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Eid entertainment on television

Excessive news hours and commercials irritate the audience
5 February 2004, 18:00 PM
LIFESTYLE
By Kausar Islam Ayon
5 February 2004, 18:00 PM
Humayun Faridi and Sharmin Shilla in a scene from Dhar Udhar
With very little diversion in Dhaka City, television has become the prime source of Eid entertainment for everyone. There are all together four local channels now and with these options, expectation of the audience and competition among the channels has also increased. Every Eid, these channels, in an attempt to add extra amusement, come up with a good number of special programmes. The audience, in turn, lingers on with great expectations before their sets. However, the excessive news hours and too many commercial breaks this Eid have not only irked but also disappointed the viewers.

It is true that news bulletins of the different channels are very popular among the conscious citizens who want to remain updated with the current happenings. At the same time, no one can overlook the necessity of the commercials to run a television channel.

But when one begins to enjoy a specific programme, the duration of viewing it often multiplies with the intervening commercials and the repetition of the same news bulletin over and over again. This indeed brings irritation and kills the spirit of watching television.

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From 7:00 pm to 1:00 am one has to go through 6 news-bulletins including the mandatory telecast of the BTV news at 11:30 pm. If we include the commercial breaks, it adds up to more than 4 hours of viewing. So to watch a programme of 2 hours the audience has to allot himself 6 hours.

On top of it, most of the programmes telecast, procured from different production houses and makers, are of average standard. There has been a qualitative improvement in BTV's traditional Annandamela over the last two years. After a break, Abdun Nur Tushar made a good come back with his Shubhechha. His natural presentation and selected items well entertained the audience. Among the programmes of Channel-i, the biggest success was the premiere release of Bachelor and it was in fact the centre of attraction. Ei Jey Dunia was also a humorous presentation. Tritiyo Matra-Eid special added extra recreation to the viewers.

Ntv however managed to telecast BTV news after the scheduled time on consecutive two days from Eid day. The first episode of Achin Ragini, a newly created 3-episode Eid special by Humayun Ahmed, aired on ntv on Eid day, was unexpectedly disappointing for its typical stereotyped Humayun Ahmed story-line and making.

Asaduzzaman Noor and Ejaj Ahmed however acted brilliantly, although Humayun's compulsory heroine Shawon was equally boring.

Drama Ghor Dor Baranda was a vivid presentation of the neglected aged people living in apartments. Performances of Humayun Faridi and Shahiduzzaman Selim were complementary to each other.

The making of Harano Sur, a musical programme, aired at ATN Bangla was well appreciated. The getup and the performance of the artistes with the songs of the yesteryears were worth watching. In the children's programme, Agami, the celebrities spending time with the children was commendable entertainment. Celebrity talk show Jampesh Adda was also a good variation.