Judge Malaika performs a special jig for Nach Baliye

Calcutta, Dec. 14: “Cricket bhula de,” claims the tagline of Nach Baliye, the latest blockbuster on the small screen, formally announcing the eclipse of the sporting craze by the gaana-bajana of reality television and the Bachchan-led game show brigade.

And now even the LIVE tag will no longer be exclusive to the sporting arena as entertainment channels play a first-of-a-kind real-time telecast gambit, riding high on the success of reality TV.

Nach Baliye, the current rage on TV where real-life couples challenge each other in dance duels, is now planning to go full-throttle to make the most of the final episode tomorrow.

The STAR One dance show will go “live” at 9 pm inviting audiences to vote (through phone calls and SMSes) for an hour and 15 minutes, then show a pre-recorded segment of 45 minutes ? when they collate and count the votes ? before going “live” again to declare the results.

Due to technical regulations, the channel must defer the live telecast, but only by a few minutes. Says Ravi Menon, programming head of STAR One: “We don’t have the rights to telecast the show live but it will be delayed by just a few minutes. The whole idea of going live is to open the window to the audiences for an hour and show what exactly happens on the sets. Such direct display of emotions go perfectly for a reality show like this.”

With cricket no longer ruling the TAM charts, reality shows like Indian Idol, Fame Gurukul and now Nach Baliye and game shows like Kaun Banega Crorepati, The Great Indian Laughter Challenge and Super Sale have been totting up the TRPs, even edging past the sagging saas-bahu serials.

“The most-watched cricket match on television in the year 2005 has been an India-Pakistan one-dayer, which could only earn a TVR of 7.2 in the defining CS 4+ (cable and satellite audience in the 4-plus age-group) market.

Kaun Banega Crorepati 2 started with 19.75 TVR and regularly scores anything between 10 and 15 on the same scale,” reveals Ajay Vidyasagar, director, marketing, STAR India.

The season finale of an Indian Idol or a Fame Gurukul also hovers around the 10 mark on the TVR count, and Nach Baliye has been scoring around the 6-to-8 range.

Although it’s a toss-up between two couples ? Sachin-Supriya and Manish-Poonam ? the rest of the eight couples originally in the fray will dance in the final Nach Baliye episode. Judge Malaika Arora will then do a special jig.