Saas, bahu duck World Cup bouncer

A close call is what it was. If week February 23-March 1 saw record viewership for MAX owing to the India-Pakistan encounter on March 1, week 10, that is the period from March 2-8, has the events and movies channel sharing space with the K-brigade, which has regained its composure after some thrashing last week. Topping the list is the second half of the day-night match between India and Kenya on March 7 with a TVR of 12.4, followed by the March 3 episode of Kahaani Ghar Ghar Ki with 11.3, closely chased by the first half of the India-Kenya Super Six match at 11.

The next TVR grosser for MAX is the nail-biting encounter between Ashes rivals England and Australia on March 3, which stands at No 19 with a score of 5.0. However, the in-between slots (that is from Nos. 4 to 18) are occupied by STAR Plus indicating that the channel is not ready to give up yet. Its prime time line-up of Kasauti, Kyunki, Kahaani, Des Mein Nikla Hoga Chand, Sanjivani, Kehta Hai Dil and Sonpari figure in the Top 20 clearly highlighting the channel's hold over C&S households.

The scorecard from Nos 4 to 10 is as follows: March 5 and 4 episodes of Kahaani with 10.7; March 5 episode of Kasauti with 10.3; March 6 episode of Kyunki with 10.2; March 4 episode of Kyunki with 10; March 6 episode of Kahaani with 9.9; and March 3 and 5 episodes of Kyunki with 9.8.

In all, STAR Plus occupies 50 slots, while MAX has 13 spots to its credit.

Sony has a bunch of six shows on TAM Top 100, which is two up from the figure last week. The TVR grosser for Sony is the Australia-Sri Lanka Super Six encounter on March 7 standing at No 66 with a score of 3.1. The March 6, 4 and 5 episodes of Kkusum stand at No 73 (TVR 2.9), No 79 (TVR 2.8) and No 96 (TVR 2.4) respectively. Devi, the weekend drama telecast on Fridays at 9.30 pm, also figures on the list at No 89 with a score of 2.5 (for episode telecast on March 7). Weekend movie Chori Chori Chupke Chupke telecast at 8.00 pm on Saturday, March 8, stands at No 95 with a score of 2.4.

ZEE TV, Eenadu TV and DD1 occupy a total of four spots with ZEE and Eenadu featuring on the list on the back of movies while DD1 rides high on cricket. For ZEE, it is Thursday Premiere Makdee (telecast on March 6 at 8.00 pm) that does the trick with a score of 3.4 (No 50) while Eenadu has Telugu feature film Suryavamsam (telecast on March 2 at 5.30 pm) at No 84 with 2.7. DD1 has the second half of the Super Six match between India and Kenya garnering a TVR of 2.5 (No 86) while the first half, when Kenya were batting, is two rungs down at No 88.

Sister channels SUN and Gemini occupy a total of 27 spots with the former walking away with the bulk, that is 22 slots, while the latter has a crop of five to its credit.

SUN seems to be emulating STAR with a Kyunki-Kahaani like position between Tamil serials Annamalai and Metty Oli. The former is the leader of the pack with scores of 3.6 and 3.5 (episodes telecast on March 6 and 5) while the latter is third on the list with a score of 3.3 (episode telecast on March 5). But, the interesting factor here is that Annamalai and Metty Oli occupy the Top 8 for SUN much the way Kyunki and Kahaani do for STAR. The March 3 and 6 episodes of Alaigal (Tamil serial telecast at 9.00 pm) complete the Top 10 line-up for SUN with scores of 3.1 and 3 respectively.

Gemini, on the other hand, has Telugu serial Ninne Pilladata doing the honours as usual with scores of 2.7 (episode telecast on March 4) and 2.4 (episodes telecast on March 5 and 3), while Dance Baby Dance and feature film Rajakumarudu (both telecast on March 8) have both notched up a score of 2.3. © 2003 agencyfaqs!