Mahaepisodes in the early serial days (what i know fr my limited exp.), depends on the story. for ex, if there is some imp event, then that day they used to show for 1 hr. such epi were rare n there used to be lot of hype for such epi n it increased d serial trps.
Even for GHSP, many ppl n forum n fb were demaning maha epi for Maan n Geet's marriage or was it SR?
But todyay with star one asking for mahaepi every 5 weeks, the story line is going to suffer and we are going to end up with boring maha epi which probably put us off d serial itself.
Instead why can't we have just half an hour of serial and the rest either interviews or shooting spot goof ups. The way fans gobble up their fav stars interviews and even glimpse of them, it wd generate interest among d viewers. d interviews need not be only lead stars alone, even directors, cvs, support cast wd be good. If it is a regular feature i.e once every 5 weeks, they can plan accordingly. Even the shots which were not okayed can be used here to show d goofups. With Maaneet imagine how interesting it could be. The trps will shoot to sky high.
Yes it might be additonal work of editing but won't it be better than trying to think of dramatic maha epi. when there is no drama. u can't demand huge cliffhanger drama every 5 weeks. Our maha epi ends up only as maha damp squib.
Hope someone sees light n change dis concept!