Fatmagul Finds Its Place On eVOD

Fatmagul aired in 2018 on the now defunct eBella channel owned by eMedia Investments on the Openview and DStv platform. The series followed the story of a young woman from a coastal town who seeks revenge on a group of men who violated her while under the influence of drugs.

Fatmagul was one of the first Turkish shows to air on eMedia's stable and since its success brought shows like The Girl Named Feriha, Matter Of Respect and Black Money Love. These were one of the first few shows to be dubbed in English.

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We knew Fatmagul was a success but by the looks of Kuiertyd you can tell that these series pulled more viewers than most of the content found on eExtra and at the time most of their content were just rebroadcast from the DStv platform.

Aside from viewership, the other reason could have been accessibility as there's not a lot of alternatives to these shows aside from kykNET and Timeless Dizi Channel which followed after Kuiertyd.

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Fatmagul made history as it's the first Turkish series to be added in the Afrikaans section of eMedia's eVOD streaming service hinting at reruns on ePlesier and by the looks of it more repeats of these shows as it's eExtra's Anaconda but timeless from my perspective.

It's presence on eVOD raises a lot of questions, Anaconda was gone from e.tv for nearly a decade after the excessive load on repeats and came back with its sequel. Is it possible that Fatmagul alongside several shows will take a break only to return in Afrikaans?

Honestly, it's under the Afrikaans section on eVOD despite being aired in English but if TLC can air weddings and MTV focus on Teen Moms. Why stop Fatmagul from airing in that slot if viewers who watch the show won't mind viewing them without that flaw.

#BoycottKykNet: A Possible Outcome To The Demise Of eExtra

eMedia Investments got into a fist fight with MultiChoice when the pay-tv platform decided to scrap 4 of their e.tv channels before handling the matter with Competition Tribunal with outcomes to the agreement set to be unraveled.

As seen this past week, kykNET's duplicate channel kykNET & Kie will be adapting to the concept seen on eExtra's Kuiertyd block where they dub various telenovelas particularly Turkish in Afrikaans and giving the free-to-view brand some steady competition.

As mentioned in an early press release:

World-class TV has been dubbed into Afrikaans for decades. Over the past few years, South Africa's excellent reverberation skills have been used to bring Turkish telenovelas to local screens - in Afrikaans. The plot, action and romance in these telenovelas keep viewers glued.

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kykNET obviously got this entail from e.tv as series like Droomvelore can pull close to 2 million views while a show like 7de Laan has less than 900000 views monthly. Even eExtra despite not being as accessible as the main brand was fortunate enough to surpass 7de Laan.

As seen for the past 4 years, this content was exclusive to eExtra before being duplicated on more eMedia brands now DStv consumers will be getting more alternatives to but the decision to keep the e.tv channels is entirely up to DStv.

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Firstly, kykNET's attempt could be met with severe backlash not because of the cancellation of Tussen Ons or reduction in local content but MultiChoice's decision to not keep eExtra alongside the 3 other e.tv channels.

After that close scare in March, several consumers opted for Openview in case things don't work out between those parties and these shows are divided between platforms.

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eMedia was the main reason these stories went on to be as big as they are today. The only way most if not all consumers would view this content on DStv is to be assured that eExtra will remain unscathed throughout kykNET's introduction to the Turkish market.

Want To Know More About eExtra's New Series Fenix Stream Netflix's Miniseries The Bonfire Of Destiny

Before reading my intention is not to lure viewers away from Fenix as the two do have unique concepts while the original which is the French version consists of 8 episodes that can take up a week this version goes on for a couple of months again except different concepts.

Le Bazar de la Charité (The Bonfire of Destiny) begins with the depiction of a true event, the fire at the Bazar de la Charité in Paris, 4 May 1897, in which 126 people died. Planning to visit the bazaar is Adrienne de Lenverpré (Audrey Fleurot), an upper-class woman who seeks to escape from her marriage to her tyrant husband, Marc-Antoine de Lenverpré (Gilbert Melki), a candidate for the President of the Senate.

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While Adrienne's niece, Alice de Jeansin, along with her close confidant and maidservant, Rose Rivière, attend the bazaar the fire breaks out. Adrienne, who had entered the event earlier but left to meet her paramour, realizes to her horror that she, too, could have been inside. From there the plot revolves around the aftermath of the conflagration and the lives of the three women.

It took a big cast to tell the story. There were corrupt politicians, investigators, cops, journalists, newsboys, anarchists, devious mothers-in-law, near bankrupt parents, philandering fake husbands, and pretend children. The costumes and opulent sets of the rich people in the story were fabulous.

False identities, faked deaths, and loving below your class were just a few of the plot lines that our three heroines became involved in as the story spun its magic. The guillotine situated in the middle of the frame in every episode was set to whisk off the head of one of those characters. Some characters plotted to put him on the chopping block, while others worked to prove his innocence.

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Exciting things like stabbings, shootings, bonking on the head with metal pipes, and men knocking women about figured into resolving some of the problems. The climactic scenes in the final episode had the three women’s stories in a good place. It felt like the series could end after those 8 episodes and be complete. But The Bonfire of Destiny (Le Bazar de la Charité) was specifically labeled Season 1, so there may be plans to carry on with the women’s lives with new drama in the future. They were strong, willful, interesting women.

For those without a Netflix subscription can easily tune into Fenix on eExtra from 24 May at 19:30.

Credit: Virginia DeBolt

The Four Faces Of The Good Doctor

A while back, I did a story on Can Love Become Money's Turkish counterpart As Die Skoen Pas and the point I made in all of this it's not about hating a duplicate but more on awareness to one's surroundings and as mentioned not everyone will like the same things or at least in a certain structure.

On today's agenda we have Mucize Doctor (Miracle Doctor known to South Africans as Dokter Ali) is a 2019 medical drama that follows the antics of a doctor who suffers from autism. As a child, he was discovered to have a genius-level memory and keen spatial skills which gave him the title of Miracle Doctor.

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But the story was inspired by none other than KBS's The Good Doctor (Gut Dakteo) which won many accolades during its run in 2013 for Best Actor, Best Couple, Best Drama and even got plaque of recognition for creating awareness about autism and how socially challenged individuals can contribute to society.

The success lead to several regional adaptations including America's The Good Doctor from ABC which is one of the longest adaptations currently in its fifth season with a sixth scheduled for release in future. This version was produced by David Shore who went on to create the medical drama, House.

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Other adaptations include the one currently seen on eExtra, the Japanese adaptation Guddo Dokuta and most recent Hong Kong series, The People I Have Loved for the character Dr. Koo Hei-sun.

In the end, The Good Doctor's legacy lives on with these regional versions and it doesn't seem like the journey for this autistic doctor will be stopping anytime soon.

Until Further Notice

DStv customers have until the end of May to tune into Dokter Ali on eExtra thereafter they'll either have to get Openview or wait to view them on e.tv. As far as replacements go HONEY and Via duplicate channel could be added on Family and Access packages.

As mentioned earlier, eExtra's offering is regarded as local at this point if MultiChoice were to redirect audiences to kykNET and Mzansi Wethu for something "similar".

Afrikaans Voice Actors For Droomvelore And Die Put

Droomvelore's voice actors goes as follows:

Stephanie Baartman voices Sanem

Johan Joubert voices Can

Vinette Ebrahim voices Mervkibe

Luan Jacobs voices Emre

Mandi Baard voices Deren

Claudia Jones voices Layla

Lochner De Kock voices Rifat

Johnny Klein voices Ceycey

Jacques De Silva voices Osman

Mortimer Williams voices Zebercet

Kevin Smith voices Nihat

Zetske Van Pletzen voices Aylin

Also read:

- Saloni and East Meets West coming soon to SABC 2

- SABC 1-3 now available in high definition on Openview

- SABC 2 to air Indian series from Zee World

- Doodsondes S4 airs later in the year on eExtra

- New movie: Surviving Gaza coming soon to eVOD

- Mr. Bones 3 coming to Cinemas in April

- SABC registered three channels: SABC Parliament, SABC Children and SABC Encore

- eToonz needs these improvements

Die Put's voice actors goes as follows:

Marttin Venter voices Yamaç Koçovali

Ivan Zimmerman voices Selim

Noel Oostendorop voices Aliço

Susan Beyers voices Sultan

Elton Landrew voices Idris

Tinarie Van Wyk voices Hale

Great Pieterson voices Sena

Jacques Bessenger voices Nazim

Izaan Du Toit voices Ayse Yilmaz

Margit Meyer Rodenbeck voices Nedret

Richard September voices Pasa

Bianca Flanders voices Saadet

Graic Adriaanse voices Celasun

Eldon Van Der Merwe voices Vartolu

Also read:

- Bittersoet and Voëlvry coming soon to Timeless Dizi Channel

- Fatmagul returns to eExtra

- Possible schedule adjustments for Star Life

- What we might get from SABC's streaming service?

- Star Life to air Lockdown Ki Love Story

- Indian horror Dayan, Destructive Beauty has a release date on eExtra

- Die Vreemdeling is airing on Timeless Dizi Channel international in English

You can also find me through the other platforms by pressing this link in brackets and if you're struggling to share the article through certain platforms use this link (Lnk.Bio).

Why eMedia Investments Stopped Distributing Turkish Dramas In English?

Kuiertyd was introduced in October 2018 on eExtra offering a mix of reality, lifestyle and drama series from kykNET as well as some Turkish dramas which was the reason for the Afrikaans block's success.

The first dubbed Turkish show Gebroke Harte (Paramparca) pulled almost half a million viewers following its debut on eExtra. From what I remember these dramas didn't get this much attention when they were available in English.

So pretty much eMedia Investments is the reason Afrikaans folks are giving dubbed programming a chance. From what I remembered most would either 7de Laan or binge watch Devious Maids or Game Of Thrones.

Besides distributing international content, eMedia Investments has catalogue of original programming ranging from Imbewu, Rhythm City and Scandal.

If you look at these dramas none of them are in Afrikaans so dubbing these Turkish dramas is sort of their way of making up for the times wasted and eMedia doesn't have any of its own Afrikaans reality shows so they borrowed from kykNET.

Why go after Turkish? Character I presume they wanted individuals Afrikaans folks can idolize and relate to, second being these shows are time consumers with all the plot twists and lastly accessibility as not a lot of platforms harper these type of shows.

e.tv had tried getting local content onto other channels back in 2013 all of which were black based before it didn't work out so eExtra is targeting an audience SABC 2 has been very distant with.

It looks like eExtra and possibly eMedia will invest more time in Kuiertyd soaps than Telemundo and Azteca soaps as their streaming service seemingly has these shows absent perhaps due to international content rights so maybe it will be obtainable later.

Read Also:

- Could Star Life and Rewind be the first channels to go off air on Openview?

- Is SABC working on a reality channel?

- Could Star Life be rebranding soon?

- eMedia Investments might delay eVOD but here's some possible details about the platform

- SABC plans to launch a second sports channel and revive SABC Encore

- Upcoming shows for Star Life

- Could Openview be the reason for SABC Education's delay on both DStv and StarSat? (updated 25 June)

- Voelvry coming in future on e.tv

- Kamer 309 delayed on eExtra

- Other shows coming soon to eToonz?

- e.tv is filming a new boxing drama

- What we might expect from SABC's streaming service

- Nickelodeon returns to e.tv 

- SABC planning to reduce Muvhango