The Road Fails To Capture Mzansi Magic Audiences | Lowest Rated Telenovela

The debut of Mzansi Magic's highly publicised new telenovela, The Road, caused a huge buzz on social media in August 2015. Two months on and the show is lagging in ratings. 

Produced by The Bomb Shelter, who were also responsible for award-winning, Isibaya, the show has failed to capture the same acclaim and audiences. The hype around the telenovela help the show debut at the peak of Mzansi Magic's primetime block but retaining that momentum has been tough.. 

With talented stars such as Muzi Mthabela, Nandi Ngoma, Tsholofelo Maseko, Moneoa Moshesh, Solomon Sebothoma, Sithembiso Khoza, Gail Mabalane, Neo Ntlatleng, Sthandiwe Kgoroge and many more, the show promised a lot of great television but has failed to deliver. 

According to the latest viewership ratings, The Road only pulls around 260 000 viewers per episode — putting it on par with Zabalaza, which was canned for low ratings. 

To be honest, I don't watch The Road. I watched the first episode like a lot of people did because of the brilliant promotion that pulled me in but was disappointed. Two episode after the premiere I just gave up and stopped watching.

As I do not watch the show, I can't comment on why the show is not doing well but I can share why I personally got bored with it after just three episode. 

Much of the show's flaws lies in its inability to connect with viewers. Watching the show, I felt like it was too confusing. The story around the show within the show worked for the first episode as a surprise but literally after the reveal, they lost me. 

Besides the actual costume changes, which they nailed by the way, there isn't are clear distinction between the real world and the show. Some scenes just did not make sense because you didn't know how they fit into the fake show and the real world. It was just too much. 

On a positive side, pintsized fashionista, trendsetter and songstress, Nandi Mngoma, surprised many including myself with her stellar performance. She completely stole the show and gave a solid portrayal. I don't know where her storyline is now but I now see her as an ACTRESS.

As stated, the period visuals on the show are on point. The production captured the era impeccably, one somewhat wished they had just kept the story in the 50s and ditched the modern era stories completely.

With Mzansi Magic's highest rated telenovela Isibaya pulling around  800 000 viewers, etv's highest telenovela at 1.2 Million and SABC's highest rated telenovela Uzalo pulling a whopping 8million viewers every week day, The Road is really in trouble with a mere 200 000 viewers.