Surfing through 2011

Srabanti Chakrabarti looks back on what the small screen had to offer its viewers in 2011, and finds that it hasn’t quite been television’s year.

This television year, in fact, has been a mixed bag of sorts, with the usual, typical fare being doled out to the viewers. While some programmes were interesting, the less said about the rest, the better. There weren’t any new shows, serials or sitcoms occupying our precious TV space in 2011.

So, what did the small screen have to offer in the year that’s just winding up? Serials and reality shows — nothing more and nothing less. While 2009 and 2010 saw socially-relevant themes and realistic serials, 2011’s shows had its characters returning to their usual family drama format, perhaps in a slightly more subtle manner this time around. Sasural Simar Ka and Mrs Kaushik Ki Paanch Bahuein are two good examples of the saas-bahu theme revisiting our television screens. While they wouldn’t qualify as being the most popular shows of the year, they weren’t the least favourite either.

New and mature love stories like Kuchh To Log Kahenge and Bade Aache Lagte Hai ushered in some much-required and refreshing change to a medium that has been popularly ruled by daily soaps this year. One change that took everyone by surprise was that of Colors coming out tops, as the most sought after entertainment channel. Thanks to some of their innovative programmes like Phulwa, India’s Got Talent, Kitchen Champion, Balika Badhu and Uttaran, they usurped the throne from Star Plus and relegated Sony and Zee to near obscurity.

Talking of Balika Vadhu and Uttaran on Colors, these old family dramas continued to air successfully and even managed to emerge victorious in finding favour among the audience.

The year also brought with it the new season of Kaun Banega Crorepati (KBC), a game show with Amitabh Bachchan as the host, which slightly altered the fate of Sony, and dramatically changed the

fortunes of its participants. Through some innovative programming and marketing, this season of KBC made a tremendous impact, what with the prize money being hiked to five crore rupees! In addition, Amitabh Bachchan’s immaculate and inimitable style of hosting, along with some emotion-packed clips from the contestants’ homes, contributed towards making the show one of 2011’s top grossers. Since Sony had outbid other broadcasters in bagging the rights for the show this year, their fortunes also managed to change overnight. KBC by its side, Sony’s viewership surpassed that of Colors in terms of both rating and popularity. If anything, acquiring the rights to KBC proved to be Sony’s master stroke. However, it needs to be supplemented with many other interesting programmes in order to sustain continued viewership. At present, they only have one good programme in the form of Bade Achche Lagte Hai, and it just isn’t enough to ensure the channel’s popularity.

Reality shows seem to have had a dominating presence over the Indian television scene. In fact, reality shows still seem to rule the TRP charts. The best example for this is Bigg Boss. Despite being repetitive in its format year after year, the show still gathers unbelievably high ratings. However, talent hunt shows were much fewer in number. Though they are still very much on the radar and get good TRPs whenever they are on, the craze surrounding an Indian Idol has definitely reduced.

Another interesting trend that marked our television screens this year was the return of some small-screen stalwarts like Ram Kapoor, Sakshi Tanwar, Samir Soni and Mohnish Behl — the top four television stars of the saas-bahu era.

While Kapoor and Tanwar were back in the hugely popular show, Bade Achche Lagte Hai, taking the show to the top slot with their on-screen chemistry, Samir Soni enthralled his fans with Parichay on Colors. The return of some old television favourites, and the manner in which the viewers have welcomed them, only go to prove that some actors can never really lose their charm, and that they make for great television staples.
What exactly does next year look like? Difficult to predict, but it doesn’t seem to look very different from this year. Considering the voyeuristic nature of the average Indian television viewer, Bigg Boss will continue to be popular and so will some of the other reality shows be. And like every year, some family dramas will call the shots. Unless, of course, television programme producers decide to surprise us pleasantly.