Debated Soap Opera Line-up Shows for Ramadan
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Play Image 1 of 9: Lebanese singer, Sabah's show, Al Shahroura,'Song Bird' stars Carole Samah, singer-actress. It run as a series on Sabah's life & times, even while the heroine lives & sings. Fairuz's daughter has filed a case against the producers to stop the show due to mentions- by fake names- of her mother.
Pause Play Image 1 of 9: "Za'eem" - "Leader" a new soap: Syrian, and similar to acclaimed "Baab il Haara" - old-style Syrian drama- it even stars some of the same cast. People are asking if Za'eem is the next Baab il Haara, the 5 year epic drama. It casts a Jordanian actress who features on the 'Syrian Shame' list.
Pause Play Image 1 of 9: "High School Girls": the adapted Kuwaiti novel stirred its share of controversy with a cover of a pregnant woman in a wedding dress. The soap series follows 5 girls & the issues facing teens in society. Kuwait's Al Watan TV banned the show on public demand & moral grounds. Dubai TV has kept it.
Pause Play Image 1 of 9: "Kaid El-Nessa"- starring Sumia Khashab & Fifi Abdo. An Egyptian has called for a ban of this show on the grounds of its promotional material featuring dancing in sexy dresses with scanty neglige - not deemed Ramadan-fit. Jan 25 activists, inspired by change, call for the right to 'decency'.
Pause Play Image 1 of 9: "Al Hassan & Al-Hussain": Egypt's Al-Azhar banned the series on national TV, given the sensitive subject. Sunni law does not allow depictions of Islamic religious figures. Showing the Prohpet's Grandsons on-screen is more inflammatory since it addresses the history of the Sunni-Shiite split.
Pause Play Image 1 of 9: Mahmoud Darweesh: "Fi Hadrat al Ghiab" (In the Presence of Absence): This biography has attracted debate- with doubters in the capacity of the actor playing the great poet to do justice to the character's dimensions. Objectors argue, too soon to compile a worthy record, just 3 years since his death.
Pause Play Image 1 of 9: Tash Ma Tash: New season of this long-running, successful Saudi comedy series. The show focuses on daily Saudi life, and has in the past courted controversy with episodes banned. Ramadan's season includes an episode mocking Gaddafi's speech. The US Congress has asked that the episode be archived.
Pause Play Image 1 of 9: "Samba": An Iraqi comedy show, tackling mafia and drug-smuggling plots in Brazil.
Pause Play Image 1 of 9: Islam for all: Launching of a multilingual Islamic channel, Iqraa Global channel is to broadcast its religious programs in several languages this Ramadan. Its Islamic shows are eventually to be transmitted in seven world languages. The channel will air a special show at 10 pm, Makkah time Friday.
This Ramadan, there has been an awareness that we will have a reduction in the usual much-anticipated soap opera season line-up. There has been a general decline in the film production industry in the Middle East related to a struggling economy that cuts back on the entertainment sector, but moreover a drastic decline since the Arab revolutions.
Last year saw 101 shows aired, and this year sees a cutback in 35%, leaving us with 65 hours of entertainment a day.
We have 40 Egyptian shows, 30 Syrian and 27 Gulf shows.
Besides these cut-backs, some of this years shows have caused various degrees of . Here is the controversial line-up of disputed shows.
