Sex, Lies and TV Show

İffet: Saturdays at 8 pm

"We are number 1 right now!", said my friend, her eyes proud and eager, referring to the ratings of the TV series "İffet" which recently started on one of the major channels last week. My friend plays the needy and sexy fiancee of a businessman who lives in a mansion with his alcoholic brother and career-driven, unhappy, older sister with whom he shares the heirdom of a fashion business. İffet, the main girl, is a maid in this house and she is in love with Cemal, a taxi driver who loves her, too. But, for some strange reason unbeknownst to me (or to anybody), Cemal decides to rape Iffet. And so the ratings go up the roof, and so her story begins... İffet also means "Chastity" (!) and is an adaptation of a famous movie with the same name from the 80's, starring Müjde Ar and directed by Kartal Tibet. The show probably will continue for at least a year or two, and even though people know how the story ends, it will still be watched by many... Why? Because it is masochistic and sadistic, just like the rest of the Turks themselves.

Kurtlar Vadisi: Thursdays at 8pm

Yes, Turkish people love drama. We like talking drama, having drama, watching drama. We also love being part of the drama: people follow the characters' lives and discuss them with their friends and family as if they are real stories. They shop where they shop, eat what they eat, hang out where they hang out. They become mad at them, empathize or cry with them, stone or swear at them (happened to Wilma Elles playing a mean Dutch woman); they talk like them, act like them and dress like them.  In other words, people BECOME them! Kurtlar Vadisi (Valley of the Wolves), a TV series that ran for years created a lot of macho, Tony Soprano like, tough-guy-with-a-heart personalities among Turkish men. You would hear cell phone ringtones playing the theme music, women describing the main narcissistic character as their man of dreams, and children playing games on the street enacting scenes from the show. And worse, it just doesn't end there...The set where the show is shot -usually, this is a house, a mansion or a farm house- becomes a shrine where people organize tours to visit, admire, take pictures and make wishes.

Set from Öyle Bir Geçer Zaman ki: Tuesdays at 8pm

There is a TV series (dizi) in every major channel on every night, and there are re-runs of each of these dizis on the weekends as well as on the same day prior to the show. Since most of these dizis are aired during prime time, people are often torn between two or sometimes three dizis. Hence, they end up buying two TV sets and start running from one room to the other, surprisingly able to follow the plot without any confusion. I was pretty upset the other day when my mom changed the channel in the middle of my favorite show "Öyle bir Geçer Zaman ki" (How time passes by) to check on "Ömre Bedel", without a warning! I mean come on! Look, Aylin loves Soner but she is married to his crippled brother Murat who shots her while trying to shot himself because he finds out about the contract she had with his brother Soner which states she is to stay married to him only until Murat's death because he has multiple sclerosis and Murat is about to find the two of them lying in the same bed while Aylin is recovering from surgery! Who would change the channel at a scene like that?!!!??