Television's worst reality shows

Reality shows have spread themselves across all television channels, and they're getting very repetitive. Some of them don't even seem 'real' and looked quite staged.
We asked readers to vote for their worst reality shows on TV, and the list was endless. Readers voted for shows like Indian Idol (excluding the first season), Bigg Boss, Rock 'n' Roll, Chappar Paad Ke, Fame Gurukul, Sawaal Dus Karod Ka, Kamzor Kadi Kaun, Deal or No Deal, Waar Parivaar and Jhoom India. We take a look at the five most unpopular reality shows on television.

Shaava Shaava
When it was launched, Shaava Shaava looked like it had everything going for it. There were popular TV stars like Narayani Shashtri, Apurva Agnihotri, Juhi Parmar, Mouni Roy, Aman Verma, Manish Goel, Sumeet Raghavan and Divyanka Tripati. Plus, it had the best chat show hosts Karan Johar and Simi Garewal judging the show.
Unfortunately, the show was drab, and none of the contestants could sing. Fortunately, audiences had to bear the show for 11 days only.

K For Kishore
K For Kishore did not do well despite its original concept, unlike other reality shows. The show was dedicated to legendary singer Kishore Kumar, and was a good platform for budding singers. Surprisingly, readers gave a thumbs down to this show, preferring others that were copies.
Readers even felt that K For Kishore was an insult to the legend because the participants did not even come close to the great singer. Readers weren't the only one who got tired of this show soon. It was evident that host Rajeshwari Sachdev had lost interest too when she was suddenly paired with Babul Supriyo, after hosting a couple of episodes solo.

Kahin Naa Kahin Koi Hain
Kahin Naa Kahin Koi Hai showed great promise when it was launched because it marked Madhuri Dixit's debut on the small screen. But the matrimonial show soon flopped.
One probable reason for it not doing well was that the audience found the whole thing fake.

Sawal Dus Karod Ka
Sawal Dus Karod Ka was supposed to be Zee TV's answer to Star's Kaun Banega Crorepati. The only difference was the prize money -- a mind-bogging sum of Rs 10 crores.
Despite the huge amount at stake, there were few takers. While Amitabh Bachchan and later, Shah Rukh Khan could connect with the audience on KBC, Sawal's... hosts, Anupam Kher and Manisha Koirala, left the audience cold.

Kya Aap Paanchvi Pass Se Tez Hai
Paanchvi Pass evoked mixed reactions from viewers. There were inevitable comparisons between the Indian format hosted by Shah Rukh Khan and the original, Are You Better Than A 5th Grader. Some of the viewers thought the Fox Broadcasting game show was far better. There are also comparisons to the first season of Amitabh Bachachan's hit game show, Kaun Banega Crorepati.

Tax planning and investments

This financial year most of the salaried class will have an extra Rs 40,000 per year thanks to Finance Minister P Chidambaram's increase in income tax limit.

For women salaries up to Rs 1,80,000 and for men salaries up to Rs 1,50,000 will not attract any tax compared to the earlier limits of Rs 1,45,000 and Rs 1,10,000 respectively.

How much tax will you pay from your salary now that most of you must have got an increment? Or how will the new salary structure affect your tax outgo? Is there a way by which you can plan for and save more tax in the financial year 2008-09 after careful tax planning? How can the salaried class take advantage of the extra Rs 40,000 they will get per annum?

What is the best way of planning your tax as well as investing for a better future for you and your family?

Do you know the different ways of tax planning and tax saving for the salaried employees, self-employed, business persons and those who have recently acquired a job?

Is this a good time to start planning your investments and tax-saving for the next financial year? What are the important points you must remember while planning your taxes? What are the tax-saving avenues available for salaried individuals and for those running their own businesses?

10 rules for investing in gold

An investment in gold should be based on macro economic con-siderations
If one expects or fears rising inflation, destabilizing deflation, a bear market in stocks or bonds, or financial turmoil, gold should do well and exposure is warranted.

Understanding the internal dynamics of the gold market can be helpful as to investment timing issues
For example, the weekly position reports of commodity trading funds or sentiment indicators offer useful clues as to entry or exit points for active trading strategies. Reports on physical demand for jewellery, industrial, and other uses compiled by various sources also provide some perspective.
However, none of these considerations, non-monetary in nature, yield any insight as to the broad market trend. Reports of central bank selling or lending may influence the market in the short term but cannot counteract macro economic factors.

Excessive reliance on trading strategies to generate returns can be dangerous and counterproductive
Returns from a 'buy and hold' strategy should be more than sufficient to compensate for the inherent volatility. Many who have tried to outsmart this market by hyperactive trading have under-performed. Success is de-pendent in large part on the occurrence of 'fat tail' events that lie outside the parameters of trading models.

Every investor should have some gold
A reasonable allocation in a conservative, diversified portfolio is 0 to 3 per cent during a gold bear market and 5-10 per cent during a bull market.

Equities of gold mining companies offer greater leverage than direct ownership of the metal itself
Gold equities tend to appear expensive in comparison to those of conventional companies because they contain an embedded option component for a possible rise in the gold price. The share price sensitivity to a hypothetical rise in metal price is related to the cash flow from current production as well as the valuation impact on proven and probable reserves.

Watch out for companies that have hedged their gold exposure
Although a rising tide may lift most boats, financial statements should be reviewed with special attention to hedging arrangements that could undermine participation in higher gold prices or even jeopardize financial stability. The carnage of the last twenty years has simplified the task of individual stock selection because so few have survived the gold bear market. But individual stock selection is less important than identification of the primary trend.

Don't get caught up in gold fever
Even though gold itself is a conservative investment, 'gold fever' attracts a crowd of speculators, promoters, and charlatans who only want to separate investors from their money. Avoid offbeat 'exploration' companies with little or no current production and gargantuan appetites for new money.

Bullion or coins are a more conservative way to invest in gold than through the equities
There is also greater liquidity with bullion for large pools of capital. Investing in the physical metal requires scrutinizing the custodial arrangements and the creditworthiness of the financial institution. Do not mistake the promise of a financial institution to settle based on the gold price, for example, a 'gold certificate' or a 'structured note' (i.e., derivative), for the actual physical possession of the metal. Insist on possession in a segregated vault, subject to unscheduled audits, and inaccessible to the trading arrangements or financial interest of the financial institution.

Gold is a controversial, anti-establishment investment
Therefore, do not rely on conventional financial media and brokerage house commentary. In this area, such commentary is even more misleading and ill-informed than usual.

Don't settle for too little
Should outlier events now deemed unimaginable by consensus thinking actually occur, the price target for gold would be several multiples of its current depressed price. Gold represents insurance against some sort of financial catastrophe. The magnitude of the upside is a function of the amount of paper assets that would be converted to gold irrespective of price.

Salman takes a break from films

Salman Khan fans will have to wait a little longer to watch him in the theatres. The actor has taken a break from his movies to focus on Dus Ka Dum, his first television show.
The game show will be telecast on Sony Entertainment Television at the end of May, and the actor is busy shooting for it at Mumbai's R K Studios.

Salman postponed the shooting of Main Aur Mrs Khanna, which was to start this month in Australia. His other films, Veer, and London Dreams have also been pushed back. Dus Ka Dum, taken off from the international show Power Of 10, is being heavily promoted presently. Salman has a lot of competition in Shah Rukh Khan's Kya Aap Paanchvi Pass Se Tez Hai and Akshay Kumar's forthcoming Khatron Ke Khiladi, the desi version of Fear Factor.

Pregnant Mini Mathur opts out of Indian Idol 4

The motor mouth TV Vj associated from the 1st season with Idian Idol, Mini Mathur will not be seen in the 4th season Indian Idol as the Vj is pregnent with her second child.
Mini and Kabir Khan (director of Yash Raj Films’ Kabul Express) have a four-and-a-half-year-old son Vivaan. Sony was very keen that she should host the upcoming season of Indian Idol, but they could do little about it.

Confirming the good news about her pregnancy, Mini says, “Yes. Kabir and I are expecting our second child.”Mini, who has hosted all the three seasons of Indian Idol so far, adds, “I would have loved to be a part of Indian Idol 4. Being a part of Indian Idol has been a great experience. Hopefully, I'll be back on the show’s next season.”Recently, Mini completed shooting for a show, Yeh Shaam Mastani, which features singers like Kunal Ganjawala, Shankar Ehsaan Loy, Sunidhi Chauhan, Kailash Kher among others. Yeh Shaam Mastani traces the musical journey of the eight singers and will air on Sony. Mini is hosting this show. The show involves asking some very tricky questions to those who belong to the music world. “Yeh Shaam Mastani was a great experience. I just finished shooting for it last week. It will be on air very soon,” says Mini.

Reality shows rake in the moolah! And how!

Reality shows in India are here to stay. Just look at the moolah they've been raking in and you'll know why.

Panchvi Pass on Star Plus is expected to generate Rs 150-160 crore in 36 episodes; KBC3 made Rs 200 crore in 52 episodes.

The glamour of interactive reality shows, it appears, is only becoming more pronounced. Comprising primarily of quiz, dance, talent and singing contests, the latest shows are earning more revenue for the channels, but with fewer episodes.

Shah Rukh Khan?s new quiz show Kya Aap Panchvi Pass Se Tez Hai on Star Plus, for instance, is expected to generate around Rs 150-160 crore for the channel in just 36 episodes.

The revenue will accrue from sponsors and spot-buys. The show is expected to fetch another Rs 18 crore from mobile and landline calls and through SMSes.

The show, which goes on air from today, has already received over 12 million calls in 20 days from people wanting to participate in the show.

On the other hand, the third run of Kaun Banega Crorepati ? anchored by Shah Rukh Khan on Star Plus ? made around Rs 200 crore in 52 episodes. The channel earned Rs 10-12 crore from calls and SMSes.

The musical talent show, Sa Re Ga Ma Pa Challenge 2007, on Zee TV earned the channel close to Rs 120 crore from advertisements and sponsors in 26 episodes.

Industry sources said Indian Idol 3 on SET Max made over Rs 26 crore with just eight sponsors last year, apart from the revenue it earned through the 10-second ad slots. Sony Entertainment Television (SET) charges around Rs 1.75 lakh for a 10-second slot.

Star Mobile Entertainment senior vice-president, Viren Popli, says: ?We estimate the number of calls to outdo the number of calls for Kaun Banega Crorepati-2 (KBC 2) and Kaun Banega Crorepati-3 (KBC3).

During KBC 2, when Amitabh Bachchan hosted the 62-episode show (later the show ended mid-way), around 120 million people made calls.

However, when Khan took over the third season of KBC, the calls went down to 70 million for 52 episodes because the channel had to accommodate participants selected during KBC 2 who could not be quizzed as the show was pulled off air.

What?s working for the Indian version of Are You Smarter Than A Fifth Grader? ? which will run for 36 episodes during weekends ? is that Star Plus gave the participation procedure a different spin, said Popli.

Since the show will quiz adults on questions from textbooks of standards 1 to 5, the channel adopted the school/college admission process. In the first round, interested viewers had to answer a question flashed on air, after which the caller had to answer three questions in round two.

This was followed by an interview round in which the candidates were judged by a panel, who gave scores and a merit list of selected callers was issued.

For this show, Star Plus signed on multiple telecom service providers ? Airtel, MTNL/BSNL, Tata Indicom, Spice Telecom, Idea Cellular, Vodafone ? excluding Reliance and BPL who are not on board. For KBC3 Airtel, MTNL and BSNL were exclusive telecom partners. This time around, the call rates were also increased to Rs 5 for an SMS and Rs 6 for a mobile call.

When Star Plus opened phone lines for callers who had to answer a question to participate in KBC 3, it received a million calls on day one 40 per cent more than the 700,000 on the first day of Bachchan hosting KBC 2.

Every year the numbers seem to be growing. The show enjoys national reach and audiences are reacting positively to the new show with Shah Rukh Khan,? said Popli.

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