According to confirmed rumour-mongers, ‘Your View’ on TVC is Nigeria’s most watched TV show. Some say it’s most watched talk show. But media planning agencies are certainly treated it as ‘most watched something’ at the very, very least.

It doesn’t look like anything special, but if you know Nigerian television, you would have known it from the start that the show was going to be a hit – just because, history.

So, first, brass tacks: Your View is essentially a I-can’t-even-be-bothered-to-hide-it rip off of ABC’s hit show ‘The View’ that has hosted all of America’s brightest, created by Barbara Walters. It is basically 4 women (co-hosts) with very strong personalities and very strong views coming together for a no-holds-barred gabfest. They talk, and then they have guests who they attack or love. It’s been a ratings hit since August 1997, when it was launched, also has Whoopi Golderg outlasting its rotation of co-hosts for good measure.

Before ‘Your View’, Funmi Iyanda’s New Dawn had a smart, fresh, elite take on this, with its ‘Women’s Panel’ that had any three or four of Sola Salako, Onoshe Nwabuikwu, Alero Edo, Lilian Agbaso, Temitayo Etomi, Kaine Agary, Joy Isi-Bewaji and the Chief Witch herself, Funmilola Aduke Iyanda. It was on the screens for about three years – until life happened.

‘Your View’ continues that tradition. It has a roster of seven women, any four of whom are co-hosts. They cut the range from millennial to middle-aged: Osayiwamen Peace-Saleh Olajumoke Olubunmi Olaode-James, Sandra Eze, Tope Mark Odigie, Nyma Akashat Zibiri, of course the un-missable Yeni Kuti (whose delightful I-don’t-really-know-the-details-of-this-issue-but-it-doesn’t-make-sense-and-I-am-going-to-say-it-as-I-see-it) may be the show’s life blood.

Special mention would be Morayo Afolabi Brown (former Head of Content with HiTV) whose is the show’s main host, and whose absolute command of the show brings everything together – she is firm with callers while being endearing, steady with her co-hosts without being controlling, and has that ‘big sister’ vibe that Nigerian mass audiences have always loved since Jumobi Adegbesan charmed them with her half-smile on AIT’s Lunch Break. She is also Director of Programmes with TVC Entertainment, and so the fact that she hosts one of the country’s most successful shows is certainly a calling card.

To be honest? None of that actually on its own can be credited for the success of this programme. To be honest, the discussion of the issues can dance around the shallow, the set can get rowdy and not in pretty way, and the guests are dowdy many times. But still it’s an immensely watchable show.

Because it’s earthy, and it’s honest, and it has soul – and you can actually imagine Nigerians you know talking like this, engaging like this, and having a festival of ideas; frustrating you perhaps but still charming you.

It’s a Monday – Friday 9am show on TV Continental with a repeat at 11pm.

You should see it, if you haven’t already. At the least, you’ll learn the kind of content Nigerians like watching. Hint: It has to connect, whatever other faults it may have.