Talent shows dominate TV summer ratings

Filling in the gap caused by the summer hiatus of hit Turkish TV series, talent shows are making a comeback with famous names dominating the jury. While awkward, offhand remarks seem to be the norm in two popular shows while another one without a jury hopes to judge real talent


There was a time on Turkish TV when talent shows were the go-to programs, when they rocked pop culture and drew millions of viewers. This was in the early 2000s, before dozens of TV series replaced talent shows as a ratings generator.

That time has unexpectedly come again as a plethora of talent shows are appearing on TV one after another. It’s summer, which means that hit TV series have all taken their vacations, leaving their slots mostly to mediocre summer series.

As ratings go, talent shows are hitting the roof. As talent goes, not so much. Two hit shows are running on private channels; both are similar in format as well as the make-up of the jury in terms of its celeb-o-meter. And both shows promise to be “schools” for talents as evidenced by their titles: Star Akademi and Artiz Mektebi (Actors’ School).

Click here for full article (Hürriyet Daily News)