Turkish TV Series Premieres in December 2020
What TV series await Turkish viewers in December 2020, unless, of course, there is another crisis that will stop the production of television products?
The series Striker / Akıncı starring Şükrü Özyıldız and Büşra Develi. Produced by NTC Medya. The broadcast channel is ATV. After the worldwide success of the Netflix series The Protector starring Çağatay Ulusoy, Turkish producers rushed to create their own superhero stories. And the first series for the Turkish television market will be the series Striker, which is a bizarre mixture of Batman, Superman and The Protector. Will Turkish scriptwriters be able to stretch the plot for two hours and make it in a television format? How convincing will the special effects be? Would an audience accustomed to Marvel’s TV series appreciate a local project? We will find out the answers to these questions in the very near future, the series is scheduled to begin in early December.
The series Good Family Man / İyi Aile Babası starring Sebnem Bozoklu, Timur Acar and Caglar Corumlu will be aired on channel D on December 3. Turkish comedy is a very specific genre, but it is also able to attract audiences. Bahar Şahin, who was diagnosed with coronavirus, left the cast at the last minute. Instead, the producers invited Eslem Akar. Interestingly, Eslem Akar and Berke Üsdiken met again on set after the series Dove / Güvercin, where they played a couple.
The series Last Summer / Son Yaz by O3 Medya starring Alperen Duymaz, Hafsanur Sancaktutan, Ali Atay and Funda Eryiğit. The broadcast channel is Fox TV. This is the story of prosecutor Selim Kara (Ali Atay), whose path will cross with Akgun (Alperen Duymaz), a problematic young man who grew up in a criminal environment. Selim is forced to take responsibility for the fate of the young man, settling him for a while with his family in Cesme to protect him. However, Akgun is dangerous, emotionally unstable and ready to explode at any moment. Selim’s marriage is falling apart, his family is slipping out of his hands and the emergence of another problem only aggravates the situation. The time spent together will be the last summer for the two men before the storm that sweeps away everything in its path.
The series I’ve been waiting for you / Seni Çok Bekledim produced by Skala Medya. The broadcast channel is Star TV. Starring – Ozcan Deniz and İrem Helvacıoğlu. Producer, scriptwriter and the lead actor of the project Ozcan Deniz is rightfully considered the king of family drama. The story of a man who built his life without love awaits us. He did not expect, at a very mature age, to be subjected to a stream of feelings for which he was not prepared. Many criticize the actor for the fact that his co-star turned out to be too young for him, but this is precisely the key point of the show. Love can strike at any age.
The series Maraşlı produced by TIMS & B. Starring Burak Deniz and Alina Boz. The broadcast channel is ATV. Despite a solid producer and a large budget, this TV show is the most worrisome due to the unstable situation on the set. The filming was initially delayed due to the fact that the leading actress was diagnosed with a coronavirus. Now it became known that the director Kudret Sabanci has left the project. The official reason is health problems. The new director is the second director of the series The Choice / Babil Arda Sarigun. Also, Abdul Susler who was supposed to play the villain, left the project. He was replaced by Saigin Soysal. It is not yet clear how much these events will affect the filming schedule. Whether the series will be released in December or whether it will be postponed again to January is also not known.
The series Scorpio / Akrep produced by 1441 Productions. Starring – Evrim Alasya, Demet Akbağ, Yusuf Çim, and Bekir Aksoy. The broadcast channel is Star TV. A family drama, a detective story, a murder, a fight for an inheritance and a classic story of revenge of two women. These themes always enjoy special love among the Turkish audience, and if the script proves successful, we will have another hit.
The pandemic is making severe adjustments to the work of Turkish television crews, which have to operate under quarantine and severe restrictions. The advertising budgets shrinking rapidly, making it increasingly difficult to produce TV shows in conditions of financial deficit. Not surprisingly, the projects that were expected to be released in November were postponed and some to the next year.
2020 has been a very tough year for Turkish TV series. Competition with digital platforms is growing, working under the worst conditions of the epidemic is extremely unfavorable, and besides, the channels do not have the money for large-scale productions. Whether the projects that start in December will be successful with the Turkish viewer and whether they will overcome this year’s curse we will know very soon.
