Category: TV Shows

Zee leads pack of musical sagas; Sony overtakes Star

Fremantle brings scripted, comedy, factual shows to Mipcom

MUMBAI: Television format creator and distributor FremantleMedia Enterprises (FME) will have a diverse slate of content at next month‘s television trade event Mipcom in Cannes, France. As far as scripted shows are concerned it will bring Fanny Hill. The 100 minute drama is based on John Cleland’s Fanny Hill: Memoirs of a Woman of Pleasure, considered by many as the original erotic novel. Adapted by award-winning script writer, Andrew Davies (Pride and Prejudice, Bridget Jones’s Diary, Bleak House), the programme follows the story of a young, orphaned country girl who falls into prostitution and works her way up the social ladder of 18th century London.

Returning to Cannes is the darkly funny Love You to Death.The show stars filmmaker John Waters Pink Flamingos, Hairspray in his television series debut as the ‘Groom Reaper’, and tells the twisted, inspired-by-reality tales of spouses who have killed their loved, or not-so-loved ones.

Waters guides viewers through bizarre stories and cases of wedded woe, with his trademark wry sense of humour and definite macabre sensibility. Each episode – inspired by true crimes – dramatises the stories of ill-fated husbands and wives and reveals the flaws in what the killers believed to be the perfect crime. In each suspense-filled episode, viewers follow a murderous trail to find out whodunit and will be on the edge of their seats until the very end, as things are not always as they seem. FME has worldwide distribution rights for both TV (excluding North America) and DVD (excluding Canada).

Also returning to Mipcom is the drama show Neighbours. It will have a new look. The show looks at real values and explores current issues and social questions, all set against the backdrop of the mythical suburb of Erinsborough.

The teen drama series, The Best Years, from the US channel, The N, makes the trip back to Cannes. It follows a group of friends through the ups and downs of college life.

Fremantle will also ticke the funny bone at Mipcom. It will showcase a mix of sitcom, sketch and animation. The second season of the BBC series That Mitchell & Webb Look will arrive featuring David Mitchell and Robert Webb. This series is filled with riotous characters and ideas-driven sketches, lampooning the likes of the Nazis right down to Her Majesty the Queen. Intelligent, socially acute, sometimes satirical, sometimes bizarre, but always funny!

It’s also back down to the basement at Reynholm Industries for the second season of The IT Crowd. The show takes a surreal look at the underclass of a company, as seen through the eyes of its I.T. department.

FremantleMedia will also offer factual food for thought at Mipcom. From green to cuisine, penguins to pigs, FremantleMedia will unveil a range of factual content for Mipcom buyers. Headlining the slate is Big Ideas for a Small Planet the eco documentary series featuring innovators from the fashion to fuel industries, which makes its debut at Mipcom this year.

The series profiles designers, products and processes contributing to the mission to reduce the adverse effects of modern living on our planet with the scope to ultimately change the way viewers live their lives. Big Ideas for a Small Planet gives viewers an insight into advances that are being made and the actions they can take to lessen the impact of businesses and individuals on the environment.

Also making its Mipcom debut is Kylie Kwong: My China. The show documents Kylie Kwong’s culinary and cultural journey in search of the heart, soul and taste buds of the Chinese people.

A fourth generation Chinese-Australian, Kwong, is a chef, author, TV presenter and restaurateur known to millions worldwide through the success of her Sydney restaurant ‘billy kwong’. As well as writing a best-selling range of cook books, her highly successful television career spans the US, UK and Australia.

In this travelogue series, Kylie travels to each compass point of China and takes viewers with her on a voyage of discovery looking at the relationship between the diverse landscapes and the many food traditions China has to offer.

During her travels, Kylie ‘lives off the land’, buying supplies from markets, learning regional cookery skills, helping families prepare their meals and eating where the locals eat. In return, Kylie offers her creations, using whatever local ingredients are available to create a unique blend of traditional and modern Chinese cuisine.

Then there is the eight part documentary series Nimrod Nation. It follows a small town’s obsession with its high-school basketball team, the Nimrods. The name of a mighty hunter in The Bible and legend, Nimrod is a fitting name for this endearing sports team located in the remote town of Watersmeet, on Michigan’s Upper Peninsula, where life during the long winter months revolves around two things: hunting and basketball.

Returning to Mipcom is the third season of Iconoclasts. Viewers are once again invited to peer into the world of a creative visionary, through the eyes of another. The first and second series brought together 24 creative visionaries to discuss their lives, work and inspirations in a series of intimate, unpredictable portraits. In the third series, 12 more of the most relentlessly innovative forces of our time meet one-on-one to explore their shared passions and show how their passion for what they do has transformed our culture.

The show will feature the likes of Sean Penn and Jon Krakauer, Alicia Keys and Ruby Dee, Mike Myers and Deepak Chopra and Madeleine Albright and Ashley Judd.

New to Mipcom are three shows from natural history guru, Nigel Marven. In Arctic Week With Nigel Marven Nigel travels across the frozen wastes of Northern Canada. Here he follows the fortunes of polar bears, reindeer, walruses, belugas, arctic foxes, great grey owls and a billion mosquitoes. Nigel’s affinity with the animals helps audiences to discover their individual characteristics and personalities in an environment that boasts the fabulous Northern Lights and much, much more.

In Nigel Marven’s Penguin Safari he takes viewers to the breathtakingly beautiful island of South Georgia, which in spring becomes a vital breeding oasis for the greatest concentration of wildlife on the planet. He introduces viewers to 150,000 King penguins and spends time with 50,000 comedic macaroni penguins.

In Killer Whale Islands With Nigel Marven he invites viewers to witness the life of the killer whale along with other amazing creatures. Attracted to the Falklands by one of the Antarctic’s most dangerous predators, he travels across the islands in a light aircraft and follows the journeys of elephant seals, fur seals, albatrosses and four very different kinds of penguin. He takes a plunge to joust with playful sea lions, watches young orcas learn to hunt and even has the tables turned on him when he is followed by an entourage of inquisitive gentoo penguin chicks.

September 26, 2007

Relative channel share across Hindi GEC for Jan – June 2007

( Tam: Relative shares, C&S 4+, HSM)

Weekend primetime viewing is bracing up for some nail biting competition across the top general entertainment channels, each sprucing up its reality offerings to capture audiences. This wave of reality formats emerged across the horizon in the month of May, each following the reality curve and heading towards climax as they collectively approach their final weeks.

The broadcasters – Star Plus, Zee TV and Sony – are gearing up to back each of their weekend ‘eye pullers’ with full gusto! An analysis of Tam’s revelations bring to light how each of these shows have shaped up since launch, followed by how they stack up against each other in their fight to reach the top.

The Evolution:

In this race for TRP’s, Zee TV has consistently been ahead of the game with its music talent hunt Sa Re Ga Ma Pa Challenge 2007. In its opening weeks the broadcaster was wrestling with Sony’sIndian Idol that launched at the same time. But not for long, as Zee suddenly snatched a huge chunk of eyeballs with a whooping TVR of 5.5 on 18 May (Tam C&S 4+, HSM) and has practically hogged the limelight since then. Coincidently, this was the same day that Star Plus kicked off its version of the musical talent hunt Star Voice of India, which received a cold shoulder from viewers with a TVR 2.9 inspite of having grabbed the former producer, host and judges from Zee’s earlier edition of the musical format.

Grappling with this situation, Zee seems to have aggressively upped its efforts stating that this edition of the landmark property would prove to be a “Sangeet Ka Pratham Vishwayudh,” as though the broadcaster were making a point! So far, Star has only beatenSa Re Ga Ma Pa on one occasion with a rating of 4.3 (Tam 8 – 9 June, C&S 4+, HSM) while Zee lagged at 4.1.

Date	Day	Sa Re Ga Ma Pa Challenge	Indian Idol 3	Star Voice Of India
4 May	Fri	3.5	3.66	NA
5 May	Sat	3.47	3.67	NA
11 May	Fri	3.84	3.16	NA
12 May	Sat	3.46	4.01	NA
18 May	Fri	5.5	3.58	2.88
19 May	Sat	5.05	3.7	2.45
25 May	Fri	4.74	2.75	3.56
26 May	Sat	4.07	2.61	2.57
1 June	Fri	4.09	3.14	3.16
2 June	Sat	3.79	3.42	2.89
4 June	Mon	NA	2.68	NA
5 June	Tue	NA	2.81	NA
6 June	Wed	NA	2.91	NA
7 June	Thu	NA	3.27	NA
8 June	Fri	4.38	3.46	4.46
9 June	Sat	3.86	4.03	4.13
15 June	Fri	4.89	3.26	4.62
16 June	Sat	4.33	2.96	3.01
22 June	Fri	4.34	3.6	3.68
23 June	Sat	3.65	2.95	3.61
29 June	Fri	3.46	2.67	2.06
30 June	Sat	4.63	3.42	2.92
(Tam Peoplemeter System: TVR, C&S 4+, HSM)

More recently, the tables seem to have turned on Star as Indian Idol, which was earlier trailing behind Voice of India, has suddenly propelled into the second spot after Zee, for two weeks running. Sony’s Idol clocked a rating of 2.67 and 3.42, shoving Star to 2.06 and 2.92 on 29 and 30 June respectively (C&S 4+ HSM).

This is particularly significant as Zee’sSa Re Ga Ma Pa andIndian Idol have already entered the final stages rounding off the shortlisted contestants, a phase that garners large audiences. Star Voice of India will arrive at this juncture next week. Therefore, one can expect heavy duty action between the three players.

The Experts:

Skirmishing for the spotlight, programming tweaks and surprises will be the order of the day. The experts that tug the reigns of success for these shows have their own gyan to share……

Zee TV senior vice president programming Ashvini Yardi confesses, “My biggest fear was that this being the second edition of Sa Re Ga Ma Pa, it would not fare as well as the first. But it turns out that this year the response in terms of ratings has been far better. It is an established brand with the best singers and mentors on board and this year were have consciously made it bigger and more glamorous.”

Talking of talent – other players also vouch for the superiority of their talent, so who decides? A confident Yardi replies, “Let the ratings speak for themselves.”

With Zee holding centre stage andIndian Idol putting up a challenge to Star Voice of India, the space is getting more intense. Star India VP marketing Prem Kamath attributes the slip in ratings to its delay in the peaking cycle because it was launched after its two competitors. “This is a natural swing of ratings that are witnessed on a weekly basis. Besides, Voice of India will only step into its final stages of voting in the coming week. It is then that we will see the show peak to reach its crescendo.”

He adds that with crucial Indian cricket matches coinciding “the share will go from the leaders.” But will this rating dip indicate a trend? “Well, we will just have to wait and watch,” opines Kamath.

Betting big on Idol is Sony EVP and business head Albert Almeda who says a “snowball effect” has emerged out of the evolution of the show across the four stages including the auditions, the theatre round, the piano round and now culminating with a gala final phase. “Over time, the viewers have grown in their emotional involvement with the show and its characters. We are bound to see a huge spike in the ratings as the contestants are backed by audiences in their transformation from uncut individuals to professional artists.

“As the pressure mounts in the fourth and final stage of the show spanning over 12 weeks, we expect to see our ratings to be in excess of four,” adds Almeida.

With no less fervor, both Zee and Star will up the volume of their activities around the show. Zee has seen benefits of roping in celebrities for cross promotional activities and will continue to invest heavily on that strategy. They recently brought Sunny Deol onto the show to promote his latest film Apne.

Kamath counters, “A marketing outburst of both on and off air activities will be unleashed during the voting rounds, while twists and turns embedded in the programming will be seen. This will result in a natural fillip in the ratings.”

But Zee has bigger aspirations, Yardi has raised the bar for the challenge expecting it to touch the No 1 slot across all GECs. “Just as the finale of Lil’ Champs pushed the property into the No 1 position across all general entertainment channels, so also do we expect the Sa Re Ga Ma Pa Challenge to achieve the same,” she affirms.

The Bigger Picture:

With a bird’s eye view of the Indian television landscape, the scenario of the top three players from January to June 2007 depicts the gradual decline of a leader and the emergence of a strong challenger. Star Plus has been showing a consistent downward trend with the relative channel share touching 36 per cent in June from its position at the beginning of the year at 44 per cent.

Meanwhile, Zee TV has creeped up the ladder to occupy a share of 26 per cent from its position at 22 per cent in January. Although taking baby steps, Sony has also upped its standards from 12 to 14 per cent during the six month duration.

What’s more, Zee TV is claiming to be far closer to Star than ever before. The recent weekly GRP figures from Tam show Star at 323.5 and Zee at 263 narrowing the gap between the two to 60 (Week 26, 24 – 30 June).

Yardi points out the significance, “This is the first time in seven years that the gap between us and Star has been narrowed to 60. On two occasions earlier the difference has been 90 but this is the closest it has ever been.”

The last week of June has actually seen the leader (Star Plus) forfeit 35.7 GRP’s and Zee TV gain 19.6 GRP’s.

July 7, 2007

‘Boogie Woogie’ to make a comeback on Sony

MUMBAI: In an attempt to sort out its declining fortunes, Sony has decided to ride the comeback wave. The channel brought in CID, Aahaat and even a revamped Karamchand (earlier on Doordarshan) to draw in the viewers.

Continuing with this formula, SET has decided to revisit past glories with Boogie Woogie. The popularity of Javed Jaffrey, Naved and Ravi on this talent based dance contest has ensured a decade long run on SET.

‘The country-wide search for dancing talents will be flagged off with auditions beginning in Mumbai between 16 and 20 February.

Boogie Woogie is all set to make a comeback on weekends and although no date has been revealed yet it will be aired as a one hour show on Saturdays at 8:00 pm.

The new format comprises of theme based competitions like horror, villains, super hero kids, TV celebs, cabarets and Shaadi -Vivaah special.

The reality based dance hunt will feature two championships with 7 episodes each. The proposed themes are ‘mummies and kids championships’.

February 13, 2007
Galli Galli goes to the ‘gallies’

NEW DELHI: From the highest level of technology, the TV, to the oldest poor-man’s ‘movie’ entertainment, the bioscope: that’s what mass education programme Galli Galli Sim Sim, will give to the slum children in its mass education programme.

At the moment, the programme will be shown to children through TV sets carried on designed pushcarts, but the prototype for the bioscope is being readied as well.

“We have modernised the bioscope and we shall deploy these vends when these are ready to slums as part of our programme for mass education for those millions of children who cannot access TV,” Shaswati Banerjee, executive director Sesame Workshop India (SWI), which runs the programme, tells indiantelevision.com.

The programme, Galli Galli Sim Sim, is a hit on Doordarshan and Pogo channels, with the TG of two to six-year-olds, and the funding for the initial educational outreach was provided by a corporate social responsibility grant from Turner Entertainment Networks Asia. In an effort to reach these millions, SWI, a subsidiary of Sesame Workshop, the non-profit educational organization behind Galli Galli Sim Sim and other educational media for children, has kicked off a mobile viewings programme, in which during the first phase, starting 15 February, one branded pushcart with a TV set and a DVD player will reach the poorest of slums and show the programme.

Banerjee explained that the trial phase, in which a Maruti van was used to take the programme to the slums, proved too costly and could not give the intended impact. Hence, they designed a pushcart that can be taken to any corner of a slum.

“Initially, we reached 22,000 children over the 25-day period of the pilot project. Using the cart, we shall be able to show the programmes to much larger numbers and run the programme during the whole day,” Banerjee said.

She added that the cart is fitted with cells that would do away with the necessity of power connection, which means it would be able to look at localities where there is no regular power supply. Over all, this changed mode of delivery will increase the number of screenings from just three a day to between eight and 10. The trial with five pushcarts will start in Sanjay Colony, Bawana and Madanpur Khadar slums of Delhi, and in five locations in Mumbai, including Dharavi, Gavandi, Borivili and two other places yet to be finalised, she added.

January to March will be the testing period, and from April the full programme will be launched. Sometime about then, the bioscope boxes, once extremely popular as entertainment source in villages and small towns, will be introduced as well.

Testing of the prototype replacing the TV set with the bioscope will start too.

The baseline survey will be conducted and impact measured during the pilot project. And finally the impact-based model for delivery will be worked out, Banerjee said.

The cost per child, the ratio that funding agencies use to measure, varies according to the models, of which there are two, she added.

In the outreach-based model, which is the pushcart with TV set model, in which the programmes are screened and also educational material left with the NGOs handling the Balwadis, costs Rs 25 per child.

The cost for the impact-based model, in which only educational materials are given, costs Rs 15 per child. These are the ones being tested before being scaled up and become replicable across the country.

Galli Galli Sim Sim is the Indian version of the world-renowned children’s television series Sesame Street, and airs on Cartoon Network, Pogo and Doordarshan.

Commenting on the successful completion of the first phase of Galli Galli Sim Sim’s outreach initiatives, Soumitra Saha vice president, regional entertainment advertising sales for Turner Entertainment Networks Asia, said: “Turner’s partnership with Sesame Workshop goes beyond television.

“Given how many young children in India don’t have access to basic educational and developmental needs, it is highly rewarding for Turner to partner with Sesame Workshop in their carefully created and well coordinated educational outreach programme to help fill this gap.”

Based on the work in the pilot phase, the Michael & Susan Dell Foundation has awarded Sesame Workshop a grant, which the organisation will use to support Sesame Workshop India to research, develop, and implement similar educational interventions in slum areas in India’s six largest cities such that there are measurable improvements in children’s learning outcomes.

“Sesame Workshop India’s unique outreach programme reaches large numbers of children and instills them with the power of learning at a very early age, which is extremely important in a country like India where several million children drop out of school before they reach the fifth grade,” said Barun Mohanty, Director of the Michael & Susan Dell Foundation in India.

“Equally impressive is Sesame Workshop India’s commitment to measuring its impact on learning levels to ensure sustainable, positive changes in early childhood education, Mohanti added.

“We are excited to help bring this program to India’s urban slums, as Sesame Workshop India draws upon its global expertise and lessons learned from similar communities in Egypt, South Africa and elsewhere,” Mohanti emphasised.

The initiative is estimated to reach over 1.5 million children and caregivers over the next five years.

February 13, 2007
‘Grey’s Anatomy’, ‘The Office’ triumph at Sag Awards

MUMBAI: At the Screen Actors Guild (Sag) Awards in the US, ABC’s medical soap Grey’s Anatomy, which airs in India on Star World, and NBC’s sitcom The Office won the top prizes for best ensemble in a drama and comedy respectively.

With the exception of The Office most of the other wins in television followed the same pattern as the Golden Globe awards. Helen Mirren and Jeremy Irons won for their roles in HBO’s Elizabeth I.

Alec Baldwin, who stars in 30 Rock and America Ferrera, who stars in Ugly Betty, won in the comedy categories. In the drama category the trophies went to Hugh Laurie for House and Chandra Wilson for Grey’s Anatomy.

In film, all the acting wins were the same as the Golden Globes. So Mirren won for The Queen, Eddie Murphy and Jennifer Hudson won for Dreamgirls and Forest Whitaker won for his portrayal of Ugandan dictator Idi Amin. The only differance is that the ensemble award went to the comedy Little Miss Sunshine which beat Dreamgirls, The Departed, The Queen and Babel.

At the Oscar Awards which will air on Star Movies on 26 February 2007, the acting awards should mirror both the Sag and Golden Globes. With this kind of predictability a lot will depend on what the host Ellen DeGeneres and the organisers come up with to sustain viewer interest. The big one Best Picture is up in the air though Little Miss Sunshine is a little bit in front having won both Sag and the producers guild awards.

January 29, 2007
4Kids Entertainment licenses ‘Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles- Fast Forward’ to major international broadcasters

MUMBAI: 4Kids Entertainment has secured a number of key broadcast sales for its hit animated action comedy adventure series Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles – Fast Forward to leading international broadcasters.

New episodes of one of the most successful brands in global kids TV entertainment are set to launch on ITV Network (UK), RTVE (Spain) and Media Set (Italy) among others. ITV (UK) has acquired rights to both ITV and CiTV while RTVE (Spain) has acquired all 130 episodes of the TMNT series.

Brian Lacey, EVP international for 4Kids Entertainment noted that recent licensees for the all-new hit animated action comedy adventure series also included SIC (Portugal), Ten Network (Australia), Cartoon Network (Australia & NZ), DR TV (Denmark), and Mediacorp TV12’s Kid Central (Singapore) among others.

The Turtles are also returning to the big screen with an all-new CGI-animated feature film TMNT premiering on 23 March. The movie, produced by Imagi Entertainment, will be distributed by Warner Bros. Pictures domestically and The Weinstein Company internationally.

The Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles (130 x 30’) animated series has been a top-performing program around the world. The global broadcast lineup already includes TF1 (France), Alter TV (Greece), Teletoon (Canada), Cartoon Network (U.S.), RTL 2 and Jetix (Germany), TV3 (Russia), RTL Klub (Hungary), Minimax (Hungary, Czech Republic, Slovakia, Romania) and Nova TV (Bulgaria), RTE (Ireland), MTV3 (Finland), RTL-TVI and VMM (Belgium), Cartoon Network (Scandinavia), TV3 (New Zealand), SABC2 (South Africa), Televisa (Mexico), TV3 (Malaysia), Children’s Channel (Israel), Icelandic Broadcasting Corp. (Iceland), ABS-CBN (Philippines) and Cartoon Network (Philippines) among others.

The Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles were created in 1984 when Peter Laird and Kevin Eastman published a 40-page, black-and-white comic book. From the late 1980’s through the early 1990’s, the original animated adventures of the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles dominated kids’ entertainment.

January 27, 2007
Flying Bark Productions Licences Khufu The Mummy to iToys for DVD-based board game

MUMBAI: Sydney-based entertainment studio Flying Bark Productions has finalized a licensing deal with Canadian toy and game manufacturer iToys for Khufu The Mummy, a DVD-based board game spin-of from the successful Atmosfear – The Gatekeeper.

iToys, which will introduce Khufu The Mummy at the upcoming New York International Toy Fair, has set Fall 2007 for the retail roll-out of the board game.

Fully interactive, Khufu The Mummy allows players to interact directly with the on-screen host (the freaky Pharoah) and play interactive games using the DVD remote control. Random DVD programming ensures infinite possibilities and a new game experience every time.

January 27, 2007
Rajshri.com to offer episodes of ‘Malgudi Days’ and ‘Fauji’ for download

MUMBAI: Rajshri.com, broadband entertainment platform for Indian video content, has announced the online premiere of classic TV shows Malgudi Days and Fauji.

Additionally, the website will also celebrate Republic Day with an exclusive collection of Republic Day videos, wallpapers and ringtones to foster the spirit of Patriotism.

One new episode of both Malgudi Days, which is based on R. K. Narayan’s short stories and Fauji, which marks Shahrukh Khan’s debut on screen, will be unveiled everyday on the portal. Viewers will have the option to view streaming episodes for free or also download them at USD 1.99 per episode, informs an official release.

Besides the regular Hindi version of Fauji, an English subtitled version is also being offered. The TV show Mahabharat, premiered on Rajshri.com a month ago and a new episode continues to be unveiled everyday. In order to increase the consumer base of Mahabharat, Rajshri.com plans to offer the epic with Spanish and French subtitles.

Rajshri Media managing director Rajjat A. Barjatya said, “We are delighted to give our viewers the opportunity to enjoy classics like Malgudi Days and Fauji online on-demand. Both are cult TV shows and given the success of Mahabharat, we believe there will be tremendous interest among consumers to watch both shows online.

January 22, 2007
‘Koffee with Karan’ to simulcast on Star One, World

MUMBAI: Attempting to aggregate eyeballs, Star is bringing back the second season of filmmaker Karan Johar’s candid talk show Koffee with Karan on two of its upscale channels.

The show will kick off on 11 February at 9 pm every Sunday and be simulcast on Star World and Star One.

“Given its huge popularity, the show will for the first time be aired across our two channels Star One and Star World. Koffee with Karan has just the right mix of fun and excitement coupled with Johar’s own unique style. The show became a topic for coffee table discussions for everyone across the nation and we are delighted to have it back,” said Star Entertainment India CEO Sameer Nair.

Star One is clearly planning to evolve a time band strategy, hoping to navigate eyeballs from Colgate Maxfresh Antakshari at 8 pm to Koffee… that will follow on the Sunday line up. The musical talent hunt show Antakshari will be aired on Friday, Saturday and Sunday on the channel.

Along with the change in sets and look of the show, another addition is the title sponsorship deal that has been bagged by DTH service provider Tata Sky. Star Group owns 20 per cent in the DTH venture.

Star has roped in PepsiCo, Colgate, HLL, Candila Healthcare and HDFC as associate sponsors, said Star India executive vice president and head, interactive media Ajay Vidyasagar.

A SOL production, Johar will kick of the first episode with his three personal favourites Kajol, Rani and Shahrukh. Most of the second season episodes will consist of “celeb combos,” from a mix of entertainment, sport and corporate backgrounds.

“We will have some rather interesting matches such as Mallika Sherawat and Sanjay Leela Bhansali, Vijay Mallya and Shobha De,” Johar said while addressing the press on Friday.

The only episode having a single celebrity will be with Hollywood actor Richard Gere. “I have tried to make the show more irreverent, more tongue in cheek, more fun… and I am sure everyone will have fun watching it. The guests on my show will include a lot of my friends from the first season but in unusual combinations and will also feature big names from the corporate and sports world. I am sure that the show will recreate the same magic, as it did in the first season,” said Johar.

January 19, 2007
Big Bro loses sponsor over racist bullying row

MUMBAI: It has become the ‘big brother’ of all controversies, with accusations of racism, the parliaments of two country’s wading in, and the show’s producers Endemol and UK broadcaster Channel 4 on a fast ride to ratings nirvana.

And it doesn’t stop there. The latest twist to the story comes with one of the major sponsors pulling the plug on Celebrity Big Brother, the low brow reality show that is at the centre of a storm over the treatment meted out to Bollywood starlet Shilpa Shetty by her fellow “housemates”.

Carphone Warehouse, the biggest mobile phone retailer in Europe, has pulled out its sponsorship of the current series saying that it did not want its name associated with claims of racist bullying. “We had already made it clear to Channel 4 that were this to continue, we would have to consider our position. Nothing we saw last night gave us any comfort. Accordingly we have instructed Channel 4 to remove our sponsorship name and branding with immediate effect,” Carphone Warehouse said in a statement.

The statement added, “Nothing we saw last night gave us any comfort. Accordingly we have instructed Channel 4 to remove our sponsorship name and branding with immediate effect.”

Carphone Warehouse has sponsored the show since 2004. The deal with Channel 4 and programme makers Endemol is understood to be in the region of £3million, Britain’s Sun tabloid reported.

What would come as no surprise to most media watchers is that the controversy has also fuelled the ratings for the show. Tuesday’s telecast of the show was watched by over 4.5 million viewers almost 1 million more than the previous day. Interest in the show has skyrocketed both within UK’s Asian and white communities.

UK’s broadcasting watchdog Ofcom has received a record 27,000 complaints, while Channel 4 has received 3,000 about alleged racism by the house mates towards Shetty. The show has also become a hot topic amongst bloggers making sure the interest in the show is kept alive.

Ratings and voting revenues are likely to soar further after Goody and Shetty are now pitted against one another and depending on the most nominations received, one will be evicted from the house.

Meanwhile Channel 4 released a statement insisting that there had been no overt racism, and claiming that the clashes were based on class and cultural differences.

Ofcom chief executive Ed Richards has made it clear that he would not conduct a “kangaroo court” over the row. Richards was responding to questions over what action his organisation would be taking following accusations of racism in the show after his keynote speech at the Oxford Media Convention.

One of the more ridiculous ofshoots of the controversy that everyone and their big brother is trying to cash in on came from online community Gottabet.com which is offering £10,000 to anyone “who can get a custard pie in the face of any one of the trio of girls” – Jade Goody, Danielle Lloyd and Jo O’Meara – who have been at the centre of allegations of bullying in the house.

Celebrity Big Brother is now in its fifth season on UK’s Channel 4. Netherlands based Endemol is the series producer and had adapted the format to Indian television under the title Big Boss, currently running on Sony Television.

January 18, 2007