Saturday, October 15, 2005

Ramadan Drama

It is Ramadan again, and that means one thing (not the only one though): TV and Drama. Things have changed with time, and with new production companies, and with new channels too. In the old days, there was no satellite, and even when there was there were few to mention. There would be one or two key TV drama, usually Egyptian, and everyone would watch them (such as Layali Al-Hilmiyeh ليالي الحلمية). Things are different now.
The Syrian TV invasion is on the rise, in fact it already rose enough (which means there may be a fall afterwards). You have to take the month as a vacation to at least attempt following most drama. All sort of things are now being made. Few years ago it was fantasia (lead by Najdat Anzoor) that dominated the scene. Now it is history, terrorism, biography, social, comedy, and so forth.
There is at least one Syrian drama playing on any channel (except Egyptian ones of course – mutual hatred) and in the cast of the Syrian channels, there is like seven or more; one after the other. You can barely find time to eat without watching TV, or a time to go out without missing an episode of something you are following. So what ends up happening is either you pick one drama to follow, or try to watch everything (in which case you will end up watching every other – or more – episode, not knowing what is going on). And speaking of the Syrian drama I have some remarks, as usual (I cannot comment on the Egyptian drama because not only I don't like, but being an extremist I hate it).
Fist of all: if you attempt watching most of the Syrian drama you will discover that the same actors are in everyone, almost. And the explanation is very simple. We have like forty actors (actually more), and thirty five works of drama. You do the math; if each drama needs five main characters and twenty extras… that's right, you got it. It is not a secret that some names are more popular than others and would sell like Christmas toys.
Secondly: because of what is mentioned above, I have noticed the casting of actors that have not been on the screen for a long time (نقص اليد العاملة أو الممثلة).
Thirdly: most Syrian drama is presented now in wide screen format, like the video clips, and movies. Don’t' get me wrong, they look nice, must be some new cameras that they got. But who on earth in Syria have wide screen TVs, they don't even do that abroad, at least to respect those who don't have it. You understand of course that this makes the picture smaller.
Fourthly: when on earth are they going to stop Ayman Zeidan from acting??

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