Imagine SA without Dallas and Dynasty
SABC chief operating officer Hlaudi Motsoeneng’s decision to focus on local content has been met with praise by many South Africans in the TV industry because this provides a greater platform to showcase their work.
But, think about a world in which Hlaudi was at the head of the SABC back in the ’80s. What would South Africans have been deprived of ?
Think about the big hair, curly perms and extravagant shoulder pads of the women in Dallas and Dynasty, our ’80s equivalent of present-day series such as
Empire and Billions. Or, how about Falcon Crest? With its tweed jackets with leather elbow patches and lapel trim, setting the trend for every primary school Geography teacher who wished he lived in Napa Valley.
For anyone driving along Camps Bay’s “Riviera” in the ’80s, thoughts of Santa
Barbara must have been conjured up. The shows, in many ways, were aspirational; they fuelled our materialistic desires and showed us exotic locations. More so, they directed our fashion trends.
Or, they simply bordered on the ridiculous, offering pure escapism. At one point
during the run of The Bold and the Beautiful, I’m pretty sure Brooke was her own mother-in-law and step-sister. For years, I refused to believe Rustelose Jare could ever be called The Young and the Restless.
Days of our Lives led us to believe Marlena was possessed and most of the cast had been abducted to live on a remote island, thinking they had died. We ate it up. And we would never have had the chance to, had Hlaudi been at the helm in the ’80s.
What about the magnificence of MacGyver’s mullet, which I’m sure was his source of ingenuity, much like Samson and his strength.
Or The A-Team, which, despite thousands of rounds of ammunition being fired and hundreds of gratuitous explosions, no one ever really seemed to die.
Action series in the ’80s defied the laws of science. Airwolf flew into action out of
an impractical hideout. Cars exploded when bullets hit them. Kitt could propel itself over jumps Evil Knievel would consider too dangerous, to get Knight Rider’s Michael Knight safely to the other side.
With Hlaudi at the helm, we would never have seen these physics-defying feats.
Neither would we have heard David Hasselhoff speak Afrikaans, or hear Die Man van Staal (The Six Million Dollar
Man) ask a group of natives after landing via parachute in a foreign country: “Praat julle Engels?”
What about the children’s shows? I watched the Transformers in Sotho, while the Afrikaans track was simulcast on Radio 2000.
Heidi and Peter lived in the Swiss Alps, but spoke Afrikaans; as did Dawie die Kabouter and his neighbours in Lapland. Or Pokkel, die Eekhoring.
Of course, these days, we have more choice, with satellite and digital offerings readily available.
But to think if Hlaudi had been at the helm in the ’80s we may not have seen Don Johnson in those wonderfully camp pastel blazers with rolled-up sleeves…