This show as a sitcom felt like Birol Guven's attempt to revive the spirit of his earlier project En Son Babalar Duyar a short lived show that struggled to gain traction Refusing to accept that failure Guven launched Cocuklar Duymasin Children Shouldn't Hear on TGRT in 2002
At the beginning the show focused on Meltem an HR specialist receiving psychological support while going through a divorce and Haluk a construction engineering graduate though his exact job is never clearly shown Despite his supposed average income of around 200 Turkish Liras typical for the time he somehow manages to send both kids to a private school costing 10000 TL per child annually If the show hadn't caught on the couple likely would have divorced within a few episodes
But the show did become wildly popular Although Cocuklar Duymasin received limited votes and ratings on IMDb that's mostly because its core audience wasn't using the site It broke national viewership records and soon shifted from its original plot into the story of a semi compatible couple staying together for the sake of their two children After 13 episodes TGRT handed it over mid season to ATV where ratings exploded
One of the biggest challenges of the show was the cast consistency Although many weren't professional actors some like Furkan Kizilay playing Havuc their son became widely beloved But when the actor playing Havuc was replaced in the later seasons backlash and ratings decline followed Meanwhile the character Duygu the daughter never really clicked with audiences and was also recast in the 2010 reboot on ATV
Haluk played by Tamer Karadagli was liked from the beginning while Meltem Pinar Altug took longer to be embraced Her eventual exit wasn't due to acting but rather tabloid controversies
From 2010 onward the number and length of episodes ballooned The original finale was 1 hour but following seasons featured 90 minute and even 120 minute episodes When the production was acquired by another company episode lengths decreased but the number of episodes per season skyrocketed up to 180 in one season By the final Kanal D era production values visibly declined with scenes seemingly shot using green screens at home
In the Kanal D era some episodes even reached 2.5 hours Many bizarre new characters were introduced some over the top to the point of absurdity In the final episode Meltem who had become an almost side character leaves Haluk threatening to kill him if he doesn't agree to the divorce That was her farewell
Here are a few points that support my claims
Shift in core theme Meltem who was originally written as a vegan to contrast with Haluk's traditional meat eating character is later seen casually eating fish sushi and chicken
Lack of proper sets For a show this long only four main locations were used until the original finale the psychologist's office Haluk's house Meltem's workplace and Haluk's office These were clearly created just to justify certain plot points Even Selami a main character didn't get a home set until episode 63
As a final ironic note while the show villainized smoking especially for children alcohol was consumed like water during the early seasons particularly when RTUK Turkey's TV regulator hadn't tightened censorship yet making it appear as if alcohol was somehow healthy
For better or worse this show remains cultural phenomenon in Turkey.
