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Tafadzwa Zimoyo

Silver Screen

Happy new month!!!

February is the month of love, as some might say.

The Covid-19 global pandemic is still with us; I hope you are observing the necessary requirements in order to stay safe or not spread the virus.

The best so far is to stay at home unless you are an essential service provider.

With families spending most of the times indoors, there has been the rise of television viewership across all formats, day parts, content types and platforms.

Of late, many were applauding the local television station ZBCTV for keeping them entertained with dramas, documentaries and reality talk shows.

One cannot deny that since most people are largely confined to the home, it is not surprising that television viewing has sky-rocketed.

From streaming to watching live broadcasts like recently burials of national heroes at the National Heroes Acre to the US’ new President Joe Biden inauguration day, there has been an increase in viewership and that leads to local producers and directors who are challenged to create content.

Meanwhile, as theatres, cinemas and museums face enforced closures, there have been a wave of comic relief, skits and book reading too streamed over the internet.

For many audiences, this brings previously inaccessible cultural experiences into the comfort of their homes.

Although it is important not to generalise from a small sample, a survey carried out by this writer showed many are stuck with the repeated story that we heard from some local male participants aged 35 and over.

They said for television to be interesting, there should be programmes that cater for them more.

As I explored some of the television viewing habits and asked some people what they like to watch, it became apparent that it is either football, cartoons, soapies and dramas. 

Television plays a big role, especially now with the lockdown, as people need to be informed. 

Some surveys too states that children’s viewership of movies has grown for most of all content types during this lockdown.

In a bid to keep viewers entertained while at home, DSTV has revealed some of its exciting programmes for this month:

Tinsel — DStv Premium Channel — 151

Weekdays at 19:30 CAT

Two rival film production houses, fierce battles for box-office dominance sees them taking their rivalry from film-sets to industry boardrooms and everywhere in between!

HOW LIFE BEGAN — DStv Compact Plus — Channel 186

02 February, Tuesday at 20h15 CAT

Billions of years before man first walked the Earth, billions of years before even the dinosaurs existed, Earth was teeming with life! Single-cell organisms made a roiling soup of our oceans,and living creatures were crawling in our very soil. 

Where did it come from? What is life, exactly? Is it chemical, spiritual, or a combination of both? Do distant planets teem with life just as Earth does? 

And how do you go from a single-celled organism to a trillion-celled organism like Man? 

MUNGOMA — DStv Family: Channel — 162 

Mon – Fri at 19:30 CAT

A family inherits a thriving record label, but everything soon starts to fall apart when ruthless methods of intimidation, blackmail and witchcraft employed to stay at the top of the industry emerge.

Wild Hunters — DStv Compact Channel — 181

Weekdays from 13:01 CAT 

A group of scientific experts travel to different places to examine the most dangerous animals around the world and to shed light on how they survive in the wild.

FIRST APOCALYPSE — DStv Compact Plus Channel — 186

16 February, 20:15 CAT 

Sixty five million years ago the dinosaurs were wiped off the face of the Earth. Over the years there have been a number of theories as to why. 

For the last three decades it has been thought that the cause was an asteroid impact in Mexico. 

Now, some scientists believe that a giant volcano in India was the culprit, as well as other environmental factors.