BREAKING. Three Talk with Noeleen on SABC3 remains in talk show repeat limbo as the SABC remains completely silent about what is going on.

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While a growing number of viewers and TV critics are now openly wondering what's going on with the weekday daytime SABC3 talk show Three Talk with Noeleen - apparently stuck in repeat episodes limbo - the SABC remains quiet as to why it is happening, what is going on, and when the popular local talk show will return with new episodes.

SABC TV publicity head Zandile Nkonyeni has not responded to media enquiries about Three Talk with Noeleen which has entered yet another week of daily repeat episodes on SABC3, some inappropriately mentioning Christmas.

Although the longrunning show prompts viewers to interact on social media like Twitter for instance, talk show host Noeleen Maholwana Sangqu last "tweeted" on 30 December on @Noeleen3Talk and then fell silent.

On screen viewers only see the word "repeat" next to the SABC3 channel logo and has had no explanation from the SABC as to why Three Talk with Noeleen went into repeats, for such a long period, and when it will end.

Viewers are wondering what's going on and the SABC isn't forthcoming with any explanations.

Because the SABC is not talking and communicating as to what is going on and if or when the talk show will return, this has now prompted wild speculation under viewers and TV critics.

A growing number of people are now wondering whether Three Talk with Noeleen is getting cancelled; whether there is contract problems between the SABC and the production in the way that SABC1's Generations had contract problems in 2013; whether Noeleen Maholwana Sangqu is ill, unwell, injured, on holiday or no longer interested in doing the show.

"Why can't the SABC say what is happening with 3Talk and where is Noeleen? Every week is old episodes and nobody is explaining when I can see new episodes again" a reader asked TV with Thinus, summarising the feelings that fans of the afternoon talk show are starting to express.

Three Talk with Noeleen (bar the unexplained weeks of repeats) remains South African television's longest running and only local, daily, hour long television talk show.

The show produced by Urban Brew Studios and which has seen several different timeslots since it started on SABC3, should be celebrating its 11th anniversary in April.

Noeleen Maholwana-Sangqu now hawking new Ariel washing powder; putting her credibility on the line in an ad already fuzzing the truth.

Noeleen Maholwana-Sangqu, the weekday talk show host of Three Talk with Noeleen on SABC3 at 16:35 is now putting her credibility on the line, shilling in TV commercials for the new Ariel washing powder.

There's already a credibility problem right from the beginning of the Ariel TV advert. Noeleen Maholwana-Sangqu's first words are: "I came across this flyer. It's from a new washing powder called Ariel that's now available in South Africa." Really? Came across it? And a flyer on carton?

Why does the man in the white coat speaking with a thick German accent to come across as a scientist, appear to have had his voice dubbed? Weird.

At the same time two of the 7de Laan soap on SABC2's actors/characters are also appearing in a cleaning product's TV commercial, although they appear as their characters, making the possible impact on their personal credibility somewhat less should a consumer feel that the product is perhaps not working as they expected or were led to believe.

As all celebrities, TV personalities have to be very careful - especially when they hold a certain position, perceived media credibility or aspirational status - as to what commercial products they endorse, adverts they appear in and what impact that brand has on their own brand as a person.

BREAKING. Three Talk with Noeleen on SABC3 finally adds a studio audience; dumps its white set for another new one after just a year.

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Three Talk with Noeleen, SABC3's weekday talk show with Noeleen Maholwana-Sangqu has finally - and suddenly - added a live studio audience on Tuesday at the same time as it unceremoniously dumped its new white set and unexpectedly replaced its red and white on-air imaging with translucent blue.

Neither SABC3 nor Urban Brew Studios which produces the daily chatfest for the channel made any announcement about the addition of a live studio audience and also didn't announce the new set.

The new set, still by Michael Gill Designs and constructed by Sets Drapes Screens has now returned to a more claustrophobic look as seen in some previous years, with the Three Talk with Noeleen set now having a dark-toned, fake mahogany and circular aquamarine look with bland tan wall panelling.

The back panels are interspersed with a faux aquamarine swirl design and an overhead perspex blue neon sign with the show's logo has been added. A shaggy carpet has been added although the square glass coffee table has been retained as well the concave raised corner - possibly the same white one now just given a mahonagy coloured tint.

Studio audience seating - 18 seats in total although some seats were embarrassingly shown as empty with cushions towards the end of Tuesday's episode - are the same light tan colour as the two new main couches.

As far back as December 2009 TV with Thinus has reported about Urban Brew Studios' attempt to add a live studio audience to Three Talk with Noeleen, plans which constantly got scuppered and postponed.

The studio audience - the seating arrangement very strangely placed perpendicularly to the raised dais on which Noeleen Maholwana-Sangqu and her interviewees are seated (as if they're supposed to be part of an "on-stage play" together with the talk show host, as opposed to being onlookers) clapped and some were given a handheld cordless microphone to ask questions.

Urban Brew Studios told TV with Thinus that Three Talk with Noeleen will now be hosting a weekly studio audience. "There won't be a set day for this as we will determine which shows will include audiences depending on the subject of the day. We want the audience to have a fantastic experience so we'll ensure that when they do join us in studio, they'll be in for a treat with great entertainment, inspiration and information."

Viewers and fans of Three Talk with Noeleen on SABC3 who want to be a part of the in-studio audience can send email to 3talkinfo@urbanbrew.co.za in order to be included as studio audience members in upcoming shows.

About the new set and on-air look Urban Brew Studios tell me that "in the world of live TV, nothing should be permament. We're always tweaking, developing and striving to better our show."

"After 9 years on TV, we never want to get too comfortable, so we always see Three Talk as a work in progress. Yesterday we went on air with a new look that reflects where we're at right now. It's sophisticated and clean with a touch of sparkle. It provides us with more space, and of course, the fantastic opportunity to have a live audience."

Regarding the sudden set change after just a year, Urban Brew Studios says that "the same way our content is always evolving, our set should too".

"Although we loved our white set, it had been 13 months and it was time for a little makeover. Our new look, like our subject matter, reflects current trends. Our wide variety of looks over the past 9 years shows that we aren't afraid to move with the times and change things up and we hope to continue to keep surprising our viewers for years to come."

RATINGS ANALYSIS. Oprah! Idols! Three Talk! More on Isidingo's ratings resurgence, Bold's decline, and SABC1's unimpressive 18:00 timeslot.

Here's my latest viewership analysis and South African TV ratings intelligence nobody else can or will give you. TV with Thinus has some must-know show - and no-show - rating performances for you:

I can 100% guarantee - without a word from the channel - that Idols will be back for an 8th season on M-Net. Why? It's basically the only local reality show with enduring viewership strength. That tedious Idols winners announcement last Tuesday cracked a 1,7 AR for the pay broadcaster - making it the number one show for the week on M-Net. And on a school night no less.

The first season of The X Factor USA also immediately started performing for M-Net with a 0,8 AR - if M-Net gets the chance or has the moola to do a local version of The X Factor SA, its very clear that a local version has strong potential to perform well too.

Isidingo's timeslot change from 18:30 to 19:30 has had an immediate dramatic impact on viewership for the show and SABC3 - up from generally 5,5 AR's to a sudden 6,7 AR, vaulting Isidingo to the new number one show on SABC3 and an insta-gain of thousands of viewers for the weekday soap.

Less good? The demise of The Oprah Winfrey Show that will remain in 100% repeat mode and no new episodes until the show disappears in its new early midday slot on SABC3. Oprah immediately fell out of the top ranking on SABC3 from October.

Now the good and the bad: Three Talk has showed up for the first time on the list of SABC3's top 10 shows, coming in in 10th position. That's good. Not so good is that it's at a lower AR than what Oprah mustered. Three Talk pulls a 3,8 AR which means that SABC3 is overall actually getting less total viewers per week than previously, because the combined viewership of the top shows are at a lower level.

Meanwhile on SABC1 where Bold and the Beautiful don't appear anywhere near top-rated show levels anymore and it doesn't appear as if the dime-a-dozen ''local magazine shows'' that trash-pack the 10:00 timeslot isn close to actually being popular.
They just don't feature on SABC1's list of top 10 shows. Maybe Mzansi-not-so-sure might want to bring in some differentiation to the very similarly themed shows or rethink the timeslot. Luckily for the channel Generations, Zone 14 and Intsika still towers far over anything else on SABC1 viewership wise (and over all of South African television for that matter).

On SABC2 Muvhango still outranks any Rugby World Cup 2011 match broadcasts or coverage on SABC2. And here's something else nobody will tell you: While e.tv's Rhythm City has long ago surpassed SABC2's 7de Laan in total viewers, e.tv's second primetime soap Scandal! is now also passing 7de Laan in total viewers. There's (new) massive soaps in South Africa and they're not on the SABC - which you wouldn't say if you look at the ragtag gossip glossies since their editorial decisions on who to feature isn't based by actually looking and analysing from week to week what their readers are actually watching.

NAME CHANGE: Now it's just Three Talk for SABC3's weekday talk show 3Talk with Noeleen after Monday's big make-over.

3Talk with Noeleen on SABC3 (weekdays, 15:30) produced by Urban Brew Studios, will now be known as Three Talk in future.

The slight name adaptation to just Three Talk follows the make-over of the show on Monday that includes a new set by Michael Gill Designs, a new opening theme with new graphics and adapted theme music.

ALSO READ: Three Talk with Noeleen unveils a brand-new set.
ALSO READ: The scale model miniature of the new Three Talk set.
ALSO READ: What! It's white! Set designer Michael Gill on his white new Three Talk set.