When they leave, they - and their shows - say they'll stay. But they hardly ever really do and you can't at all blame them.
Yet, since the veteran Carte Blanche presenter John Webb emigrated to the United Kingdom a year ago, he has actually not just kept to and made good on his promise to remain and keep reporting on Carte Blanche - he completely shattered and surpassed all expectations.
John Webb didn't disappear off TV screens and he refused to fade away.
In fact, the highly-respected journalist did the opposite. Over the past year, John Webb has helped to elevate South Africa's long-running, weekly investigative programme on M-Net (DStv 101) that has remained outstanding, to even more eye-popping and must-see appointment television on Sunday nights at 19:00.
Bringing incredible production values and visuals to Carte Blanche inserts as he continues to file multiple extremely interesting inserts and interviews from the United Kingdom and across Europe, John Webb as producer and presenter has managed to successfully infuse the venerable current affairs show in its 31st year of pay-TV existence on DStv with something incredible - a great international flavour.
To a masterful extent in a manner of speaking, the intrepid John and his reporting wanderlust has made Carte Blanche and DStv subscribers, on almost a weekly basis, part of the "world wide webb".
TV viewers might see and then have an underlying awareness that something is of above-average quality - or not - but rarely sit down to deconstruct exactly why that's the case.
Yet, when Carte Blanche and the seemingly indefatigable John Webb in October 2018 broadcast a fascinating insert on global warming when he went to Sweden on assignment to report on global warming, utterly mesmerising visuals and can't-look-away storytelling formed part of the package.
It was beautifully shot.
Part of the incredible scene-setting shots included fly-over landscape panning scenes of the Swedish wilderness along winding roads. It was absolutely movie quality and obviously done using a camera drone - a seemingly small touch that literally elevated the entire story and enhanced it in scope, content, visuals and substance.
You just don't really see that in or on South African weekly television but the effort, the thought, and the enhanced production values in that indelible moment raised the bar yet again of what Carte Blanche is and what it shows to M-Net viewers.
The incredible quality of camerawork, combined with interesting topics and well-done research that are part of John Webb's filed overseas stories have now been seen - and noticed - several times since.
#Hurricanes, tornadoes and flash #floods have become more frequent as climate experts warn that the effects of #climatechange could soon be irreversible. Don't miss #CarteBlanche Sun at 7pm on @MNet @journojohn @DStv ch 101 pic.twitter.com/Tbi8fQNiDa— Carte Blanche (@carteblanchetv) October 12, 2018
TVwithThinus decided to reach out to John Webb not just about his incredible and dedicated work over the past year for Carte Blanche but to find out how working for the Combined Artistic Productions show has been different since he's now been doing global stories from afar and reporting on stories that have a resonance for South African and African viewers on DStv.
"The most significant difference has been taking on the additional challenge of producing as well as presenting the inserts," says John Webb.
"It's heightened my regard for the Carte Blanche production team which has - for 30 years - generated amazing content in often very taxing conditions and with very short turn-arounds."
"You're taking responsibility for something which is only a concept when you begin shooting - a collection of thoughts and images in your mind's eye - and trying to find the visual and human components that bring it to life."
"Not only that, but then you have to bring it to life in a way that draws people into their TV rooms on a Sunday night - and, while doing that, you're booking yet another Uber and thinking about what to buy your crew for lunch," John Webb explains.
"It's also brought home the central role of the presenter - not only as the person guiding the viewer through the complexities of any given story, but as someone to turn to for help with the creative process and bounce ideas off."
"In my case, the absence of a second set of eyes and ears can sometimes be a little disconcerting," he says. "In those instances, it helps to have a camera operator not afraid to voice an opinion."
Tales from a true international TV correspondent
And who now comes up with the story-ideas that will find John Webb in Italy the one week, interviewing experts about Brexit and what the impact will be for South Africa the next, or literally standing in the middle of a frozen river somewhere in Europe?
"These are discussed and dissected at our weekly editorial meetings," he says. "The ideas come from the producers themselves, the editorial and management team or our excellent researchers. They're pitched, discussed, refined and then either approved or turned down."
"It's a thorough and - quite rightly - rigorous process. The challenge for me is finding ideas that will make it through that process unscathed," says John Webb. "And that means stories that aren't being shot in Europe simply for shooting in Europe's sake."
"For example, a piece-to-camera in the middle of a Norwegian fjord might look extraordinary, but there'd be very little point filming one if what was happening in Norway wasn't in some way relevant to a South African audience."
"So, while there are always interesting events unfolding in the northern hemisphere, our task is to seek out the ones we think our viewers will feel a connection with. It's an inexact science and it's always extremely helpful to have the input of the editorial team in Johannesburg, as well as the other producers and presenters."
"Thankfully, I think our audience responds to a wide variety of stories. The key is ensuring they're well-told and well filmed. And, given that we're in the story-telling business, as long as we get that part right, we're on the right track."
Then I ask John Webb - who already travelled extensively to several places and countries around Europe the past few months, how this experience has been.
"Travelling is one of the great privileges of this job," he says. "Driving through the magnificent tundra of the far north of Sweden or sharing a bowl of clams with a cameraman in downtown Lisbon isn't part of the job description of too many other professions."
"It also helps that nowhere seems too far away when you're flying within Europe. I can board a plane in Dublin at 6am and be shooting pieces-to-camera in Munich three hours later."
"There's also an upside to using local crew when shooting abroad. They tend to show great enthusiasm as amateur tour guides and are often very knowledgeable. A story in Germany last year involved a long drive from Munich to Stuttgart."
"The cameraman, while driving at obscene speed down the autobahn, filled me in on just about every historical aspect of the areas we were passing through. My life would be poorer for not knowing how deeply some Germans feel about asparagus!" says John Webb.
Of camerawork that lifts a story
And the very noticeable high production quality of some of the inserts - how has this been made possible?
"I've been fortunate in finding capable camera operators," says John Webb. "When almost all your stories are shot abroad, this can be a bit of a lottery, you're never entirely sure what you're going to get."
"Where I'm unable to rely on the recommendations of colleagues, I do my best to research their work online. It also helps to know if they're shooting with up-to-date gear."
"I also think that, when you've worked for Carte Blanche for a while, you recognise the importance of spending time shooting well-considered 'b-roll'. This is the footage that generally covers the voice-over in a script and the rule-of-thumb is that you can never have enough."
" But, if you ensure that what you do get is well shot, then it can make an extraordinary difference to an insert. As for the drones, well, at the outset, I should admit to being an absolute sucker for drone footage shot in good light," says John Webb.
"I think the aesthetic impact is undeniable. But, on some stories they've become a crucial device in helping to tell the story."
"Even the best scripting in the world can't fully capture the brooding grittiness of somewhere like Emalahleni or the sheer magnificence of the Arctic Circle in the way that a drone can. There's always a danger that these shots can be overused, but I think the additional dimension shot with such stability can really lift a story," he explains.
"All of which, I hope, contributes to a product that is pleasing on the eye. It's something that we pay a lot of attention to at Carte Blanche and I think our viewers - given their own investment in HD technology and beyond – have every right to expect of us."
Reaching out in the dark with a new contribution
When you moved, did you really think or envision that you would do such a lot of stories and inserts, I ask. Was it a resolute goal from the beginning, or something that developed and continued more organically?
"I certainly hoped to do as many but, in a lot of ways, I was reaching out in the dark," says John Webb. "I wasn't sure I would be able to regularly find stories that my colleagues would consider interesting and worthy of an insert."
"I'm absolutely thrilled that it's worked out that way and delighted that my executive producer, Wynand Grobler, sees the value in global content."
And what does he want to say about this new chapter of working for Carte Blanche from the United Kingdom? "I'm sure I'm going to be accused of cheerleading here, but I think it's important to say that Carte Blanche, even by global comparisons, is a unique product," he says.
"I simply don't see, outside of the flagship programmes on the major networks, anyone in any other part of the world with our level of content."
"Of course, there's astonishing programming being produced all over the world at any given time, but to broadcast up to five world-class inserts week-in and week-out is quite unprecedented. And the ability to make my contribution from thousands of kilometres away is a rare privilege," says John Webb.
Creative visuals, yet meticulously factual
I also knocked on the door of Wynand Grobler, Carte Blanche's executive producer, for answers to some questions about John Webb's global contribution.
"Since his relocation overseas, John has been able to bring a fresh global perspective to the programme and to specific inserts," says Wynand Grobler.
"While more than 90% of Carte Blanche content is local, Carte Blanche recognises that our viewers are worldly citizens who appreciate multiple outlooks - and now we can bring that home where relevant."
"There are numerous examples: We recently produced a story on the possible impact of Brexit on South Africa. John's presence in the United Kingdom made it possible for us to physically show our viewers what an Irish border looks like and what the complicated intellectual debates around it really mean, rather than to merely refer to it."
"But the first consideration is always to be relevant to our viewers," he says.
About how Carte Blanche decides when and how many inserts to do and use from John Webb or when to include those, he says "there is no rule as such".
"Each story idea is subjected to editorial scrutiny like any other, its relevance to South African viewers debated and its practicality considered. John plans to regularly return to South Africa and produce and present stories while here too."
"John is an exceptional journalist and astute presenter who is creative in his visual approach to stories while being meticulously factual," says Wynand Grobler. "He has a knack for telling stories that are accessible but thought-provoking."
"This gives him the ability to bring a fresh take to South African problems by looking at solutions that have been successful elsewhere in the world."
"John recently visited the city of Lisbon to get the lowdown on the unconventional methods the city used to deal with its drug problem. This also applies to South Africa, a country with an equally serious drug problem, which Carte Blanche has featured on numerous occasions in different guises."
"While addressing the problem head-on, his stories bring a sense of hope and the suggestion that there are solutions to be found to many of the country's complications."
Wynand says "every aspect of John's work is of exceptional quality and compares favourably to the best from around the world".
"His stories bring an added dimension to the show which we hope viewers will appreciate. We look forward to more instalments from him."
Carte Blanche is broadcast on M-Net (DStv 101) on Sundays at 19:00.
Carte Blanche is available on MultiChoice's DStv Now Catch Up, and is also made available to international Showmax subscribers.
