Tag Archives | television

Formula 1 Races Are Now Free to Watch on MBC Action

By Rami on March 23, 2019 in Sports, Television

In case you didn’t know it yet, Formula 1 is now free-to-air in our region since MBC Group acquired the exclusive broadcast rights until 2023. The 21 races along with all practice sessions and qualifications will be free to watch live on MBC Action.

The rights were previously held by beIN Sports which I never had at home, so I’ve been missing the Grand Prix’s for several years now even though I have been a avid follower since 1997 when Nadim Mhanna used to comment on the races on LBC. The only problem though with being a returning fan after all these year is getting familiar with the new faces and all the regulation changes. And even though the opening race took place last week, I think the best way to warm up for the coming ones is by watching a new documentary on Netflix called “Formula 1: Drive to Survive”, which summarizes in 10 episodes everything that happened during the last season with a lot of interviews with the major key players in the championship.

So, here’s to an exciting season, and hoping Ferrari prevails this year!

President Donald Trump is Clueless About Lebanese Politics

By Rami on July 26, 2017 in Politics

It seems like Donald Trump is absolutely clueless about Lebanese politics, and listening to the things he said in the below video makes you really wonder how does he take decisions when it comes to our country and the whole region…

As you all know, PM Saad Hariri is currently on an official trip to the U.S. and has met with President Donald Trump at the oval office yesterday. Following their discussion, the two held a press conference during which Presidend Trump claimed that “Lebanon is on the frontlines in the fight against ISIS, Al-Qaeda AND Hezbollah” (watch at the 1m05s mark) while in fact Hariri’s cabinet in fact has a couple of ministers from Hezbollah, and later even calls the party a menace to Lebanon and the middle east (at the 3m35s mark).

And it didn’t just end here, when Denise Rahme Fakhri asked him about his opinion when it comes to Hezbollah and their role in Syria, Trump appeared just like he has no idea what to answer by simply claiming that he will be expressing his opinion on the next day after meeting with his “very expert military representatives”. (watch at the 10m52s mark)

I bet PM Hariri silently went through several WTF moments during the press conference.

Another Epic Lebanese TV Moment – Cockfight on OTV

By Rami on July 10, 2017 in Politics, Television

OTV hosted Lebanese cleric sheikh Bilal Duqmaq and former Syrian MP Ahmad Shalash to discuss the Syrian war on “Bilmubasher” talk show, but things kept heating up until the two clown eventually decided to end it the way they’re most familiar with, bi ja7shaneh!

The two are known to have extreme views about the Syrian crisis, and I honestly believe TV stations like to get similar people on air for the sole purpose of making such scenes every now and then…

Dalia Freyfer and Télé Liban Break The World Record for Longest Talk Show

By Rami on January 29, 2017 in Television

Dalia Freyfer just broke the Guinness world record for the longest TV talk-show this morning by going live for 24 continuous hours and hosting more than 90 guests on Télé Liban.

The show started yesterday morning at 8AM and ended exactly 24 hours later today. And as it shows in the above photo, she immediately got her world record certificate .

For those who don’t know her, Dalia performs religious hymns in addition to occupying two jobs at Télé Lumière and Alfa Telecommunications. What makes her special though is that she lost her eyesight at a young age but insisted on pursuing her goals in life by obtaining a degree in psychology and attending the conservatroire.

Out of curiosity, I googled similar record breaking attempts and noticed that presenters from Ukraine and Nepal hosted 52 and 62 hour talk shows in the last few years. This is definitely not to doubt Dalia’s accomplishment since Guinness already approved it, but it would be good if Télé Liban clears out the criteria she satisfied to break the record.

Anyway, congratulations to both of Dalia Freyfer and our national TV channel!

Photo via Mahmoud Ghazayel

Update:

It turned out Dalia actually got the certificate for the first 12 hours of her show in which she interviewed 43 people, but she continued for another 12 hours and interviewed even more people.

Kawalis Al-Madina – The Real Story Of Al-Madina Bank Scandal

By Rami on April 15, 2016 in Television

I’m not really a fan of Lebanese drama series, but I have lately found Kawalees Al-Madina which recently started airing from Wednesday to Saturday on Al-Jadeed TV quite interesting.

The series is written by Ghada Eid (presenter of Al-Fassad show), and even though the crew denies it but it is mostly based on the true story of Al-Madina Bank collapse between 2002 and 2003 which was mind boggling at that time. Other corruption stories of the kind that went public but never got settled down legally the proper way are mentioned as well, such as the drug ring that was uncovered among AUB students during the same period. I remember the media suddenly stopped talking about that ring because the son of some politician turned out to be involved in it.

The reason I see Kawalis Al Madina so relevant right now is because several scandals were unveiled over the last few months from garbage, to illegal internet, and finally the manipulation of health care bills by corrupt ISF officers, but unfortunately they’re all on the way of being covered up without holding any of the key suspects accountable for their wrongdoings. The biggest proof about that being how incapable is the ongoing investigation about illegal internet in identifying the nature of a stupid fiber optic cable in Nahr El Kalb!

Disregard the lousy acting we always complain about in Lebanese series, but as long as we are unable to punish the corrupt people in authority, I think it is just fair to irritate them by exposing them on TV and let the public know about their sleazy jobs.

Very old Abou Fouad “Yes 3 in 1” ads

By Rami on August 5, 2013 in Lebanon

How awesome are these vintage ads of Yes 3 in 1 featuring Abou Fouad? I couldn’t stop playing them over and over!

LBC & LDC to start airing The Voice France primes

By Rami on February 9, 2013 in Music

Anthony-Touma-The-Voice

I just learned LBCI and LDC will start airing The Voice France primes as of tonight.

So if you’re interested in following Anthony Touma‘s progress in the show, make sure to start following LBCI and LDC as of tonight at 8:30PM since they will be broadcasting last week’s prime right after the news followed by tonight’s prime live at 9:50PM.