Yalan Dünya

Yalan Dunya is the most realistic and funny series you will ever see on Turkish TV's. Gulse Birsel is a brilliant author, screen-writer, and enough of an actress. She observes people and events in real life then uses them in the scenario of the series to make us laugh. Unlike all other Turkish series and shows, Yalan Dunya does not contain any Islamic elements. Other series in Turkish networks makes Islamic propaganda, like any character who does not act according to Islamic rules always end up in worst situations possible. Not everybody in this country is Muslim, even so, it is rubbish anyway. People watch TV to have fun, not for religious teachings. Thanks to Gulse's being open-minded and modern woman of today's, she knows how a TV series should be.

Characters are well played in the series and cast choice is awesome. Ten or so major characters are created, and every one of them important like they are all in lead role, because there is no classic lead role concept in this show. All those characters have same screen time and same deep characteristics.

Gulse Birsel also published five books so far, I would recommend to anyone who wants to enjoy things from a different view of point. I am so proud of her, I wish there were more people like her in Turkey.

This series was a total disappointment for me when I compare it to Avrupa Yakasi which was much better, especially. All characters are so artificial and jokes don't have any logical basis. Especially Orcun character is so embarrassing and is not funny at all. I have watched (actually have been forced to watch) most of it and I think that this series is a total waste of time. It is not worth watching and if it is translated to another language, I don't think anything will change. Maybe I am being too mature and not being able to comprehend the jokes of the new generation even though I am 20. Turkish TV deserves much better stories to be broadcast. People should not kill their time on this...

The show suffers from the usual shortcoming of Turkish shows that it needs to be long in order to have many advertisement breaks. the dialog and the scenes are then stretched and there are repeats. however, I'm pretty sure Gulse Birsel (writer and one of the actresses) is as unhappy about this as the audience. anyways.. overall, it is a very rich show with lots of 'typical' characters of a well known neighborhood of Istanbul. well of course, it is a comedy and all the typicality is pushed to the extreme and it becomes absurd and hilariously funny from time to time. the plot is about the clash of a group of artists with a rich but shallow family as they become the family's tenants. these artist characters all play in the same TV show as part of the scenario of Yalan Dunya and thus we also watch this other show as they act it. This show-in-show concept brilliantly makes fun of many aspects of some very popular but low quality TV shows in Turkey in not so subtle ways...

I enjoy watching this series. The scriptwriter must be very smart. Also, the actors play very well. It's a series I love very much. The script is written cleverly. It reflected the world of the actors very well. It showed the conflict of eastern and western culture very well.

An excellent series. Gulse Birsel's most perfect series. With the inclusion of Derya Karadas in the series, she managed to rank among the classics and took the series to very, very high levels. No matter who leaves the series, Gulse Birsel's writing is so good that she has taken her quality to higher levels every season. I would also like to thank Gulse Birsel for this wonderful series. :)