South Africa welcomed its own Grey’s Anatomy to the screens, Durban Gen, a medical series that stole the hearts of Mzansi. However in December 2020, viewership of the series took a slight dip.
The medical drama series made its peak in November with a viewership of 2million viewers. However, the tables quickly turned with Durban Gen losing 300,000 viewers in December with its most watched episode bagging 1,75m viewers.
Produced by Gugu Zuma-Ncube, Durban Gen is your Mzansi version of Grey’s Anatomy with a dose of medicine, love and drama from the doctors and the patients. The series is set at Durban General Hospital, an acclaimed and highly celebrated academic hospital. The story revolves around the doctors and patients at the hospital. The series remains a banger even with the dip in viewership and might just see massive recovery in 2021. However, Durban Gen has been criticised for being more romantic drama than medical drama which might explain the dip in viewership. The viewership loss proved to be a major disappointment to all on board as the show is only in its debut season and was expected to rake in the viewings.
With an already impressive cast that includes Bhekisizwe Mahlawe, Lihle Dhlomo and Mesheck Mavusi, who plays Dr Thabo, 2021 sees a new and favourite face joining the cast of Durban Gen. Bonga Dlamini who played Qhawe on Muvhango and was an Uzalo favourite as well.
Speaking of shows with a dip in viewing, Mzansi Magic is set to welcome a new show, Diepsloot which is to replace Isibaya. Diepsloot will be starring Thandeka Dawn King who left Uzalo recently. Isibaya saw a significant drop in viewership which was partly aided by the departure of major actors such as Nomzamo Mbatha, Menzi Ngubeni, Muzi Mthabela and Jessica Nkosi.
Viewers will be saying bye to the show real soon.
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