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Wooala!
Boomerang (DStv channel 302)
Monday, 2.45pm
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Now look, I’m not one for magic. Magicians make me feel awkward (they’re always a little too cheesy for me) and the tricks leave me more bored than dumbstruck.
But kids absolutely love magic, and they love it even more when they’re taught how to do it themselves.
Boomerang has enlisted the skills of 23-year-old South African magician Wian van den Berg to offer children entertaining, fun and bite-sized inserts of magic in a new show called Wooala! (pronounced voilà).
Some might know Wian for his stint as a finalist on SA’s Got Talent, while others might have seen one of his viral magic compilation videos on social media. He has a whopping 715 000 followers on Instagram and is considered to be the biggest magician on Facebook, Instagram and YouTube in the southern hemisphere.
Wooala! sees Wian approach kids on the Cape Town promenade, and cameras catch their reactions as he does all sorts of nifty close-up hand magic tricks. The intention is for the show to move to different locations around the country.
He then offers a tutorial to show viewers how to do their own magic tricks using everyday objects they can find at home.
The first Wooala! magic tutorials will be available on Boomerang Africa’s YouTube channel from Saturday, with a fresh tutorial available for download every Saturday.
Wian is corny but not too corny, and his goofy way with kids is just what the doctor ordered. More importantly, he really is a genius sleight of hand magician and, during a demonstration to the media at Rapid Blue studios in January, had everyone absolutely flabbergasted.
Turner executives shared with the media their desire to create more localised shows for South African children, and Wooala! is part of that.
The appeal lies in seeing our own children respond and react in the show, and not children from the US and the UK, which is what we’re used to.
Turner business development director Africa Colman Murray said: “We love to watch South Africans, we love to recognise the territory and if we’re talking from a commercial perspective, it drives local advertising and viewership.”
Boomerang is currently the second-highest channel for kids on DStv and the number 15 channel overall. It has 8 million viewers a month. With such massive clout, it made sense for them to invest and commit to local productions.
Apart from international shows such as Tom and Jerry, Scooby-Doo and Mr Bean, the channel has collaborated with Tumi Morake for the Safari Comedy Show; Toya Delazey on the Powerpuff Girls; Wayde van Niekerk; and Reneilwe “Yeye” Letsholonyane as a football ambassador for Ben 10.
Murray also mentioned the importance of kids’ programming that provides downtime and relaxation.
According to a survey of 500 South African parents interviewed by the broadcaster, 25% reported that their kids’ diaries were busier than their own, 20% said that their kids get some but not enough downtime, and 60% agreed that the benefits of kids watching non-educational television is that it gives them time to develop their humour, imagination and creativity.
