• Machachari will no longer air on Citizen TV
• This Friday is the grand finale
Popular kids' show Machachari will no longer air on Citizen TV after a 13-year stint. The show, which revolved around the lives of young children and how they relate with day to day life activities has come to an end.
But in recent years, viewers have been complaining about the age of its characters. Speaking to Word Is yesterday, Royal Media Services production manager Stanley Ngige said, "The story came to an end. This Friday is the grand finale."
The show started as a kids' show but the characters outgrew it.
"It didn't evolve to remain relevant to the target audience, and the best we could do is develop the story to come to an end so that we can start a new show ('Johari') for the same target audience," Ngige said.
The manager said before they cancelled the show, they prepared the crew. We had several counselling sessions, mentorship and preparations for them to move on.
He added that the feedback was positive and the media house will still support the 'Machachari' crew.
"Tyler Mbaya, popularly known as Baha, has grown up to be a producer of his own content. Some of the girls who featured on the show have already recorded music albums, which shall be given airplay on Viusasa," he said.
Ngige also pointed out that working with the crew was a great experience. "Seeing them grow up and become professionals and attract advertisements for TV was amazing," he said.
The station has made several changes, and most of the shows, the likes of 'Inspekta Mwala' and 'Papa Shirandula' that used to air from 7.30pm every day will now air from 6.30pm.
"The shows that were programmed for that time before didn't have viewership. But when we changed with good shows, they attracted the kind of viewership that they have enjoyed on that corridor. So we believe as long as the content is good, it will still attract viewership no matter the time," Ngige said.
"Good content will always find its consumers. With the digital migration, fans can always catch up with the shows online."
'Maria', a local production, will air every day from 7.30pm.