Star One is closing its operations today, 16-Dec-2011. The channel will get replaced by a new channel “Life OK” which will be launched by Star Network. The new channel will be launched sans any “Star” connection (read logo) and with a complete set of new shows on 18-Dec-2011.
As all say “All good things need to come to an end”, so has the end of Star One arrived too. This channel was initially targeted to the youth as it broadcasted many youth based shows which became a cult amongst the youth and made the channel instant hit. The channel when launched 7 years ago improvised and introduced shows that were targeted to the youth, and with that the channel broke that times current trend of shows that were only targeting the women folk, especially the housewives, generally centering around issues relating Saas-Bahu, husband-wife, and in general family based issues.
This channel came in as a reverence for the youth when it introduced shows like Remix, which became an instant hit amongst the college and high school going youth. Honestly, this was one the shows that got me hooked to the channel. Apart from Remix, the channel also got in a concept of introducing a weekly show during the weekdays, by introducing Special Squad, Siddhant, Hotel Kingston, and Instant Khichadi, all one hour shows that were shown on Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday, and Thursday respectively at probably what was the prime time. All these shows gained popularity as there were all based on completely different concepts and were also far away from the normal trend, and brought in a new freshness on television. Later such became the popularity of the shows that even their reruns later were highly viewed (something I don’t think any of the other current channels have been able to do).
Another innovation that worked highly for them was that the channel broadcasted all the repeats of the shows on weekends for those who missed out on them during the weekdays due to the shows on other channels. This concept actually created a huge viewership for the channel and its shows.
And then Star One introduced probably their most successful series, “The Great Indian Laughter Challenge”, a show that got all the people, diversified in all age groups, hooked to the channel. There was a phase when Friday nights were only meant to be for Star One, and more so for the Laughter Challenge. And probably in no time Star One reached to be one of the top channels, even rivaling against Star Plus which has shows like “Kyunki Saas Bhi Kabhi Bahu Thi” and other similar shows which were running successfully for years, and had created a huge following base.
After this show Star One seeing the popularity the channel was gaining, the channel introduced many family shows, which were not the typical kind of family shows, and they too turned up being very successful. One of them being Sarabhai vs Sarabhai, a show that had humor as well as touched to the family issues like Saas-Bahu fights and stuff but in a very much hilarious way.
Then the channel introduced very popular celebrity dance shows like the Nach Baliye series and then later the Zara Nack ke Dikha series. And after running successfully for about two-three years, when it started losing some of its popularity came in shows like Dill Mill Gayye, Miley Jab Hum Tum, and the Koffee with Karan series. Dill Mill Gayye probably went on to become probably their most popular show, as it connected directly to the youth, and by now when the internet media was at its boom, and with youth being the major part of the viewership and the media, these shows excelled everywhere especially Dill Mill Gayye. On the blogs and other forums one could easily notice the craze of this show, and this probably became the silver lining for the show. Such was the impression of this show on mind of the youth that no other show could actually replace it, and probably that has what has happened. It has been more than a year DMG was closed, and since then the channel also started losing its popularity and to such an extent that the channel had to go for a revamp.
Another new concept that worked for Star One was that they did not hang onto a show for too long. The shows ran on for about a year or two only whether they were successful or not. Probably this was the USP of Star One and with this they managed to create a huge fan base and then by ending the shows and introducing new ones they tried to bring freshness after regular intervals. This also meant that the reruns of the show were also highly viewed because of the craze they had created and nostalgia of course.
This worked great for Star One for almost 7 years, but after closing Dill Mill Gayye things really did not go too well. In fact last month or so I saw DMG being rerun on the channel all over again, and I thought that Star One has come back to get its prime viewership (the youth) back to the channel, but the sudden news of the channel shutting down has left me in a disarray. With the closure of the channel also means that the possibility of getting to see the shows like Special Squad, Siddhant, Dill Mill Gayye, and Remix has also vanished. There is probably no chance left to see these shows again.
Probably as a youth, I could relate to Star One a lot, and I guess everyone who loved watching television could. I don’t know what the new channel Life OK is aiming at, but yes with the promotional videos, it hardly looks that it has anything for youth in it. And now in despair I can only say that let’s hope that the channel comes back after some break, or they introduce the old shows back on the channel.
TREATISE 