Turkish TV series

Turkish television series ( tr, Türk dizileri) has grown radically since the 2000s. Most dramas reflect Turkish culture and are the country's most well known economic and cultural exports. Turkey is the world's fastest growing television series exporter and by the mid-2010s overtook both Mexico and Brazil as the world's second highest television series exporter after the United States. The television industry has played a pivotal role in increasing Turkey's popularity in Asia, Europe, Latin America, and North Africa.

Turkish series are mostly produced in Istanbul, as television companies chose to settle there after the wave of liberalization for private television in the 1990s. Turkish television channels producing dramas include TRT, Kanal D, Show TV, Star TV, ATV, Fox, TV8, and Kanal 7. The Turkish television series market is marked by stiff local competition: out of the 60 series produced every year in the country, almost 50% do not run for longer than 13 episodes due to the strong competition among the different local channels, resulting in the high quality and popularity of the longer-running productions. Each episode of a popular Turkish drama is usually between 120 and 150 minutes in length (excluding advertisements). However, this does not apply to internet platform series. Soundtracks are given utmost importance to fill the long episode times.

'' Çalıkuşu'' was the first Turkish TV series exported internationally in 1986 to the Soviet Union. Turkish television shows are almost always available in multiple languages, dubbed or subtitled to accommodate the target country's language. The success of Turkish television series has boosted tourism as well, as visitors are keen to see the locations used for their favorite shows. The sudden and immense international popularity since the 2000s of Turkish TV dramas has been widely analyzed as a social phenomenon.

Turkish TV series started to gain popularity with the release of the Arabic-dubbed Turkish drama, ''Gümüş'', in the Arab World. ''The Bride from Istanbul'' was a huge hit in Israel. '' Suskunlar'' (''Game of Silence'') became the first Turkish drama to be remade by the USA. Then ''Son'' was remade as ''Runner'' for ABC. ''Pasión prohibida'' was the first Spanish-language American remake of a Turkish drama, released in 2013. Many channels in Latin America have been broadcasting Turkish series and many local remakes aired. ''Son'' became the first Turkish TV series adapted in the Western Europe, having been adapted by Netherlands. Adını Feriha Koydum was the first Turkish drama success in India. ''Kya Qusoor Hai Amala Ka?'' was the fist Indian remake of the popular Turkish drama, ''Fatmagül'ün Suçu Ne?'', about a gang-raped girl's fight for justice. ''Fatmagül'ün Suçu Ne?'' also remade by Spain as ''Alba'' for Netflix. ''Elif Indonesia'' was the first remake of a Turkish drama in the Southeast Asia after the original show's popularity in Indonesia, in 2016. The first Malaysian remake of a Turkish drama, ''Rüzgarın Kalbi'', aired in 2020. ''Barb Ayuttitham'' became the first Turkish remake in Thailand. Turkish TV series are broadcast in many countries in Europe, the Balkans, Russia, Middle East, and Asia.

Besides the original scripts; Korean, American, Japanese, and Bristish adaptations are also common. The original Turkish dramas are mostly based on Turkish classical books. Besides the TV series set in Istanbul, regional dramas about the Black Sea, Aegean and Southeast ("'töre' dizileri") are also common.
In addition to broadcasts on television, Turkish series are followed by fans on legal and illegal internet platforms in many different languages.

Production

Today, a season of the average Turkish drama is around 35-40 episodes. New episodes are filmed 6 days a week to keep up with the demanding production schedule, and crews can work up to 18 hours a day.

Each episode of a popular Turkish drama today is usually between 120 and 150 minutes in length (excluding advertisements), which is much longer than a typical episode of an Americas or Western European series, and averages at around 30 to 60 minutes. However, when shown in the Balkans and southeastern Europe, episodes of Turkish dramas are usually split into shorter segments, usually not exceeding more than 60 minutes.

Values shown in Turkish series

For the Balkan region, the reason why Turkish shows became popular was showing lives lived in a healthy balance of Islam, democracy, modernity and traditionalism. They also lack violence and obscene language, as well as having easy-to-follow plots with realistic characters. Tapping into nostalgia for a system of family values that people in the Balkan region have lost.

According to Izzet Pinto, the head of Istanbul-based powerhouse distributor Global Agency; it’s the “combination of family-based stories with big talents and directors, and great music” that attract audiences so widely, and Turkish culture as a whole, which he calls both “modern, but at the same time, also very traditional”.

For the Arab world, showing "modern Muslim" life was a remarkable factor. Contrary to showing elements that are not accepted in the region in Western shows, similar social problems are told within acceptable limits in Turkish TV series.

For the Latin America, the reason was similarities in culture, emphasis on family values, family viewing, good-looking people and real picturesque locales.

Brave women who do not keep silent and seek their rights by keeping their dignity are another remarkable element in the series. ''Fatmagül'ün Suçu Ne?'' was a brave story that fought to solve similar problems faced by women all over the world and has been successful in many countries.

Criticism

With taboo-breaking scenes that include premarital sex, love triangles and nudity, Turkish TV series have been dubbed as ‘immoral’ by some religious authorities in the Middle East and in some cases, they have even been banned.

History

Turkey's first TV series was produced in 1974. The series was called ''Aşk-ı Memnu'', which was adapted from the eponymous 1899 novel by Halid Ziya Uşaklıgil. The series was released on TRT, the public broadcaster of Turkey. The period of TV dramas on just TRT continued until 1986, being referred to in Turkey as the "single channel period" () and the shows themselves being called the "old TRT series" (). TRT was known for its adaptations of Turkish classic novels into historical TV mini-series.

Turkish ''Yeşilçam'' films (), were more popular at the time. Yeşilçam stars didn't play in TV series. 1970s was the golden age of Yeşilçam. Yeşilçam was the world's 4th biggest cinema. A support actor played in 3 films in a day. Yeşilçam movies are known for iconic unforgetten songs. Soundtrack songs are still widely successful. It being called or .

Other Turkish TV channels appeared in the 1990s, and TV production increased as a result.

Turkish TV series produced between 2000 and 2005 were between 60 and 80 minutes in length. Scenarists couldn't finish scripts on time. Before more soundtrack music added scenes. Soundtrack music were widely successful. Turkish TV series changed a long music video clip.

Turkish TV series in 2005–2010 were, on average, 90 minutes in length. TV series became more popular than Turkish cinema, which mostly consisted of festival movies and comedy movies. Adaptations of Turkish classic novels began to be produced. Authors whose works were commonly adapted included ''Reşat Nuri Güntekin'', ''Orhan Kemal'', ''Halid Ziya Uşaklıgil'', ''Peyami Safa'', ''Ayşe Kulin'', ''Ahmet Ümit'', ''Nermin Bezmen'', ''Hande Altaylı'', and ''Elif Şafak''. However, these adaptations usually transformed the stories from their late 18th- 20th-century settings to contemporary times. Book sales increased 10-fold, but these adaptations were not popular among authors and literary critics. One critic stated, "You imagine that Madame Bovery or Anna Karenina is in a shopping mall. It's terrible. The adaptations aren't literary. There weren't historical places, political, sociological. Characters of Turkish classic change or don't die. Classic political novel changes only love story".

In the 2010s, series ranged from 120 to 150 minutes in length on average. One episode of Turkish TV series is like a movie. It's period drama, modern-absurd comedy, crime, romantic-comedy. The most watched comedy series were ''Avrupa Yakası'' (2004–2009), '' Leyla ile Mecnun'' (2011–2013), ''Kardeş Payı'' (2014–2015), ''İşler Güçler'' (2012–2013), ''1 Erkek 1 Kadın'' (2008–2015), '' Yalan Dünya'' (2012–2014), ''Tatlı Hayat