When I filled you in on the news about the
DStv channel shuffle I mentioned that Sony Entertainment Television is one of five new channels arriving this November.
At the time there was no news about what the channel is exactly and it was impossible to work out what we can expect because of it having different incarnations across the world. There’s SET (Asia), SET (India) and SET (Latin America) which are all specifically created and compiled for these regions - the SET (India) channel is on the DStv Indian bouquet that goes out to North Africa.
After doing investigations about how it's going to work for us I’ve discovered that we’re going get our own version put together for us in the form of SET (Africa).
Basically the way SET works is that Sony organises the movies and TV shows they make into these different region specific channels so that they cater to each areas needs, including language differences etc.
The programming we’ll see will be a selection of their different English language shows and movies made in both the US and the UK.
The channel's going to run seven days a week in 12 hourly cycles so every day's programming will run twice a day. DStv doesn't have the starting times for each cycle yet.
To get an idea of the shows that'll be on I’ve been browsing to check out what they make and there are all sorts of different US and UK titles - both from years ago and now.
Here's a listing of some of their currently listed shows that I've jotted down from their websites. Each has a link either to their official websites or links to their TVSA mini-sites:
Comedies:Just Shoot MeMarried ... with ChildrenBewitched10 Items Or LessThe BoondocksThe King Of QueensMad About YouMarried With ChildrenMy BoysThe NannyRules Of EngangementSeinfeldSoap'
Til DeathWill & GraceDramas & Action/Adventure:
Blood PlusDamagesRescue MeThe ShieldStrong MedicineJoan Of Arcadia Crossing JordanThe L WordMissingRules Of EngagementDawson's CreekHuffAs If (no website - see description below)
HexLas VegasRunawayKidnappedSci-Fi:Stargate SG-1Stargate AtlantisGame & Reality Shows:
Dragon's DenJeopardyPower Of 10Wheel Of FortuneGirls Behaving BadlyRipley's Believe It or NotTalk/Court:Judge David YoungJudge HatchettJudge Maria LopezRicki Lake (Why??)
Family & Animation:Breakman's WorldDragon TalesHarold and the Purple CrayonJackie Chan AdventuresStuart LittleRetro shows I've spotted:The Jeffersons
Charlie's Angels
The Facts Of Life
Benson
Designing Woman
Different Strokes
I have no clue whether or not they'll only show their current shows or if they'll include some of the retro stuff too - would lurve to see Charlie's Angels. All I know is that I got a schedule with a couple of shows that have definitely been confirmed to start in the first week of the channel being here - these are them: The Shield, The Boondocks, Rescue Me, Hex, As If and Jumanji: The Series.
It'll be fun to see how it comes together and what's up for grabs as an extra channel-hop - I like the idea that it's a variety channel that mixes movies and series with nothing else in between and that it combo's US and UK programming. Hopefully they'll have a decent plan for Saturday nights to solve the crisis a Saturday night's currently in on every other channel.
As If description:Jamie, Sozz, Nicki, Alex, Sasha and Rob. All friends, all around eighteen and all stars in their own drama. Each half hour episode is shot from one of the group's point of view, as though he/she is having a movie made of their own life. Each of them feels that this gives them control over the story they choose to tell but they're less like the cast of Friends than they like to think.