# Devils Den# -A celebration by, of and for Devils - Page 96

I m not much impressed with lifeok shows as majority look depressing .. some r too preachy ... some are busy giving social messages ...the channel looks too serious ...there is less entertainment factor and this is not a good sign for a channel in the long run ...mayb first few weeks people will tune in out of curiosity but for long run ,people need some entertainment for relaxation ... Edited by jyoti06 - 12 years ago

@Aarushi: Oh I completely agree! Their branding is pretty terrible as they have this cute little man who looks like a messenger of happiness and youth (or even childhood!) representing a channel that has none of the above. It is not very good marketing at all because the graphics don't match the content. This symbol would have gone much better with the DMG/MJHT genre while the old SO symbol would have worked better for this.

I agree "revamp" is the wrong word. It was more like completely obliterate and create something else in its place.

What I was trying to say about the shows though is that just because they are not catering to the same demographic as SO anymore, does not mean they might not find a new demographic. With SP, Sony and Zee all starting more youth oriented shows, and romances a niche channel like SO becomes redundant. It was useful when it was the exception. Now Star is trying to be one step ahead again when the mainstream has started to follow what they used to do on their niche channel.

So now the new niche is gritty real life stories and you really can't tell how good/bad, successful or not they are in so few episodes. Just like there was a youth audience waiting for a channel like SO, there may be a more serious audience waiting for a channel like LOK. Also they are bringing back a lot of stars like Aditi Gupta and Apurva Agnihotri (this is not sure) so they are putting in their efforts, not to mention the whole Madhuri campaign!

That is why I said don't write it off because in the bigger picture it is a very calculated business move, though there seem to be several problems at this stage.

Jo, agree with you on the channel's line up. 

@Jyo ...

I honestly believe that what you want to watch on TV at any given instance just depends on ur frame of mind. So not just a channel, but even a single show should have variations and should be able to provide a viewer with multiple dimensions. That is probably one of the reasons Geet worked. It had positivity, commitment, started with a good storyline, had moments of fun, seriousness, complications, relaxations, etc.  Edited by Soapoperasrfun - 12 years ago

@Samana - It is not that if one has or hasn't the taste for real-life shows or not -its just that I am wary of the way its cinematically portrayed so far and knowing how in current telly industry -trps and nos. thrive more than creativity or experimenting with newer thoughts its hard to swallow that SP-the mainstream channel's trying romance for competition -when at initial stages unique,untried concepts were tested  in SO-which showed consistently a good fare.

 

So SP dared to risk this "youth" formula only when it'd done well for its sibling with lower reach & hence unable to compete equally with SP.

 

It still has regular saas-bahu soaps as back up

 

As for the genre of real life related shows (sorry for earlier digression)-I do want an emotional connect with the protagonist-someone I enjoy viewing- not just mind boggling "twists" or "sad situations" jumbled in -for "drama's sake"

 

But variety is a key coz like you say -you don't know which one will click -but I don't think Zee,SP-really have been trying that lately -its only by shows like DMG, MJHT,GHSP,etc example they've gone away from demure,docile damsel being burdened stories.

 

Though Sony -is wayyy better than them😊

Edited by Lily201 - 12 years ago

@Priti: You make perfect sense!

But I think it is far too early to judge these shows. And if you look at the promos, they really are of a wide variety. The only thread connecting them is that they all play on human emotion and experience. I mean this channel pretty much has the gamut of Indian TV in one place, family dramas, mythology, crime and thrillers. Perhaps the idea is to make less glamourous shows, which are all the rage in the mainstream now.

These shows remind me of South Indian shows, which are very real and not at all glamourised. Most of them are depressing as well but that doesn't stop them from being hugely successful.

So all I am saying is that it is way to early to judge the fate of the channel, not saying that it definitely will be a success or anything. I am not their spokesperson, but to me the whole thing looks meticulously planned (aside from the graphics) so I wouldn't just say it's going to fail.

Ok, gotta go guys, will see you later!

@Lily there are so many non-demure damsels all over the big channels now! From HD on Zee to Nidhi on Sony (KTLK) to Sandhya, Maanvi etc on SP, the unconventional babes are becoming the flavour of the day. So I think LOK is becoming the new experimental platform for Star. That was the point I was trying to make, and gritty, human, emotional stories are their new experiment.

Edited by Samanalyse - 12 years ago

@Samana - I double-clicked the like button so the "like" dissappeared -but yup I agree gals with a mind of their own and ones who don't mince words along with dare to aspire are being tried & aggressively promoted as shows which I like -but for some reason its only in bits & pieces- I've followed all protagonists you've mentioned ,but somewhere I haven't seen a complete detachment from the cliched.

 

Plus the fact remains -somewhere down the line even if poor SO has been "revamped" it did prove that youth shows are worthy to become a fad or trendy coz after yrs later mainstream channels are going that path😛

 

edit- I wonder why they couldn't experiment the hard,gritty shows in SO though-I mean then they could have current hit shows as a backup as well & SO isn't entirely new to dabbling in new ideas too -we did have DLMH,RBO & GHSP -in serious genre though others didn't fare well

 

Bye,tc!!

 

Edited by Lily201 - 12 years ago

Sam south soaps lack glamour but their drama content ,execution and flow of episodes make it real and watchable and suppose it is AP where I stay they show the contents and traditions of the same place but in national Tv If a south indian is watching He has to digest the variety of tradition, So NI we don't have much problem in watching shows like pratigya though it is a allahabad's story but south indians cannot watch that.If they  are watching hindi shows that is because of glamour and the entertainment part. Here in Gemini  they have round the clock shows till  11 in the night but still people watch ye rishta & PR,geet,behna bcz they are not over traditional & entertaining,light hearted and glamorous. U know My mom watches two bengali shows. They have good story content.
Edited by richa23 - 12 years ago

After watching the shows of LOK I am confused as to which channel has gone for a revamp by the looks of it it appears as if its not SO but sahara one that has gone for a revamp all the shows lack that X factor that glamour which is associated with star & from what angle do they think that such shows will atract youth ? todays youth is a bit mature we don't want mindless romance neither do we want an overdose of drama all we want is a strong intense passonate love story that has the right amount of romance comedy thrill & drama