NEWS

Decline of the Greek television series

Another television season has begun with reality shows and will end with them. Already, Mega is scheduling a mini «Farm» stocked with local celebrities as a warmup for the weekly «Popstars» and is looking for a time slot for «Bar 2.» Antenna has not confirmed that it is going on the counterattack with a third season of «Big Brother.» The channel has the rights to the American version of «Fear Factor» and «Survivor» although costs are prohibitive. Insomniacs will have the option of watching the Russian «Behind the Glass,» a deadly combination of boredom and orchestrated lust, late at night on Extra. One side effect of these programs has been a drastic reduction in Greek series. Antenna and Mega have only one new series each (Antenna’s «White House» and Mega’s «Close Your Eyes»), to be screened in the second half of the season. One of these channels has abandoned the purely Greek formula and is buying the rights to American dramatic and comedy series. So the search for original ideas is being abandoned for «smart» adaptation of imports, something like the hamburgers with Greek feta and tzatziki being served in fast-food joints.

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