By Joab Tuhairwe
Uganda got lucky enough to have its first ever Ugandan produced television mini opera code named The Hostel. The show which airs on NTV was is meant to depict what takes place in campus/University hostels in an entertaining way. No other Ugandan TV series has matched the fan base that the Hostel TV series managed to collect in a short time, talk of shows like Destiny despite criticism from the audiences who believe the screen writer did not do enough to bring out what transpires in University hostels.
Season one had several actors that people had seen in comedy often and therefore it was easy to get associated with them. These included the likes of Zizinga, Denis Omar, Richard Twongi, Nandujja and others. These people did their best and put a smile on people’s faces as they thought that finally the movie industry was kick starting at a rocket speed. It was another story when it came to season two. Characters changed due to matters of finances and control of the project. Questions as to who owned the story arose and this marked the beginning of the end. Many actors that were in season 1 were laid off.
Season three brought totally new faces with only 4 or less of the original actors and actresses. Some that were brought in include Maurice Kirya. It is being argued by people who used to leave their jobs early enough in order to catch up with hostel at home that the introduction of these new faces affected the production. Some people say, actors are unnatural and therefore one can tell they are aware that they are acting and therefore raw. The time during which hostel season 3 airs seems to contributed to its unpopularity. It airs on NTV at 10pm when most people are tired and preparing to sleep unlike season one that used to air at 7:30 pm.
To win back the retreating audience that was pulled to NTV because of hostel, the NTV production team came up with a new series called deceptions that is starting to pick up.