SABC2 commissions a second season of the Fundis TV quiz game show.

by Thinus Ferreira

SABC2 has commissioned a second season of the Fundis TV general knowledge quiz game show.

The first season of Fundis, produced by Stemmburg Television also responsible for Noot vir Noot, was broadcast on the channel in August 2017 with presenters Fezile Makhanya and Kope Makgae.

There's no word on whether they will be back as presenters and there's been no statement from SABC2 on the recommission with the show that is currently looking for contestants.

Fundis has three sections, a general knowledge round, a specialist round, and the jackpot round in which the winner of the episode can select a specialised section in which to answer 5 questions within 30 seconds.

IN IMAGES. 19 photos of the press screening of the debut episode of the 44th season of SABC2's revamped Noot vir Noot with new host Emo Adams and DJ Shelly.

Before the debut of the revamped Afrikaans music game show Noot vir Noot now with Emo Adams as host and DJ Shelly (Rochelle de Bruyn), SABC2 held a press screening for journalists and TV critics of the debut episode of the new 44th season.

The evening media screening with a buffet dinner took place in one of the conference rooms of the Balalaika Hotel in Sandton.

Producers from Stemmburg Television and Noot vir Noot's on-screen talent Emo Adams and Rochelle de Bruyn attended, along with SABC2 executives, and invited members of the media.

ALSO READ: Emo Adams on taking over as the host of SABC2's Noot vir Noot: 'I feel like Trevor Noah taking over from Jon Stewart'.

ALSO READ: TV REVIEW. Noot vir Noot got a revamp. So what's it like?

Emo Adams on taking over as the host of SABC2's Noot vir Noot: 'I feel like Trevor Noah taking over from Jon Stewart'.

As the baton gets passed tonight on Thursday 15 August 2019 from Johan Stemmet to Emo Adams as the new host of the longrunning Noot vir Noot, Emo says taking over as the presenter of the Afrikaans game show on SABC2 feel to him “like Trevor Noah taking over from Jon Stewart”.

 After 29 years, the 44th season of Noot vir Noot, produced by Stemmburg Television, kicks off tonight at 19:00 with Emo Adams as the new host, the Musiekfabriek replaced with DJ Shelly (Rochelle de Bruyn), and a new techno-infused set as well and revamped and pacier games as contestants compete with their music knowledge and singing karaoke to try and win money. 

Noot vir Noot that lost audience shares and viewers over the past few years is one of the longrunning prime time shows that SABC2 decided to rejuvenate to attract new and younger viewers. 

“I’m humbled that Johan Stemmet and the production team reached out to ask me to do this. It’s hands down a dream come true,” says Emo Adams.

“The day Johan called me and they explained to me the new way that they would like to do Noot vir Noot and with DJ Shelly – at first you have your reservations because Noot vir Noot is an institution. Now here comes Emo as a coloured boytjie from Mitchells Plain and throws all the toys out of the cot and everybody is thinking this bra is going to mess everything up”.

“But they gave me so much assurance to say trust the process, trust us, this is going to work. It’s one of those things that happens in your life – like Trevor Noah taking over from Jon Stewart at The Daily Show – the fact that this man acknowledges the talent out there and what’s going on."

"Johan has his hands on the pulse of what’s happening all the time and knew exactly who he wanted.”

“The reason why I feel very blessed is when I visited my mom, after the first recording, she said ‘My son, I’m very, very proud of you. Your work, if you do it with sincerity and truth, your work speaks for itself,” says Emo Adams. 


Johan Stemmet: Not retiring
“They say if it ain’t broke don’t fix it. But this doesn’t work in television. In television, even if it ain’t broke you’ve got to continually fix it. You’ve got to continually fine-tune it,” says Johan Stemmet from Stemmburg TV who remains a producer and a director of the longrunning show behind-the-scenes. 

“We also have to renew. But you don’t bring a new motor car model onto the market and all you change is the steering wheel.” 

“You’ve got to rethink it, you’ve got to recreate it, you’ve got to remodel it because you’re sitting with a public property which is already in the public domain so you have to work very, very carefully. You’ve got to admit, and you’ve got to accept, that you’re renewing – so familiar to the viewers, familiar things in the programme have got to be renewed. Everything we do, we do for the viewers.”

“In the case of Noot for Noot we said there’s a trade-off between the familiar and the new,” says Johan Stemmet.

“We traded upward. Not sideways and you definitely don’t trade downwards.” 

“We traded the analogue familiar set for a modern high-tech set. We also traded the one-man host presenting approach for duo presenters approach where you have two presenters playing off each other, interacting with each other – and this results in a much more dynamic presentation of the content.”

“We also traded off the resident band for 14 individual music acts – 14 artists brought to the Noot vir Noot stage.” 

“We added a specialised DJ and we can now use original music and original soundtracks where in the past we had to rely on instrumental versions of songs. Now we can do the original ones. We have a new team of presenters who will take Noot vir Noot to new heights for the now-generation and the generation to come.”

“Emo brings to the show his unique charm that he has, his special fun way, his entertaining way of presenting and Rochelle brings her specialised knowledge of being a DJ and her fun personality to complement Emo.” 

“To everyone who remained with us for 29 years, I still remain very much a part of the show. People say to me ‘so what are you going to do now that you’re going to retire?’ But I’m not retiring. In my 52 weeks of a year for one week I’m not presenting Noot vir Noot, I’m directing it now.” 


Game show rejuvenation 
Gerhard Pretorius, SABC2 channel head, says “fortunately and unfortunately, the SABC is the home to 50/50 and Noot vir Noot and according to people, these are old programmes".

"So we had to decide what we’re going to do to rejuvenate since people are asking where are we taking things, and that’s exactly what happened”. 

“We threw the ball back to Stemmburg TV, had conversations, they came back last year with a presentation including a video, and I was bowled over and I think the management team at SABC TV was quite impressed.” 

“I was very nervous when they called and said ‘Come and see the first episode’. To the new presenters, Emo and Rochelle, welcome to the SABC2 family.”

Emo Adams the new host of Noot vir Noot on SABC2, Musiekfabriek band dropped and replaced with DJ Shelley as long-running show is rejuvenised and looking for younger viewers.

Emo Adams will be the new host of the long-running Afrikaans game show, Noot vir Noot on SABC2 when the show returns for a new season in August, that will see the programme court a younger audience and do away with the Musiekfabriek band replaced by an in-studio DJ.

Emo Adams replaces Johan Stemmet from the upcoming 44th season that will start on SABC2 on 15 August at 19:00.

Johan Stemmet stepped down in January as the host of the Stemmburg Television production but remains the director and executive producer of the show behind the scenes.

Noot vir Noot is once of several prime time shows on SABC2 where the South African public broadcaster mandated changes to "rejuvenise" it's line-up to try and reverse and lift the ratings of long-running shows and to court a younger demographic.

Noot vir Noot is still a viewership hit for SABC2 but after multiple day and timeslot changes over the past five years it is far from the ratings success it once had in its Saturday evening timeslot berth.

Emo Adams is the talk show host of Jou Show on kykNET (DStv 144) and is currently producing and appearing in the new Afrikaans singing talent search competition, Maak My Famous, that will start soon on kykNET as well.

As part of the Noot vir Noot format changes the show is doing away with the iconic "Musiekfabriek" live band in-studio that is being replaced by a disk jockey, DJ Shelley, whose real name is Rochelle De Bruyn. 

"A better artist, performer, presenter, all-round entertainer than Emo will be hard to find, " says Johan Stemmet.

"Emo is cut out for this role and he will certainly take the show to further heights. It's great to welcome Emo on the Noot vir Noot set."

"He is a great choice to take the presenting role over from me and as director of the show I am so looking forward to working closely with him for many years to come."

Afrikaans host of SABC2's Noot vir Noot, Johan Stemmet, finally stepping down after 28 years; will remain involved behind-the-scenes as show gets new presenter and a makeover.

Johan Stemmet (66), the Afrikaans host of SABC2's music game show Noot vir Noot is stepping down and away from the show he started after 28 years and will be bowing out on Thursday evening at 19:00 at the end of the 43rd season and more than 700 episodes.

Noot vir Noot ("Note for Note"), produced by Stemmburg Television with Johan Stemmet and Johan van Rensburg, will get a new presenter and a makeover on SABC2.

The first episode of Noot vir Noot was broadcast on 27 July 1991, making it the longest-running TV game show in South African television history.

In 2018 the National Film and Video Foundation (NFVF) awarded Johan Stemmet, known for his colourful shirts and waist coats, a Lifetime Achievement Award at the 2018 South African Film and Television Awards (Saftas).

"In the 28 years that we've walked, I feel in my heart that this is one of the most exciting season finales ever. This one you must definitely not miss," Johan Stemmet wrote on his Facebook page.

Thursday's season finale will be followed by the usual special charity episode where local celebrities compete against each other to win money for charities.

"Noot vir Noot is a household and much-loved brand that many South Africans grew up with and Johan has been instrumental in its success both on and off screen," says Jacqui Hlongwane, SABC2 programme manager.

"The show has attracted a diverse and in. The secret to Noot vir Noot's longevity has been Johan Stemmet's ability to constantly evolve the show to keep abreast with the latest music and programming trends in music game shows".

SABC2 says "Noot vir Noot will continue in a new format with a new host. Johan Stemmet will be part of the creative and editorial team for the new show".

"SABC2 would like to express its sincere gratitude and appreciation to Johan Stemmet for his professionalism, commitment, creativity and passion that he brought to the show, season after season keeping our audiences highly entertained."

SABC adds Systraat as the South African public broadcaster's first web series in the form of an Afrikaans animation show.

A new 'Laan' is coming to the SABC in the form of Systraat, the South African public broadcaster's first web series in the form of an Afrikaans animation show.

Systraat will be the the SABC's first animated Afrikaans sitcom series, as well as the public broadcaster's first show to roll out and be "broadcast" online first before its been shown on linear television.

Systraat ("Sidestreet") is produced by Stemmburg Television also responsible for the long-running Afrikaans music competition show Noot vir Noot and the more recent Musiek Roulette on SABC2.

Systraat's first episode will debut on 24 November at 21:00 online at YouTube on SABC3's YouTube channel.

Systraat's internet debut follows the second season of Clifton Shores, now retitled as The Shores, also currently playing out with a new episode weekly on YouTube as the South African TV industry starts to move more TV content to viewers through over-the-top (OTT) players and platforms.

Systraat follows the comedic exploits of the Afrikaans Kotze family and will have English subtitles.

"We're moving into a new digital age where television becomes on demand, so we thought we want to make this two firsts – the first South African animated sitcom but we also want to make it the first South African on demand show from the SABC and put that on YouTube," creator Carl Stemmet told the SABC.

"That's the perfect platform for it where people can watch it at anytime, anywhere, where ever they are in the world. We're reaching ex-pats who are sitting overseas as well who are hungry for local content and miss local content as well, so in this way we're reaching a much wider market."

According to Carl Stemmet Systraat's stories and humour will be very specific to South Africa. 

"The characters in the series are very identifiable as South Africans – and the situations they deal with: things like the matric dance that everyone has to go to, the braai competition that everyone wants to take part in, the rugby team at university that the oldest son wants to be part of."

"The other themes of father son relationships, squabbles at home, the love life at school and trying to get the girl's attention and social awkwardness, all that kind of stuff is universal," says Carl Stemmet.

Systraat revolves around dad Gys Kotze, an enthusiastic, yet somewhat dimwitted guy who sees himself as an inventor. His wife and mom Esbe Kotze is the strict one and then they have two sons. The older brother Werner is the jock and rugby player at university and the younger brother Hein is the awkward, social outcast and studious child.

Similar to The Simpsons, South Park and Family Guy the main characters are surrounded by a collection of supporting characters ranging from the principal and rugby coach to butchery owner, a doctor and various other ones who pop up throughout the different webisodes.