iCrew is an interactive, animated, game/magazine kid's show, allowing viewers to influence what goes on within the show using their cellphones.
The show is studio based and live - kids can interact and play from home using their cellphones while viewing their results on screen.
By registering with iCrew and sending SMS messages to the show, viewers can play games, check out new cellphone technology, get downloads and more.
With a large volume of SMS's being sent live to the show, a program was developed by Prefix Technologies that allows live SMS capture and monitoring, user registration, competition entry and winner selection, all while the show is in progress.
The show has two permanent presenters - Pearl Thusi and Zola Hashatsi - as well as four virtual characters: Angelica, Bongo Buff, Textr and Betty Beats.
Segments
Textr's Info Bytes
This insert is presented by nervous nerd Textr. He explains in a fun and quirky way how certain cellular phone functions work, e.g. how do you SMS, send an MMS, etc.
Textr is a magnet and attracts all sorts of interesting objects. He is a Suduko champion and believes that Knowledge will save the world.
iFun
Presented by the angel in the sky, the airy and always short-circuiting Angelica. Every week she challenges the Crew with all sorts of fun and wacky brain teasers.
Registered members compete to win prizes for the correct answer.
iChart
iCrew's weekly ringtone chart show is presented by street smart poet and DJ Betty Beats. The slot is presented in Sotho, with a bit of slang and English.
The music videos of the ringtones are played during a countdown of every week's chart. The charts are themed and always focus on local artists. Viewers can download ringtones from the chart.
Game Crew
Every week a certain aspect of game design is featured. The show goes behind the scenes and interviews experts in the various departments involved in this environment.
Buff It Up
Know-it-all Bongo Buff tells us in his Japanese/Afro accent about the latest and greatest in the cellphone zoo - wallpapers, movie clips, animated giffs, etc.
Once in place kids will be able to send in their own made movie clips via MMS.
iPlay
This segment is presented by the main anchor, and viewers can play games from home. It rotates between games like iWord (you have to figure out the word from scrambled letters), QuickTXT (SMS complicated sentence within a short time), iSound (viewers have to choose from options what sound they think it is) and On-the-spot (guess the image/item) which all has to happen within 30 seconds.
Viewers win prizes for the correct answers.
Help Hennie
The always puzzled, bad luck, real-life character Hennie can never make up his mind about anything, so viewers have to help him decide what to do in a certain situation which always has a guaranteed funny outcome.
Hennie has to decide between two options and the option that receives the most votes from viewers will decide Hennie's fate.
A scenario is presented to viewers at the beginning of the show with the two options. The end scenario is revealed at the end of show.
Throughout the programme viewers can see on the Henno-meter pop-up which reveals the way the voting is going.
Characters
Textr
- Techno freak
- Educate kids on cellphone technology
- Male
- Slogan: Knowledge is power
- Sounds: Keypad tones
- Language: English/Afrikaans Nerd accent
- Movement: robotic, nervous nerd
- Emotional behaviour: Mostly unemotional, but gets embarrassed, self-conscious
- Enemy: Power failure
- Habitat: HI Tech Techology lab inside tree antennae
- Special Powers: fix anything, knowledge, IQ, Soduku champion of the Universe
- He is colourblind
- Segment: Presents Textr's Info Bytes (Non-competition segments)
Bongo Buff
- Always plugged in - informs you of the latest and greatest (downloads, etc.)
- Gender: Male
- Sounds: Blinging, download sounds
- Movement: Cool, smooth, disco slides
- Emotional behaviour: Happy-go-lucky, always cool
- Personality: Trend follower, always in the know/now
- Enemy: Old Technology
- Habitat: Plush penthouse
- Language: English
- Special Powers: None
- Segment: Presents Buff it Up segment of show
Betty Beats
- Central theme: Music
- Gender: Female
- Sounds: Beats, vinyl scratching
- Movement: Body discs moves when she talks (vertically and horizontally)
- Emotional behaviour: Upbeat and down and out
- Personality: Happy, street smart, in-tune, cool, trend setter
- Belief: Unity of Sound
- Enemy: Silence
- Habitat: Boom box
- Language: Sotho and English
- Slogan: "Peace out Brothers and Sistas"
- Special powers: Heals through sound, she's connected
- Segment: iChart presenter (weekly rintones chart show)
Angelica
- Central Theme: Trivia
- Gender: Female
- Sounds: Flapping wings, short circuit sounds
- Movement: Floating fairy, clumsy and short circuits
- Emotional behaviour: Dippy, sensitive, friendly
- Personality: Curious, entertaining, endearing, loving, angel
- Belief: Love will conquer all
- Enemy: Evil
- Habitat: Clouds
- Language - English and a bit of Zulu, airy angelic voice
- Special powers: Can fly, spot the difference between good and bad
- Segment: iFun (Trivia questions - answers to be SMS'd in)