Year’s popular TV series and artists announced

ISTANBUL - Hürriyet Daily News

Beren Saat

Turkey’s Media Monitoring Center (MTM) has announced the results of a study to determine the country’s most popular TV series and actors, declaring the Ottoman-themed “Magnificent Century” and heartthrob Kıvanç Tatlıtuğ as the big winners.

According to the report, which was prepared by monitoring all articles that appeared in newspapers and magazines throughout the year, the most popular TV series of 2011 was “Muhteşem Yüzyıl” (The Magnificent Century), followed in second place by “Öyle Bir Geçer Zaman ki” (As Time Goes By).
Actress Beren Saat, the most popular screen artist last year, gave way to Tatlıtuğ this year. 

“Muhteşem Yüzyıl,” Show TV’s most popular production, was mentioned in more than 8,000 news and articles in 2011. The series, exploring the reign of one of the most important Ottoman sultans, Süleyman the Magnificent, has been criticized by many political figures for reportedly failing to accurately depict the period. 

Kanal D’s production of the nostalgic “Öyle Bir Geçer Zaman Ki” was the second most popular TV series in 2011. Set in the 1960s and starring Erkan Petekkaya and Ayça Bingöl, the TV series was mentioned in more than 5,000 articles in newspapers and magazines.
“Fatmagül’ün Suçu Ne?” (What’s Fatmagül’s Crime?), another series on Kanal D, ranked third in the report. In its second season, the production appeared in nearly 4,000 news articles and magazines throughout the year. 

Saat falls behind Tatlıtuğ 

Kıvanç Tatlıtuğ. Awenasa
Photography

According to the report, Tatlıtuğ, who is very popular in Arabic countries, was the most talked about TV actor in 2011. He gained popularity in the TV series “Aşk-I Memnu” (Forbidden Love), which ended in 2009 after two successful seasons, and is now starring in a new series, “Kuzey Güney.” He was mentioned in more than 3,000 articles during the year. 
Saat, who also starred in “Aşk-I Memnu” with Tatlıtuğ, ranked second in 2011, appearing in 2,593 articles.

Another well-known Turkish actress, Nurgül Yeşilçay, finished third on the actors’ list. Yeşilçay appeared in the new TV series “Sensiz Olmaz,” but the show suffered from poor ratings and was eventually taken off the air.

Actor Necati Şaşmaz, who stars as Polat Alemdar in “Kurtlar Vadisi” (Valley of the Wolves), was another actor who appeared frequently in the media in 2011. 

Soft power of the region

Turkish TV series such as “Magnificent Century” and “Forbidden Love” have broken viewer records in the Middle East and North Africa, bringing in much-needed foreign currency while raising Turkey’s clout in the region through the promotion of a Turkish lifestyle, the Hürriyet Daily News recently reported.
Turkey earned more than $60 million just this year from exporting TV series, and more than 100 Turkish TV series have been watched in over 20 countries this year. 

“We began to broadcast in the Balkan countries this year,” Fırat Gülgen, chairman of Calinos Holding, which handles 80 percent of the TV series exported from Turkey, told Anatolia news agency Dec. 10. 
Gülgen said TV series were exported to many Central and Eastern European countries including Serbia, Croatia, the Czech Republic, Romania, Poland and Hungary. In the Far East, buyers include Malaysia, Indonesia, Taiwan, Thailand, Singapore, Japan and Vietnam.