Television laundry time: Less soap please
7 Sep 2013 11:01 PM GMT
There’s something intensely exhausting about watching daily soaps. The millions of serials that Colors, Sony, Zee, Star Plus batter us with throughout the week.
Na Bole Tum Na Maine Kuch Kahan (Colors), Sasural Simar Ka (Colors), Balika Vadhu (Colors), Bade Acche Lagte Hai (Sony), Pavitra Rishta (Zee) and then there are new serials on the block - Jee Le Zara, Is Pyar Ko Kya Naam Doon and some terrible wannabe-American flicks on Channel V.
Incidentally what is wrong with Channel V? All was good when it was battling for TRPs with MTV and VH1; consider yourself lucky if you can manage to catch half a song on that channel now.
Speaking about TRPs, these soaps hog the top ranks when it comes to grabbing eyeballs. Compared to the fancier TLC, Discovery, AXN, Star World, HBO etc, for obvious reasons - channels with domestic content have a one up over the rest.
Though the cross section of the new age television watchers run in the opposite direction from these soaps, they are yet to break even the TRP pie. I had asked my grandmother once why she diligently sat through the infuriating family dramas on TV - if she wanted excitement we could let the dog loose, fire the maid, declare a distant cousin gay - something like that. But no - every houselady wants to see others in more pain and sorrow than herself. It gives them a sense of purpose and peace. Till India learns better - the soaps will go on.
This week there were hurried promotions of both Zanjeer and Shudh Desi Romance, on an aside, Zanjeer bombed - don’t even bother watching it. Parineeti Chopra and Sushant Singh Rajput hogged the limelight allowing new-comer Vaani Kapoor only a yard on Emotional Attyachaar on Bindaas. Chopra and Rajput danced on Jhalak Dikhla Jaa, flirted with the hosts, flattered Madhuri - the usual rigmarole. Chopra talked and talked and talked and Rajput looked visibly beaten by his co-actor’s nonstop gab.
As much as we love Parineeti, we just hoped she would shut up. Also, that girl needs to hire a stylist.
Promotions for both films had begun well before Madras Cafe and Satyagraha and it seemed that they needed to get all the attention they could manage. A trend has started falling in place with these TV promotions - the actors make appearances on the same shows every week, either adding one or deleting one from the list - Jhalak Dikhla Jaa and Comedy Nights with Kapil are the top picks. And the Phata Poster Nikla Hero team has already started their promotional campaign. Dissection of that next week. Minus the usual news storm and Arnab Goswami’s booming questions Master Chef Australia is quite the treat this time with the battle of the sexes - all that great food and the sexy locales, we are going to seal this channel on telly till the season wraps up. But then to solve it all - there’s Breaking Bad. Thank god for small mercies.
When Sen is not procrastinating on Twitter, she is changing channels
Na Bole Tum Na Maine Kuch Kahan (Colors), Sasural Simar Ka (Colors), Balika Vadhu (Colors), Bade Acche Lagte Hai (Sony), Pavitra Rishta (Zee) and then there are new serials on the block - Jee Le Zara, Is Pyar Ko Kya Naam Doon and some terrible wannabe-American flicks on Channel V.
Incidentally what is wrong with Channel V? All was good when it was battling for TRPs with MTV and VH1; consider yourself lucky if you can manage to catch half a song on that channel now.
Speaking about TRPs, these soaps hog the top ranks when it comes to grabbing eyeballs. Compared to the fancier TLC, Discovery, AXN, Star World, HBO etc, for obvious reasons - channels with domestic content have a one up over the rest.
Though the cross section of the new age television watchers run in the opposite direction from these soaps, they are yet to break even the TRP pie. I had asked my grandmother once why she diligently sat through the infuriating family dramas on TV - if she wanted excitement we could let the dog loose, fire the maid, declare a distant cousin gay - something like that. But no - every houselady wants to see others in more pain and sorrow than herself. It gives them a sense of purpose and peace. Till India learns better - the soaps will go on.
This week there were hurried promotions of both Zanjeer and Shudh Desi Romance, on an aside, Zanjeer bombed - don’t even bother watching it. Parineeti Chopra and Sushant Singh Rajput hogged the limelight allowing new-comer Vaani Kapoor only a yard on Emotional Attyachaar on Bindaas. Chopra and Rajput danced on Jhalak Dikhla Jaa, flirted with the hosts, flattered Madhuri - the usual rigmarole. Chopra talked and talked and talked and Rajput looked visibly beaten by his co-actor’s nonstop gab.
As much as we love Parineeti, we just hoped she would shut up. Also, that girl needs to hire a stylist.
Promotions for both films had begun well before Madras Cafe and Satyagraha and it seemed that they needed to get all the attention they could manage. A trend has started falling in place with these TV promotions - the actors make appearances on the same shows every week, either adding one or deleting one from the list - Jhalak Dikhla Jaa and Comedy Nights with Kapil are the top picks. And the Phata Poster Nikla Hero team has already started their promotional campaign. Dissection of that next week. Minus the usual news storm and Arnab Goswami’s booming questions Master Chef Australia is quite the treat this time with the battle of the sexes - all that great food and the sexy locales, we are going to seal this channel on telly till the season wraps up. But then to solve it all - there’s Breaking Bad. Thank god for small mercies.
When Sen is not procrastinating on Twitter, she is changing channels
Next Story
