No one dares to quit the habit of watching TV even when all the TV channels keep showing the same boring programs and shows. On those days the TV channels are in intensive competition and try to express their own creativity. Almost all the programs are rejoicing over the New Year period. The TV shows are mainly a mixture of musical and humoristic short films. The increase in the number of Armenian TV channels made us presume that this year, once again the pop singers of Armenia would hop from one TV channel to another and sing almost all the same songs. However the holiday broadcast of this year turned out to be a more “home-made” type of thing as many of the TV channels decided not to spend a lot of money on inviting pop-singers and stars but instead showed themselves on TV. This kind of broadcast is more cost-effective because the TV channel personnel sit around the table, eat and drink, sing and dance and appear on television at the same time. The idea of this “home-made” model originally came from the “ALM” TV Company, which attracted everyone with its simplicity. Even “Armenia” TV, which considers itself as the most modern and progressive TV channel, was not able to provide interesting TV programs on New Year Eve. Neither the beloved TV showmen nor the filming done abroad could help “Armenia” prepare an entertaining program. It was not worth watching anyway. “Armenia’s” broadcast was not about Paris or London but instead it had short and not very successfully prepared humoristic staging. The holiday broadcast of “H1” to some extent was fresher. The “songs of the 70s of Yerevan” and what was prepared by “Sharm” were dominating on that channel. “Songs of Yerevan” has perhaps become the most successful musical project of the year, which turned from concerts into TV programs and may change the singers and players. Perhaps the “Yerevan-Moscow-Transit” project, which has been organized three times so far, seemed like a pleasant new thing for a lot of people; however the performance of Russian singers were a bit incomprehensive. Kobzon, Varum, Agutin and other famous singers were singing beloved Armenian songs in a very strange arrangement and few would want to listen to them one more time. We can confidently say that the next product of “Sharm” was “Mer Bak-3”(“Our neighborhood-3”), a film which became a real hit. Many have seen this film. It might have become a really good show but it was just a regular commercial musical mixture. The authors were saying that they had tried to create a film that would stay in people’s memory for a long time but it turned out to be film with a raw plot and glutted commercials. There were some roles that didn’t make sense in the film and could even be not included in the plot. The plot wouldn’t suffer too much if “Shiker”, Shushan Petrosyan, the Chinese and Sedrak were not in the plot because they didn’t really play big roles. Although the former directors of the film didn’t have the same film production dynamics and quality or graphics, but there was a good plot. Nevertheless “Our neighborhood-3” was the film that was nicely showed on the New Years’ Eve. There was a little good plot and good music on “H2”. And all the showmen with champagne glasses in their hands were wishing Happy New Year to our people. Everything was the same – the New Year Ham set on the table, watching TV and complaining about TV programs. The most positive thing was the opulence of movies over the holidays. Both the Russian and Armenian TV channels acquired license to show new and quality films and “H1” had even successfully duplicated them. Thus, the fans of passive leisure really enjoyed a lot as they could just stop at one channel and not look for anything else elsewhere. TV viewers could watch both Russian melodramas and the newest Hollywood movies. And these movies are much better than the boring holiday programs. This year the only Armenian film was “Mer Bak-3” (“Our neighborhood-3”). The year has just started and it’s time to get ready for coming holiday broadcasting and create films to interest the viewers. There is no need to suffocate the TV viewers with music over the holidays because they can do it themselves.
