‘The end of an era” is how some are describing it. And they’re right. It is indeed the end of an era – one characterised by insipid topics, as delivered by an equally vapid host on a show completely lacking in any proverbial punch.
That 3Talk “enjoyed” a 12-year run is hardly a testament to good television – or the woman who helmed it. Although we live in a country where “there are more people who own a TV set than a fridge” (according to the last census), of those TV owners, less than a quarter have access to satellite channels.
Thus, come 4pm every week day on terrestrial networks, as an adult, your options are limited to children’s programming (fine, if you actually have a kiddie-cum tween in the house. Or a peculiar penchant for juvenile-driven entertainment, for that matter) and a talk show better known for its presenter’s impossible-to-pronounce name, than the actual quality of its content.
No, Queen of the Small Screen, Noeleen Maholwana-Sangqu was not. A title which, in and of itself, denoted a complete lack of originality, given that the term was first coined in reference to Oprah. A Pretender to the Throne would be a more fitting description.
From embarrassing interviews that witnessed her arguing with her guest – in that particular instance, Lance Armstrong – about which Tour de France had historically been his most difficult (that the disgraced cyclist was later stripped of his seven titles notwithstanding); to cringe-worthy questions a la “Now your mum… she’s been around for all of your life, right from the very beginning, hasn’t she?”; banal responses to her guests’ comments (all five of them – on regularly rotation, spouting equally monotonous material) and about as much ambience on set as watching grass grow, Noeleen’s tenure was, in a word, awkward.
And where Empress Oprah at least had the integrity to acknowledge she was closing the chapter on her talk show after 25 years due to declining ratings, self-appointed monarch Miss Maholwana clearly doesn’t share the same sense of humility.
Since announcing the news on Monday, Noeleen has repeatedly insisted “the bottom line is, I was not fired” and that it was she who “decided to hang up my 3Talk shoes”. But while it may be true that she wasn’t axed per se, the drastic drop in viewership (from one million in its earliest incarnation, to a measly 400 000) left her little choice.
That even Khanyi Mbau’s Katch It With Khanyi on rival network e.tv, has already managed to surpass 3Talk’s viewership by close to double that figure after only being on air for little more than a year, is an added sting to the humiliation of Noeleen’s professional decline.
So yes, we will be taking her up on her offer to “Do Join Me” when the final episode airs on April 20. But ours will be a toast of celebration, rather than commiseration.
LARA DE MATOS
TONIGHT EDITOR
@Lara_de_Matos