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Battle of the SA soapies
30/01/2007 12:25 - (SA)
Martjie Roos and Gavin Prins, Beeld
Johannesburg - The bubbles will fly at 18:30 on Monday evening when South Africa's big three soapies go head-to-head for the first time in prime time viewing.
Binnelanders, M-Net's first full-on effort at producing an all-Afrikaans drama series, which until last week was televised on Thursday evenings, will be going for full soapie status on Monday evenings.
Soapies are the flagships of TV channels
This means that M-Net will be competing directly for the viewers and advertisers of SABC2's 7de Laan, and SABC3's Isidingo.
Soapies are the flagships of the TV channels.
They generate good income from advertising, and record numbers of viewers.
Of the three competitors in the prime time slots, 7de Laan leads the way with an average 1.9m viewers a day, while Isidingo draws between 1.3m and 1.8m a day.
Egoli which attracts 900 000 viewers, has the benefit of being broadcast in open time, until April 1.
The picture may well change when open time goes.
In its old time slot on Thursdays, Binnelanders clocked up to 500 000 viewers per episode.
The producers of Binnelanders, Elsje and Friedrich Stark, who have combined with Mfuni Vlundla for the past two years to produce South Africa's most popular soapie, Generations, believe that the new format of half an hour a day won't spoil the essence of Binnelanders.
Isidingo loses its super-bitch
They know their way around daily drama productions.
"We are not going to tamper with a winning formula. We believe that strong narratives and believable characters make a successful series, and we'll be trying to do just that," say the Starks.
Binnelanders has struck the first blow, by luring super-siren Michelle Botes away from Isidingo.
She can be seen in Binnelanders from April.
This means that both 7de Laan and Isidingo are bereft of one of the main ingredients of a top-drawer soapie, a super-bitch.
But Isidingo led the way in innovation in the 18:30 time slot from way back, and it featured the first officially sanctioned TV kiss across the SA colour-line.
They followed up later with the first gay character, the first mixed marriage, the first HIV positive person and first polygamous marriage.
The first legal gay marriage on South African TV was a recent story-line, also on Isidingo.
The main writer of the series, Greig Coetsee, says Isidingo will keep on surprising.
Favourite Afrikaans soapie 'keeps on growing'
7de Laan does not plan to take this lying down.
The country's favourite Afrikaans soapie just keeps on growing, both in terms of cast and original sets.
The number of actors has grown from 18 to 27, and the nine original sets have grown to 20.
Danie Odendaal Productions says 7de laan viewers can look forward to a few lip-smacking love affairs this year.
M-Net's johnny-come-lately, Binnelanders,, has been hand-picking its writers and characters and the pundits say 7de Laan will have to shake its tail feathers.
But just how the war-of-the-soapies will pan out in terms of viewers will have to be seen, says Nadia van der Merwe, a University of Johannesburg lecturer who has studied the soapie phenomenon.
"It will be interesting to see how Binnelanders goes in terms of viewers, but I think 7de laan will still rule the roost."
Don't underestimate the power of channel hopping
But says van der Merwe, don't underestimate the power of channel hopping.
She's convinced that a good soapie is the outcome of combining top writers and actors, and a super-bitch is a must.
It's quite possible that loyal Michelle Botes fans will migrate with her when she swops from Isidingo to Binnelanders, she said.
- Beeld
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South Africa
