This is it pips. The final moments of Isidingo before it retires as a 21-year-old, going on 22.
The Series Finale airs on Thursday (12 March) and will hopefully broadcast to more than two people if loadsh*tting allows.
Luckily it’s also happening online afterwards, on SABC3’s YouTube channel, which is now pulling in more impressive numbers than the channel itself BTW.
The numbers aren’t higher than TV but they’re impressive for online, with Isidingo’s recent episodes attracting over 100,000 views.
So there’s That if you’re sitting in the dark at 19h00 on Thursday in a boozy haze of fury.
As for what to expect from the eps… as you saw from the teasers, it’s not going to be next levs by any stretch of the imagination, but the production tells us that there are some shockers thrown in for fans.
We spoke to Isidingo’s publicist Catherine Sidyiyo who tells us that the episodes were written before the producers Pomegranate Media heard that the series had been cancelled.
As you may know, they were the last to get the memo in the SABC’s chaos so the writing team had wrapped and moved on before the whammy struck.
Filming of the finale scenes only happened afterwards though so the show made some after-cancellation changes to the episodes and finale, which includes an Inception-movie-like aspect. Hopefully it hasn’t all been a dream!
The show’s released a finale trailer and it includes… wait for it… the third soapie shooting in a month and a half. A reload of David Genaro and Thandeka’s bullets on RC and Isibaya.
Never let it be said that South African shows don’t reflect the reality of our country.
Or do they create it?! A topic for another day perhaps.
Once we’ve waved our cell phone torches in the dark for Isidingo and said our goodbyes, whatever they may mean to you.
The series has been a fundamental part of people’s nightly rituals for decades and 19h00 won’t be the same for hundreds of thousands of people.
Even if the viewership numbers weren’t high enough for the SABC’s floundering budgets, they were enough for those watching.
In true SABC-style, they’re going to be running repeats until they work out what to do with the timeslot. They’re calling them “themed” repeats, like they did when they were locked in that public spat with Generations in December.
So it’ll still be on air, but not alive.
The cast and crew will be at the funeral on Thursday, watching the finale together at a private venue. Where will you be?
Farewell Isidingo. Rest in Peace.
A finale trailer: