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The end of 2019, in other ways also marks the end of some major cultural moments worth reflecting on. Welcome Lishivha looks at what we’re leaving behind.
TOP BILLING
The end of South Africa’s lifestyle and magazine TV show Top Billing saw many –who grew up wishing to become presenters on the show – mortified. Top Billing became the ultimate aspirational reference point for many South Africans, showcasing beautiful homes, picture-perfect weddings and episodes presented by some of the most beautiful people with delightful voices.
The production, which ran for 27 years, became one of the very first magazine shows in our country post-apartheid to offer black South Africans a lifestyle they could aspire to. It portrayed wealthy black people living in big and beautiful houses, which in its early days was rare to find on screens.
Basetsana Kumalo was the perfect match to present the show, enabling her to steal South Africans’ hearts with her poise and ease around opulence. This end marks an opportunity and a gap for new lifestyle shows to build from the Top Billing legacy.
ISIDINGO: THE NEED
The South African soap opera, which premiered on SABC3 in 1998, will be hitting the dust as of next year March. It’s said that Isidingo: The Need is no longer attracting advertisers.
The show has groomed and shone a light on talented actors throughout the years. From Michelle Botes, who played murderous villain Cherel de Villiers we all loved to hate, to Barker Haines played by Robert Whitehead, and who can forget his daughter Leone Haines played by the late Ashley Callie, as well as the motherly Agnes Matabane played by Keketso Semoko. But all things must come to an end to make room for the new.
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