Ha! I wanted to spill the news in a combo of Afrikaans and Zulu (all mixed together in the same sentences) but then it turned out to be too schmancy for me and I ended up at a loss for words:0.
Jozi Zoo recently played backdrop to the launch of the new multilingual children's channel,
Koowee - meaning: a call to gather round to be part of what's going on.
You may have seen the TVSA news story about it - the channel's replaced K-TV on DStv and features shows dedicated to children, aged one to six.
It goes live on Monday 6 April at 05h00 on Channel 307 and runs from 05h00 to 19h00 daily. It debuted in Afrikaans and as from 2010 it'll be broadcast in Zulu too.
All the signature shows have been created specifically for it and star puppets, animations and various creatures so that they can be easily dubbed i.e. no "Vanish ad" lips.
At the moment only Zulu has been confirmed as a multilingual language but hopefully further languages will be introduced too to make it as cosmopolitan as possible - apparently Zulu was chosen because of being spoken most widely.
Over the next year more new shows will be produced in both Afrikaans and Zulu and then dubbed into the other. The simulcast will work the same way as the parental language feature, so you can select the language you want.
Slush PuppiesThe channel's three lead animations/creatures that appear in the inter-titles between the shows are ..
A bee
An elephant
A flower
A hott dude called Udi.
Unfortunately not. I just had to add him 'cos I was so impressed with him and slush puppy's in general. The only problem was it did what they always do - by a third of the way through all the juice was gone.
What's On?
The premiere line-up includes a combo of the channel's new signature shows, as well as shows that have been dubbed previously, including old classics such as Heidi and Pinocchio. These will run until the channel only has original programming.
Many of the newbies are puppet shows - the idea is to re-introduce the craft of puppetry into kids-TV. One of the producers is Hansie Visagie, creator of Haas Daas En NuusKas.
Some new titles include: Mathilda - about a gossip mouse who's always after a story; Themba and Thembi - about two moles who get up to mischief; and Lappies, which stars a lion and his bushveld pals.
An aha! thing about Lappies is that the puppeteer who plays him is Antoinette Snyman, who was none other other than Liewe Heksie. Antoinette's been training troupe's of puppeteers to perform - a pass-it-forward trend that runs through all the shows.
Puppeteers (from left to right, back) Oscar Moyo, Sylvia Nonkumbi, Solomon Cupido, Antoinette and Oupa Maklong. (Front) Johnny Klein.
In the case of Lappies, the director of the first season trained up a new director for the second season (which is currently filming) and once it's over she'll train up another director for the third and so on.
Directors Elmarie Hamel and Anzel Larkins
TV Critics. Inc
Of course the real judges of the channel will be ...