Approximately 40 hours per day, is the total dramatic hours provided by Arab TV stations during Ramadan 2020, where the number of series listed on the show list, so far, is approximately 61 works, with an average of 40 minutes per episode, including 25 Egyptian series, and 20 Gulf, and 10 Syrian business, in addition to six Emirati business. This number remains subject to increase or decrease by a limited percentage, as the Ramadan map continues to witness changes that are not prevalent in the previous seasons.
These figures closely approximate the past years, which indicates that Arab drama production this year managed to escape, contrary to many expectations, the repercussions of the spread of the emerging "Corona" virus (Covid-19), and the accompanying precautionary measures in various countries The world is to protect against the virus, whether due to the completion of filming some of the works before the fallout of "Corona", or to move quickly to return to the studios after a short pause, and intensify the work to catch up with the season, and that will continue filming quite a few series during the month of Ramadan. In comparison with previous years, we find that the number of Egyptian works presented in 2019 was approximately 25 series, which is the same show this year, and in 2016 the number of dramatic hours displayed on Arab screens reached 54 hours per day, with a total of works reaching 80 series, while Ramadan 2015 witnessed an increase Noticeable as the dramatic hours reached nearly 74 hours per day, spread over 110 works, including 40 Egyptian works, and 35 Gulfs.
Distinguished Emirati presence
At the local level, dramatic production witnesses a distinguished presence through six works, most of which survived the repercussions of "corona" due to early photography. It includes four series that vary between social and heritage and are dominated by comic character, in addition to two animation works, namely: "Khasa inch" and " Shabia Al Cartoon ”, on“ Sama Dubai ”channel, is shown alongside the heritage series“ Bint Soghan ”, which is an exclusive production for the radio and television sector, Dubai Media Corporation 2020, Screenplay and dialogue by Jamal Salem, directed by Aref Al Tawil, and starring: Ahmed Al Jasmi, Ali Al Tamimi, Saeed Salem, Razika Tarish, Amal Muhammad, and Jumaa Ali.
Meanwhile, the Abu Dhabi Media Channel network features the series “Khashea Nashe” starring Abdullah Zaid and Jum'a Ali, and “Al Shahd Al Murr” starring Habib Ghuloom, Zahrat Arafat and Haifa Hussein, and “Miftah Al Qafl” starring the artist Jaber Naghamoush.
In general, the dramatic season of Ramadan this year is marked by a significant presence of comedic and social works, and a decline in historical works. This season also witnesses, for the first time in many years, the participation of series that include less than 30 episodes, after the makers of these works resorted to shortening them to join the show instead of leaving the competition, while others preferred to complete filming without deleting, with the imposition of precautionary measures Tightened on the sites of photography to prevent the spread of infection with the virus, with the abolition of all external scenes that would have been filmed in multiple countries. The co-production drama, which brings together artists from different countries, is one of the most prominent victims of "Corona". Its creators had no choice but to stop because of the difficulty of gathering the participating artists due to the interruption of air traffic.
The return of adults
Regarding the Egyptian drama, it may be possible to say that the current season is "the season of the return of the big boys", in light of the participation of the big stars, such as: Adel Imam, Nabila Obaid, Nadia Al-Jundi, Samiha Ayoub, Mahmoud Hamida, Yusra, Youssef Al-Sharif and others, and it appears that the controversy over the continuation or stoppage of artistic artwork In observance of the precautionary measures to confront “Corona,” the annual controversy over star wages about the Ramadan drama is overshadowed like every year. The series "Valentino" is the first to book a place on the show, as it was postponed from last year. While the series “Sugar Ziada” created a state of curiosity among viewers, as it was the first work that combines Nadia Al-Jundi and Nabila Abeid, with the participation of Samiha Ayoub and Hala Fakher, and the episodes also witness the emergence of many stars as guests of honor. While the artist Youssef Al-Sharif was able to lead the "trend" on social media as soon as the propaganda video of his series "The End" was presented, which was considered the first Egyptian work to fall into the category of science fiction, and its events revolve in the year 2120, to paint a hypothetical picture of future conflicts and the role of modern technology In a person’s life.
On the other hand, the artist Yasser Jalal chose to return in the series “Al-Fatwa” to the past, specifically the time of the Fatwa inside the popular aesthetic district, which was the scene of a number of novels of the Egyptian writer, Nobel Prize winner in literature, Naguib Mahfouz. While the artist Nelly Karim and the artist Aser Yassin in the series “100 Wush” appear completely different from their previous works, where the work is dominated by the comic character. The artist Amir Karara also left the series "Kalbash" this year, but he did not go far from the officer’s personality, as he presents in the series "Choice" the biography of the martyr Ahmed Saber Al-Mansi, the commander of the 103rd Battalion, who was killed in an ambush (Burth) in the city of Rafah Al-Masrya in 2017, while responding to a terrorist attack in Sinai, on the text of a writer, Baher Dowidar, directed by Peter Mimi.
Contrary to expectations, the drama managed to escape the repercussions of the outbreak of the new Corona virus.
25 Egyptian serials, 20 Gulf, 10 Syrian works, and six Emirati works.