Comedy Central adds the award-winning Canadian comedy Schitt’s Creek from 29 March, promises fresh new content in its ‘New at Nine’ timeslot.

by Thinus Ferreira

Comedy Central (DStv 122) is adding the award-winning Canadian comedy Schitt's Creek to the channel's schedule on weekdays from Monday 29 March at 21:00 as part of a "New at Nine" timeslot with the channel from ViacomCBS Africa that promises "nightly entertainment at 21:00 with fresh, new and hilarious content".

Schitt's Creek, created and executive produced by Eugene Levy and Dan Levy who also star in it, finished its 6-season run across 80 episodes in April last year and won multiple Emmy awards.

At the 72nd Primetime Emmy Awards that took place in September the series, produced by Not a Real Company Productions and with ITV Studios handling international distribution, set a new record for most Emmy wins by a comedy series in a single season after it swept all 7 major comedy awards.

The comedy series follows the riches-to-rags drama of the Rose family, who after suddenly finding themselves broke, are forced to move to the small and depressing town of Schitt’s Creek - a place that they once bought as a joke when they had money.

Now Johnny (Eugene Levy) and Moira (Catherine O’Hara) and their adult children, David (Daniel Levy) and Alexis (Annie Murphy), with their pampered lives abandoned, must confront their new-found poverty and discover what it means to be a family, all within the rural city limits of Schitt's Creek.

The Schitt's Creek scheduling is part of what Comedy Central says is a new "commitment to its viewers to bring nightly entertainment at 21:00 with fresh, new and hilarious content that has never aired on the channel before".

Comedy Central says Schitt's Creek will be supplemented by "a number of titles coming to DStv for the very first time and shows that have never aired on the African continent before. New at Nine’s line-up will include Schitt’s Creek and a slew of shows which will be announced in the coming months".

Dillon Khan, vice president for Comedy Central Africa, says "Our aim is to constantly make life funnier for our viewers and we're delighted to have the Schitt's Creek Golden Globe-winning Rose family join our stable of Dunphy's, Butler's, Bing's, Harper's and Cooper's on Comedy Central. They bring another unique family dynamic that viewers will relate to, laugh at or both."

Thabisa Mkhwanazi, MultiChoice South Africa's head of marketing, in a statement says "As DStv we have made a commitment to bring the best of international content home through the movies and series streaming and playing on our platforms".

"Having a multi-award winning show such as Schitt's Creek on Comedy Central is further testament to our collaboration with our partners to ensure the latest content is available for our customers."

MultiChoice expands access of NBCUniversal International Networks' E! Entertainment channel to DStv Compact subscribers in South Africa from 14 April 2020.

by Thinus Ferreira

NBCUniversal International Networks' E! Entertainment (DStv 124) channel is getting wider carriage with MultiChoice making the channel available to DStv Compact subscribers in South Africa from Tuesday 14 April 2020.

E! is currently available to DStv Premium and DStv Compact Plus subscribers. E! is already available to DStv subscribers on DStv Compact in the rest of Africa.

"We are delighted that E! will now be available to a broader audience in Africa," says Lee Raftery, the managing director, for the Europe, Middle East and Africa (EMEA) region at NBCUniversal International and chief marketing officer.

"This is an exciting evolution in our partnership with DStv, and new viewers to the channel will be able to enjoy ever-popular series such as Keeping Up With the Kardashians and Botched. We remain committed to bringing African audiences local content, with brand-new episodes of the Safta-nominated Celebrity Game Night."

Thabisa Mkhwanazi, MultiChoice South Africa head of marketing, says "We’re thrilled that our Compact subscribers will now also have access to the wide range of content that the E! Entertainment channel has to offer".

"We continue to strive to bring our customers the best content available so they get the greatest viewing experience possible."

The new season of Keeping Up With the Kardashians just started on E! on Sundays at 20:00with Kourtney's recent revelation that she's no longer happy working with her sisters, while Kris gets creative to encourage a reluctant Khloe to start dating again, while Kylie undergoes a frightening medical procedure.

Meanwhile Anele Mdoda is back as the host of Celebrity Game Night from Sunday 19 April at 21:00 with team captains Jason Goliath and Ayanda Thabethe for brand-new episodes of Celebrity Game Night.

Based on the Primetime Emmy Award-winning series Hollywood Game Night, Anele Mdoda recently received a Safta nomination for Best TV Presenter for hosting the local version of this show, while the production for Celebrity Game Night is also up for an award in the category Best International Format Show.

The E! presenter Jason Kennedy takes E! viewers inside celebrity homes for in-depth interviews in the new series In The Room on Mondays at 21:00 from 11 May as he meets Kourtney Kardashian, Tom Brady and Chris Pratt to discuss their latest projects, products, passions and more.

E! also has new episodes of Botched on Mondays at 20:00 from 8 June revolving around the plastic surgeons Dr Paul Nassif and Dr Terry Dubrow, as well as the latest season of Total Bellas on Sundays at 20:00 from 10 May.