A recent survey of popular Ramadan TV shows revealed that 50 percent of the Saudi audience watches “Tash Ma Tash” regardless of their approval or disapproval. The sitcom stirs an annual debate in the Kingdom and it invariably becomes a major point of discussion at social gatherings and in newspaper articles.
Some people express their strong disapproval of it while others freely approve. What this seems to indicate is healthy disagreement and debate — something which we desperately need at all levels.
In one newspaper piece, the writer was surprised by the number of articles written about Tash. I think what the writer somehow overlooked was why the program has received so much attention. And the answer is a simple one: It is the only program we have with a margin of freedom never before allowed. From the earliest days of Saudi TV, people watched all the shows — only one channel in those days — through a thick filter of skepticism and sometimes outright disbelief. Female singers were not allowed; both foreign and Arab films and series were redesigned and re-edited in such a way that their makers probably would not have recognized them. The audience, however, was happy with whatever they got since it was the only TV entertainment available and they had nothing to compare it to.
For a while, Saudi TV was master of the Kingdom’s airwaves. Not for long because soon clever people in Jeddah and other cities were positioning their antennas in the direction of neighboring countries and watching a TV which was different from what was seen on the Saudi channel. In the next few years, satellites appeared and Saudi TV’s monopoly was over; there were many channels to choose from and if people were not entertained by what they saw, they simply changed the channel. Inevitably, this meant fewer people watched Saudi TV and it did virtually nothing to attract new viewers or to keep old ones.
The Saudi channels — by this time, there was more than one — pulled in large audiences for football matches and news of decisions made at Cabinet meetings. I don’t know who was behind the original production of “Tash Ma Tash” but it was a clever move that attracted people once again to watching something on Saudi TV.
Saudis enjoyed being able to see, and identify with, familiar situations from their own lives on TV. The series which almost at once began to test the limits was an immediate hit and over time and because of positive feedback, it tackled issues that had previously been unmentionable — religious extremism, the deficiencies of the Saudi educational system and discrimination against women.
It would be naive to say that the series has no faults; it certainly does. Among its flaws is a tendency to exaggerate but sometimes that may be the best way to get people thinking and talking about problems.
Once the series had become bold about confronting various social problems, it generated anger from certain people and condemnation from others. Being a Saudi TV program, the freedom was definitely limited but then, there was a switch to a satellite channel that gave the producers more scope to address controversial issues.
The episode about women driving was a hit; it debated whether women had the right to drive but did so by focusing on whether women had the right to ride donkeys. And if they did, should they only ride female donkeys.
Things got even more exaggerated when extremists demanded that a woman on a donkey be hidden in a sort of tent with only a tiny opening for her to peer out at the world. The episode even suggested that a great deal of trouble could be avoided by simply forcing women to live in a women-only city and meet their husbands once a week.
In another episode the focus was on whether girls’ schools should be allowed next to boys’ schools. It was decided that there was danger in proximity so the girls’ schools were moved to an area to the south of where the boys’ schools were. The reasoning for this was that if the girls’ schools were north of the boys’ schools, the wind might carry the female scents to the boys and so inflame them. It was also decided to have one street for girls and one for boys. And so it goes on and on.
It is obvious, I think, that all this satirical criticism has not gone down well with the more conservative segments of our society. There have been all the usual calls for the series to be banned but it is too late for that. Once people have enjoyed the freedom of voicing their genuine and legitimate concerns, it is almost impossible to push them back to their former position. They just won’t go back to the days of censored and restricted TV.
