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 |
| Broadcast | |
| Original channel | aTV |
| Original run | February 11, 2004 – June 24, 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 January 11, 2004 to June 24, 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 utterly original.
Cast
Many cast members of the series left the series and many new cast members joined the casting during the life of the series. Only a few actors/actresses performed from first episode to 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 a periodicalist in a fashion magazine called Avrupa Yakası. Her family owned a restaurant and Aslı's brother, Volkan (Ata Demirer) works in this restaurant. The show based on funny moments between Aslı, Volkan, Aslı's workmates, 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 and joined the series in later episodes. They have been nominated to get the group part award on Italy but did not win. Ata Demirer was the most famous character on the show. Many say that he was the reason people started to watch the show and people liked it. Still when he left the show had many viewers. As we said Burhan got famous because of the show and his great performances.
Broadcasting
The show aired weekly on Wednesdays on ATV Turkey. During the show's latest years, its rating shares have fallen to 20%s from 35%s, 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 about the circumstances in which a family living in an elite society in Nişantaşı finds themselves. It is a sitcom. At the same time 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. Avrupa Yakasi has ended in 2008 due to economic problems. When it started the show was on top of the Turkish T.V. ratings but lost more than one million viewers on its last season. Avrupa Yakasi is remembered as one of the best comedy shows in the history of Turkish television.
"Avrupa Yakasi" means "European Side", which refers to the common usage of west side of Istanbul, since the big metropolis is divided into two by the Istanbul Strait, while eastern part is called "Anatolian Side".
However in this funny sitcom by ATV, "Avrupa Yakasi" is the name of a fashion and style magazine, which the main characters work for. The office of the magazine and almost all of the characters live in "Nisantasi", located in the European side of Istanbul. It is an important detail for this TV series, because "Nisantasi" is presented as the home town of "high society" in Istanbul.
Since the story is about the high society or the "White Turks", who are educated and successful in their career, but also funny and romantic, sometimes feels like the characters are taken from similar American productions such as Sex and the City and Ally McBeal.
Maybe for balancing these characters with Turkish reality or because of Istanbul, which is a melting pot, a city of great contrast, we have some completely contrary characters somehow found them in "Nisantasi". This opposition creates ridiculous atmosphere and many possibilities for funny rivalry between sides.
Since the story is usually established on the colorful life of high society that we can describe them as "European Side"; watchers 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 found to problems.