The Pathetic State of OmanTV
(Photo Credits: dailyinvention)
The theme of blogging in Oman this Ramadan is clearly OmanTV – there is even a blogging campaign initiated by marketing blogger Bader Al Hinai on this subject.
For those unaware of the Arabic TV culture, the month of Ramadan has always been the official TV season of the year, all new series and tv shows are released during this month. Channels compete on exclusives and there are literally hundreds of new shows to watch during Ramadan. Unlike the Arab film industry that is dominated by Egyptian movies, the TV industry is not dominated by any single state, there are loads of high quality popular Egyptian, Syrian, Lebanese, and Khaleeji (Gulfy) tv shows. In the Gulf, there are some specific Kuwait and Saudi shows, but there are also general Khaleeji shows to which the general Gulf identity is attached and which actors from various Gulf states star.
Oman TV and Omani TV shows are a completely different story. Though there is an serious development in the production quality of the Arab television industry, Oman TV remains almost identical to the way it has been since the 80s. There is a general consensus in Oman that Oman TV sucks and that nobody watches it. Oman TV shows are known for horrible acting, stupid scenario, and low production value. Similar to Saudi and unlike other Gulf states, the Omani population has a wide variety of accents and it almost impossible to see a single a Omani TV series in which members of a single family have a single accent. Actors playing roles of elderly individual use Santa clause like white beards for which the stitching attachments are apparent. Scenes of rich characters driving fancy cars would show that the cars have a “rented” car number plate. And lets not even start with the state of the actual horrible acting and the poor scripts.
The disappointment of the Omani audience is more apparent this year on blogs and discussion boards. The public seems to be mostly irritated by two shows which are aired on the local Ramadan “Prime Time” which right after Maghrib and the Ishaa prayers (Most people stay at home during this to break their fast). The first show is Oman’s first 3D animated series, titled “ُEid and Saeed” which was described by an Arabic forum commentator as a show that “explores the struggle of the Omani citizen with household electronics”. The show is basically a silent animated cartoon that is supposed to be “funny” but turned out to be dumb and pointless. While Omanis are used to watch a comic or variety show at this time, the show seems to most to be one aimed as kids, yet as blogger Muscati tweeted earlier this week, even his young kid asked him to change the channel. Commentators on Arabic forum Omania2 find the show offensive as depicts Omani people to be illiterate and stupid. The very few supporters of the show argue that it is not meant to be seriously. The public are not convinced by this and say that such a show should not be aired in prime time on the country’s national television – which is thought by mainly as the channel through which the rest of the Arab world looks at Oman. You can watch an segment of the show on YouTube here.
The other infamous Omani Ramadan show is Darayish. This is the third season of the show which was thought by people on its first as a “revolutionary” series in the Omani media as it seems to be a very brave one for discussion a lot of public issues relating to the government. The show tells a different story each day discussing a social issue in a comic manner. However, many commentators on Arabic forums are starting to call the show a government propaganda platform in which the Omani citizen is shown as the cause of all troubles in society and that the government is doing everything it can to help this citizen. For example, on an episode on health services, the moral of the story was that we have an excellent health care service, but citizens have a misconception that anything done abroad is better and that hospitals abroad will rip them off without providing them with a cure. Bloggers and forum commentators also claim that the show displays Omani people as dishonest, noisy, and annoying people.
It is worth noting that OmanTV is operated by the Ministry of Information and both of these shows are produced by OmanTV.
An old Omani actor called Jumaa Haikal had an interview with Omani newspaper Al Zaman in which he argued that the reason why Oman TV is such a failure is due to the fact that wasta and family connections play a role in selecting the character playing roles. Jumaa Haikal started his own independent production company which intended to use foreign talents to produce Omani TV shows, but according to his interview, his production company and his efforts were crippled by Oman TV and the Ministry of Information. According to conspiracist Ammar Al Maamari the Minister of Information ordered an investigation of what is happening in OmanTV after the publication of that interview.
We discussed the issue on this Twitter and I think that we came to a different conclusion than the majority of the Arabic community. The majority of the Omani population still seem to be waiting for the government to do everything for them. Why do people expect OmanTV to make them the TV shows that they want? At this age and time, anybody with a camere and a computer can make a tv show. You do not need a multi-million budget to make something enjoyable. You can go to YouTube and watch thousands of indie production that are funny, touching, and informative. How come we don’t even have a single Omani YouTube personality? In many aspects, the Omani society is very uncreative and disrespectful of the majority of art forms as they seem to them as either haram, gay, or pro-Jews or Americans (you pick). I personally think that it is an educational problem, schools and universities in Oman do not promote independent thinking or thinking outside the box. Lets not even forget the culture of the “evil eye” and envy, where even if someone made something nice, he would not share it with other people. I’ve heard a story about a famous photographer who locks up his photographers in a cupboard and refuses to post copies of them online.
OmanTV sucks, but I don’t think that Omanis need it in order to start making their own content.
