After Months of Dizi Burnout, Aşk-ı Memnu Pulled Me Back In
I have been experiencing what I call a “dizi slump” over the past few weeks and months. Burnout from ALL the dizis this year that I’ve watched, got frustrated with, got cancelled halfway through, and those that just… were not good.
It happens to me once every few months, and I hope I’m not the only one who experiences this sometimes.
Usually, after a few weeks of bingeing TV shows from other regions, I eventually find my “groove” again and feel ready to return to Diziland. But for some reason, this time around felt much more prolonged, and I wasn’t particularly excited to return to the shows I had left behind.
Instead, I wanted to watch something older. More classic. I wanted to find out for myself whether the common belief that “older dizis are much better” actually holds up.
After much searching, I landed on Yaprak Dökümü. A classic 2006 series that many Turkish people cite as a childhood or early-years favorite. That one is going well so far.
However, last week I saw an announcement from Kanal D that they would once again be airing reruns of another classic, beloved hit show, Aşk-ı Memnu, and I decided: why not give this one a chance as well?
Ever since 2023, when I started watching Turkish series, Aşk-ı Memnu has constantly come up as a MUST-watch series and has continued getting strong ratings every year whenever it reruns, even reaching ratings of 3 on certain episodes.
What made me even more curious were the comparisons between Aşk-ı Memnu and one of the very few shows I genuinely enjoyed this season, Kıskanmak.
I just finished watching the first episode. The 1 hour 25 minute runtime was a walk in the park compared to the 2 hour 30 minute episodes I’m used to. But I’m thinking I shouldn’t binge this. I should watch one, maximum two episodes a day, and enjoy it slowly.
I have to say, I thought I would lose interest quickly and end up multitasking while watching the show with work, but how wrong I was. I had to shut down my laptop and fully concentrate on the episode.
It’s surprisingly not overdone. There are no theatrics or excessive melodrama trying to pull you in from the very first episode.
It’s carefully designed and well paced. It gives you enough at each point to understand the relationships each character and family have with one another, while dropping just enough hints about the past to keep you intrigued.
It’s also interesting seeing the younger versions of already-established stars I know today. Especially Kıvanç Tatlıtuğ. He has aged like fine wine. Zerrin Tekindor, meanwhile, has not aged a bit since then until now. Must be a vampire!
With this being my first time ever watching Beren Saat, I have to say, I completely understand the appeal behind her. What a beautiful smile/smirk she has. I’d probably propose to marry her at a cemetery because of that smile too.
Anyways, this long and perhaps unnecessary post is simply to say that I’m looking forward to watching the rest of Aşk-ı Memnu and finally ending its two-year tenure on my “DIZIS TO WATCH” list.
If you’re looking for something to watch during your next dizi break, Aşk-ı Memnu might be the one to consider.