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Cape Town – Not even a PVR or DStv Explora is quite going to be able to help you today as it’s probably the most jam-packed, must-watch Thursday for TV in South Africa … ever.
Here’s the must-watch TV shows all on the box tonight in primetime that will duel for your remote control attention :
Power Couple South Africa
M-Net (DStv 101) has the debut of Power Couple South Africa at 19:30, the brand-new reality show filmed in Cape Town in which 8 couples live in a villa and compete weekly while they try to complete daunting challenges. Afrokaans is producing and the production value look great.
For all the scoop on Power Couple SA click here.
The Night Shift II
M-Net (DStv 101) has the new second season of The Night Shift starting at 21:30.
If you haven't watched the first season, start watching now – the drama series is great. Someone is placed on suspension (following the season finale's drama), a new surgeon joins and someone steps down.
Top Billing
Then you want to watch Top Billing on SABC3 at 19:30 to see how Chris Jaftha is doing as the latest new presenter joining the local glamorous entertainment magazine show with his first insert at the Durban Fashion Fair.
Top Billing calls Chris Jaftha a "super stud" but no, he won't be schmodeling at the Fashion Fair himself. It’s however just a matter of time before he takes his shirt off to display his incredible six pack – something the producers of this show are not shy of doing with the male presenters.
Celebrating Joan
E! Entertainment (DStv 124) has the must-watch Celebrating Joan on Thursday at 21:00, a half hour show presented by her daughter Melissa Rivers, that is a clip-show celebrating Joan’s best and funniest moments one year after her untimely passing.
You will laugh. A lot. See Joan Rivers' bloopers and funniest moments, as well as hilarious interactions with some guests over the years on E!'s Fashion Police, as well as a lot of bleeping when Joan uses her "favourite words" (which can't be said on television).
E! News Special: Bonang Matheba
Just before it at 20:00 on Thursday, E! Entertainment will start with the very first episode of E! News Special, the brand-new profile series interviewing local South African personalities. The first E! News Special will be about Bonang Matheba in this show produced by Brainstorm.
Fifth Gear
Then History (DStv 186) has a new season (its 25th!) of car show Fifth Gear at 20:30 today. This episode is special since Tiff Needell and Vicki Butler-Henderson visit sunny South Africa to drive everything from rally cars to military vehicles.
You'd think A+E Networks UK would make a much bigger fuss about this and actually let people know about it more, but at least now you know.
While BBC Brit (DStv 120) is suddenly showing shockingly old reruns of Top Gear (the second season of years and years ago) after that show's self-destruction earlier this year, Fifth Gear is brand-new.
Expedition Unknown
The new series Expedition Unknown starts on the Travel Channel (DStv 179) at 20:00 today. The adventurer Josh Gates investigates unsolved iconic stories across the globe. Armed with a degree in archaeology and a passion for travel, Josh begins by uncovering recent developments in the story, then springboards into a fully immersive exploration.
John Ross – An African Adventure
It's way too much to expect that the SABC will ever actually do marketing or any publicity for its stocked with reruns channel SABC Encore (DStv 156) on DStv.
But today at 20:30 you can watch the first episode of the worthwile heydey local drama John Ross – An African Adventure – the first rebroadcast in many, many years.
In David Lister's highly acclaimed youth series first shown on TV1 in 1987, the British teenager (played by Darrel Robertson) is washed ashore in October 1825 off the coast of Zululand, and is escorted by a small band of Zulu tribesmen as John Ross sets out on foot from Durban to Delagoa Bay. It has 13 episodes.
Order 66
If you know anything about Star Wars, you'd want to tune in today to M-Net Movies and Disney's Star Wars pop-up channel on MultiChoice's DStv on channel 109 at 17:55 for more on the dreaded "Order 66".
Order 66 of course is the secret order that was given by Senator Palpatine, who becomes/is the evil Emperor, to the Stormtroopers to assassinate all the Jedi in Episode III: Revenge of the Sith.
It's a really painful event and moment in the Star Wars narrative, and the fascinating Behind the Scenes featurette gives more background and an explainer of Order 66, what was shown – and not shown but created – for the movie.
(Photos: AP, SABC, M-Net)
