AUC Votes on the Best (and Worst) Ramadan Shows
By: Layla Mohamed
@laylamhmd
Cinema and film industry professionals wait all year long for the holy month of Ramadan to screen their final serials and programs, and this year, with quarantine and social-distancing the new normals, the odds might be in their favor that they get large viewership.
Every year, shows compete over viewership through the quality of production, cast, storyline and setting. Many people who are regular viewers and fans of these Ramadan specials agree that every year the competition gets more fierce.
Viewers of all ages, genders, and backgrounds are satisfied with at least two Ramadan specials. Effat Salah, a 50-year-old unemployed mother of two college students, said “The shows give me enough entertainment during this difficult time, especially with my husband abroad, my friends locked away, and my kids in their rooms all day.”
“They also give me and my friends and relatives something to connect over.” continued Salah as she explained that she would spend hours on the phone, just talking about common shows with her friends and sharing their feelings and reviews together.
“Most of them are excellent. There is definite improvement in production, scenarios, image quality, direction of photography, choice of roles to actors, and storylines,” said Hany Aboud, head of Post Production for TVision.
This year, Egypt produced approximately 60 Ramadan shows and series, according to the OSN network and Elcinema, a website focused on the regional entertainment industry, with only around 10 of which being well-known and favored over the majority of others. Other countries around the region such as Saudi Arabia, Lebanon and Kuwait also produce Ramadan entertainment, like they do every year.
In a Facebook poll on the AUC-centric Facebook group containing more than 17,000 students, alumni and sometimes even professors, the most popular Ramadan series was El Ekhteyar, or The Choice, starring Egyptian actor Amir Karara as a decorated Egyptian army officer battling extremists in the Sinai.
AUC’s ranking of The Choice, about an Egyptian special forces officer battling extremists in Sinai – 96 votes in a polling of 180 viewers – is consistent with other polls nationwide. Egypt’s largest pollster, Baseera, cited The Choice as one of the top three most searched Ramadan serials on Google. The first was El Prince, starring Mohamed Ramadan.
Youssef El Sherif’s The End, also known as El Nehaya, about a futuristic energy-starved Middle East rife with artificial intelligence and 1984 Orwellian drama, won second place in the AUC poll with 60 votes. Many students who spoke to The Caravan agreed that The Choice and The End are competing for the first and second places with no other competitors. According to Baseera, The End was the third most searched Ramadan serial on Google.
With all the extra time on their hands this Ramadan/quarantine season, viewers and fans are paying more attention to production value more than ever now.
“They are both very different in plots but almost as good. They show improvement in mindsets, resources, and production in levels that are somewhat new to Egypt,” said AUC alumnus Muhammed Ashraf.
Ashraf explained how both talk about very different timelines and how they have both excelled at meeting the expectations.
“They tackle different time periods in a very creative and well-produced way,” Ashraf said.
The Ramadan shows are also gaining audiences who are stuck at home and looking for new entertainment.
Sarah Ali, a Political Science junior, says that the quarantine has pushed her to watch more of these Ramadan shows because she “got bored of Netflix and decided to check what the Arab world has done this year”.
Rounding out the AUC poll were Leabet El Nesyan or Game of Oblivion with 19 votes and Nelly Karim’s 100 Wesh, or 100 Faces, with 18 votes. These two are totally different in storylines and genres, but many agreed that both were very well produced and written to fit their genres and storylines.
The rest of the shows, including Ramez Galal’s “Ramez Magnon Rasmy” and Adel Imam’s “Valentino”, did not earn many votes by the first week of Ramadan, but some certainly rose up to their expectations by the second and third weeks.
“El Prince” started earning views and votes recently as the main viewers started sharing on social media heart-breaking scenes and clips off of the show, intriguing others to watch.
