and there's still that other scary-looking lady with big, rolling eyes in Diya Aur Bati (both on Star Plus), and what's more, both these serials are still fetching good ratings. But there's also a wider range of stories and ideas on air now.
A couple of examples: Sony has started Kya Hua Tera Vaada, which is the story of a married couple with three children. After ten years, their lives and conversations revolve around school tiffins, office politics, the lack of money, parenting problems and other such romantic, passionate details. As a slice of life story, it's a charming idea. But at the moment, the most charming person in the serial is Mona Singh, who plays the wife. The last time Mona appeared in a fiction show was — if I remember correctly — in Sony's Jassi Jaissi Koi Nahin. But subsequently, she mostly anchored TV shows such as Jhalak Dikhla Jaa (which she also won in a previous season) in her customary warm and vivacious manner. Those are the qualities she brings to her role of the wife in Kya Hua Tera Vaada, but her husband, played by actor Pawan Shankar, is a little humdrum in comparison. Just like the overall feel of the serial. Maybe things will perk up in the coming episodes?

Which brings me to the million-episode question: even when the new serials are not saas-bahu dramas, why aren't they rocking our TV sets? A possible answer is the very format of the daily soap. To shoot and edit and package one episode every day, five days a week, is a tough call. Production houses seem to have tackled this by sticking to a cookie cutter story-telling style. To give just one example: the excruciatingly slow pace of most serials. (The rationale seems to be to shoot less, then stretch the few scenes as much as possible. That's why a lot of the time, nothing actually happens in an episode. Directors get around this lack of forward movement by seeking to build a couple of 'moments' in every episode. But that's not enough, especially if the moments are not arresting enough).

Someone needs to throw away the cookie cutter. Quickly.

P.S.-  If already shared, please close it but as i haven't seen this here  thought of sharing