“Apartment Works”.. Hisham Maged shines with an intelligently adapted drama that is far from being copied

The promotional poster for the series “Apartment Works”, which will be shown in the Ramadan 2024 season (Al Jazeera)

After the great success achieved by the stars Hisham Maged and Chico in the series “The Game” during 4 seasons, the two Egyptian actors decided to participate in this year’s Ramadan season with separate dramatic works, the first with the series “Ashghal Apartment” and the second with the series “Khaled Nour and his son Nour Khaled.”

The two works belong to the 15-episode drama, and while “Apartment Works” was shown in the first half of Ramadan, the Chico series is supposed to be shown in the second half, and although the comparison between the two works is expected and inevitable, after “Apartment Works” is on the throne of the most watched series in Egypt, Saudi Arabia and some... European countries through the “Shahid” platform Since the beginning of Ramadan, in addition to gaining the attention of social media platform pioneers, the competition has become more difficult.

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A strong and promising start

The events of the series revolve around Hamdi, a forensic medicine doctor (Hisham Majed), and the journalist Yasmine (Asma Jalal), who are having twins, and because of their need for help, they are forced to search for a maid who will provide them with domestic help, which exposes them to many funny situations.

Despite the simplicity of the idea, it carried within it a solid comedy core, especially with the use of different housekeepers in form and content at a rate of one every two episodes, which allowed for the infusion of renewed blood from the series’ guests of honor and the presentation of various stories.

Indeed, the first and second episodes in which the star Intisar participated succeeded in attracting viewers, so much so that her scenes and gestures quickly turned into material for jokes and laughter on social media platforms, which is in complete contrast to her role in the series “Highest Viewing Rate,” where she plays the role of a mother from a popular area who suffers from two problems. To ensure subsistence for her daughters.

The star, Iman Al-Sayed, also excelled in the performance of the maid, who is of Sharqawi origins - relative to the Sharqia Governorate - and who is skilled at cooking to the point that causes the heroine to gain a lot of excess weight, which threatens her career. As for Anam Salousa, she excelled in the role of the hearing-impaired maid who turns the couple’s lives upside down.

Bet on situation comedy

In addition to the guests of honor, the work gave a good space for a number of second-tier stars to reveal their comedic energies, led by Mustafa Gharib, who participated in several artistic works, the most famous of which are the last 3 seasons of the series “Al-Kabeer,” although “Apartment Works” can be considered his real starting point from which Soon, bigger doors will open for him after his success in keeping up with Hisham Majed in comedy, and even surpassing him, to the point that many compared him to the late Talaat Zakaria in his early days.

The star Sherine also starred in the role of the domineering mother-in-law who deliberately annoys her daughter-in-law, and Mohamed Mahmoud in the role of the doctor who practices a different medical specialty every day, which could have been exploited in more comedic situations, in addition to Mohamed Abdel Azim in the role of the director of the Forensic Medicine Department, where he returns to comedy. Which introduced him to the audience with the series “100 Wesh”.

Although the main female action lead went to Asma Jalal, and despite the harmony that appeared between her and Hisham Majed, she seemed as if she was sensitive to her position in the world of comedy, and knew the extent of her true abilities in this field, which makes her worthy of being described as intelligent because she did not take risks or exaggerate in acting in the area. A new drama for her.

Al Diab and the art of quotation

It is worth noting that the series “Apartment Works” was adapted from the movie “Good Morning, My Dear Wife,” which was released in 1969, and starred Salah Zulfikar, Nelly, and Tahia Karioka. It revolved around a happy couple who give birth to a child and seek the help of the wife’s mother to take care of the child, but as the problems continue and multiply. Disagreements between the spouses decide to seek outside help.

Although the series is an adaptation, it did not reproduce the original work with audio and video, but only the general idea with its broad threads with the addition of new characters that allows for the creation of a double comedy, which is a credit to its makers who did not drift towards the trend of copying with pen and paper as has been happening in recent years with Turkish series.

Accusations of assaulting women

But that does not prevent the fact that some of the issues that the work raised as a comedy were on the right side and provoked the audience.

Such as making fun of the heroine gaining extra weight and having to resort to weight-loss surgeries in order to become acceptable and beautiful, whether in the eyes of her husband or at work, as it is no longer acceptable to rely on criticizing the physical appearance of individuals (body shaming) as a source of laughter.

The same applies to the two episodes starring the Lebanese actress Reem Khoury, and her role was based on her being just a beautiful woman who men flock to and become attached to at first sight, just as happened in the movie “The Danish Experience” and the role presented by the Lebanese Nicole Saba. This is a hypothesis that is not funny and carries a lot of weight. It's an exaggeration.

However, it cannot be denied that the creators of the work paid attention to the small details, whether in writing, decorations, or directing staff. Given that this work is the first comedic dramatic experience for the series’ writers, Khaled Diab and Sherine Diab, after many dramatic works, most of which were overshadowed by drama, the work can be judged as a successful step. It opens a new field for them in writing.

Especially since some of the funny situations we saw were good and fresh, as we made good use of the husband’s job to create funny situations, even if some of them were characterized by exaggeration, which is usually acceptable in light comedies.

The series “Apartment Works” is a comedy drama that is about to end, directed by Khaled Diab and co-written with Sherine Diab. The starring group includes Hisham Majed, Asmaa Galal, Sherine, Salwa Muhammad Ali, Mustafa Gharib, Muhammad Abdel Azim, and many guests of honor. .

As for the star Chico, he will appear to the audience within days through the series “Khaled Nour and his son, Nour Khaled,” co-starring Karim Mahmoud Abdel Aziz, Aya Samaha, Hamza Al-Aili, and Donia Maher.

The work takes place within a comedy-fantasy framework, where a time gap resulting from a defect in one of the scientific experiments causes a son to appear in his father’s life, while the two share the same age stage, which is an unconventional and attractive idea to the extent that some have predicted that this work will be the winning horse in the comedy category. Ramadan 2024.

Source: Al Jazeera