FROM TOP BILLING TO BOTTOM OF THE BARREL
i cannot believe my eyes! what was that sad crap you aired on tuesday the 12th of july?
it is with a heavy heart that i write this letter to you. i could barely bring myself to watching the abomination you “puked” onto your viewers last night, the bad taste within your team is starting to show. your programming director should be sacked forthwith, or even better sent into exile for putting that horrid “DIE ANTWOORD” toss on your once upper class program. you have with one fell swoop just shot yourselves in the proverbial foot. what the hell were you thinking?
are you so desperate for programming that you are willing to prostitute your once entertaining, informative and well put together show for a moment of pure trash?. now i know that you will get all smug and defensive and argue that you are simply catering for all types and demographics. what a load of BULL SCHTEIN! you already lowered your standards by airing the piece on that other waste of space and fellow trailer trash character jack parow. you are seriously harming your credibility and viewership. i for one will no longer waste my time watching crap!
sis on you!
please for your own sakes, dont air rubbish,!!! anyone who would find that crap entertaining definately dont watch top billing to start with. they are more likely to be watching that other redneck trailer trash program called WWE wrestling or playing darts in a bar swilling back double brandewyns en coke . what the hell possessed you? and what possessed you to send jeannie to cover that very sad, bad waste of time? have you lot taken leave of your senses????
you are misguided and it seems hell bent on destroying your once decent show. you are committing television suicide and let me tell you something,,,,, television suicide is definately not “DIE ANTWOORD”!
THIS IS THE RESPONSE I GOT FROM TOP BILLING AND THEN MY SUBSEQUENT REBUTTAL.
Hi Michael,
Thanks for your email. We take every feedback into account.
First of all, why we have chosen to feature Jack Parow is because we try to encompass all success stories in all spheres of profession, race, class, and so forth. We do not limit ourselves to our personal preferences when it comes to telling stories. We look at what will tell a story in a unique way, within the particular style/genre of a particular industry.
The script was also very neutral as well – saying ‘love him or hate him’ – when referring to Jack Parow. He is inevitably, a South African success story – which we wanted to show.
Other feedback from the public include comments such as the below:
“I’m stupefied by the level of quality research that your team does as is evident in your shows week after week. Two shows that baffled me most were aired on the 3rd and 10th of May 2011, where you featured SA artists Sam Mhlengethwa and family (Wow!wow!wow!) and Jack Parrow(whom I now understand to be “freedom of expression in motion”) both artists of dynamic character and proudly South African.”
Further, in featuring Die Antwoord – we have had massive response – from those that hate it and those who love it (as well as those who are neutral on the topic as well). Nonetheless, the responses on facebook – with our younger viewers or those who are actively on social media networks – have been massive. We have never had so much feedback on Twitter and Facebook this year, with such a support for Die Antwoord. Some people are quite interested to know who they are and what they are about, and also to find out what their children are listening to these days.
We don’t ask you to support Jack Parrow himself or Die Antwoord – we tell stories for those who may be interested.
We like to venture into different genres and styles – to keep it fresh and progressive. We also found that they were worth covering, for being well recognized internationally, but right at our own doorstep. We still await more feedback regarding the coverage on Die Antwoord from other viewers as well.
Kind Regards,
Jin
MY RESPONSE WAS AS FOLLOWS.
Reply
michael b da silva to Jin
show details Jul 14 (1 day ago)
obviously you will retort with a defensive stance and defend your program choices. that is understandable. the success of jack parow is mind boggling indeed. a normal guy acts like a low class lout and makes trashy videos. i am sure you have seen them? why would you act like a scum and be proud of it? it is very bad taste and to air it on a “decent” program is an unwise choice. who are your target market? the crap you aired on die antwoord was low class embarresing toss. i dont care about the demographic and the blaa blaa. they are an embarressment to all south africans regardless of social structure and background. maybe you should have shown the youtube video that was banned from youtube when that low brow neanderthal “ninja” hauls out his penis in the video, you must note that kids have access to youtube and are easily influenced by these clots. why would you air a piece on two people acting low class and making a mockery of afrikaans people? thats exactly what it looks like. then sending jeannie to do the piece was an embarressment for her i am sure. she is a “poppie in a rokkie” and there she was shaking her booty. it was horrendous. so no matter how many times you defend the people and logicize it in your opinion, the fact is.. the inclusion of die antwoord lowered your standards and is akin to morals hijacking. sis man! the best defense is a good offence is an honourable stance to adopt if you are in a war but not when you are playing with a reputable program which you are quickly discarding by the roadside. trash talk / skollies/ easy chicks as depicted in the videos of both die antwoord and jack parow is not something i expected to see on top billing. why dont you play die antwoords song doos dronk next week? if you are hell bent on canning your reputations go for it and then while you`re at it go and interview jub jub and tell the story of his success. visiting hours at the prison are available on the correctional services web site.