On Nigerian TV, there is a low representation of young Nigerians.
Flip through Nigerian TV stations on any day and you would be hard-pressed to find a TV show that reflects youth culture.
It seems most shows and TV series especially are focused on people in late 20s and early 30s. What happened to program for guys and babes in their late teens and early 20s? Soap operas and romantic series have hijacked TV and nothing are really left for young people.
Back in the day, the Nigerian TV was more robust as it could accommodate shows for young people. 'I Need To Know' and 'Twilight Zone' are examples of Nigerian shows that catered to this demographic.
'I Need To Know' was an educational TV series funded by NGOs which focused on relationships and STIs among secondary school students. The TV series featured a young actress known as Funke Akindele.
'Twilight Zone' was a timely and brilliant TV series from Kayode Peters. The cast was made up of University of Lagos students such as Yaw and Kunle Bello of Trybesmen. The series centred around the dynamics of young people as students in your typical Nigerian university.
'Twilight Zone' was a youth culture sitcom. The theme song was the seminal track 'Shake Bodi' by Trybesmen. The trio of eLDee, Freestyle and Kaboom were giants in the rap scene at the time. The sitcom itself was more or less a celebration of University o Lagos- a pop culture hotspot till today. The TV series captured the life and times of youth pop culture in the Nigeria.
Dropping a bit of TV pop trivia here but 'Twilight Zone' was a sequel to a prior Kayode Peters production called Crossword Blues. The TV series, also a sitcom was about life as a 'jambite' in Nigeria's most famous university.
Looking at the landscape today, there is no TV series that reflects the ideas, beliefs and thinking of this generation of cool kids. They can't see themselves on television.
The danger in this is that there will be no documentation of these kids who dress like Travis Scott and worship Kanye West. How will we be able to know about these Olamide stans, and Phyno lovers if no one is reflecting their culture on TV?
Nigerian producers and script writers should shift their attention to this dynamic demographic. Not only will it expand the variety of content but also immortalise a generation.
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