Synopsis for Paradys
Years ago, sisters Rochelle Booysen (played by Lorcia Cooper) and Natasha Malgas (played by Chantal Stanfield) made a secret agreement. Because Natasha could not conceive, Rochelle agreed to act as a surrogate mother for her. However, once the baby (Kim) was born, Rochelle could not bear to give her up. She fled the community of Paradys, taking the baby with her and leaving behind a devastated family.
Nearly 16 to 18 years later, crushed by financial hardship and poverty, Rochelle is forced to return home. Her arrival coincides with a massive family tragedy: her father, Reverend Clive Booysen, is murdered on his 60th birthday just as deep community tensions boil over.
Back in town with her teenage daughter Kim, Rochelle must confront the ghosts of her past and a sister who still resents her. At the same time, she launches a search to find her father’s killer. This puts her directly on a collision course with Vinny Malgas (played by Elton Landrew), a powerful, ruthless businessman determined to bury the truth about Clive’s murder and dismantle the late Reverend’s dream of building a dignified community.
Since then, there has been a rapid decline in the volume of Afrikaans programming broadcast on SABC 2, with the news bulletin remaining the flagship show. Occasionally Voetspore from kykNET airs, but beyond that there is very little content aimed at this target group.
Last year, SABC’s head of platforms, David Makubyane, told Rapport that the broadcaster wanted to launch an Afrikaans channel as part of various attempts to win back viewers. They also admitted that they did not conduct proper market research when axing 7de Laan and Fokus.
That included shifting the Afrikaans news bulletin from 18:30 on SABC 2 to 20:30 on SABC 3. The move was widely criticised by Afrikaans viewers, many of whom said they were already in bed by that time.
The SABC has ambitions of rivalling kykNET and eExtra’s Kuiertyd, yet it struggles to accommodate these particular viewers on SABC 2. Paradys was carrying SABC 2, and now the channel is largely burdened by news. Even if the plan was to replace the show, it took two to three years for them to get a follow-up.
Paradys will probably face the same scenario, where consumers have to wait weeks that turn into months and eventually years. Here’s the thing: the SABC needs to realise that there are other options available, and viewers are not going to wait months or years just to get another 7de Laan or Paradys.
Canal+’s MultiChoice revamped its DStv packages across South Africa in September, with Starter consumers now getting access to kykNET & Kie, kykNET NOU! and VIA. These channels offer a variety of content ranging from drama series, movies, reality shows and lifestyle programmes to music and cartoons.
eMedia Investments has its own offering with eExtra’s Kuiertyd, which mainly features Afrikaans-dubbed Turkish dramas. At times this is expanded to include short-form series and films, but the core remains Turkish soaps such as ’n Ma se Hart, Bloedspoor and Yosef.
As much as one may wish for an Afrikaans channel not to remain in the dream phase, the reality is that the SABC is currently lacking in this field. If they had successfully launched one, it would probably have been an SABC Encore and eExtra-inspired channel with imports from kykNET and VIA.
Then again, it is a matter of trust. Would viewers really trust a broadcaster that admitted cancelling two long-running shows was a trial-and-error exercise? After stating that the mentioned shows were too expensive to continue, an Afrikaans channel would not really solve this predicament.
Think of the time the SABC moved its remaining Afrikaans offering to SABC 3. It did not do much to elevate the viewership on that channel, or at least not in a way that would surpass SABC 2. An Afrikaans channel would likely end up in the exact same boat as SABC 3.
No comments:
Post a Comment