TV stations compete for Xmas viewers
By Dini S. Djalal
JAKARTA (JP): It's that time of the year again, the Christmas holiday season. While not all of us may actually celebrate Christmas, many, nevertheless, welcome the few days off from work. Some retreat to vacation spots such as Bali, Bandung, or Singapore. Those with emptier pockets retreat to the TV room.
Belittle not this accompanying activity to popcorn-popping. Many busy urbanites regard Christmas-time as the only spare time they have to indulge in being a couch potato. For this reason, Indonesia's TV networks, albeit with the right programs, have the opportunity to strike gold and increase their viewership.
With the arrival of the new TV network IndoSiar into the fold on Dec. 18, the competition for viewers can only get more heated. Presumably, viewers can only benefit from the presence of Indonesia's now six networks, as it will expand and improve programming choices. What is offered this Christmas season should test the commitment of the networks to provide Indonesia with quality entertainment.
Of course, what is Christmas without the usual Christmas films for the family? For Christmas Eve, there is: Christmas on Division Street on SCTV, A Hobo's Christmas on RCTI (11 p.m.), Yes, Virginia, There is a Santa Claus on TPI, and The Flintstones' Christmas on IndoSiar. It gets better (or worse) on RCTI for Christmas day, with three Christmas flicks during the day (including an Indonesian film called Senyum di Pagi Bulan Desember at 1 p.m.).
Ironically, as the evening grows closer to the celebration of the birth of Jesus Christ, TV entertainment takes on a more adult theme. RCTI presents Scissors (9:30 p.m.), a pre-Basic Instinct Sharon Stone thriller. At 1 a.m. Dec.25, SCTV is showing the 1971 war film Mac Arthur, starring Gregory Peck. A war film to encourage Christmas cheer? Stranger things have happened.
IndoSiar, which only airs in the evenings, prefers music to cinema for the holidays. The Kenny Rogers music special (6:30 p.m.) will either lull you to dream sweet dreams, or nightmares, depending on whether you asked Santa for cowboy boots or combat boots this Christmas. If it is the latter that you want under your Christmas tree, then try staying awake until 10 p.m. for the Billboard Music Awards. Heather Locklear, every man's dream landlord from TV show Melrose Place, is hosting the show, which should be enough incentive for teenage boys to stay tuned.
Perhaps it is customary in predominantly Muslim Indonesia to regard Christmas day as just another Sunday, because the programming on Dec. 25 seems lacking in Christmas spirit. SCTV, TPI, TVRI, and An-Teve start the day with the usual children's cartoons, and pass the afternoons with music videos (Musik Mancagita on TVRI, Musik Mancanegara on TPI), generic detective series (Spencer for Hire on SCTV), and dad's favorite sports shows (European Soccer and Liga Dunhill on An-Teve). There is a film on Christmas morning on An-Teve, called Small Gifts, which is actually not a children's film but an adult romance.
Pre- and post-Christmas dinner, there are Indonesian docudramas on TVRI (Antara Langit dan Bumi) and SCTV (Ketika Ia Datang). RCTI follows IndoSiar and presents two music shows, one with Julio Iglesias and the other with David Foster -- presumably to provide an easy-listening soundtrack to facilitate all that turkey digestion. TPI has a show about Islam and teenagers, as well as a film called Absolution (9:30 p.m.) An-Teve has the right idea and presents A Gift to Last Christmas (7:30 p.m.), a sweet Canadian film about an old man's relationship with his son and grandchildren.
However, SCTV and IndoSiar, do not seem to be on the same track. Following a drama straightforwardly called Jesus Christ (9:30 p.m.), SCTV is showing Sweet Liberty (11:30 p.m.), starring Alan Alda and Michelle Pfeiffer. If I remember correctly, it is a Hollywood story about a man cheating on his wife, who is, in turn, cheating on him. IndoSiar is also showing an Indonesian film called Napas Perempuan ("A Woman's Lust") (19:30), as well as Kojak: Price of Justice (10 p.m.) Whatever happened to Yuletide faith and innocence?
The last presentation on Christmas day can be seen at 1:30 a.m. on RCTI, and it is an episode of The Fugitive. Fugitive seems to be the appropriate word to describe my mood as I search for classics such as A Christmas Carol or the original Miracle on 34th Street - films I never tire of seeing every Christmas season. "Maybe this Christmas I'll hide out with a Satellite/Cable decoder on my television", I thought. Then again, maybe I'll just leave town.