SABC is taking extreme measures to ensure that SABC 1's Uzalo is on the right track. This is to ensure that they gain back the millions of viewers they lost because of their "boring" storylines.
Late last month, Sunday World revealed that the drama telenovela is skating on thin ice with the broadcaster after losing more than 2.6 million viewers in a short space of time.
SABC instructed Uzalo's team to go back to the drawing board and come with a more interesting storyline or face getting canned. Their dwindling viewership came as a shock to the top management of the SABC, as Uzalo is known as the most viewed telenovela in the country after breaking their own record in April when they achieved a stunning 11.4 million viewers.
The Broadcast Research Council of South Africa revealed that Uzalo's viewership dropped dramatically to a very low 8.8 million viewers.
Even though Uzalo's team denied that trouble was brewing, entertainment commentator Phil Mphela revealed that there will be no season 7 at the moment. No, it was not cancelled, it was put on a production break so both parties can sort out their contractual issues.
Shooting for season 7 was supposed to start this year 2020, but it has been halted until further notice, this is because most of the cast members have not been getting paid their rightful salaries as they have been getting paid way less. Phil revealed that they have not been paid as yet, so the national broadcaster is trying to rectify that.
"New season of Uzalo halted. Cast & crew of the biggest show in South Africa have been informed that production on season 7 will not start in 2020 as scheduled. Production contracts process with SABC is cited as the cause & payments have not been made," reported Phil.
TV: New season of Uzalo halted
Cast & crew of the biggest show in South Africa have been informed that production on season 7 will not start in 2020 as scheduled
The broadcaster reckons that there is a direct correlation between the low salaries and the poor performance by the actors. “Yes, there are issues with Uzalo because of its dwindling numbers and the complaints we received from viewers who said the storyline was now boring. We urged the producers to come up with creative storylines to rescue the soapie because it was important to the SABC. Another thing we emphasized was that actors need to be paid decent salaries for their work,” said the SABC executive to Sunday World.
