Today's interesting TV stories to read from TV with Thinus - 18 March 2015

"Top Gear doesn't need Jeremy Clarkson."
Former Stig driver Ben Carson says the presenter on BBC Entertainment (DStv 120) didn't back him in a clash with the BBC, didn't support him and he hasn't spoken with him since.
Meanwhile Jeremy Clarkson will be back on the BBC in May - because he's presenting another panel discussion show.


Debate of no confidence in president Jacob Zuma not shown on DStv's Parliamentary TV (DStv 408).
With Parliamentary TV channel not showing the debate, MultiChoice says it doesn't have control over the TV channel broadcasting on its DStv platform.

NFVF buckling under resignations, violations of good governance.
Film funding crisis at the National Film and Video Foundation (NFVF) as questions are being asked about dodgy film deals, five star overseas trips for officials and the alleged violation of corporate governance.

Oprah auctioning off 500 items from her Chicago high rise apartment.
Money will be used to fund her Oprah Winfrey Leadership Academy Foundation - and there's some nice stuff.

South African DStv subscribers are paying less than Zambia.
MultiChoice Zambia holds a press conference following Zambia's uproar and calls for a boycott over the 20% hike in DStv subscriptions from 1 April and MultiChoice Zambia's general manager Simon Bota says South African DStv subscribers pay less than people in other countries in the region.

Simon Bota accuses the 3 000 DStv subscribers in Zambia who have signed the petition of misleading other DStv subscribers which is having an impact on DStv's subscriber base. Meanwhile Zambia's Competition and Consumer Protection Commission (CCPC) says MultiChoice Zambia needs more pay-TV competition.


The SABC is NOT a public broadcaster.
So says South Africa's confused minister of communications, Faith Muthambi, who says the SABC is a state-owned enterprise, with her, Faith Muthambi, as its sole and only government shareholder representative.
Meanwhile the disarray at the SABC is of big concern to the SACP political party. Faith Muthambi is also defending SABC secrecy and says there is nothing wrong with keeping policies secret.


E! Entertainment (DStv 124) takes Fashion Police off TV until September.
E! previously said the show would be back on 30 March but is now changing course as an E! executive talks about the ongoing scandal surrounding the show. E! Entertainment (DStv 124) has no plans of letting of Fashion Police despite all of the toxicity around the flopped reboot, and executives are looking for new panelists.

The Only Way is Essex will continue until at least 2016.
The British ITV reality show seen on BBC Entertainment (DStv 120) has been renewed.

A+E Studios looking to do vampire drama Let the Right One In.
Wants the Teen Wolf writers to create a TV show based on the Swedish book in which a girl vampire meets a boy.

iNsane.
Empire's Terrence Howard on FOX's (DStv 125 / StarSat 131) hit drama wants TV to use the "N" word.

The illegal immigrants who robbed SABC's Vuyo Mvoko won't apply for bail.
The illegal aliens from Zimbabwe who are in South Africa without proper documentation, Alfred  Thongamedi and Clement Mncube have appeared in court and can't apply for bail.
They appeared with Pascal Junior from Mozambique and Modin Modin from Bangladesh after attacking and mugging a SABC crew. All four needed interpreters since none can speak English.

ESSEXMAS. First season of The Only Way is Essex on BBC Entertainment concludes with a Christmas special, followed by the new second season.

©ITV

The first season of The Only Way is Essex on BBC Entertainment (DStv 120) will conclude with a special Christmas episode, "The Only Way is Essexmas" on Thursday, 26 July at 20:30 (South African time) but the second season of the hilarious British reality show will start and continue straight after from Thursday, 2 July at 20:30.

In next week's The Only Way is Essex Christmas special, Mark, Amy, Kirk, Sam and the rest of the orange coloured gang enjoy Christmas together, but of course it comes with a whole lot of drama.

The second season of The Only Way is Essex starts on 2 August at 20:30 with 14 episodes.

OH SHAA UP! I can't understand what they're saying, but The Only Way is Essex on BBC Entertainment is sparkling.

I can't understand a word of what the young champagne crowd of The Only Way is Essex on BBC Entertainment (DStv 120) on Wednesdays at 21:55 are actually saying - but from vajazzeling to all the "oh Shaa ups" the British reality show is delightfully fresh.

The blue-eyed orange cuties are like the Teletubbies: wide-eyed, attracted to sparkly things, like to run around, glows in the dark and comes in multi-coloured shapes and sizes one for each type.

Trying to follow the dialogue of The Only Way is Essex is much like watching a silent movie - because there's not really a lot of words (one can comprehensively make out) you're mostly left to deduce what is happening by following the actions.

Part of the fun is pausing playback of The Only Way is Essex, rewinding the PVR and trying to make out syllables and sentences of what the reality stars are unable to clearly enunciate.

"Oh, Shaa Up!"

BREAKING. BBC Entertainment snags the cool British reality show The Only Way is Essex; vajazzling set to start in June.

You're reading it here first.

Time to vajazzle! I can be first to reveal the news that BBC Entertainment (DStv 120) is continuing the trend of suddenly being the hottest general entertainment TV channel to be found in South Africa having secured the rights to the have-to-watch British reality show The Only Way is Essex which I can reveal will start in June on BBC Entertainment.

BBC Entertainment has suddenly popped as the hottest general entertainment TV channel in South Africa with the delightful Downton Abbey drama on Sundays at 20:30, and having scored the rights to the new Titanic mini-series coming in April. Negotiations are also underway for a 2nd season of the critically praised and popularly loved South African version of Come Dine with Me South Africa that was shown at the end of last year on BBC Entertainment.

Now BBC Entertainment grabbed The Only Way is Essex - a The Hills and Jersey Shore type British reality show following a group of 20somethings and which should land on the schedule sometime in June and which is narrated by the Essex born actress Denise van Outen.

The first season of The Only Way is Essex is a trashi-lovely delight. Get ready for boxing (yes, between the people in the show) a club that burns down, relationship jealousy, two people sleeping together behind the other one's back and enough reali-trash to fill a dump truck.

''The Only Way is Essex has been the stand-out success in the reality TV genre in recent years. Brilliantly produced by Lime Pictures, viewers in the United Kingdom just can't seem to get enough of the tears, tans and drama in the characters' lives and I'm sure that our viewers in South Africa will be just as hooked,'' says Jon Farrar, the vice president for programming for the Europe, Middle East and Africa region (EMEA) for BBC Worldwide Channels.