Who can forget all the hoopla around Scandal when it was introduced as e.tv's new soap in January 2005?
While the hype around the home-brewed production, set in The Voice's newsroom, got the audience to tune in, it failed to convert them to ardent fans.
Nine months later, Ochre Moving Pictures was brought in to help boost Scandal's audience ratings (ARs), which was sitting at 3,5 (500 000 viewers), and Bronwyn Berry was brought in as producer.
"Soap is a type of television and is very much guided by the budget. What happened with Scandal in the beginning was that all the stories were happening out of the central world they'd created, which was at The Voice. That kind of television is expensive to make.
"Firstly, they had to shoot on location and new characters were continuously being introduced, making it difficult for the viewer to develop a relationship with the lead characters," explained Berry.
The executive producer had her work cut out, but, having produced several dramas, SABC1's Gaz'lam and SABC3's The Wedding Show, she was ready for the challenge. The soap's milieu was the first to change as the storyline shifted to a publishing company that housed the newspaper The Voice and Scandal, a tabloid magazine.
"The soap became more character-driven and emotional. The audience also started to identify with lead characters as they got to meet Stan's wife, Thato. We introduced Vusi's father, Jomo, and his brother, Jay-Jay. The important thing was for viewers to see these characters at work and at home interacting with the different people in their lives," she added.
Since then, Scandal's ARs have grown to 10 (over 2-million viewers).
Berry was asked if the recent departures of key characters Siyabonga Twala (Vusi) and Leeanda Reddy (Vaneshree Dhevan) affected the show.
"Losing a character on the show will have an impact. But because the show is so strong, it won't destroy it. What is really important is that no single character is Scandal."
And as Scandal nears its 500th episode, there are a few new additions to the soap. "We needed to bring romance into Mo's (Nthati Moshesh) life. We needed a strong male who could stand up to her and explore the dynamics of their relationship. That is where Shona Ferguson comes in as Alex Phiri.
"Refiloe Maduna comes in as Maletsatsi Khumalo's daughter, Palesa Mooki. We have been mentioning Palesa's name for over a year and were just waiting for the right time to bring her in."
On whether Sorisha Naidoo's entry as Nadia Narein was to fill the void left by Reddy's departure, Berry said: "I don't think Sorisha fills that gap exactly, because her character is different. I decided she had to come to Scandal - we needed a sexy new character."
Lusiwe Mlambo will be taking over the reins from Berry, but the show's objective remains the same.
"We want to maintain and increase the soap's viewership. Our goal is to beat Isidingo. While it's not the soap with the most audience ratings or in direct competition with us, it has an audience we want to tap into."