Oh no, it146;s the weekend

It8217;s the end of the week. Friday. You8217;re sad, glad and/or run down bad. Sad because it8217;s been another tense week at work, at ...

It8217;s the end of the week. Friday. You8217;re sad, glad and/or run down bad. Sad because it8217;s been another tense week at work, at home, at school; glad because a weekend of rest and restoration beckons; run down bad because it8217;s been another tense week at work, at home, at school. You kick off your footwear, kick up your heels, collapse in front of the TV set and purr: 8216;talk to me8217;. Talk to me, entertain me, relax me.

Television is an unresponsive, willful wretch. You want to box the idiot8217;s ears. The reason is forgivably simple: on the weekend, television is on holiday, too. There8217;s so little to watch. You8217;d think it would be the other way around: Friday night into Sunday evening should be television8217;s big moment, when people have time to 8216;waste8217; on the box. If you pursue that logic, television channels should be putting out their best shows on the weekend. Yes?

Mostly, no. Traditionally, weekend entertainment across TV channels, is weak and found wanting and dominated by films and 8216;events8217;. Friday evenings/nights are captive to films, music game shows. Though television has changed radically, DD happily remains unmoved by the whirlwind around it: 15 years ago you could watch Chitrahaar on Friday nights, 15 years later, with a stifled yawn, you still can. Thereafter, you may Boogie Woogie on Sony, join in Kya Masti Kya Dhum Star Plus and then embrace a film personality8217;s past on Jeena Issi Ka Naam Hai Zee.

Alternatively, you can salivate while others make money on Khuljja Sim Sim Star. For you Anglophobics out there, there8217;s a superlative-x-p-allydocious experience: The World8217;s Wildest Police Videos Star World and The Amazing Race AXN.

For some mysterious reason, Friday is also a fright: the night meanders into death and devilry with CID, Achanak 37 Saal Baad Sony and Shhhh8230; Koi Hai and Kahani Jurm Ki Star Plus while Zee8217;s still singing with Shaan, Sa Re Ga Ma Pa. These music/game shows are fly-weight and repetitive. You may as well tape one Friday and replay it for the rest of the month. The suspense-cum-horror shows are bloody awful pun, pun so if it be a nightmare you8217;re looking for, watch on.

If you8217;re frightfully lucky, you might catch a middling movie, Hindi or English, but by chance you may not. Apart from their uneven quality, the main problem with the films is that they begin late, DD18217;s starts at 9.30p.m. and given the accompanying advertising, they go on well past anybody8217;s bedtime. In which case, switch off, tune out, turn in.

If possible, Saturday and Sunday are worse. We won8217;t give you a show by show account but for the record: day time viewing is dominated by repeats of old shows and any time after 8pm, you have to choose between a film and a music, cine or fashion event, which often, you have seen five times already. Okay, so we exaggerate but only to make the point that there is very little fresh and fetching. Ten days ago, Hritik Roshan celebrated the Roshans in films and Lata Mangeshkar was in concert. Last Saturday, Lata was still singing and there was Glad Rags8217; body best event. Yesterday, saw Oscars of cricket-a cricket cine stars musical night. Yaani ki, balle-balle. Otherwise, channels telecast this year8217;s film award shows till next year.

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Viewership ratings say the most popular shows are during weeknights, so channels time their better shows, films, mostly for weekdays. An example: HBO begins a new season of HBO original movies, movies which are telecast exclusively on HBO and never see the inside of a cinema hall. When? You would have thought a Sunday night would be ideal for such a premiere, yet they opt for Monday. Odd, very odd.

Weekend TV ratings are much lower. Now: is that because we don8217;t like to watch TV on weekends, preferring to go out, socialize while during the week we are stuck with the TV? Or is it because there is simply nothing to watch on the weekend? Even if we accept the first argument: people may go out, socialize on Saturday afternoons, evenings and Sunday mornings but by late afternoon or evening, the Sunday blues have set in as we contemplate the week ahead with about as much enthusiasm as the tongue explores a cavity in a tooth. We need to be distracted by something that will keep the dentist far from our thoughts. Think of it: after a hard days8217; week, don8217;t you just want to curl up with a good movie/show? TV channels say they schedule shows according to their reading of viewers8217; preferences. Which means they know something about us that we don8217;t.

On behalf of all those people who want more on the weekend: 8216;talk to me.8217;

Tuesday: A bad day for national broadcasters. During Pakistan8217;s referendum, PTV, the faithful foot soldier, marched to the General8217;s beat, going so far as to show Musharraf do a little jig, presumably to show the world he does know how to dance. And, every polling booth it visited, overflowed with the milk of humanity preferably male. The same day, DD blanked out the Lok Sabha debate on Gujarat.