Avrupa Yakası (TV series)
| Avrupa Yakası European Side | |
|---|---|
| Created by | Gülse Birsel |
| Written by | Gülse Birsel |
| Directed by |
Hakan Algül Jale Atabey Özberk |
| Starring |
Gazanfer Özcan Hümeyra Müşfik Kenter Gönül Ülkü Ata Demirer Gülse Birsel Engin Günaydın Levent Üzümcü Şenay Gürler Bülent Polat Veysel Diker Yıldırım Öcek Yavuz Seçkin Hale Caneroğlu Evrim Akın Vural Çelik Hasibe Eren Tolga Çevik Sarp Apak Peker Açıkalın Binnur Kaya Hakan Yılmaz Ömür Arpacı Rutkay Aziz and others |
| Composer(s) |
Cenk Durmazel Cenk Sarkuş |
| Country of origin | Turkey |
| Original language(s) | Turkish |
| No. of seasons | 6 |
| No. of episodes | 190 (list of episodes) |
| Production | |
| Producer(s) | Sinan Çetin |
| Location(s) | İstanbul Plato studios |
| Running time | 90 or 73 min. |
| Production company(s) | Plato Film |
| Release | |
| Original network | aTV |
| Original release | 11 February 2004 – 24 June 2009 |
Avrupa Yakası (English: European Side) was a popular Turkish sitcom created and written by Gülse Birsel and produced by Sinan Çetin which aired on ATV Turkey from 11 January 2004 to 24 June 2009. It was recorded in Plato Film studios in Nişantaşı district of Istanbul. The series was not adapted from any foreign TV series, so Avrupa Yakası is original.
Cast
Many cast members left the series and many new cast members joined the casting during the course of the series. Only a few actors participated from the first episode to the last episode. These are Gülse Birsel, Gazanfer Özcan, Levent Üzümcü, Şenay Gürler, Hale Caneroğlu, Yavuz Seçkin, Veysel Diker and Yıldırım Öcek.
Plot
Aslı (Gülse Birsel) works as an editor at a fashion magazine called Avrupa Yakası. Her family ownes a restaurant and Aslı's brother, Volkan (Ata Demirer), works in this restaurant. The show based on funny moments between Aslı, Volkan, Aslı's colleagues, Volkan's friends and Aslı's parents. Burhan was known as the best comedian on the show because of his funny segments and good acting. He was not in the every episode of Avrupa Yakasi, because he joined in later. The cast has been nominated for an award for Best Sitcom in Italy but did not win. Ata Demirer was the most famous character on the show. Many say that he was the reason people started watching the show. Still, when he left the show maintained many viewers. Many of the actors became famous as a result of their performances in the show.
Broadcasting
The show aired weekly on Wednesdays on ATV Turkey. During the show's last years, its rating shares had fallen from 35% to 20%, but it was ranked second following Yaprak Dökümü, which still makes it a strong show in relation to other Turkish series. Avrupa Yakası is a series which tells the story of the circumstances in which a family living in an elite society in Nişantaşı find themselves. Although it is a sitcom, the series contains characteristics of a critical comedy as well. Attention has been drawn to the eccentric people who are mirrored from society to the series and to the absurd circumstances in which the characters find themselves. Avrupa Yakasi ended in 2008 due to financial problems. When it started the show was on top of the Turkish television ratings but it lost more than one million viewers during its last season. Avrupa Yakasi is remembered as one of the best comedy series in the history of Turkish television.
Avrupa Yakası means "European Side", which refers to the common nickname of the West side of Istanbul, since the metropolis is divided into two sides by the Istanbul Strait. However, in this sitcom, Avrupa Yakası is the name of a fashion and style magazine, which some of the main characters work for. The office of the magazine and almost all of the characters live in "Nişantaşı", located in the European side of Istanbul. It is an important detail for this TV series, because "Nişantaşı" is presented as the home of "high society" in Istanbul.
Since the story is about the high society or the "White Turks", who are well-educated and successful in their careers but also funny and romantic, it sometimes feels as if the characters are taken from similar American productions such as Sex and the City and Ally McBeal.
Maybe due to balancing the characters with Turkish reality or because of the setting being in Istanbul, which is a city of great contrasts, there are some completely contrasting characters who somehow find themselves in "Nişantaşı". This opposition creates ridiculous atmosphere and many possibilities for funny rivalry between sides.
Since the story is usually centred on the colorful life of high society that we describe as the "European Side"; watchers are also surprised and amused by the opposite characters that can be described as the "Anatolian Side", sometimes because of their naive and unexpected behaviors, and sometimes because of very smart but short term solutions that they find to problems.