Saturday, September 5, 2009

Egyptian Chronicles' TV Review in Ramadan "First 15 days"

Just like a TV critic here is my TV review concerning the TV shows and series in Ramadan. During the holy Month which Muslims should be devoted for worship Arabic TVs suffer from a diarrhea in TV soap operas  and shows as if this is the only month of the year we watch TV in !!
What is produced or the money used to produce those TV shows and series can reach hundreds of pounds and even dollars.
Now because I am not a crazy person I only focused on couple of TV shows and soap operas , I can't watch more than 20+ soap operas.
Here is what I think :
 The best TV series so far is Laila Eloui's TV series "Hala and what is hidden" , Laila surprised me , in fact the whole TV series including the cast and crew surprised me. Laila is discussing a very important issue which is the children trafficking in Egypt. She portrays a poor woman whose husband used to sell her twin babies without her knowledge. After several years she knew and decided to restore her children one by one. Laila presented for sure one of her best roles ever. The beautiful blonde presented the poor working class mother who loves her children dearly and would die for them perfectly.
Bassam Samara also presented a fine class performance with no doubt. Some times I feel that due to his appearance he is being trapped in the working blue collar man roles but seriously this man knows how to present a different performance each time I see him
The director by the way is Miriam Abu-ouf , a first time director and the daughter of Ezzat Abu-Ouf. I predict for Miriam to be from the best TV directors in Egypt.
I watch Yahia El-Fakhrany's TV series "Al-Aranadly's son", a hopeless comic attempt to revive the success of "Hamada Ezzo". Some time it is comedy ,some time it is boring and unrealistic.
I used to watch "Laila Muard's biopic" but I stopped because I believe I am watching Shadia not Laila Muard. Safaa Sultan should think in presenting Shadia biography in a TV series. In early episodes covering Laila's childhood the TV series was great , it presented a glimpse on the Egyptian Jewish community which is no sufficient.
Safaa Sultan made a great job in making me not to continue watching the TV series ,already I could not bare her as Laila Muard and Ahmed Falokus as Anwar Wagdy !! Honestly I thought she would be like Solaf and Tyam El-Hassan.
I only saw couple of scenes from "Spies war" which is based poorly and comically upon the fantastic Saleh Moursy's novel "Samia Fahmy". For those who did not read the book ,the TV series could be fun but for those who read and enjoyed this fantastic novel like me it is a disaster. I was so happy when I knew that Menna Shalby was chosen for the role but then I was shocked when I saw Fahmy wearing a jeans in time where Jeans was a rare commodity in Egypt , I was shocked when I knew that Fahmy is a graduate of the faculty of mass communication , Cairo university when there was no a faculty with such name in Cairo university in 1960s.
I do not need to speak how the TV series portrayed both the GIS and Mossad, it is an insult for both of them including the GIS , I do no need to speak about the events and the chases which do not exist in the novel after all. I would like to read Nawara Negm's review , she has a strength to complete the series.
I watched a one scene from Youssra's TV series , Nabila Abid's TV series and Elham Shahin's TV series, waste of money and time for sure.
I watched a one scene from Ahmed Ezz TV series, my problem with Ezz is that I can't take him so seriously despite he does discuss something important which is the illegal immigration of Egyptian youth to Europe , I do not know why really , may be because I know that most ladies will watch the TV series thanks to the eyes of Ezz.
I wanted to watch "Proportional silence" starring Nilly Karim from Egypt and Fahd El-Abd from Syria "one of my favorite Syrian actors", the TV series is a huge joint Arab production discussing the suffering of the Arab journalists in Iraq.
We will leave the soap opera and go to TV shows
Despite what I believe about Cairo Centric , I watch its three major TV shows : "Sun's gate" , "Why?" and " Sheet prints"
The best one of them is "Feesh wa Tashbeeh" , Lamis El-Hadidy despite the fact I do not like her proved to be a good interviewer hosting a very interesting controversial guests like Ashraf El-Saad,Ramy Lakah, Jad Choueiri and Nadal El-Ahmadi.

The worst one of them is "Sun's gate" , Tarek Nour overrated Rola Gabriel with my all respect ,  regardless of what she suffered from Italy ,it was obvious that there was too over to call her the boldest international Arabic journalist from Nour's side because there are more bolder Arabic international journalist than her who covered wars like Diana Maklad and Nagwa Salem "the later disguised as man when she entered in Afghanistan".
Tony Khalifa and his "Why ??" show is the natural evolution for his tabloid shows in Lebanon , still I watch him just I used to in LBC.
This is what I have seen too far in Ramadan.

8 comments:

  1. Oh you should watch "Kalam Neswan", it's really nice =)

    Btw you should have commented about the quality of the picture and the high standards decoration in most the tv show and also how the Egyptian drama is moktase-ha this year! ;)

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  2. well I usually watch american movies and series because i think the Egyptian series is too boring to watch ,the story must be stretched to fit in 30 days by putting meaningless actions in the episodes, but i have the chance to watch some.
    i like the series that is dealing with an important ideas in life rather than those of only for fun.
    Like: don't be afraid "mtkhafosh"
    Hate: Deal or no deal , aboda marka mosajla (too stupid"

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  3. اقسم بالله العظيم ( ما اعرفش ليه افتكرت برنامج الجريئه ) ان في بعض ما كتبتيه انعكاس قوي جداجدا لما اشعر به وذكرته للمقربين حولي وبالتحديد التالي تابعت قلبي دليلي واول ما كبرت ليلى مراد وباتت صفاء سلطان صوتها في التمثيل جعلني اوطي الصوت شويه وبعد شويه غيرت القناة ولم استطع اكمالها في اليوم الثاني صوت مزعج في التمثيل وغير مريح كان يجب ان تاخذ دروس القاء او تمثيل وشعرت ان العمل انتج لها من قبيل اعجاب شخصي بحت من منتج او مخرج او ما شابه عزت ابوعوف احببت ادائه ولمست اجتهاد هند عاكف لاول مره ومحاولتها للتعبير بنبرات الصوت وهي في المسلسل افضل من هند عاكف التي نعرف لكن ليست سوبر

    ايضا احببت مسلسل ليلى علوي من قبل ان اراه لسبب وهو احترام المشاهد وعدم فرض ثلاثين حلقة مملة عليه والنظر للزمن الوقت اكثر من المضمون وما يطلبه العمل الفني بامانه وصدق لذا احببت فكرة مسلسلين وجميل ان تكرر التجربه وتحت المسمى في رمضان القادم وليكن حتى عشر حلقات او سباعيه ( اي سبع حلقات ) مثل بعض مسلسلات زمان ، والاخراج والالوان لفتت نظري جدا وباسم سمره فعلا اكثر من رائع والمسلسل غريب لا استطيع ان اقول درامي فهناك بعض المشاهد التي جعلتني اضحك من فرط تراجديتها وابسطها التعامل مجبر مع شخص يستفزك ( هي وزوجها ) كانت بعض هذه المشاهد تجعلني ابتسم لفرط صدقها ومريم ابو عوف نجحت كما احببت مقطع في كلمات المقدمه الذي يقول بما معناه الحبل اللي بنمشي عليه ملفوف حول اعناقنا

    ان لم تكوني شاهدتي برنامج الجريئه مع شلة من اصدقائك فقد فاتك كمية ضحك على غرابة ما تقدمه ايناس الدغيدي من اسئله لا تتجاوز افق تفكيرها وهاجسها الدائم ..وتشابه برنامجها مع برنامج توني في ان بنهاية كل حلقه يسالهم الضيف سؤال ليجيب عليه في اخر حلقة من الشهر ..برنامج توني كما ذكرت توني وبرنامج باب الشمس اشعر لو قدمته المذيعه مع شخصيات غير فنيه وبقضايا اخرى كان افضل كون ادائها وحماسها اكبر من حجم الموضوع لكن من المؤكد ان هناك شئ ممكن ان تضيفه لو تم وضعها في الايطار المناسب احببت بعض الشخصيات اثناء استضافتهم في هذه البرامج وبعضها اثار تحفظي وشعرت بمدى كذبه اللامتناهي ولهذا موضوع آخر وبجد اشتقنا لاضافتك الخاصة في التدوين العربي وموضوع اكثر من موفق

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  4. Mohamed Elqusbi9/07/2009 11:32:00 AM

    on behalf of myself I think that you missed the best TV series in Ramadan , it's ( zamn ala'r )[ Time of disgrace ][on DUBAI TV 18:00 GMT] , it's Syrian Drama , I watch a few of TV series in Ramadan cuz I'm fan of American movies & shows.
    [I watch Arabic TV series only in Ramadan]
    in addition of ( zamn ala'r ) I watch :
    - Ibn alarandly ( yahia alfakhrani )
    - Ashraf alsa'd on Almustakillah TV 17:00 GMT

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  5. Hello Zeinobia. Do you have a link for me to watch Lamees Elhadidi's Ramadan show? Hope you are enjoying the month of Ramadan. Thank you for your interesting reads. For a future write up, I would really love to hear your thoughts on consumerism in Egypt..for example, the appeal of high end brand names.. ie. Louis Vuitton bags, Chanel bags ..to the point where fakes are so popular as well..travelling to shop in Dubai...thanks again for your blog!

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  6. @Ice Queer, I read new reviews about Kalam Neswan. Regarding the decorations , well honestly I feel some of them were waste of money as the shows themselves were boring and repeated over and over, even the guests were the same one here and there in every channel.

    @Teto, I agree the 30 episodes thing is silly and this is why I like Laila's TV series just 15 episodes were enough
    I did not watch "Do not be afraid" still I hear and read about mixed reviews
    Did not see any sitcom this year

    @يزيد
    اولا رمضان كريم و القلوب و كمان العقول عند بعدها
    ثانيا بالفعل انا نفسى تبقى كل المسلسلات 15 حلقة
    العيب فى ليلى مراد فى المنتج و المخرج انا منتظرة راى زكى فطين عبد الوهاب و وجيه اباظة فى المسلسل خاصة انهم كانوا معارضين لفكرة المسلسل بشدة
    صفاء سلطان من ناحية و فلوكس من ناحية تانية !!
    مفيش فى الحلقات بالفعل غير عزت ابو عوف و هند عاكف
    مشاهد ليلى علوى مع جوزها بالفعل كانت بتضحك
    الحمد الله ما باقدرش اتفرج على الست ايناس كفاية النقد اللى عليها و على برنامجها و الاسئلة الغريبة اللى مرفوض لا تعرض على تليفزيون المفتوح
    من اساسه
    انا غاضبة من التليفزيون ان يضيع اموالنا فى انتج برامج زى كده
    @Mohamed , I did not watch any Syrian TV this Ramadan :(
    Ashraf Al-Saad presents a TV show ?what does he speak about in it ??

    @ Lili, here is the official play list of the show :
    http://www.youtube.com/view_play_list?p=905844C1255AC93A
    also here are the complete episodes of the program
    http://www.youtube.com/results?search_query=%D9%81%D9%8A%D8%B4+%D9%88+%D8%AA%D8%B4%D8%A8%D9%8A%D9%87&search_type=&aq=f
    Thank you for giving me an idea to write about , insh Allah soon you will find me digging more about consumerism and high end brand in Egypt

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  7. Mohamed Elqusbi9/08/2009 11:39:00 AM

    @ Zeinobia : Ashraf Alsaad is a guest on this Show [ أخبار أم الدنيا NEWS OF MOTHER OF LIFE ] on Al-Mustakillah TV [http://www.almustakillah.com/] , They're exciting episodes , He speaks about corruption in Egypt , by the way I sent an Email to you , did you receive it ?

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  8. Dear Zenobia,

    we more less agree in the majority of our opinions,may be except for solaf playing the role of laila morad...her performance last year in Asmahan was miserable to a shameful extent..!!!

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