In September, we alerted you to a new upcoming reality show for South African television, that will chronicle the lives of Nelson Mandela's three adult granddaughters (Dorothy Adjoa Amuah, Zaziwe Dlamini-Manaway, and Swati Dlamini).
The show was (and still is) being billed as the anti-Kardashian reality TV show, highlighting the lives of these 3 young women as they break away from their grandfather's legacy to start building theirs, each independent and ambitious; Dorothy, 27, with a law degree, as well as an MBA and is in the luxury brands business; Zaziwe, 34. mother of a 10-year-old son, a two-year-old daughter, and a third child due in January. She is involved in a family business, Mandela Dlamini Associates, and plans to launch a clothing line; and Swati,32, single mother getting back into the career world with plans to set up a foundation focused on the housing, education and medical sectors.
The reality TV show is set to debut air in early 2012, in South Africa, and in our first post on this, Sergio (who posted it) wondered if a show like it would ever be made here in the USA!
Well, wonder no more Serge, because, according to Deadline, the above reality show, which will be titled Being Mandela by the way, will not only air in South Africa, but, Rick Leed, the American producing partner on the series, is pitching it to USA networks, and, as he says, the show is drawing "significant interest from 'all of the top-tier cable players' including TLC, USA, A&E, Lifetime, Oxygen, E!, TNT, TBS and Bravo… We’ll be in L.A. taking a very intense round of meetings with broadcasters next week… It’s a very competitive situation and a very hot show.”
It's apparently already sold throughout Africa.
So, if he's not bullshitting us with all that talk, then Being Mandela could very be debuting on one of those cable TV networks sometime next year.
But I'll ask Sergio's question again, even if it does make it to American TV, will it be successful? Especially as the producers are working hard to publicly separate Being Mandela from hit reality shows on American TV like Keeping Up With The Kardashians, and the Real Housewives franchise of shows.
Let's face it, that shit sells. And is the Mandela name big enough to sell a reality TV show in the USA centered on his granddaughters, even though they themselves grew up in the States, in Boston specifically? Especially if it's purported to be, shall we say, *clean*, minus all the typical shite that makes all those other reality TV shows the successes that they are? Specifically those that feature black women. Does America want a reality TV show centered on young black women who are… well… just watch both videos below:
