A major epidemic is spreading all over India. Guess the cause? Nope.. It is not bacteria or virus but 'Mega serials' telecast in most of the TV channels. It sure is an epidemic as it affects the body and mind of both active and passive viewers (poor me:-( ).
In those days, when there was only Doordarshan, entertainment programmes like songs , movies or serials could be counted. We children await eagerly for a Friday night to watch our favorite cine songs so called as "Oliyum OLiyum". Yet most of the times, DD would disappoint us with very old songs instead of latest releases :-(. Come Sunday evenings, our house would be like a mini theater with neighborhood kids hanging around to get a glimpse of the Sunday movie. Very few houses owned a television that time. We gaze our favorite serials like "Spiderman" , "He-Man" with awe! Bet, these days children would not have that excitement as they have the liberty of watching whatever they wish at the touch of the TV remote.
Curse DD for starting its second channel and relaying Hindi serials that were dubbed awfully in regional languages. This paved the way for the so called mega serials. With the inception of satellite channels, mega serials picked up dramatically.
Mega serial Definition: Mega serials start with the speed of the tide, slows down like a river turns into a still stream and continues to remain a stream that does not know its destination.
Mega serial Bio-data:
Timing: Mon - Sat 10 AM to 10 PM. (some of the channels have started on Sat as well :-( )
Intended audience: Home makers and Senior citizens
Theme: Oriented towards Women and Family(?).
Actors qualification: Good at acting in emotional scenes, talk lengthy sentimental dialogues.
Basic resources needed: Hospital, Temple and Police Station.
Main goal: No Story line, No Logic. No character should remain good for long time.
Major Dependencies: Sentiments, Gossips, Revenge and of course glycerin
Viewers Benefits: Increase in tolerance level
Punch Line: Miles to go before I end.
Better Name: GIGA Serial.
Differentiation between a serial and Mega serial:
Scene 1: Two wheeler accident
Serial: A man filled with lots of confusions, gets diverted and hits a lorry coming in the opposite direction. Max. time would be 10 mins.
Mega serial : A lady goes to temple, performs a puja and the 'kumkum' accidentally falls down. Immediately she opens up a sentimental dialogue with another lady for 15 mins about her superstitious beliefs on her husband's safety. Her husband, meanwhile drives his 2 wheeler filled with various thoughts of so many flashback scenes from previous episodes. Finally when he is about to hit a lorry the episode ends. Cannot predict the number of episodes before he finally hits the lorry.
Scene 2: Pregnancy and child birth
Serial : Woman gets pregnant and after few episodes, delivers the baby.
Mega serial : Woman gets pregnant. Confirming pregnancy and sharing with family runs for a week. Nobody knows when she would deliver. Most of the time it lasts for more than the actual pregnancy period.
Scene 3: Death
Serial : Usually just a background music and the photo of the person hanging in the wall
Mega serial : Lasts for a week, at the least, narrating the complete ritual accompanied by the mourning of each and every character in the serial. Gives a feel that the death actually happened in our house. How realistic??!
Mega serial ill effects:
Apart from wasting quality time, serials have many other negative effects. They are neither comical not do they create a good feel. Most of the stories(?) revolve around taking grudge, superstitious practices, gossips, sentimental family subjects and worst of all creates a noisy atmosphere. They sure would create an impact to the watchers gradually. I heard one of my neighbor complaining about her mother in law replicating the ruthless behavior of a character in a serial. Though this is an extreme case, there are at least apparent drawbacks like less physical exercise, not interacting with neighbors, sleeplessness and eye problems. Unlike other programmes like a dance show or a movie, these serials lure people to continue watching arousing the curiosity of what would happen next (though nothing dramatic happens!) and has become totally invincible.
What could be done?
Viewers: Stop watching these junk serials. Switch to good shows, music and other useful programmes.
TV channels : Television has its own purpose. Please do not spoil.
Censor board : Check the quality and duration of these serials and ban them. Also control the number of serials/channel. Rank the channels based on the number of useful programmes vis-a-vis these junk serials.
Though the last two is not in our hands, they have indirect relationship with the first one. As viewers, lets switch to quality programmes and ditch these mega serials!
Hope this "Mega serial Menace" ends soon?
In those days, when there was only Doordarshan, entertainment programmes like songs , movies or serials could be counted. We children await eagerly for a Friday night to watch our favorite cine songs so called as "Oliyum OLiyum". Yet most of the times, DD would disappoint us with very old songs instead of latest releases :-(. Come Sunday evenings, our house would be like a mini theater with neighborhood kids hanging around to get a glimpse of the Sunday movie. Very few houses owned a television that time. We gaze our favorite serials like "Spiderman" , "He-Man" with awe! Bet, these days children would not have that excitement as they have the liberty of watching whatever they wish at the touch of the TV remote.Curse DD for starting its second channel and relaying Hindi serials that were dubbed awfully in regional languages. This paved the way for the so called mega serials. With the inception of satellite channels, mega serials picked up dramatically.
Mega serial Definition: Mega serials start with the speed of the tide, slows down like a river turns into a still stream and continues to remain a stream that does not know its destination.
Timing: Mon - Sat 10 AM to 10 PM. (some of the channels have started on Sat as well :-( )
Intended audience: Home makers and Senior citizens
Theme: Oriented towards Women and Family(?).
Actors qualification: Good at acting in emotional scenes, talk lengthy sentimental dialogues.
Basic resources needed: Hospital, Temple and Police Station.
Main goal: No Story line, No Logic. No character should remain good for long time.
Major Dependencies: Sentiments, Gossips, Revenge and of course glycerin
Viewers Benefits: Increase in tolerance level
Punch Line: Miles to go before I end.
Better Name: GIGA Serial.
Differentiation between a serial and Mega serial:
Scene 1: Two wheeler accident
Serial: A man filled with lots of confusions, gets diverted and hits a lorry coming in the opposite direction. Max. time would be 10 mins.
Mega serial : A lady goes to temple, performs a puja and the 'kumkum' accidentally falls down. Immediately she opens up a sentimental dialogue with another lady for 15 mins about her superstitious beliefs on her husband's safety. Her husband, meanwhile drives his 2 wheeler filled with various thoughts of so many flashback scenes from previous episodes. Finally when he is about to hit a lorry the episode ends. Cannot predict the number of episodes before he finally hits the lorry.
Scene 2: Pregnancy and child birth
Serial : Woman gets pregnant and after few episodes, delivers the baby.
Mega serial : Woman gets pregnant. Confirming pregnancy and sharing with family runs for a week. Nobody knows when she would deliver. Most of the time it lasts for more than the actual pregnancy period.
Scene 3: Death
Serial : Usually just a background music and the photo of the person hanging in the wall
Mega serial : Lasts for a week, at the least, narrating the complete ritual accompanied by the mourning of each and every character in the serial. Gives a feel that the death actually happened in our house. How realistic??!
Mega serial ill effects:
Apart from wasting quality time, serials have many other negative effects. They are neither comical not do they create a good feel. Most of the stories(?) revolve around taking grudge, superstitious practices, gossips, sentimental family subjects and worst of all creates a noisy atmosphere. They sure would create an impact to the watchers gradually. I heard one of my neighbor complaining about her mother in law replicating the ruthless behavior of a character in a serial. Though this is an extreme case, there are at least apparent drawbacks like less physical exercise, not interacting with neighbors, sleeplessness and eye problems. Unlike other programmes like a dance show or a movie, these serials lure people to continue watching arousing the curiosity of what would happen next (though nothing dramatic happens!) and has become totally invincible.
Viewers: Stop watching these junk serials. Switch to good shows, music and other useful programmes.
TV channels : Television has its own purpose. Please do not spoil.
Censor board : Check the quality and duration of these serials and ban them. Also control the number of serials/channel. Rank the channels based on the number of useful programmes vis-a-vis these junk serials.
Though the last two is not in our hands, they have indirect relationship with the first one. As viewers, lets switch to quality programmes and ditch these mega serials!
Hope this "Mega serial Menace" ends soon?
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