New on SABC2 this February, 2008:
NEW SHOWS AND SEASONS
EncountersPremiered: Sunday, 3 February 2008 at 12h30
On: Sundays at 12h30
Encounters is a 13 part series that aims to get the nation talking and thinking. Hosted by journalist Fred Khumalo - Sunday Times Insight and Opinion Editor - the show puts the spotlight on ethics and morality in South Africa.
Khumalo and expert guests tackle a range of current and sometimes controversial topics each week. These include:
- Doctors and the Hippocratic Oath
- Are the youth of today morally degenerate?
- Until death do us part or until someone else comes along?
Through the debates and encounters in the show the question is posed: as a nation, is it possible to develop a shared moral code, taking into account our history, cultural diversity and economic inequalities?
The show features a range of views from different groups and people including alternative churches, cultural workers, academics, business people, comedians, writers etc.
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Keeping It Real 3Premiered: Tuesday, 5 February 2008 at 16h30.
The youth talk show Keeping It Real returns for a new season. Prudence Moabelo takes over from Precious Kofi as host of the show.
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Iketsetse 4 Premiere date: Wednesday, 6 February 2008 at 16h30.
The youth DIY show Iketsetse (which means Do It Yourself) returns for a second season.
Hosted by DIY guru Riaan Venter the show guides young viewers through the process of making changes around the house and creating gifts using DIY skills and tools.
Each episode features Riaan taking viewers through an adventure that results in them creating something practical - first with basic tools and then power tools.
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DinosapienPremiere date: Saturday 9 February 2008 at 15h00.
Once the first season finishes the second season premieres directly afterwards.If the dinosaurs had not died out, would they have fulfilled their evolutionary destiny and become intelligent creatures?
When an earthquake in the Canadian Badlands opens a temporary portal into an underground world, four teenagers - Lauren, Courtney, Kit and Chris - discover that dinosaurs didn't die out but rather evolved beneath the Earth, out of sight. Now they're making a comeback - but are they friend or foe? And what does their re-appearance have to do with Lauren's Dad, who vanished over a year ago, and Kit's mysterious Uncle Ten Bears?
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The Sarah Jane AdventuresPremiere date: Saturday, 9 February 2008 at 15h30
Sarah Jane Smith inhabits a world of mystery, danger and wonder. A world where aliens are commonplace and the Earth is constantly under threat. A world that Maria Jackson - a seemingly ordinary girl - can only dream of until she moves in next door.
Nothing will ever be ordinary again.
The Sarah Jane Adventures is a spin-off of the Sci-Fi series
Dr Who.
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The Contender 2Premiere date: Friday, 15 February 2008
Produced by Mark Burnett, The Contender returns to SABC2 for the second season. Hosted by Sylvester Stallone and Sugar Ray Leonard, 16 aspiring boxers convene at a training camp where they live, eat, sleep and train together and participate in physically demanding challenges over 15 episodes.
Each episode culminates in a 5-round professional bout where the winner moves one step closer to the one million dollar grand prize.
The series concludes with a live finale from Caesar's Palace in Las Vegas.
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Riemvasmaak (4-Part Mini-Series)
Premiere date: Tuesday, 19 February 2008 at 19h30
Riemvasmaak is the second Mini-Series in SABC2's Mini-Series Festival.
Portia Joel & Ceagan Arendse
Set in the early seventies Riemvasmaak is the story of an exodus of a people from their beloved land. The forced removal of the community from land they had lived on for many generations leads one Riemvasmaker, Jaco Allemans, to define and redefine himself as a man; his initial defiance gives way to despair, loss and the eventual rediscovery of a more mature self and his role as a leader of his people.
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Smallville 4Premiere date: Saturday, 23 February at 18h30
Clark Kent returns for a fourth season of Smallville to follow-up his adventures from Season 3.
In this season Clark returns from a bizarre phantom zone to Smallville, possessed by his Kryptonian alter ego, Kal-El. Intent on fulfilling his destiny, Kal-El takes to the skies to steal a powerful Kryptonite crystal.
Meanwhile, Lois Lane comes to town to investigate the murder of her cousin, Chloe. Lana returns from Paris with a new attitude and a new boyfriend, Jason Teague.
Jonathan lies in a coma after his traumatic experience in the caves and Lionel faces a grim new life in prison.
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Inanda My Heritage
On: Sunday, 17 February, 2008 at 21h00
Inanda, situated just outside Durban, in Kwa-Zulu Natal is a little known place by South Africans yet our first black president Nelson Mandela cast his first vote there.
He voted in Inanda to pay respect to another hero, Dr Langalibalele Dube, the first ANC President-General and also the first African Minister to be ordained by American missionaries. Dr Dube was the founder of the famous Ohlange school and also the founder of the first IsiZulu newspaper in the country, ILanga laseNatal now simply known as Ilanga.
Many heroes drive along the meandering road surrounded by the green hills scattered with cotton white government built houses. The documentary follows this road and meets different characters with different challenges, while celebrating the place and its heroes.
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A Pair Of Boots and a Bicycle
On: Sunday 24 February, 2008 at 21h00
A Pair of Boots and a Bicycle is a documentary about black South African veterans of World War II who personally tell the stories of their lives and experiences in the war.
It explores what remained of the promises of a better life made to them before leaving to partake in a war demanding heroism and resolve but resulting in betrayal and disappointment.
The documentary honours those who participated in a war never intended to honour them. Mapping a time line that spans the period from before the war into modern day democratic South Africa, the documentary points to the simplistic efforts of these soldiers which reverberate and live on in the construction of democracy.
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