Comedy Central adds local satirical news show to schedule

Comedy Central Africa (DStv 122) today announced the launch of Comedy Central News (CCN, to to be confused with CNN, or is it to be confused?), the channel's latest local project.

Comedy Central News will be a satirical news programme covering every possible hot topic from sports to pop culture, American politics and local news.

The programme is produced by the same company behind Starsat's critically acclaimed ZANews: Puppet Nation, Both Worlds. It will be anchored by comedian, Sne Dladla.

CCN is not South Africa's first satirical news show. There is the aforementioned ZANews, and then there was Late Night News with Loyiso Gola which ran for eight seasons on eNCA.

Comedy Central News will also not be the first Comedy Central News in the world. The brand (which includes the name and format) has been running in different European countries, like the Netherlands, for a while now.

CCN premieres on Comedy Central Africa (DStv 122) on October 3rd at 9pm, complementing the channel's main American satirical news programme, The Daily Show with Trevor Noah, which airs Tuesday through Friday at that same time.

News and Current Affiars SAFTA Highlights

The SAFTA nominees were announced this past week with various news and current affairs programming featured and nominated.

The best South African show you probably not watching, ZA News: Puppet Nation, received eight nods, being nominated in the Best Comedy Category, alongside Ga Ra Dumele, Kota Life Crisis, and Those Who Can't. They also featured in the Best Achievement by Supporting Actor in a TV Comedy for their puppeteers ( I don't know if all the puppeteers are male), Best Achievement in Art/Production Design in a TV Comedy, Best Achievement Costume Design in a TV Comedy, Best Achievement in Cinematography in a TV Comedy, Best Achievement in Editing in a TV Comedy,  Best Achievement in Sound Design in a TV Comedy and Best Achievement in Scriptwriting in a TV Comedy. If you want to know what the fuss is about, they do upload all their episodes onto YouTube.
In addition, ZANews has additional nominees in the Best Achievement by a Lead Actor in a TV Comedy category for Aggrey Loake  and Nik Rabinowitz. The director, Alex Fynn, is also nominated for  Best Achievement in Directing in a TV Comedy.

The current affairs nominees are:
Best Current Affairs Actuality Programme
It’s a Zama Zama (if you know where I can find this show, please let me know)
Dying for Water in Madibeng (Carte Blanche)
Insurance Taken for a Ride (Carte Blanche)

Best Factual Education Programme
Each One Teach One – Dancer
Groen Namibia
Durban Beach Rescue
Siyaya – Come Wild with Us: Season 2

Best Documentary Full Length
Shore Break Movie (Pty) Ltd (The Shore Break)
Undercurrent Film & Television (The Dream of Shahrazad)
WB Productions (204: Getting Away with Murder)

Best Documentary Short
Film Industry Learner Mentorship Programme (F.I.L.M) (Cape Town Carnival 2015: Elemental)
EMS Productions (Indians Can’t Fly)
VIA – Vision In Africa (Emo Adams – Tall, Dark & Afrikaans)

No nods for eNCA (whose documentary division was shuttered a while ago), SABC News Channel or ANN7.

SAFTA Highlights: Puppet Nation ZA Makes Clean Sweep, Again

The South African Film and Television Awards took place this past weekend and, as seen last year, ZA News: Puppet Nation cleaned up yet again, bagging a whopping 7 awards.

The jewel in struggling pay-tv platform, Starsat's crown received top honours in the following categories:

• Best Achievement in Hair and Makeup (Franci Van Den Heever)
• Best Achievement in Art/Design Pruduction (Franci Van Den Heever, Matthew Sanna)
• Best Achievement in Costume Design (San-Mari Calaca)
• Best Achievement in Sound (Lyle Bennett)
• Best Achievement in Original Score (Lyle Bennett)
• Best Achievement in Directing (Thierry Cassuto, Alex Fynn)
• And, of course, the big one: Best Comedy

Its only competitor in the South African satirical news genre, Late Nite news With Loyiso Gola, did not bag any awards, though Loyiso hosted.


The sad part of it all is that the show can only be viewed by Starsat's approximately 100 000 subscribers, and viewers on Youtube, which are usually quite few. I'm surprised another  channel bigger than Star One  has not yet made a play for the show that has made a name for itself in being of award-winning quality.


Other notable SAFTA wins for they newsy/actuality categories include Safe Haven winning Best Actuality/Current Affairs Programme and Think Big winning Best Educational/Factual Programme.


The Vula Connection, which aired multiple times on eNCA bagged two awards. As you know, Sabido is closing its documentary division, so the wins mark a sort of end of an era.


Expresso's Katlego Maboe took home the viewer-voted Best Presenter category.