Its promos had come as a whiff of fresh air in an atmosphere dense with stale programming.

Star One's Bol Baby Bol promised a fresh format with the eternal lure of music and an engaging host in Adnan Sami. In the first week, Sami didn't disappoint. But the format turned out to be quite a yawn inducing one.

For one, the camera revolves and rotates exclusively around Sami and his participant guest (which consisted of one Mitali for most of the first week) with only the 'Baby' - the score board cum question board for some distraction.

Despite Sami's peppy talk and mannerisms, it's boring after a point to just concentrate on the two. And then, the excruciatingly long pauses between answer given and correct answer provided are enough to make one reach for the remote. Ideally, Sami should be firing his questions at a panel of participants a la Antakshari, having rapid fire rounds, buzzer rounds and audience participation. Pace will help the show, just as Sami's interesting snippets on the film industry do. Right now, lack of pace is killing it.

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Black turns white

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So, Zee's Saloni ain't all that she was portrayed as in the interim. Last couple of weeks, Saloni was shown as wanting to prefer a career over an unborn child, a choice that was clearly indicated as not a smart or wise one. But all that has now vanished, with the audience given to understand that it wasn't Saloni's doing but a vicious villain who had made her mouth such vampish thoughts. Oh. Bahus, betiyaans and assorted female of the species know exactly where they stand in this country. At least on television.

Some serious competition to existing channels is coming up in the form of the upcoming NDTV's Imagine and 9X, which debuted this last week. Imagine heralds the return of Hats Off Productions (remember the brilliant Sarabhai vs Sarabhai on Star One?) with Jasuben Jayantilal Joshi ki Joint Family, but few of the regular Hats Off actors are listed among the cast. Hats Off's other show for the channel, Ek Packet Umeed, is an untapped genre for the production house, but with its powerhouse writers, it could still pull it off.

DJ's takes a shot at humour with Radha Ki Betiyaan Kuch Kar Dikhayenge (why the long titles, NDTV?), while Sol will return with a dance show anchored by Saroj Khan and a singers' show called Dhoom Macha De. If the channel's line up induces a sense of deja vu and a Star One feel, it's no surprise, since a lot of the programming brains from Star are now with Imagine. When is the coffee launching with Karan, though?

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Couch potato's grumble of the week - Will Sony please take off the Saawariya motifs from all its logos? The movie has been released, talked about and panned. Let's move on.