Wednesday 22nd May 2013
You might think that one of the world’s last remaining Communist countries might be an unlikely testing ground for your new show, but in the case of Korean show QUEEN OF HOUSEWIVES, that’s exactly what’s happened. Communist Cuba has no relations with South Korea (which is the site of the biggest US military base in the world) but the story of a housewife trying to help her unemployed husband get a job has been a massive hit in the Island republic, where its broadcast on state-run Canal Havana. … Read more…
Thursday 16th May 2013
For a long time, Scandinavia has been the home of sophisticated dramas like BORGEN, but a new Danish show has recently upset this trend, and provoked outrage in the Scandinavian country. Named after its notorious creator, Thomas Blachman, BLACHMAN features the former Danish X Factor judge and a male studio guest discussing the relative pros and cons of naked women who are paraded by on stage in front of them. The women featured on the show range from attractive young singles to an 85 year old. The show’s … Read more…
Thursday 9th May 2013
In January of this year, Doha-based news-corporation Al Jazeera bought Current TV, and announced its intention to scrap its programming in preparation for the start of its own “Al Jazeera America” channel. This major development in the US news scene has called into question the survival of a group that the channel hosted and which have become in their own words “the largest online news show network in the world.” Current TV hosts their regular air program THE YOUNG TURKS WITH CENK UYGUR, and without it, the group … Read more…
Thursday 2nd May 2013
“LOVE IN PARIS”, a coproduction between Indonesian production house Evitek and France’s TV5 is a demonstration of how popular Indonesia’s soap operas, known as Sinetron have become. You can see a publicity image from it above; an Instagram era fantasy about beautiful young Indonesians falling in love in the City of Light. It trades on fantasy and escapism – the things that its target audience want. Paris, as everyone who’s been there (or seen the show) knows, is a Paradise on Earth where everyone falls in love and all dreams … Read more…
Friday 26th April 2013
This image is from JACOB’S CREEK, one of the hit shows on South African pay per view channel, M-NET. M-NET is one of Africa’s media success stories, that with its imprint, ‘Africa Magic’, shows largely locally made programming like modern South Africa’s first soap, EGOLI. It’s recently expanded its operations into Nigeria, and in doing so has cornered the continent’s two most vital broadcasting zones. MNET has its origins prior to the end of Apartheid (President Botha once famously declared that he would make sure MNET never broadcast … Read more…
Friday 19th April 2013
DIRECT FLIGHT (VOO DIRECTO) was one in a series of big budget telenovela coproductions between RTP Portugal and Angolan production house Semba Communications and state broadcaster TPA. The show ran in late 2010 and at one point achieved a 9.1% audience share in Portugal, simultaneously setting a new benchmark for Angolan local drama, which is practically non-existent. The very fact that DIRECT FLIGHT was made at all is quite astonishing; in a male dominated country with almost no history of any kind of television drama, this remarkable show emerged appealing … Read more…
Friday 12th April 2013
When her husband’s plane goes down with no survivors, a young wife’s perfect existence is destroyed. However, a few days later, she discovers by chance that he never actually got on the plane…so begins the hit new Turkish series SON (“THE END”). It’s just been acquired for a US adaptation by production company Sander Moses, as Turkish drama finally reaches the West. You can see the Turkish trailer here: For Western observers unfamiliar with Turkish drama, one of the first questions is “what is it about Turkish drama that has made it so … Read more…
Sunday 31st March 2013
English language shows account for a very small percentage on Indian television and the viewership for these shows is also quite small. However, frequently, western formats do very well on the small screen – Who Wants to be a Millionaire, Big Brother, Masterchef, Survivor, and many more. So far, however, India’s purchase of format rights has been confined to the arena of quiz shoes and reality TV – this is all set to change however with India’s version of 24, being aired straight after the Cricket IPL this … Read more…
Tuesday 26th March 2013
Below you can see a clip from the soap opera MALI: MALI has already been mentioned in a previous blog which looked at how the East African nation of Kenya has had to learn to fight the influence of foreign programming that stifles local productions. MALI is one of Kenya’s main attempts to do this – and to compete with the Mexican and now Philippino soap operas which dominate the East African country’s airwaves. These telenovelas are especially popular in the country, especially with the vital female demographic who watch a good deal … Read more…
Friday 22nd March 2013
“In a world where Beauty Reigns Supreme…” so begins the tag line for TV5′s new drama GLAMOROSA which takes place in one of the world’s ugliest businesses: plastic surgery. GLAMOROSA is a primetime Philippine drama series about two rival female surgeons, Dr. Natalia Herrera and Dr. Paulina Valdez-Marciano, and the show follows the explosive competition between them, and the mystery girl, Giselle, who turns up with a dark secret. The wealthy Herrera family were responsible for the murder of Paulina’s family in a feud, and in reality, just … Read more…
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