December 17th, 2010
Sitcom as social satire
This is what I have come to learn:
‘NUA KOO YAK ROO WA KRAI’
HAS SUCCEEDED IN REELING IN THE URBANITES
Why oh why do they insist
on cancelling the great shows????
INFO CREDITS:www.bangkokpost.com
DATE PUBLISHED: 26 MAY 2010
No doubt, most of us find it increasingly hard to laugh these days. Normally, when times get tough, we turn to TV to empty our brains for a short period. Surely, foreign sitcom programmes have been one source of relaxation as long as cable TV has been in Thailand. We’ve swooned over the cast of Friends or were introduced to Will Smith for the first time as “Fresh Prince” while Men Behaving Badly might have taught us a few things about, er, men … well, Englishmen at least.
Turning it around, there aren’t that many home-grown sitcoms that have hooked us. Sam Num Sam Mum from the early ’90s might be the best known nationwide. In fact, sitcom production and frequency are rather low, compared to the numbers of variety shows and soap operas.
But the 20- and 30-somethings have been tuning in to one particular sitcom of late. Nua Koo Yak Roo Wa Krai (True Love) has succeeded in reeling in the urbanites who have already given up on Thai TV. The show is now in its third season and airs on Channel 5 every Monday from 10:25pm.
“I don’t feel that we’re a big success. But I can say that we’re satisfied with the outcome. Let the audience decide if we’re successful or not,” said director/scriptwriter Piyakarn Bootprasert.
The first two seasons aired on Channel 9 on Saturday afternoon. It was previously called Nua Koo Pratu Tud Pai (True Love Next Door) before the channel and time switch. Starring Sunny Suwanmaythanon, Paula Taylor, Thanakorn Chinnakul and Panissara “Opal” Pimpru, the plot revolves around a comedic love triangle of the first three’s characters (no one knows who’s gonna end up with whom), while Panissara and other supporting cast members provide a lot of surreal laughs, snide comments, smart dialogues and plain and simple craziness. The show’s strength lies in the chemistry of the ensemble cast, free-flowing script, natural acting, trendy quips and modernised gags. The character portrayals are also humorously real. They simply speak to the young, urban generation while Sunny and Thanakorn exceed expectations when they can forego their cool factor and pretty-boy faces and act out in the most bizarre ways.
“I am very confident and proud of our cast members. They’ve developed so much, and they’ll do everything we throw at them. The synergy is amazing,” said Paweenut Pangnakor, scriptwriter and supporting actress in the role of Khun Chom.
To understand the formation of this sitcom, one must realise the strong bond forged between the production team and some of the cast members. Hailing from Chulalongkorn University’s Faculty of Communication Arts, Panissara, Piyakarn and Paweenut have been chummy since school days, and often worked on plays together. After graduation, they went on to their respective jobs. Panissara has blown up as a hybrid between well loved comedian, bombshell and IT girl, becoming a near national treasure along the way. It was through Panissara’s tight connections with GMM Grammy’s founder Paiboon Dumrongchaitham that the sitcom came alive.
