High ratings no guarantee of quality 'sinetron'

High ratings no guarantee of quality 'sinetron'

By Yogita Tahil Ramani

JAKARTA (JP): Long before Internet junkies found a way to live
out their dreams on the Web, the liaison between society and
fantasy had viewers addicted to TV serials.

Belittled for everything from laughable screenplays to awful
miscasting, Indonesian teleseries, or sinetron, are predicted by
TV wags to eventually follow the pitiful path of the Indonesian
movie industry.

Locally produced TV melodramas have now come to dominate the
Indonesian TV scene, edging once popular Latin telenovellas and
soppy Indian movies out of prime time.

But as the Indonesian sinetron slowly comes of age, there are
lingering questions about their quality and charges that, with
very few exceptions, their success is due more to their use of
Indonesian than any artistic distinction.

Creative developments and managerial aspects of quality
teleseries were addressed by several executive board members of
the Indonesian Sinetron Festival, who organized a one-day seminar
on Oct. 30 at the Century Park Hotel in Jakarta.

Even as the speakers bandied possible solutions back and
forth, the talks centered on theoretical assumptions, with
speakers scoffing at "illogical mistakes" in making of the series
and disregard for realities of Indonesian culture.

TV critic Wina Armada bemoaned the lack of understanding of
movie producers, saying they had yet to learn the difference
between making a movie, and the care necessary to spin a tale
which will keep TV viewers in their seats.

"Movie producers have the luxury of not bothering about
viewers leaving the movie theater should the first 10 minutes of
their productions be dull or without a story," said the three-
time member of the Indonesian Sinetron Festival jury.

"Movies on the big screen don't have to worry about a remote-
control and endless advertisements every 10 to 15 minutes.

"People watch sinetron with a remote control in hand. A
foolish scene, or a few minutes delay.., and fingers will itch to
switch," Wina said

Wina considered widespread appropriation of Western storylines
-- "Things happening in the streets of New York are depicted in
scenes shot in the Blok M and Senayan areas" -- in local
teleserials to be shameful aping.

He criticized the neglect of "religious" principles.

"For Indonesians, life is sacred. We fought tooth and nail for
mercy to be given to female worker Nasiroh in Saudi Arabia, yet
sinetron show genies taking away lives at will."

He found glossed-over images to be baffling: "Where is the
common sense when a garage floor is spotlessly clean?"

Scriptwriters

Sumita Tobing, general manager of SCTV news show Liputan 6,
underscored the crucial role of scriptwriters.

"Theater is the medium of the actor and a movie is the medium
of the director.

"Television is the medium of scriptwriter," she said.

Sumita said good acting was "baseless" and did not count
without excellent dialog.

She doubted whether most Indonesian scriptwriters knew how to
make a script which sold.

"If someone tells me that she saw a man biting a dog on the
street, that is news to me. However, if she told me that she
knows of a man who makan anjing (literally to eat a dog, but
meaning to double cross or 'kill' the guy emotionally or in any
other sense), that is stale news."

Sumita said the most important thing in casting characters for
a role was to do a thorough biographical check on prospective
actors.

"Even if you have to find out where an actress lost her
virginity, do it. Believe it or not, this type of information
helps in finding the right person for the role," she said.

Sumita said television was primarily a medium of information,
technology and education.

"Newsreading is an art of highlighting the importance of a
story, so I refuse to call it a non-story," she said, "All the
elements -- drama, suspense, murder, love -- are just as present
in news as in teleserials. The difference is that news stories
are real and sinetron are fiction."

Sumita felt people behind local TV productions had a lot to
learn from Hollywood about production of American daytime and
prime-time TV serials, ranging from computer software and
technological aspects to lighting.

She said she hoped many Indonesians would someday work in
Hollywood, including on lighting or backstage crews, to "learn
how things work behind the scenes".

They occupy the three highest ratings spots, but the
teleserials Janjiku (My Promise), Si Doel Anak Sekolahan (Doel,
the College-bound Kid) and Tuyul Dan Mbak Yul (Genie and Ms. Yul)
are little more than variations on the tried-and-true formula.

Standards include romantic melodramas that are usually packed
with a bit of action and lots of ostentatious style -- examples
are Kupu Kupu Kertas (Paper Butterflies) and Istri Pilihan (The
Chosen Wife) -- or dramas that tell of typical Indonesian village
lifestyles or lives of the common man -- like Si Doel Anak
Sekolahan and Fatima -- catering to lower-income viewers.

There are "genie" stories that could fall into comedy or
horror -- one is Si Manis Jembatan Ancol (The Sweet Lady On The
Ancol Bridge) -- and comedy-dramas like Gara Gara (Problems).

A committee for this year's 1997 Indonesian Sinetron Festival
recently selected 34 from 134 sinetron in three categories --
seven titles in drama, 17 in drama serials and 10 in comedy
serials.

Nominees include Senyum Di Wajah Tangis Di Hati (Smiling Face,
Crying Heart), Bukan Perempuan Biasa (Not An Ordinary Woman), Si
Doel Anak Sekolahan III, and Inem Pelayan Seksi (Inem, The Sexy
Maid).

RCTI public relations manager, Eduard Depari, found local
teleseries to be severely lacking in themes, with producers
churning out "similar stories in the same formula" in the hope of
a sure ratings bet.

Founder of PT Tripar Multivision Plus, Raam Punjabi, the
recognized mogul of local sinetron, zeroed in on the managerial
aspects of financing, human resources, planning, intuition and
marketing.

Punjabi, whose Janjiku, Kupu Kupu Kertas and Istri Pilihan
are among the 80 percent of all Indonesian teleseries he
produces, felt educating local TV crews in technological and
creative developments could be done through seminars.

More telling was an interesting exchange during the seminar.

Although TV critic Ali Shahab peppered his criticism on
sinetron with funny anecdotes, he curtly dismissed a relevant
comment from a participant.

"I have attended similar events as this in the past,
but ...there isn't really anything that I hear or see of people
upgrading the quality," Bob Effendi said.

He could not have defined the problem better than when he
added: "Can you really equate quality with success (ratings) in
the case of Indonesian sinetron?"