As all of you probably know, the Turkish series Noor along side its cousin Sanawat Aldya3 have come to an end just before Ramadan. I have refrained from talking about these shows because everyone has talked about them and well, I don’t want to repeat the same points again. Now that it’s over, I can honestly say that I thought they were of the worst shows to ever air on TV! I only watched a couple of episodes out of interest and had to sit through a horrible few others while I was stuck at a relative’s or friend’s house. The plot is very ridiculous and the acting is extremely immature. The directing is average at best and the so called attractive Noor, Mohannad and Lamees (if I remembered correctly) are not good looking in my opinion but then beauty is in the eye of the beholder. As if to why would anyone watch those shows and how did they come to be so popular, well the most sensible answer was out of boredom because no other reason sounds logical to me. A friend of mine who’s half Turkish swears to me that no one in Turkey bothered to watch the show when it first aired in its mother country! So what’s the deal then? Are we smarter than Turkish people that we have witnessed those jewels of TV shows and they didn’t? Are we a romance-deprived nation as many writers blame for being the reason for watching such shows? Is it because the average looking actors are better looking than our average Saudi?! It all comes down to this, it was a stupid show and I have no idea why anyone watched it. Thank God it ended. MBC was the smartest and the biggest winner of all by marketing this show.
Moving on to another pressing matter, Ramadan TV. Every year all TV channels work their hardest to create an unbelievable amount of TV shows for this holy month. I have read somewhere that Egyptian TV was the one started the trend more than a decade ago by its Fawazeer Ramadan shows. The truth is, somewhere along the line, probably due to good marketing and lack of public awareness, Ramadan has turned into the month of TV and food rather than the holy month of worship. The major players now are MBC, Dubai TV and Abu Dhabi TV. Rotana Khalijia is trying to break into the market and well Orbit channels are always struggling but then who really watches Orbit anymore? Of course the other TV channels all are trying to win a portion of the big pie that is advertisement money paid by food and beverage companies for the ad slots within the popular shows. Saudi TV has basically lost the race when it’s one popular show Tash Ma Tash was sold to MBC in 2005 and now has stopped airing all together.
So what is the formula for any TV channel during Ramadan? I’ll break it to you in case you want to start your own channel. First of all you must have the Historical Series, something that takes place back in the days of Abo Ja’afar Almansoor or Haroon Alrasheed. Then you’d have to have the Bedouin Series, something that is filled with meaningless poetry and many horses and the occasional tribal fight. After that you have to include the Syrian Drama series which is basically nothing except for macho Syrian men yelling at one another in the midst of social issues. The Kuwaiti Series is of course a regular on all channels and this is the most colorful one because it must have at least and not limited to, women in their full make up at the early morning hours, the drunken father, the beaten down mother, the drug addict cousin, the old man who dies of a heart attack, the young boy who gets in an accident, the love affair that never works and the evil man who ruins everyone’s lives. Don’t forget to add some beating and wailing to that mix. Then you’d have to make space for the Khaliji Sitcom Wannabe that always fails to be funny. The Egyptian Drama Series is of course compulsory but the only good thing about it that its’ usually variant unlike the other types of shows that repeat the same things. The blood boiling Hidden Camera Show should never be forgotten. The cameraman has to get beaten a few times by a couple of angry people. Oh yeah! The purely idiotic game show that just throws money at people in order to make more money by calls and ads! Last but not least, the Religious Show in order to satisfy the more conservative market. Better if you could attract a famous Shaikh or Islamic Personality to the show.
That ladies and gentlemen concludes today’s lessons of How to Create Your Own TV Channel in Ramadan! May you enjoy a happy Ramadan filled with spirituality and good deeds.
PS. There’s a list sent by email that contains most of the TV shows schedules including Time, Channel and Reruns. It’s extensive to the degree that you’d have nothing else to do if you wanted to watch them all, In fact, you’ll miss a few each day! Hint: watch whatever show you want AFTER Ramadan. The good ones get reruns then 
Use this month to make amends for all your sins during the year!
This topic has been done to death. I get that Arabic TV is crap, but apparently we’re just the vocal minority.
well put Dr
I second you in everything you said
The plot is very ridiculous and the acting is extremely immature
wallahee i thought the same,what is so diffrent with noor and muhnnad he’s so immature,such a kidy,he’s most interstes is giving noor gifts and make her sad :S sounds indian,i hate it bs as u said sometimes we stuck with family and friends to watch ‘em :S .. maybe ppl here miss romance and stuff , who knows
wallahee if u can give me list of names and ur name too it would be great i need to have a back up list too so the more the bette
thanx alot
A question that always drives me nuts and though succeeds in leaving me pondering almost every Ramadan; don’t people actually GET IT when they’re being used in a hidden camera show? Isn’t the scenario of these shows (that I suppose have been aired on Arabic channels since forever) too obvious to spot?
It’s either one of the following:
- There’s no such thing as a hidden camera show and that it’s all merely acting.
OR
- What they claim is right; stupidity does seem to find a breeding ground in the Arab world.
First f all i HATED noor and sanwat al’9ya3
if i talk about how stpuid it is i won’t stop
second i think that MBC is the #1 player
and rotana 5alijiyah wait for it for 2 years and i will be in the game
LOOL
sorry forgot to put my name on the comment
:D:D
Broke Saudi, I know but I guess I just needed to VENT
His Sweetheart, you’re a wise girl
samaher, lol yes! getting angry yelling then apologizing and getting all romantic UGH stupid and childish
It depends on the gig and its details
Nah a list would be hard because well everyone’s got stuff to do working, volunteering and such
A Global Citizen, lool well I don’t watch these shows so I wouldn’t know
but at least I guess I’d know when someone’s being stupid on purpose
Balqees, yup Rotana definitely has the money and power to compete with MBC if it wants but for now MBC rules
sometimes ppl wanna escape a bit from their daily struggling life which can be phisically or emotionally affected.
and this bloody poor soap series aired just in the right time and the right place.
That’s a very valid point of view
I’m not saying you shouldn’t watch them! It’s just not my thing
I can’t believe Noor and Sanawat Al’9ya3 are finally over! I watched couple of episodes of Noor during final exams days since I was just craving for distractions, and they were all the same! He does something that hurt her, she gets angry, cries and refuses to talk to him, he makes it up for her in the most romantic, too cheesy even for ME, way. You can miss twenty episodes and still get what’s going on. And I don’t know what’s all that Mohanned hype is all about. Seriously, he’s not even handsome! Okay I know people have different tastes o ketha but girls got TOO psyched over him, like he’s the only good-looking guy out there. My sister says he actually looks like that little boy from Jumanji when he turned into a monkey lol.
I had to make myself stop lol.
And about Ramadan TV shows, don’t get me started, well anyway you’ve covered it all! Wallah sometimes asta7rem looking at what’s showing on TV, why can’t they have some respect for the Holy month? They can show as many TV shows as they want but there has to be some limits on the material!
Thanks anyway for the TV channel formula ;p, and sorry for my brief comment
loool mashalla shayef almawdo3 hit home with you
You explained the whole plot perfectly !
aswa2 shay in any show is when you can skip 2o episodes and still feel like you haven’t missed anything. It only demonstrates how bad the show is
yup fy ashya2 a7es 3eeeeeeeeeeeeb tn3rd fy ramadan I mean you can’t contorl what you air for only one month?!
However immature noor’s pot was it still did not envolve following:
over weight women with bad dress sense and war paint make up.
actors walking around talking to each other’s backs.
people screaming at each other for no particular reason.
dirty houses and flats.
Wake up guys! Arabic serials are not bad, they are absolutely awful.
lol @ overweught women in bad dresses! Sadly VERY TRUE !
and I guess comparing to most Arabic serials noor is better but doesn’t mean it’s good
I don’t understand the fascination that Saudi’s have with Noor! I’m trying to understand why everyone is so obsessed but I just can’t! I heard that it was a failure as a TV show in Turkey that they didn’t even air all the episodes :S I mean even if we are an inbelievably bored sha3b, how bored do we have to be to watch Noor? -_- loool I don’t know why I just hated it from the beginning and glad its over!
I don’t understand the fascination that Saudi’s have with Noor! I’m trying to understand why everyone is so obsessed but I just can’t! I heard that it was a failure as a TV show in Turkey that they didn’t even air all the episodes :S I mean even if we are an inbelievably bored sha3b, how bored do we have to be to watch Noor? -_- loool I don’t know why I just hated it from the beginning and glad its over!
lol well let’s all be glad that it’s finally over!
well i think the main reason people here are obsessed with noor is bcoz they found a way to kill time .. if you noticed every1 needs something to look forwrad to .. and the kind of life and routine we live in kinda sucks .. of course there’s exceptions of people who have full time jobs …
and another thing is lack of romance in this country .. i didn’t say it doesn’t exist at all .. maybe it does but it’s rare .. and it’s a fact that arabian men are more harsh in treating there women .. i’m not just saying it .. i’ve seen it with my own eyes .. this is why they got attached to these romantic series that may fill some of the voids in their lives
So you agree with me… boredom and having nothing to do lol
and I did ask is it because we crave romance… it is a very valid point of view but the show was stupid still
wallahi mara 7eloo when u read the reality in a few lines keda . .
And about lesh al atraak ma yetfaragoha wi e7na ewaa > don’t believe that guy who told u that 100% >> cuz yemken al 8aryaa 7agatoo ma kanoo yetfarajoha but that doesn’t mean enoo all turkish ma kanoo yetfarajohaa so u can’t compare like that > cuz alot of turkish kanoooo ’3arganeeeen fee hade al mosalsaleen bii nafs 6aregat al so3odeyeen elee henaa . .
ana mane ’9edak ana ma3aak ya sedee fe kol 7arf wii tara ana wa7da min al naas ele kanat ’3argana bas really law shoftane gabel kol 7alga ma tebda2 esh agool kont akeeed katabt 8a9eda feya min al HABAL !! kont agool yalla bada2 al habal 5alena neshoof esh 7a ye9eeer >>>>>>>> WE KNOW ENO HABAL and maloo da3ee bas leeesh bi netfaraj > i think eno kol shay fe hada al kooon le sho’3lana wi hadee kanaaat mohemaat jeeesh min al shaya6een wakalhom ebleees behaa > wii lel asaf gedroo 3alenaa zay kol maraa >> bas ya rab tekooon a5er mara wi ma yekooon fe 3ala golak NEXT !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Allah ye7menaa wii yelhena fe 6a3atooo >> Allahoma Ameeeen . .
Allah ye7meek ya bassem great topic like always masha2allah . .
lol enty leh betdaf3y
wla rob3 alturkish ppl ano 3′arganen zay ma hena ! ba3den alnas hena atjanano eh alnas kolha tsafer turkey faj2a wo tsamy awladha mohannad wo lamees wo alashya2 dy elly min jid bet9er 