Celebrating International Women's Month
Check out our reviews on newly-released african shows, African entertainment content, including African movies and series. If it is on Netflix, Showmax, DSTV, or any other African cable channel, we will review and recommend only the best Africa has to offer.
The real housewives franchise is expanding across Africa and we are here for it. The Franchise, which began in 2006 with The real housewives of Orange County explores the personal lives of the affluent in different regions. Cast members take us into their world, with a glimpse of what they get up to from attending social events, to becoming parents and business women.
Though the franchise has been criticized for casting unmarried women and therefore deviating from the housewives’ concept, we have witnessed cast members who have gone through divorce, single parenting, and even their fertility journeys on the show.
From opening tag lines, to confessionals and reunions, the women are known to take occasional jabs at each other, also known as “throwing shade” as they explore their friendships and navigate the hybrid world of on-screen reality and their lives away from the camera.
If you are a fan, checkout the latest episodes from different parts of Africa here.
Affluent housewives and professional women in suburban Durban, South Africa, open their doors to share their daily lives of conspicuous consumption and splendor, fashion accessories, and expensive toys in their driveways.
Original languages: English; Zulu; Tswana
Rating: 8/10
Original release: 29 January 2021. New season is out now.
Seasons: 3
Cast members: Sorisha Naidoo, Annie Mthembu, Nonku Williiams, JoJo Robinson, Slindile Wendy Ndlovu, Mbali Ngiba, and Maria Valaskatzis.
The Real Housewives of Nairobi will follow five dynamic women as they navigate their lavish lifestyles, relationships and careers in Kenya's capital, Nairobi.
Original languages: English
Rating: Pending release*
Original release: 23 January 2023
Seasons: 1
Cast members: Susan Kaittany, Vera Sidika , Sonal Maherali , Minnie Kariuki, and Lisa Christoffersen
Following the lives of six powerful and influential women in Lagos and giving a peek into the glamorous world of the elite ladies as they navigate through life.
Original languages: English
Rating: 9/10
Original release: April 8, 2022
Seasons: 1
Cast members: Carolyna Hutchings, Laura Ikeji, Chioma Ikokwu, Toyin Lawani-Adebayo, Iyabo Ojo, and Mariam Timmer
Set in a city known for its stunning coastlines and friendly residents, the cast of RHOGQ are ready to show viewers a side to Gqeberha that they have never seen before, one where the circles are tight and where the women bond through power.
Original languages: Xhosa; English
Rating: 7/10
Original release: 3 February 2023
Seasons: 1
Cast members: Norma Nicol, Buli G Ngomane, Liz, Unathi Faku, Ashleigh Mather
RHOAbuja will follow the lives of 6 influential and successful women in Abuja. The show will take a peek into their lives as they navigate relationships, family and businesses within the city of Abuja and beyond.
Original languages: English
Rating: Pending release
Original release: 17 February 2023
Seasons: 1
Cast members: Arafa, Comfort Booth, OJ Posharella, Princess Jecoco, Samantha Homossany and Tutupie
The Real Housewives of Cape Town finds the Mother City's real Queens of reality navigating life, family, friendships and business in the city's elite circles.
Original languages: English
Rating: 6/10
Original release: 26 December 2022
Seasons: 1
Cast members: Beverley Steyn, Camilla McDowell, Kutazwa 'Rooksy' Gqirana, Loveline Abinokhauno, aka Mrs Leo, Lulwando 'Lue' Tukwayo, Rushda Moosajee, Thato Montse.
Six women from Pretoria will dust off their most beautiful and expensive pairs of stilettos to entertain viewers. Think luxury vehicles, magnificent mansions, designer clothes, extravagant parties, and the most expensive diamonds
Original languages: Afrikaans; English
Rating: 5/10
Original release: 13 October 2022
Seasons: 1
Cast members: Kiki La Coco, Mel Viljoen, Marié Bosman, Renske Lammerding, and Rhona Erasmus.
Netflix debuted its first original African cartoon series, and Zambian Malenga Mulendema, who wrote the script, hopes that this launch will lead to more original works from the region.
Friends engage in spectacular encounters against crafty villains in the new African animated series Supa Team 4 while balancing their homework and housework. John Kani, Pamela Nomvete, and Zowa Ngwira each lend their voices to one of the main characters. Viewers can also choose to use isiZulu dubbing to watch.
Sampa the Great, a rapper and musician from Zambia, has joined the voice cast. The role of Mama K also benefits from the amazing isiZulu dubbing talents of actress Linda Sokhulu. Since 2015, when Zambian author Malenga Mulendema won the Triggerfish Story Lab pan-African talent competition, Supa Team 4 has been in development. A story of friendship, bravery, and strength is weaved in this thrilling partnership between the acclaimed South African studio Triggerfish Animation and the leading children's entertainment company Cake Entertainment.
With popular programs like Spain's "La Casa de Papel" and the South Korean dystopian thriller "Squid Game," the streaming service has recently concentrated on diversifying its programming outside of the US.
Netflix announced in April that it intended to increase its presence across the continent and give "more African storytellers an amplified voice on the global stage."
With Beauty and Sbu expecting their first child, tensions run high as the Sello and Twala families are forced to reunite for the shower.
A poor family whose dreams suddenly appear within reach when a prestigious scholarship to the most exclusive school in the country is announced. All the while a huge secret threatens Ishaya’s newfound status and, ultimately, his family’s safety.
After crossing paths at a party, a Cape Town teen sets out to prove whether a private-school swimming star is her sister who was abducted at birth.
In a conservative village community, a loving daughter must decide between the potential husband chosen by her father or her secret true love, a woman.
After an affair with a queen leads to his demise, an eager traveler encounters a mystical bird with the power to give him another life.
When two corrupt police officers investigate the brutal murder of a young girl, tensions come to a head in their small, racially-segregated town.
The Comedy Central Roast's roots can be traced back to The New York Friars Club, found in Midtown Manhattan. The private social club's infamy for hosting risqué roasts made it an institution for celebrities and comedians to come together in the name of honorable, vulgar insult comedy.
After 24 years of good-spirited roasts from comedy heroes like Drew Carey, Rob Reiner, and Chevy Chase, the Comedy Central Roast traveled several time zones to the African continent, exporting its peculiar banter that mixes business with pleasure. Khanyi Mbau is the first African woman to be roasted in the Comedy Central Roast hot seat, making her the fourth woman ever to do so. After the laugh-inducing, gut-wrenching roasts of predecessors Pamela Anderson, Joan Rivers, and Roseanne Barr, Mbau's roast deserves to be celebrated like the milestone it truly is.
The stormy yet captivating lives of Steve Hofmeyer, Kenny Kunene, Somizi Mhlongo, AKA, and now Mbau are undoubtedly the butt of many jokes in the Twittersphere. With the latest installment of the show featuring the Queen of Controversy as the target of jeers, it will be fascinating to see the inspiration from which the roasters draw and whether or not the material will produce the showstopper the installment is hyped up to be.
Not for the faint-hearted but perfect for the good-humored, the roast was equal parts a happy celebration and a chaotic circus. Roast master Mpho Popps Modikoane's crowd work was a thing of beauty, solidifying why he was the perfect man for the job. The roasters did not hold back their jokes about Mbau's frustrating attempts to custom-make her body. However, they did allow their insults to fall on a bed of gratitude for Mbau's invitation and high raise for her resilience in her artistic and personal pursuits.
If you have never watched a Comedy Central Roast, nor are you familiar with the slow-burn of insult comedy, you would be revolted by the live dissection of the roastee's private life. It is perfectly understandable why Pamela Anderson, Joan Rivers, and Roseanne Barr all set boundaries for what is up for grabs during their roasts. Khanyi Mbau put her thick skin where her mouth was when she declared nothing off limits for her roast, setting substantial precedence for future female roastees and honoring the creativity that comes from the freedom to push things to the limit.
Sexuality, promiscuity, incompetence, weight, and irrelevance were the re-blooded jabs roasters threw at each other, to the amusement of an intelligent audience. Radio personalities Sol Phenduka and SelBeyonce, investigative journalist Devi Sankaree Govender, and rappers YoungstaCPT and Nadia Nakai are new to roast comedy, but they handled their sets surprisingly well.
'Triggered? Good.' is a provocative theme for a roast that puts every part of Mbau's body on a platter for the pleasantry of a national audience. Even though some insults were hard to swallow, the roasters delivered a commendable ensemble performance, overflowing with memorable jokes that help you look on the bright side of tragedy. The production conducted a comedic cleansing on its audience with the hope that the laughs would last a lifetime.
It is hard to tell if this roast went well because it carried the responsibility of hosting the first African female roastee. However, the jokes were well-written, the audience was responsive, and the roasters put on a show when they were behind the podium. The roast delivered the laughs it promised, and it is a happy coincidence that it happened under the administration of the first African female roastee.
Watch the uncensored version roast on Monday, 15 August, on Showmax.
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Phyna big brother naija season 7
In their commitment towards enhancing the production capacity in Kenya and nurturing local talent, Netflix dropped a first for East Africa.Kenya’s first Netflix original series, Country Queen premieres on the 15th of July in 190 countries worldwide. The series, shot in Kenya, features high profile Kenyan talent and a female lead, played by Melissa Kiplagat. The series features the fight against corporate power in urban and rural settings by the rich and powerful.
“ Nairobi event planner returns to her village after 10 years, where she confronts her past — and a mining company that threatens to destroy her home.”-Netflix
Synopsis of movie according to Netflix
While visiting a massacre memorial, a photographer finds herself drawn to a local woman. But their romance stirs up painful memories of a shared past. In the trailer of the film, we are introduced to two characters, a white female photographer and a native woman of South Africa.
They soon find themselves attracted to each other and the photographer tries to pursue her but coming from the orthodox African society, she finds it weird but still follows her heart. But their love story isn’t a garden of roses, set in the patriarchal society which is still recovering from the tragedies of the past due to racism. What will happen to their relationship? Will they overcome their differences or succumb to the shackles of society
Netflix in partnership with Play Network Studios has dropped a new crime and drama film called Glamour girls.
This Is a remake of the classic 1994 film with the same name, which featured Nollywood royalty Liz Benson, Ngozi Ezeonu, Eucharia Anuobi, Pat Attah, Ernest Obi, and Zack Orji. This new version with a modern twist, takes you into the world of high-end escorts whose lives, filled with glitz and glamour are threatened by a killing and theft.
The film features Sharon Ooja as Emma, Segilola Ogidan as Helion, Nse Ikpe-Etim as Donna, Joselyn Dumas as Jenna, Toke Makinwa as Louise, Taymesan Emmanuel as Tommy, Lilian Afegbai as Majesty, James Gardiner, Jammal Ibrahim and Chukie “Lynxxx” Edozien. The film has a similar take as the original released in 1994, in that it follows the lives of five high end escorts looking for a life of glamour, wealth and making a living in the big city of Lagos, Nigeria. It airs on Netflix on the 24th of June.
When the month ends, the license disappears, and the scandals reappear, exposing the capitalist intentions of the overwhelming support. The month of June is about so much more than rainbow-colored wigs, hilarious drag queens, and discounted china sets. It is a month with a profound historical impact that should be observed and represented better.
Spontaneous protests are the historical response to the police elitism that the United States of America is known for. Without the education about human rights, mobilization of the masses united in changing their state of affairs would be a pipe dream, and Pride Month would be non-existent.
The charismatic and colorful time of the year originated from the suppression of the livelihoods of people identifying as Gay or Lesbian. The Stonewall Riots of 1969 were a brave protest against police raids that began early on June 28 of that year. In the violence and the chaos of the struggle for gay liberation and LGBTQI+ rights in the United States, struggle icons were born, and they are finally getting the 15 minutes of fame they deserve for their contribution to progressing human rights of all people.
The Book of Queer, a 5-part comedy series, is taking the recognition of LGBTQI+ activists to the next level with a well-researched, theatrically produced show. The series follows multiple historic and ground-breaking queer figures throughout history through an epic retelling of their stories using a comedic lens.
The show is complete with clever reenactments of historical events involving well-known and unsuspecting queer icons. The educational segments are created and led by Eric Cervini, Ph.D., an LGBTQI+ historian who explains LGBTQI+ terms, facts, and lingo digestible for allies and LGBTQI+ folk alike.
The series' first episode focuses on historical figures like Abraham Lincoln and Eleanor Roosevelt while considering the impact of their sexual identity on their political posture. Cultural commentators, scholars, and historians like LZ Ganderson, David Green Ph.D., and Lilian Faderman Ph.D. expose and confirm essential facts about the historical subjects in question, shining an empowering light on the possible co-existence of queerness and historical success.
The Book of Queer is a comedy series greenlit at a time when LGBTQI+ tolerance is at an all-time high, and the show's creators are taking creative advantage of that. The origins of Pride Month are a painful reminder of the identity struggle, but The Book of Queer's factual yet light-hearted take on queer history is a celebration of how far the LGBTQI+ community has come.
LGBTQI+ rights are not equal worldwide. The month of June is a time of celebration for some and a time of mourning for others. The film’s musical numbers and colorful commentary on queerness is a huge confidence boost for those who fear revealing the most authentic version of themselves. If there is one point that comes across clearly in the series, it is that your queerness cannot stop you from fulfilling your dreams. A history of queer-identifying individuals increases your chance of succeeding by actually being who you were born to be.
In the #RepresentationMatters age, film joins a collection of shows consciously representing queer lives and modern queer experiences in real-time. Season 1 of Netflix's Heartstopper and season 2 of HBO's Euphoria detail the exploration of sexuality and love typically set in the teenage landscape. The Book of Queer's focus on history might not match Hollywood's focus on queer teen reality. However, it is uplifting to see the queer community represented like the multiplex they are.
If you love comedy and are curious about LGBTQ history, the show is available for streaming on Discovery+.
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Seeking revenge for her tragic past, a mysterious woman embeds herself in a powerful family who possess a global beauty empire, as well as dark secrets.
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