* TRPs = Serial Killers *

Posted: 13 years ago
 

 TRPs = Serial Killers 

 

As a viewer of the serials on Indian TV, I have come to realize that the concepts of shows on the Indian telly need some drastic changes.  In India, the success of a TV show depends on the dreaded word - TRPs.  If the TRPs are good, the show runs on for years with twists and turns and deaths and rebirths! 😲  Never mind if the story line is crap with a lot of connived impossible situations!   If a woman is tortured by her husband, in-laws, and society, the audience laps it up, the TRPs go through the roof, and of course, the show goes on and on dishing out more torture. 🤢  If the girls wear skimpy clothes and the boys bare muscles and a lot of bad language used, well, it clicks with the youth and is a roaring success!  😉

 

 

What if the story stays simple and everyday kind with situations one might encounter in real life with lessons on how to deal with such situations?   It is considered low profile and not worth the trouble!   Many a show starts off with such promises and viewers like me who want to watch something sensible get hooked to the show.  But down the road, we notice strange things happening - the story takes a sudden U turn, unsavory and unwanted characters appear from nowhere, and the original flavor is lost. 😕 Why does this happen?  Because the TRPs are low and the channel sends warnings to the producers and creatives of the show to add masala to increase TRPs or else! 😲 But does it really do any good?  No, because the original fans are disgusted and give up on the show and it fails to attract new viewers half way through the story!  The TRPs dip even lower and finally the show is laid to rest with a hotch-potch ending which leaves many a fan in tears! 😭

 

 

It is high time that entertainment industry thought of entertaining all kinds of viewers, not just the kinds who want melodrama and bloodshed and twisted storylines!  😛 While I agree that we watch TV for relaxation, it is also an important media which reaches almost every household in the country and it should be used for raising the awareness of the public towards certain social evils!  So along with the laughter programs and certain reality shows (but which ones really educate nowadays? ), we also need good stories to be told in a convincing way.   Stories are told to little children to impress certain morals on them; in a similar way, good stories need to be told on a media like the television to impart certain lessons to the viewing public. 

 

 

Considering TRPs as a measure of success (I fail to understand how a miniscule percentage of households are representative of the nation's voice in an overpopulated one like ours ), many a good story bites the dust without making an impact.  The best way to beat this system would be to change the strategy altogether.  Let us have stories which are drawn up and fixed right at the beginning of the show.  Let us have short serials, which run only for a few months – the shelf life of a serial should not be greater than 6 months.  This would avoid a lot of heartache for the fans, as the story is fixed and so are the characters, and the Damocles sword of TRPs need not be hanging over the show deciding its fate. 😃 New characters and twists and turns need not be added midway through the show for garnering TRPs.  Once it is known that the show is for a fixed period of time, TRPs would lose their importance,  and good stories can be shown without worries.   All kinds of stories can also be shown and audience can pick and choose what they want to see.  This way all kinds of viewers would find something to satisfy them and the popularity of TV as a media would only go up and so would its importance in influencing the society! 😊

 

 

In fact one of the best serials I have watched was Avicharitham (The Unexpected), a Malayalam serial directed by K.K. Rajeev and having just 40 episodes of an hour each. 👍🏼 It had 4 central characters with a few ancillary ones, and I remember being glued to Asianet every evening when it was aired in 2004/2005. The serial highlighted human frailties and the unexpected climax at the end restored one's faith in human nature. 😊 I remember it won many awards, but I wonder how it fared in popularity, but it was one of the best I have watched on the telly! 👏

 

 

It is high time that the powers that be of showbiz considered the viewpoints of the audience who watch their shows and put a different kind of system in place for customer satisfaction.Short serials with a fixed storyline right at the beginning would spare a lot of heartache for fans and viewers who mourn the untimely death of their favorite shows at the altar of the TRPs!  😊

 

 

Posted: 13 years ago
Finally, someone wrote about how we as an audience feel about TRPs...  Nicely written Shobs!
 
Will come up with my thoughts soon!
Posted: 13 years ago
Loved the title, Shobs....Its very apt...Shows how all our beloved serials are butchered and then ended at the altar of TRPs....Will add my two cents soon...
Posted: 13 years ago
I had posted this a few months back.
 
Originally posted by visrom


Found an interesting article in Times of India.

Creative freedom on Tv? Not anymore: Smriti

Smriti Z Irani More Pics
As a young girl, defiance was a rule I lived by, for I was denied the right to join the IPS all because I was fascinated by a serial called Udaan. Story of a righteous female cop, Vikram Gokhale as the ideal father and Shekhar Kapur as the love interest. God!

The makers couldn't have done a better job. To rid me of my fantasies all it took was a whack on the head by my parents who felt that the 'idiot box' had a victim right in their living room.

When I look back, creativity then was driven by passion for story telling today its TAM (the agency giving television rating points (TRPs) ratings each week) that gives stories direction. Imagine if Udaan had a 20- year leap and the story progressed to their bahu. Imagine if BR Chopra was told during the making of Mahabharat 'Sir samay ka voiceover work nahi karega. Let's get a celebrity, we will give him designer clothes'. BLASPHEMY!

But today, the honest truth is 'creative freedom' is blasphemous for those who are trying to survive a job. While the viewer is dished out soap after soap "different" from the last one they saw with better costumes and bigger sets; it's those who churn these stories who look forward to an opportunity to do things differently. However, in an industry that revolves around advertising for its daily bread, it's an absolute impossibility to even fantasise about such freedom.

Television today is a 30,000 crore industry with close to 450 channels waiting to take a slice out of the huge advertising pie. In an era that is governed by stiff competition, each and every input that goes into programming is measured, debated, for no one wants to take a chance on the unknown. Hence, TAM has emerged as the epicenter of all these endeavours, for business finds solace in numbers. A definite and defined outline for channels who seek success if numbers are to be believed and research is depended on.

That TV today is synonymous with TRP is no wonder at all. What would be a surprise is if we find a balance between creativity and the compulsions of TAM. It is said in many a serial chinta mat karo beta, waqt ke saath sab badal jayega. Samay bada balwaan hai. All I would say is samay balwaan hoga, lekin kya aap kabhi TAM se mile hai?




Read more: Creative freedom on Tv? Not anymore: Smriti - The Times of India http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/entertainment/tv-/Creative-freedom-on-Tv-Not-anymore-Smriti/articleshow/6814857.cms#ixzz13i6bPQPr
 
I know a lot of TV serial makers visit this forum. Thanks for opening this thread.  I hope they will read this and understand that the audience is bored of the same type of saas bahu and elaborate weddings and heavy-jewellery-clad ladies in kitchens. We really need something fresh and innovative.
 
 
Posted: 13 years ago

You are absolutely right.  TRP is the cause of death of a good story/serial. For this TRP channels can't stop a serial at the proper time.  channels ka kahena hai "aare bhai TRP achcha hai ye serial ko abhi kaise rok sakte hai, story ko gumao, kuch bhi karo TRP achcha hai." and the result death of a good story.😔 

Posted: 13 years ago
Shobs 🤗......awesome post and title  👍🏼.....totally agree with you ......every word u wrote echos all our feelings.....thank u so much for doing this......hope it reaches the people concerned.....will come back with my views soon......TC 😊





Posted: 13 years ago
well written ...👍🏼...u surely need a standing ovation..👏...this TRPs r actually the Tolerance Rate of People..or the Torturing Rate of Public...thanx that u mentioned about "avicharitham"...i too watched that..am nt a regular watcher but i luvd that one...the script was amazing...no dragging...perfect actors & actresses & ofcourse a good director...once again ...thanx for the post
Posted: 13 years ago
Another interesting item on recent developments in entertainment segment of TV industry
To think that 8000 households control what millions of viewers should see😕 which serials and shows in different channels all over the world



 
Govt soon to form mechanism to monitor TV content: Soni
 

Indiantelevision.com Team


(15 March 2011 4:35 pm)

 

NEW DELHI: The Broadcast Content Complaints Council proposed by the Indian Broadcasting Foundation as the second tier of complaints against television channels will be a 13-member body headed by a retired judge of the Supreme Court or High Court.

"We are right on the threshold of announcing a self-regulatory mechanism to monitor content on television," Information and Broadcasting Minister Ambika Soni told the Lok Sabha in response to complaints by MPs on vulgarity in TV reality shows.

Soni told Parliament today that even as discussions are still on with the IBF to finalise the broad structure on its proposal where the first tier is the broadcaster itself, there was general agreement that the twelve members will include four from among the broadcasters, four will be persons of eminence and repute from outside the industry, and four will be from national statutory commissions.


In the last category, there will be mandatory representation from the National Commission for Women, the National Commission for Protection of Child Rights, and the National Commission for Scheduled Castes.

The fourth member will be selected for a meeting of the BCCC depending on the nature of the complaint, to represent other Commissions like the National Commission for Scheduled Tribes, the National Commission for other Backward Classes, National Commission for Minorities, and the National Human Rights Commission. She said it was envisaged that either the Chairperson or a member of the respective Commission will be represented on the BCCC.


The BCCC will have the mandate to look into all complaints relating to violation of the Code by entertainment channels, and give suitable directions to concerned channels to modify or withdraw any objectionable content.

Since a majority of the members of the BCCC will be drawn from persons of eminence and statutory commissions, she said this mechanism was likely to provide a credible and acceptable self-regulatory mechanism for addressing the issues relating to objectionable content on TV channels.

The News Broadcasters Association had earlier set up a similar body under retired Justice J S Verma to examine complaints against news channels.

Meanwhile, Soni said that the Ministry had increased the capacity of monitoring the TV channels and was now seeing 300 channels round the clock as compared to 150 some months earlier.

Furthermore, the report of the TRP Committee headed by Dr Amit Mitra which was under examination had recommended increasing the number of households being covered from 8,000 to 30,000 in the first phase.

 



Edited by chalhov - 13 years ago
Posted: 13 years ago

Very well written post and awesome title..so true..because of TRPs, very good stories get wrecked..now I am just hoping theat two really good shows, DLMH and Mukti Bandhan don't get wrecked because of this whole TRP thing...yrf shows are good too, they only run for like two months, and leave very nice memories..

Posted: 13 years ago
Very Well Written Awesome It So True Because Of This My Favorite Going To End


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