JEDDAH: The Saudi comedy series “Bainy O Bainak” (“Between You and Me,” which is entering its third season) has attracted large numbers of viewers according to statistics and polls conducted by media groups that will be revealed officially after the end of the holy month.
The surveys suggest that Saudis are eagerly consuming this comedy serial that is filmed partly on location in Turkey and in Jeddah and Taif.
The show could end up reigning supreme as the most popular comedy serial in the Arab world this Ramadan season.
Unlike the popular “Tash ma Tash,” which comprises a series of unrelated comedy sketches that touch (sometimes controversially) on Saudi social issues, “Bainy O Bainak” holds a multi-episode narrative arc, much like the drama and historical serials that also air nightly during Ramadan.
The story follows Dinhi and Menahi, simple working-class Saudi men who end up in unfamiliar modern-life situations.
Their humble backgrounds set up situations where the men are taken advantage of due to their unfamiliarity with many day-to-day aspects of modernity.
The character “Al Wasel” (“The Connector,” or one who engages in wasta, using personal connections to earn special favors), played by Rashed Al-Shamrani, takes advantage of Dinhi and Menahi.
He fools them into traveling with him to Istanbul on the claim he will facilitate their marriage to famous Turkish actresses Songül Öden (known popularly as Noor, the name of her most famous soap opera character) and Tuba Büyüküstün (Lamis), who play themselves in the series.