This ongoing research is democratic in that it extracts the most popular opinions, but it's still not going to please everyone.
"We found the movie premieres licensed to us were sometimes not ideal for the 8.30pm slot and that our viewers were tuning in
to movies elsewhere at that time instead of watching the premiere on M-Net Movies that may have been made with children, or a niche audience, in mind.
"We then analysed international trends and did local research which brought us to the same conclusion - big budget, blockbuster movies are the preferred choice for 8.30pm. As not all the premieres for M-Net Movies Premiere fell in this category, we decided to place the premiere that would have been at 8.30pm in a more suitable slot (6.30pm for children's movies and 10.30pm for the more
upmarket or possibly even horror titles with high age restrictions etc).
"Most subscribers also don't watch movies on the channels every day, so instead of having a premiere a day, it made more sense to spread out these titles into better or more popular slots. So, you might still be able to watch seven premieres on M-Net Premiere in a week, but not one a day," said Lombard.
As for the themes, apparently these confused us, especially on a Friday, and having a midweek miniseries was just too much to comprehend on a movie channel. The research doesn't say if this had anything to do with after work drinks, or some wine while
cooking. It was decided to schedule "commercially successful" titles instead, although that still remains a query for another day because I find it hard to believe anything that has been on in the past few months has been a commercial success unless the greater movie-viewing public has questionable taste. Like Leon Schuster, who is frighteningly appealing to a large number of people. I'd rather wash my eyes with bleach before sticking a fork in them.
I also asked what's with the big gap on Premiere when all you get is a "next movie begins at 8.30am" for several hours.
"The channel was never meant to be a 24-hour channel and our viewers vehemently complained about the scheduling of fillers for four hours every day - also because it sometimes had an impact on recordings," said Lombard. "We have eight other channels that run over 24 hours and also cater for the early birds."
Right. Now I will ask why all the movies begin at 8pm on a Sunday, instead of the staggered "waterfall" start times at inception. Keep watching this space.
With the Generations brouhaha, SABC has announced some tweaks to its schedules.
The popular soapie will be off the air from October until December as new episodes are filmed. In its place on SABC1 at 8pm will be the third season of Skeem Saam, and the SABC3 repeat slot at 10.30am will be replaced with Muvhango.
In a polite official statement, "The SABC would like to appeal to the public to be patient as we deal with the challenges currently faced in ensuring the longevity of Generations."
Tonight:
Naweek
SABC3, 7pm
The channel's new Afrikaans magazine/entertainment/lifestyle programme aims to provide viewers with all sorts of ideas to help them plan their weekends.
The presenters from the worlds of TV, stage, and film are Pulane Sekepe, Leandie du Randt, Sean-Marco Vorster, Viljé Maritz, Marlo Minnaar and Stephanie Knozer. Tonight, Stephanie checks out the Huey helicopters in Cape Town, Joshua Na Die Reen perform the show's theme song, and Viljé takes Strictly Come Dancing champion Zakeeya Patel on a breakfast run with the Harley Davidson club.
In the week:
Dragon's Den
Mzansi Magic, Tuesday at 7pm
The local version of the international format is hosted by Xolani Gwala, and each week budding entrepreneurs have to convince business giants Lebo Gunguluza, Vusi Thembekwayo, Polo Leteka Radebe, Gil Oved and Vinny Lingham that their ideas are worth investing in, have the potential to positively affect South Africa's economy, and can make a ton of profit.
Tongue In Cheek
SABC3, Wednesday at 8.30pm
Grazia editor Kerri Simon Lawrence sits down with show host Anele Mdoda for some gossip. Also in the studio will be sexual harassment expert and Socio-economic Rights Institute (SERI) Founder Jackie Dugard. Fashion trends from around the world, comedy from Tumi Morake, and pole dancing for exercise and fitness all feature in this episode.
Oprah's All Stars
TLC, Thursday at 8pm
Need advice on health, relationships, or money? Dr Phil, Suze Orman and Dr Oz are on the panel of the six-part second season of this show which will entertain while dishing out sensible life-fixing insights, lessons, and tips.
United States of Bacon
Discovery, Thursday at 2.10pm
One word - bacon. Bacon has never been more popular or trendy than it is now, enjoys much social media publicity and is a food porn star. Food porn is the gorgeous visual representation of food over which we drool but may not necessarily ever get the chance to partake of, since the reality seldom matches the fantasy. And it's not fattening. This show, hosted by chef Todd Fisher, is all about bacon. Being American, you can expect bacon doughnut burgers, bacon towers, bacon hangover cures, a bacon turtle burger (not a real turtle), bacon macaroni loaf, bacon ice cream, bacon nuggets; and places with names like Bacon Mania Truck, The Swinery in Seattle, Bad Decisions in Baltimore and Lardo in Portland, Oregon.