In a bid to make it an entertainment channel popular with all age groups, Zee had planned to introduce kids' and family programming blocks. XYZ is an important addition to this slot.The much-delayed venture launched on Sunday 13 July at 11 am.

While the earlier venture meant for family audiences, Kanhaiyya still languishes in the court, the spy thriller is the channel's hope to break the Sunday morning jinx. Amongst the USPs of the show is the star cast, which includes 'Mr Television' Shekhar Suman. Newcomer Sonal Shegal provides the babe quotient and a smart Labrador completes the troika.
'Yeh kahani poori filmi hai.' Right from the title track, you get a strong impression that the producers were planning to make a movie but landed up doing a serial. The introductory scene has all the three leads, the guy, the girl and the dog in a single frame. Interaction between the three leads does not look contrived though, which is the plus point of the show.

Yet another instance that is strongly reminiscent of the movie pattern are the costume changes. The lead pair changes costumes so often that one is inclined to believe that it is one of those run-around-the-tree song sequences.

There is a strong likelihood that the audience will appreciate the comic-bookish story line. What may actually be the drawback is the pace - being a spy thriller, you need to build up the tempo and not drag it on endlessly. Coincidentally, the show is faintly reminiscent of the famous romantic comedy-detective TV series Remington Steele, produced by MTM, which debuted on the NBC television network in the US in 1982. The good news here is that the show that was aired in India in early 90s had a loyal fan following on Star.

The channel brief says that X played by Shekhar Suman is the mind, Y played by Sonal Shegal is the body and Labrador Z is the soul of the show. So far so good, but more often than not, the 'mind' seems to have an out of body experience. Shekhar generally tends to get out of the character and play a larger than life celebrity, himself. Ironically, the first episode featured an extortion threat case faced by a movie star. The character roped in to play the movie star was Gharwali -Uparwali fame Mukul Dev, but poor Mukul seems to face tough competition from Shekhar. Both the leading lady and the guest female star had very little to do apart from pouting and mouthing a few lines. While dog Zorro seems to be a little old to do the 'lassie' act.

With guest stars including the likes of Tinnu Anand, it seems like the producers pulled a casting coup of sorts, so it is no surprise that the show is good in the histrionics department. The locations are excellent and a refreshing change from the pastels and the sepia tones one sees on mainstream channels. The Malaysia tourism department could have easily sponsored the first episode as the country was beautifully showcased. A veteran director with almost half a dozen projects in his portfolio, Ananth Mahadevan has done a good job especially with the camera angle but, he should try and not get carried away.

The pace has to pick up and sooner the better. Ideally, the series should delve a bit into the sub-plots, for instance, that of the film star's and his secretary's background. But since it is the first episode, probably the script demanded that the lead characters were well established.

There has been absolutely no production cost spared. Apart from the foreign locales, there have been some shots both in and off the helicopter and a cable car. The gadgetry, barring cell phones and an odd gun, is nil, but that really isn't a drawback. Since it has been promoted as a spy thriller with kids in mind, the plots and the suspense angle and the background music is something that needs to be looked at. The team needs to take some notes from the successful thriller on Sony, CID. Despite being around for four years, it has a set of dedicated viewers because it focuses on the case rather than the characters.

With brands like Nutrifresh cooking oil, Dettol antiseptic liquid, Hutch mobile services, Hero Honda Ambition, Mortein and Amul garments advertising for the project, the message is clear - that it is a family show. Even the timing is perfect, Sunday pre-noon, which is the time when families gather for a late breakfast. The programme that follows the thriller is a family game show, Khel Khel mein, which again has a potential of developing into a habit.

It's all about timing though. Zee, in spite of having conceived the idea for XYZ much earlier, lost to Star Plus which became the first to launch an action thriller. While Star Plus' Josh has already completed its innings, the Zee counterpart has just hit the floor. But while Josh was branded as a youth show, XYZ is launched with kids as its target audience. This is the move that is likely to work in Zee's favour.

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