On July 1, 2010, MNet premiered Studio 53 Extra, a programme focused on the glitzy and glamourous side of Africa. If the earlier incarnation of the show invoked Indiana Jones, this one was undoubtedly all Naomi Campbell. Movie premieres, the runway and album launches are some of the events one tends to see on this show.

“Unlike the previous hour show which was more lifestyle oriented, the new refreshed version will be fast paced and red-carpet focused”, announced Titania Kaunda, Multichoice’s Sales and Marketing Manager, at the show’s launch. Undoubtedly, the programme is aimed at growing the continent’s entertainment industry but the impact is much larger than that.

To be sure, this isn’t exactly original programming. The American entertainment and celebrity news cable channel, E! more than sets the pace in this kind of fare. However, Studio 53 Extra isn’t celebrating the latest antics of Paris Hilton or trumpeting the latest achievement of some politician. No. It is beaming a spotlight on African stars and celebrities. Africans, who are excelling in one creative endeavour or the other, whether in Kinshasa or Kampala, Lagos or Lusaka, get their own gilt-edged ’15 minutes’.

A consequence of that is the emergence of a ‘continental village’ as opposed to a global one. The show undoubtedly bridges the vast swathes of physical distances that exist amongst these African states. Here in Nigeria, I get updates on fashion shows in Kenya, learn more about  Chris Attoh, my favourite Ghanaian actor and vicariously attend the opening of a swanky new restaurant in Capetown. In other words, it brings Africa together, almost every day in more ways than one.

And then of course, one cannot overlook the economic-related opportunities a show like this opens up. Bella Naija, an entertainment website that grew from a fastidiously updated blog gets frequent mentions on this show. There is no gainsaying the impact that that kind of publicity will have on the the web owner’s business or that of the countless magazine publishers, fashion designers and movie producers whose activities get mentioned on this platform on a continental scale. It will also inspire more young African entrepreneurs to work harder to attract that kind of highly sought after publicity.

As with a lot of MNet productions, Studio 53 Extra is slickly produced with very high production values indeed. It features two articulate, intelligent eye-candies as presenters:  Dolapo Oni who trained at the Academy of Live and Recorded Arts in the UK and Eku Edewor, a graduate of the famous New York Film Academy. In an intriguing twist, the show has made these presenters celebrities in Nigeria’s entertainment circles with the latter appearing on the cover of a few publications recently.

A programme like Studio 53 Extra can only help in articulating a comprehensive cultural agenda and help in building the continent’s fast evolving entertainment and allied industries. In so doing, a truly unique brand message can be built and then, we can go on to sell that message to the world. With Studio 53 Extra, Africa has truly begun to tell its own stories and celebrate its own people. The world would do well to take note.