Sitcoms and sagas

YOU may have caught the first episode of our latest homegrown sitcom when it started its 26-part run last week.

Fishy Fêshuns (SABC 2, 18h30) is the comical title given to what was originally a British television series called Rag Trade.

Translated into Afrikaans by Pierre von Pletzen and his team into colloquial Afrikaans along with a smattering of English and a spot of Xhosa, the comedy is set in a Cape Town clothing factory and revolves around the tempestuous relationship between the owner, Mr Fischer (Russel Savadier), and his motley crew of workers.

Although it suffers a tad from that South African characteristic of over-acting, it will become funnier as the series and its characters develop, so don't give up on it yet.

By the way, like most Afrikaans programmes, Fishy Fêshuns features Marie Pentz.

Lovers of the family saga should be sure to watch Kings in Grass Castles (SABC 3, 19h00) which involves three generations of an Irish migrant family that settles in Australia. Apparently this four-parter is based on a true story of a family that is still thriving today.

1999 was the year of the teen movie, but teens also featured strongly on the box and they seem set to be with us in the new century. Zoe, Duncan, Jack and Jane (M-Net, 17h30), is about the lives, loves and angst of a group of funky 17-year-olds living in New York's Greenwich Village. Question: Is the unknown cast destined to become the next generation of Friends? Answer: Only if they're thin enough.

Barbara Hollands