Israeli television viewers have enthusiastically taken to a novel form of entertainment offered to them for the first time–sophisticated satire. A viewer poll published this week showed that the fortnightly satire show, “Nikui Rosh” (“Cleaning the Head”) has joined the ever-popular “Hawaii Five-O” police series at the top of the ratings.
The satire show lampoons all the political leaders, the Chief Rabbinate, and even the President who was recently represented as naively giving away the country’s atom secrets to a group of farmers in Gedera. That skit caused raised eyebrows within the broadcasting authority, and a pro forma apology was given, but the public was plainly on the side of the show’s producers who maintained that the President was fair game and nothing must be sacrosanct from good-natured ribbing.
“Hawaii Five-O’s” hero, Jack Lord (“Steve McGarret”) was recently reported here to be Jewish–but later reports denied this. The Israeli viewers remain devoted admirers of the tough Hawaii cop regardless: ninety percent of the two million-plus viewers say they don’t miss a show of “Hawaii Five-O” if they can help it.
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The Archive of the Jewish Telegraphic Agency includes articles published from 1923 to 2008. Archive stories reflect the journalistic standards and practices of the time they were published.
