Ql - ITO

66 İSTANBUL CHAMBER OF COMMERCE
producing original formats. Therefore, they preferred "reality shows" that
broadcast judicial cases li ve and in which presenters follow up and comment on
the cases as they happen. Besides, "investigator joumalism"- oriented programs
using hidden camera shooting to disclose some problems were also produced.
Jost qualifıes these programs as follows: "the programs which tum research or
joumalism into show" 40 . Of these programs, the most rooted ones stili exist
with certain stylistic changes.
In the early 2000s, an imported program format broadcast under the name
of "Biri Bizi Gözetliyor" 41 drew considerable attention. Actually, the name of
this program i ts elf, w hi ch means "Somebody is spying on us", started to be
used as a new idiom in daily language to refer to situations in which people
"are observed" openly or in seeret Based on the combination of the idea of
competition with the broadcast of people not knowing each other in advance
but starting to live in the same house on a nearly full time basis, this format was
continued in different versions. Transmitting "raw images" of daily life, this
format inspired a Turkey-specific format in 2004. Moreover, the personal
relations of the participants or their lives in the aftermath of the program w ere
discussed as serious "phenomena" in the broadcast season as these people
underwent certain magazinish or judicial situations. The program "Gelinim
Olur Musun?" meaning "Will you be my daughter-in-law?" was based on the
importance attached to marriage by Turkish TV viewers and the relation and
even conflict between mothers-in-law and daughters-in-law which has become
a tradition. The "Gelinim Olur Musun?" format targets to get mothers
participating in the program to choose the best spouse for their sons among the
single women sitting for marriage. This format was even exported to several
countries. In Italy, this program was nominated for Emmy Awards and its
producers entered a law suit against a program called "Momma's Boy" started
40
41
For a definition of this term, cf. François Jost, Introduction a l'analyse de la television, Ellipses,
Infocom, Paris, 1999, Chapter 5 and Chapter 9.
The first version of this program, which was exported to several countries, broadcast in Turkey
was in fact an adaptation of Austria originated "Taxi Orange".