So that's it pips.
e.tv's supernatural telenovela Isipho has been cancelled without so much as a howdee-doodee.
Well, it got a howdee-doodee but only weeks after it was ripped from e.tv the week before Christmas.
It was supposed to air until June this year but it suddenly disappeared from our screens on Thursday 19 December and the channel's only spoken up about it today (8 January) in a press release confirming its cancellation.
According to e.tv, it's ending for strategic business reasons i.e. it wasn't making the channel any money OR - much more likely - the channel's been bleeding money trying to sustain a daily show in the suicide timeslot of 18h30.
Putting it up against Skeem Saam was pure and utter madness!
TVSA members knew it when Isipho first premiered and the implosive impact has come to pass.
It's been a no-show in e.tv's Top 20 ratings since it debuted in July 2019 and notable signs of its impending doom have been felt since November last year when its teasers disappeared after the show stopped providing them.
So what now?
There's no confirmation from e.tv as to the plan for the timeslot. The current schedule's a mess, darting between different titles, with the docu-reality show Mohadi-Lobola airing until the end of this week.
The schedules say that Isipho airs next week, putting an exclamation mark on the fact that it's gone poof!
This is the release:
Johannesburg, Wednesday 8 January 2020 - e.tv will no longer be airing daily local drama series Isipho. The series aired Monday – Thursday at 6.30 PM, and its last episode was on 19 December 2019.
The mutual decision to conclude production on the drama series is a strategic business one and was reached amicably by all parties involved.
e.tv would like to thank the shows production team HERBVISION MULTIMEDIA and THE NTINTILI FACTORY for their unwavering dedication and passion that has gone into the hard work of producing the drama series.
Marlon Davids, Managing Director at e.tv, explained: "It is with sincere regret that we end a locally produced drama series; however, following lengthy discussions with our partners, the decision was made to end the series. e.tv continues to look forward to fulfilling its mandate of producing exceptional and relevant local content.”
Isipho's Executive Producers Herbert Hadebe and Busisiwe Ntintili feel: "This has been an amazing and breath-taking journey for us as independent local producers. The opportunity to tell stories that uplift South African audiences and create employment for South African families is our mission.
This fantastic experience has given us, as young companies, great courage to continue with the vision of upskilling our people and contributing to the growth of our film and television industry. Thank you e.tv, for the opportunity. We will do it again in the near future."
e.tv, HERBVISION MULTIMEDIA, and THE NTINTILI FACTORY would like to extend our gratitude to the entire Isipho production staff, writers, crew, and cast for their excellent craft.
Viewers can watch re-runs of Isipho on free-to-air satellite platform Openview’s eExtra channel 105, every Monday - Thursday at 10:25 AM until Sunday, 19 January 2020.