Just like you don’t fart, burp, and scratch in public (yeah yeah I know most still go ahead and do it!) there should be an etiquette rule book or ‘TV manners’ made mandatory for TV hosts too. Viewers are often subjected to some obnoxious behaviour. Hosts who insult, anchors who pass snide remarks and contestants who swear! Do they even know that they are being watched and emulated by school-going kids? And why does the I &B Ministry not step in and bring to heel all those who violate the norms of decency on national television more so when they harm the sensibilities of a young mind?

After reading my column ‘Talent where art thou’ where I rued the fact that most young actors do not take their work seriously and only concentrate on looks and body, a senior actor called me for a debate on this. She said I was right but justified it saying the actors had a reason to do so, in fact there were many reasons for this.

The naughty boys and girls are at it again. They had been lying low for a long time and going by their inherent nature this would not be the case for long. After a brief sabbatical many of them have bounced back to grab their much-needed share of public attention. Let’s find out who are back in action.

TV watching is all about moments. Let me begin with the ones I loved last week. When I saw <a href=http://www.tellychakkar.com/news/boss-its-salman-khan>Salman Khan</a> charm one and all with his madness as host of <em><a href=http://www.tellychakkar.com/snippets/heres-lowdown-new-improved-bigg-boss-house>Bigg Boss</a></em>. Khan is so good with his ‘cool dude’ behavior, it’s his easy charm that has you eating out of his hands. He reaches out to you on a personal level and no other host comes close to this.

Mostly all TV soaps have an ensemble of different characters –father, mother, brother, sister, uncle, aunt, niece, nephew, mother-in-law, father-in-law, etc, etc. If the serial is well etched each character has a definite role to play. And if it’s not, then often you end up with characters who are either bumped off as the story progresses or are side lined ( sent abroad, sent to jail, etc) as they didn't have any thing to do with the story anyways.

Sure, Star, Colors, Zee are the top GECs. Sure, most viewers are glued to these channels 24X7. Sure, soaps on these channels have good ratings. Sure, the moolah raked in by all the channels could run a bank. Sure, all the action is happening only on these driver channels. So what’s the point I am trying to make with such obvious facts? Though I may belong to the minority community who watch the odd channel I think it’s only right that people know that niche channels have been offering such varied fare it can put the so-called mainstream channels to shame. It

At the risk of sounding a certified feminist and waving the gender flag quite so often I need to know just one more thing - what’s happening to all the female leads in the most widely watched shows today? What’s happening to women on TV? Ankita Lokhande ( Archana in <em><a href=http://www.tellychakkar.com/news/shravni-and-manav-wed-pavitra-rishta>Pavitra Rishta</a></em>): This lead of the number one Zee show is so regressive in thought that she can put the Tulsis and Parvatis to shame. Oh yes, how can I forget she was born in the same stable?