A virgin format on Indian television, the first season of Bigg Boss was a kind of learning experience, both for viewers of GE channels as well as the housemates. Nobody was aware of its entertainment quotient and how the game would pan out. The audience which was used to watching high voltage fiction dramas was suddenly treated to a fare that was laced with the dynamics of real life relationship politics and drama. Thus when Bigg Boss 2 was launched on Colors four weeks ago, comparison was bound to happen between the show’s two seasons.
Television TOP TEN
Bigg Boss 2 was expected to be a bigger and better show in terms of housemates, content and set. However, while the set looks good and production values equally good, the show seems to be a let down on content and housemates fronts. Since the format is the same what should have made the difference are the characters and the drama that comes out of their relationship politics and group dynamics.
TOP 10 Music hits of 2008
Be it politics, fake relationships, double standards, tears, laughter, fights, plotting, scheming, heroes, villains, vamps, backstabbing and bitchiness, the first season had it all with each housemate contributing his/her share of drama. But the content of Bigg Boss 2 is not as exciting and entertaining as that of season one. “Nothing is happening there,” rues Kashmera Shah, the bitch queen of Bigg Boss1. “So far it’s been quite a quiet show. I am really surprised that people have not opened up even after three weeks. The show may become interesting later but in three weeks lot of things should have happened.”
While Baba Sehgal diplomatically says second season of Bigg Boss is on par with the first one, Rakhi Sawant has no time to comment because of her busy schedule, Deepak Prashar, the oldest housemate in season one, feels Bigg Boss I had novelty and differentiating USP besides interesting characters. “But in season two not only the novelty factor is missing but the housemates don’t make interesting personalities and hence their contribution is quite low,” he adds. In Kashmera’s opinion, Sambhavna Seth is an interesting person who is trying her best to spice up things. Forbes' richest Americans announced
“But in the midst of quiet people she seems to be an odd woman out. You need one set of people to trigger things and another set to react. But with most people playing safe, the show instead of being a melting pot of relationship dynamics, appears to be a boring fare,” she chuckles. Income Tax Saving Schemes
According to Danish Khan, Sony’s assistant vice president and marketing head, from the drama point of view, a show like Bigg Boss needs people like Kashmera and Rakhi to blow up things. “You need people to plot and create bitchiness to keep viewers hooked on a daily basis,” he says. The major problem with the second season is the selection of housemates. As Deepak points out, “It seems people have come with a definite purpose. Some have come to win the game while others are there to redeem their tarnished names and image. Since the motive is very clear they are doing their best to prolong their stay in the house. As a result, the show is suffering.” Bigg Boss 2 Updates
Sony’s business head Albert Almeida doesn’t disagree, “Bigg Boss is an interesting format which needs an interesting mix of people to create good content. I don’t think people with problems make interesting characters.” According to Albert, the casting was better in Bigg Boss I. “Diverse kinds of personalities make interesting inter-play of their relationship, bonding, camaraderie and friction and provide many story angles. The Aryan-Anupama love track, Rakhi-Kashmera fights and Carol-Ravi Kissen-Rahul Roy gang made things hot and happening. The bitchiness, fights, arguments and group dynamics kept the fire burning,” he elaborates.
11 Jodis of Nach Baliye 4
Albert doesn’t regret that Sony lost the second season to Colors. Sony lost the show because it delayed the launch of the second season. “It was a tough call to take. We were in two minds because it is an expensive proposition and hence not too sure of the second season. It is an interesting show but we knew that it was not going to go out of the roof because it is not consumed by the hardcore GEC viewer,” he explains. Skewed more towards urban socio-economic group (SEG), Bigg Boss is essentially a metro and big city audience show. “Not only it doesn’t make staple entertainment but also disrupts weekday viewing pattern of the same channel,” adds Albert.
Bigg Boss 2 opened with 2.5 TVR and the second and third week’s average rating was 1.8 and 2.1 respectively. In comparison, season one had opened with 3 TVR and it averaged between 2 and 3 TVRs with intermittent highs of 3.3 and 3.5 for the finale. Like season one, season two is also getting most of its viewers from 1 million-plus markets. Could it be because of its late prime time scheduling? “Yes, because people sleep early in smaller markets. Even the weekday late prime time soaps get chunk of audience from bigger urban markets,” says Danish. Albert says the show will do even worse at early prime time simply because it will not connect with viewers of lower SEGs of small markets.
No comments:
Post a Comment