Turkish soaps earn huge ratings

‘Nour’, ‘Lost Years’ grip Arab audiences

By ALI JAAFAR

LONDON -- The final episodes of leading pan-Arab satcaster MBC's popular Turkish sudsers "Nour" and "The Lost Years" attracted a record 85 million viewers and 67 million viewers, respectively, according to figures released by MBC execs.

"Nour," in particular, has been a cultural phenomenon in the Arab world ever since its debut on March 29. The Turkish melodrama, which MBC execs dubbed into Arabic using a colloquial Syrian dialect rather than formal, classical Arabic, follows the travails of a beautiful, young woman who marries into a wealthy family.

Arab auds became increasingly gripped by the various twists and turns in the suitably labyrinthine plots, as media commentators in the region and beyond wrestled to explain the show's unprecedented popularity across the Arab world.

"The show's finale (on Aug. 30) broke all records," says MBC's Mazen Hayek. "It was a socio-cultural phenomenon like we haven't seen before. It's one of the only times journalists have been able to print good news about the Middle East."

MBC has plans to broadcast further Turkish melodramas, again dubbed into Arabic, once the Muslim holy month of Ramadan is over.

Read the full article at: http://www.variety.com/article/VR1117992148.html"' target="_blank">http://www.variety.com/article/VR1117992148.html

Edited September 15, 200817 yr by Sylph

Wrong subforum! I'd appreciate it if someone moved it to Foreign Soaps!

Wow, this is so greatly interesting! Thanks for posting, I hadn't heard of this before.

'Tollywood' tales entrance millions

Monday, September 15, 2008

Turkish soap operas have attained unexpected popularity in neighboring countries and the Gulf nations. As they become a social phenomenon in Arab countries, soap operas generate extra income for the Turkish television industry. With 18 series being exported to 22 countries, the overall income this year has reached $3 million

In the not-so-distant past imported soap operas, mainly from Brazil or Mexico, when first broadcast first on Turkish state television, or TRT, and then on newly created private television channels, literally “stopped life” on Turkish streets.

Soap operas, such as “The Bold and The Restless” and “Rosalinda” appealed not only to housewives but to shopkeepers, students and almost every other segment of society. But the tendency to import soap operas came to a halt in the last decade, as local soap operas began to gain increasing popularity.

Today, Turkish television channels broadcast tens of different soap operas each week, with each channel sometimes broadcasting two or more a night in response to viewer interest.

Turkish series, which usually revolve around cliched contrasts, such as the rich and the poor or the city and country, have become part of the daily lives of millions. They are now even exported to Turkey's neighbors, where they enjoy great interest, particularly in the Gulf states.

Turkish soap operas have lately become so popular in Middle Eastern countries that in this upcoming season, 18 soap operas will be airing in 22 countries in the Middle East and North Africa, reported daily Hürriyet on Saturday.


Noor: an obsession:


The soap opera craze started when one series, “Gümüş,” or “Noor” in Arabic, became an obsession among young women in Saudi Arabia.

The popularity of “Noor” has gained major attention in the Saudi press, as the series was interpreted to “help narrow the gender gap between men and women” across the region. Its lead character, Songül Öden, is nothing short of a role model for Arab women, while Kıvanç Tatlıtuğ, the male lead, has reportedly received many marriage proposals from the same crowd.

“I am glad that Turkey is supplying role models for Saudi women. They do need to break out of the shell that they have been cast in. The U.S. cannot supply that. ‘Sex in the City' certainly cannot,” said R. V. Edwards, a contributor at news site MSN's world blog.

The show, based around a love story between the “poor but proud” Noor and the “rich but macho” Mohannad, has indeed affected millions of people in countries such as Morocco, Dubai, Algeria, Syria, Tunisia, Jordan and especially Saudi Arabia. The lead actors have become big-time celebrities on Arab streets.


Millions watching:


In Saudi Arabia, the only country with viewer ratings, about 3 to 4 million people watch the show daily, out of a population of nearly 28 million, The Associated Press reported, relying on figures by the Middle East Broadcasting Company, or MBC.

“The series touches on key points, such as romanticism in a marriage and a women's fight to freedom,” said sociologist Nilüfer Narlı, a professor at Bahçeşehir University. “She is married but her career is still important. That gains her respect,” she told the Turkish Daily News yesterday.

“Noor” has become an agent for Turkey to be a cultural exporter, paving the road for more. Today, the overall export revenue from Turkey's soap opera industry has reached $3 million. Each episode is sold for between $2,000 and $10,000, according to its popularity, reported Hürriyet.

“The show was first bought in 2006 by MBC. When its ratings boosted, all broadcasting agencies in the region started showing keen interest in Turkish soap operas,” said Esra Özbay, coordinator for international operations of Doğan TV, the producer of “Noor.”

“We signed a four-year contract with MBC,” Özbay said. “They gave us a guarantee to buy all our shows during the next three years. In case they decide not to buy them, we will still be able to sell those to other agencies.”

Tourism is expected to be another area to benefit from the “‘Noor' effect.”

“The show's visuals are very strong. The cast has beautiful women and handsome men. Plus the set is an amazing Istanbul view, which is definitely another reason for its popularity,” said sociologist Narlı. Indeed, the number of Arab tourists that visited Turkey has increased from 30,000 to 100,000 this year.

TDN reporter Işıl Eğrikavuk contributed to this article.


Confronting traditions


“Noor”s success has also received interest from foreign news agencies, including The Associated Press, which reported that the series was challenging traditional norms in the Arab world.

“‘Noor' delivers an idealized portrayal of modern married life as equal partnership -- clashing with the norms of traditional Middle Eastern societies, where elders often have the final word on whom a woman should marry and many are still confined to the role of wife and mother,” said The Associated Press report, dated July 27.

“Some Muslim preachers in the West Bank and Saudi Arabia have taken notice, saying the show is un-Islamic and urging the faithful to change channels.”

“This series collides with our Islamic religion, values and traditions," the AP quoted Hamed Bitawi, a lawmaker for the militant Islamic Hamas and a preacher in the West Bank city of Nablus, as saying.

“In the West Bank and Gaza, streets are deserted during show time and socializing is timed around it. In Riyadh, the Saudi capital, and in Hebron, the West Bank's most conservative city, maternity wards report a rise in babies named Noor and Mohannad. A West Bank poster vendor has ditched Yasser Arafat and Saddam Hussein for Noor and Mohannad,” the agency reported.

© 2005 Dogan Daily News Inc. www.turkishdailynews.com.tr

Edited September 20, 200817 yr by Sylph

The hit Turkish soap "Nour" which is being aired on MBC has sparked a rash of divorces in countries across the Middle East as women compare their real-life husbands to the TV heart throb, according to press reports.

The trouble centers around the lead male character called Muhannad – played by Turkish actor Kivanç Tatlitug – whose good looks and charms have left many Arab women weak at the knees.

Fed up with his wife's obsession with Muhannad and constant complaints that he should be as romantic as the TV hunk, a Saudi husband from Dammam divorced his wife and threw her out of the marital home, Saudi newspaper Al-Yawm reported.

A Jordanian daily said a husband divorced his wife after she uploaded Muhannad’s picture on her cell phone.

And a Syrian website reported that there were four divorces in Aleppo because of the steamy soap.

In one case, a husband divorced his wife after they had a heated argument about the actor while watching the series, which MBC has dubbed into Arabic to suit Middle Eastern audiences.

According to a neighbor, the wife reportedly told her husband: “I want to sleep with Muhannad for only one night and die afterwards.”

In another case, a husband divorced his wife after she hung a picture of Muhannad – the character Mehmet in the original Turkish version – on their bedroom wall.

Nour, which airs on MBC, the parent company of Al Arabiya, is about a woman who is married to Muhannad after he loses his true love in a tragic accident.

Muhannad is then forced to marry Nour by his family. The series traces the hardships Nour must go through to win her husband’s heart and to prove herself on a professional level.

Nour, called Gümüs in the original series, is played by Turkish actress Songül Öden.

The raised eyebrows, the ‘caked’ on make-up resplendent with blood-red lipstick, the questioning stares, the outrageous slaps and opened-mouth gasps are just a few of the dramatic scenes to be found when watching a soap opera.

By definition, a soap opera is a daytime television drama. The very first soap operas were aired on American television. Laundry detergent companies sponsored the dramas in the early days of television, hence the word ‘soap’ in the title. The soap opera is an American invention and throughout the years women, and sometimes men, from all walks of life have become addicted to the salacious tales, gossip, backstabbing and intrigue, which is par for the course for any successful soap opera.

The soap opera is a decades old tradition in America. Who could ever forget soap operas like ‘Knot’s Landing’ or ‘Dallas’ with the infamous cliffhanger ‘Who shot JR?’ that drove Americans absolutely insane for weeks. Even today, soap operas like ‘Desperate Housewives’, which airs at night, have Americans glued to their TV’s until the screen fades to black.

Countries from France to Italy and just about every constituency in the Middle East have, for years, tried to copy the Americans by offering their own version of the soap opera that usually incorporates goofy or angry characters that engage in ‘slapstick’ comedy to draw the viewers in. However, none of these shows have pulled at the emotions of viewers the way American TV does and left them imploring for more — until now.

The Turkish drama known as ‘Noor’ has swept the Middle East by storm. The show features a female named Noor as the lead character, who bears a striking resemblance to American actress Calista Flockhart of ‘Ally McBeal’ fame, and her husband Mohannad who looks more like Brad Pitt with his blonde hair, pale skin and blue eyes than the typical brunette Arab male. The show originated in Turkey and was a flop but it was syndicated by the Saudi-owned MBC Group and broadcast all across the Middle East.

It has become a resounding success with people all over the Gulf planning their lives around the show so that they don’t miss a single second of the drama. Noor is a career woman who calls the shots in her home, while her husband Mohannad is romantic, attentive and loving, which is what all women want their husbands to be.

Despite the success of the show, Noor has since ended which coincided the advent of the Holy Month of Ramadan, however, it remains to be seen if the serial will continue on in the coming months. Perhaps what drew the viewers in the most is that the plot line was based upon a Muslim family who adhere to some Islamic values like fasting in Ramadan, while also engaging in deeds which are forbidden in Islam like dating, abortion and extra-marital affairs to name only a few of the social ills highlighted within the body of the plot.

Muslims in the Gulf can better identify with a soap opera featuring Muslims than the Western soap operas, like America’s “The Bold and the Beautiful”, which have been dominant in the region for years. However, the show has already been declared unIslamic with Saudi Arabia’s Grand Mufti Sheikh Abdel-Aziz al-Sheikh issuing a fatwa, or religious edict, saying that it is “subversive” and any station that broadcasts it is “an enemy of God and His Prophet.”

The show may have ended but the fallout from ‘Noor’ has changed many peoples’ lives forever. Women, inspired by Noor, are putting down their aprons and heading to the office to earn their own living. There have also been reports of spouses becoming disenchanted with each other and some even have gone as far as filing for divorce on the criteria that either spouse was not as amazing and beautiful as Mohannad or Noor.

Noor served as a trailblazer of what soap operas in the Gulf can be with sales of Noor fan paraphernalia, like T-shirts and coffee cups, selling like hotcakes. The show has whetted the appetites of drama aficionado’s and more soap operas fashioned just like ‘Noor’ are sure to pop up sooner than Mohannad can flash his pearly white smile.