Posted:
| Day after day or once a week |
| Rachana Nakra |
| Mumbai, July 14: Among serials, Akela has just come onto television and Vaidehi isn't that old either. The Great Indian Laughter Challenge and CID have turned out to be among the more popular shows on TV. Despite their different genres, what puts these programmes together is that they are telecast only once a week. Could that be TV's new success formula? Jamnadas Majethia of Hats Off Production that's behind successful shows like Sarabhai vs Sarabhai and Khichdi, firmly believes that weeklies maintain a far superior quality. ''In a weekly, more effort is put because it has to be memorable enough for the audience to come back to it. Dailies are like eating dal-chawal at home, while weeklies are more like that occasional dinner out,'' he says. |
The frequency and time slot of a show's telecast is largely dependent on its genre. So you are more likely catch a thriller on a Saturday night at home and a soap during the after-work hours. Yash Patnaik, business head of Fireworks Production, the makers of Akela and CID, says, ''Thrillers have to have a gripping story. To make a single good episode, you need at least four or five days to shoot. In a daily, it's the characters in the story that work. People want to know what's going to happen next in their lives. In fact, making a daily is easier.'' However, Aruna Irani, the director of Vaidehi doesn't think weeklies are a very good idea and would have preferred her show as a daily too. ''The best running shows on TV today are dailies. People are not used to weeklies. Dailies become a part of their routine and so even if they are bad, they run,'' she says. She may have point there with Remix as an example. The high school story on Star One that was a one-hour daily recently wrapped up after completing 400 episodes. Shrishti Arya, producer of the show, says that the lives of the target audience of Remix didn't revolve around TV, so they would easily lose touch with a weekly and a daily format allowed it a longer run. Though dwindling TRPs sealed the show's fate, Arya does not think that the quality of the show was hampered because of its daily format. ''We had a very organised schedule that even included Sundays off. We were working with seven writers, five directors and three cameramen, so the quality didn't suffer,'' she says. Balaji Telefilms' flagship Kyunkii Saas Bhi Kabhi Bahu Thi and Kahani Ghar Ghar Ki, two of the most successful and long running shows on Star Plus, also add to the argument for dailies as do the well watched Kasamh Se and Saat Phere Saloni ka Safar, both on Zee. ''One isn't better than the other,'' says Anupama Mandloi, Senior VP Programming at Sony Entertainment Television, which runs quite a few weeklies for its primetime slot. ''Any show can be a weekly or a daily. Vaidehi was planned as a one hour weekly that would have a clear storyline, packed with drama. In a daily there have to be many more characters and stories. A weekly just provides an alternative viewing pattern.'' He, however, does agree that weeklies have to pack a bigger punch to retain viewership.
A tiresome daily versus a perky weekly. An engaging daily against a dull weekender, the choices abound. But little else seems to reign supreme than the hand that wields the remote control.
Forum Games
Fan Fictions
