "Fawlty Towers" type shenanigans ensue as they try to run an accomodation establishment.

Oubaas out at 7de Laan as actor Pierre van Pletzen is leaving the SABC2 soap; character won't get divorced or die, says producers.

Oubaas is out at 7de Laan with actor Pierre van Pletzen who played the iconic character for 17 years, leaving the Danie Odendaal Productions weekday soap in early August after he was unceremoniously fired by the production company after years of loyal service.

The producers of the weekday Afrikaans soap told TVwithThinus that the character of Septimus van Zyl, known as Oubaas ("Old Boss") that lives in a flat in Hillside Heights in the fictional Hillside suburb in Johannesburg and who is married to Hilda (Annelisa Weiland) is being written out of the show but that the character won't get divorced or die.

The extremely well-liked and highly regarded Pierre van Pletzen (65) who also used to be one of the directors of the soap until 2016 when he was prevented from continuing in a dual on-set role due to newly enforced SABC rules, will leave the soap and film his last scene on 14 August.

Since the soap films episodes some months in advance, the final scenes with Oubaas, known for his mixed metaphors, will only be broadcast on SABC2 in the latter part of 2017 during the 19th season.

The veteran actor, director and musician Pierre van Pletzen is one of the last remaining original actors and characters left who has been with the soap since its inception on SABC2 in 2000 - but now he has been fired as well.

The production company said "as of 14 August Pierre van Pletzen won't form part of the 7de Laan cast" and that "on his exit he won't be killed nor divorced from Hilda. We don't have immediate plans for his character but the possibility always exists for him to come and visit for a story arc."

The production company gave no reasons for why Pierre van Pletzen was let go.

"Pierre has been a valuable part of 7de Laan for many years. His contribution is highly appreciated.We will not be saying goodbye to Pierre as he will be visiting from time to time."

Meanwhile the bulk of the South Africa's viewers and even the local TV fraternity are completely unaware of the extremely hard-working Pierre van Pletzen's unofficial South African and Afrikaans television "Guinness Book of Records"-like achievement.

This month Pierre van Pletzen became the first artist to appear on three different and competing TV channels simultaneously, starring in three different Afrikaans shows, in different roles.

He's the first and so far only person to appear on SABC2, the Afrikaans lifestyle channel VIA (DStv 147) and the Afrikaans entertainment channel kykNET (DStv 144) at the same time in first-run productions.

Besides his role in the Afrikaans soap 7de Laan on SABC2, the veteran performer can also be seen as a bumbling university academic in the new Afrikaans comedy Phil 101 on kykNET and as himself in the new Afrikaans reality music series, Die Ooms se Band on VIA setting up a new band called Harrebaard with Frank Opperman.

The more on-screen appearances and more work in different shows Pierre van Pletzen did the past few months besides just 7de Laan are in fact a direct result of what happened behind the scenes at the soap.

While the SABC's now fired Hlaudi Motsoeneng in 2016 as chief operating officer (COO) kept publicly touting how he's creating a better dispensation for artists and actors, behind the scenes the public broadcaster made things much worse and more difficult for creatives and production companies.

The SABC ordered shows like 7de Laan to end the practice of "double dipping" where people could fulfill and be paid for more than one role. Pierre van Pletzen subsequently lost the directing part of his job at Danie Odendaal Productions that abruptly saw his income halved.

On orders from the SABC to broadly "revitalise" the soap, the older character actors like Pierre van Pletzen, Anneliza Weiland and Annelize van der Ryst (Matrone) in 7de Laan also saw their contracts being changed from permanent to so-called "on call" actors that also had a negative impact.

According to insiders, the multi-tasking and skilled Pierre van Pletzen, known among his colleagues for often taking catnaps on sets in-between filming, won't struggle to find new work opportunities and will likely be snapped up for new acting and directing work at other Afrikaans soaps and productions.