What has gone wrong with Zee? What a joke of a relaunch?

Wake up Zee!
 

27.8.2001. The much awaited relaunch of Zee looks likea relaunch into extinction. One feels so sad about the things at Zee. The first Indian satellite channel that stood up to the might of Murdoch and all other media giants must not be allowed to go downhill like this.

When the new CEO of Zee started talking about the relaunch of the channel it seemed that really big things were in the offing. Theso called Dhamaka is a big joke played on the viewers and well wishers of Zee. This relaunch will have an adverse impact on the image of Zee asSDCK had. How could people at Zee be so thoughtless? They are turning themselves into a laughing stock. The channels like SAB and Sahara will be rejoicing. They have an opportunity now to push Zee TV out. Sony guys will be happy too.

We were told that the new look Zee will have better producedprogrammes. Does it mean programmes shot in foreign locations, with bizarre camera angles and the characters speaking dialogues with anglicized accents?When Subhash Ghai is going out of fashion, Zee rehashes his themes and presents a badly performed, badly directed, badly written mediocre fare like 'Deewane...' and 'Ek Tukda..'. How blind can one get?

And why this obsessive liking for 'Guitar and Synthesizer Romance'? Who among Zee executives/ programmers is reliving his/her insipid outdated ideas of romance? Or is it the new CEO who has to be blamed? Iam sure Zee people would have seen the pilots before approving these programmes. How could they say yes to them? What was the brief to the producers? It seems they were asked to have model type actors and actresses in the serial and create a theme around them. They did not care. They did exactly what they were told. Nobody even bothered to check that the Zee programmes that have done exceptionally well never had svelte models and hunks strutting about on the boob tube.

Some of the programmes that were chucked out by the new dispensation were far better than the new ones though a bit complex in their theme. I wonder what would happen to some of the old and successful programmes that have survived the onslaught of new CEO? If they get sandwiched between this lackluster and bizarre stuff, they too will die for no fault of theirs. Zee must have a strategy to save them.

How can you do the programming of a channel around the personalities and whims and fancies of its executives, the executives whodon't even watch TV.

If anyone at Zee ever mentioned that the present programming strategy is formulated after audience research, it was all bullshit. The guy must have confined his research to his family and friends.

It seems Choti Ma is going to be projected as the channel driver. One does not know if just one programme can help the channel make a big splash in the overcrowded market. Every programme of Zee has to be a notch above to win back the lost audiences.The new programmes seem to be made in a hurry. They cannot even match thequality of programmes coming on SAB and Sahara. One could see the difference even the way the launch campaign was run. SAB had Karishma Kapoor as a mascot and look at Zee's relaunch mascot, a pathetic figure in comparison.

Wake up Zee, work on ideas, you are supposed to be the first Indian media company with a trans-global presence. Set higher goals than your rivals and stand tall with some great/grand programming.