(Clockwise from left) Youngsters are hooked on to Prison Break for it’s edge-of-the-seat drama and How I Met Your Mother for Barney Stinson’s sparkling wit. Hindi soaps such as Diya Aur Bati, Ye Rishta Kya Kehlata Hai and Uttaran do not fit in the viewership preferences of the young as they find these serials to be boring and dragging on for too long

Bhubaneswar, Aug. 7: Youngsters in the city are finding themselves increasingly drawn to English television series and bored by Hindi and Odia ones.

A popular Odia entertainment channel has launched four new serials in an effort to woo the audience and revamped the format of the second season of its dance reality show.

But how many youths in the city are interested?

While the jury is still out on their popularity among television viewers, most youngsters here seem to hooked to English television drama series rather than Hindi or Odia ones.

Boon Patnaik, 22-year-old human resource manager at a private firm, has a hectic schedule. But in spite of it, Boon still finds time to watch his favourites on the idiot box — Prison Break and Vampire Diaries.

The first show is about on a youth who has been sentenced to death while his brother makes plans to help him escape from prison, the latter is a supernatural series and also includes a love triangle.

“Even if the stories are all make-believe, the way they are presented arouses curiosity. The sketch and portrayal of various characters are also convincing unlike our own crop of soaps. The biggest reason why they score over Indian serials, I feel, is because they are compact and spread across different seasons. The Indian serials keep going on for years and extend to generations,” said Patnaik.

Another youngster, Shashwat Panda, a 24-year-old engineer at an IT company, has a preference for sitcoms.

“As a teenager, I was hooked to Friends. Even today, when I’m chatting with my colleagues and school and college mates, we talk about the show. We all have our favourite characters. At present, a couple of series — How I Met Your Mother and Big Bang Theory — with their unique story lines, provide us with a good laugh,” said Panda.

For his sheer wit, Barney Stinson of How I Met Your Mother seems to be the most popular character both among young men and women here.

TV series such as Lost, Revenge, 24, Two and a Half Men, Grey’s Anatomy, Dexter and many others have an equal number of followers.

Satyashikha Mohapatra, 24, who devoutly follows Game of Thrones, Revenge and Spartacus, thinks Hindi and Odia serials are an assault on her sensibilities.

“I know that soaps such as Diya Aur Bati, Uttaran, Ye Rishta Kya Kehlata Hai and others are popular shows meant for family viewing, but there has to be something interesting in them to arrest the attention of a youngster like me. While the English shows I watch are brisk and taut, these Hindi or Odia ones keep lagging and even after months, the story does not move ahead one bit.”

The only Indian shows that Mohapatra, a human resources professional, likes on Indian television are the various reality shows.

POPULARITY INDEX

I know that soaps such as Diya Aur Bati, Uttaran,
Ye Rishta Kya Kehlata Hai and others are popular shows meant for family viewing, but there has to be something interesting in them to arrest the attention of a youngster like me. While the English shows I watch are brisk and taut, these Hindi or Odia ones keep lagging and even after months, the story does not move ahead one bit

Satyashikha Mohapatra,
24, human resources manager

Even if the stories are all make-believe, the way they (English serials) are presented arouses curiosity. The sketch and portrayal of various characters are also convincing unlike our own crop of soaps. The biggest reason why they score over Indian serials, I feel, is because they are compact and spread across different seasons. The Indian serials keep going on for years and extend to generations

Boon Patnaik,
22, human resources manager