New Generations Will Be Much Younger | Says Mfundi

Yesterday morning I watched in dismay as Generations creator Mfundi Vundla appeared on SABC morning show Expresso, to address the drama surrounding the show and its future. The creator did not say much except to apologise and tell Expresso viewers that the show will be going younger in terms of content and characters. 

Firstly, that Mr Vundla chose Expresso as a platform to address issues around Generation and apologise to the viewers shocked me. Who watches Generations? It is certainly not majority of Expresso viewers. 

I was really amazed that for his only chance to speak to the viewers, he chose Expresso with a white interviewer. Surely he knows who watches the show. This is like Dannie Odendall apologising to 7de Laan viewers on Selimathunzi, it just wouldn't make sense. Anyway, this is SA. Nobody seems to care anyway. 

In the Expresso interview Mfundi Vundla admitted that viewers can flee from the 20:00 timeslot on SABC1..

"Viewers can tune out and go somewhere else. Which is what pains me about what's going on right now. Our viewers have been put under a lot of stress," said Mfundi Vundla.

"I wish to apologise to the South African people and apologise to the Generations audience."

Mfundi Vundla told Expresso that "we are reconstructing Generations. They will recognise elements of the present Generations but we are taking a new creative direction".

He said that "our relation with the 16 actors who terminated their services, that relationship is irrevocably damaged and toxic.

"We are going back to our original roots of the series. Viewers will recognise individuals who were there at the beginning of the series, which anchors the new narrative, so people will recognise elements from the past in the new direction we are taking".

Generations is also going much younger to lure a younger audience.

"We are going younger. There's a predominance of 20 to 24 year olds, early 30's actors who will be in the show. Our stories will be entertaining. There's light entertainment elements and there's also dark elements in the new show," Mfundi Vundla told Expresso.

It would come as no surprise that the New Generation would want to go younger. Obviously no experienced actor in this industry would want to be associated with the new Generations as she or he would be vilified amongst his/her peers. 

Young actors just want to be on tv and be famous so finding young actors can't have been a problem for Mfundi. Even he paid them R1000 they would still want to be on the show. 

Sadly it is not the young viewers who have kept the dominance of Generations all this years. It is the older demographic that tuned in with their families to watch. Parents introduced their children to the show. 

If Mfundi's main aim is to have Generations compete in the same space as Rhythm City then that would be the final nail in the coffin. He just have to see how fleeting Rhythm City viewers''s loyalty to the show is. The show is hemorrhaging from viewership loss at the moment.