''Tash ma Tash'' () ("No Big Deal" in EnglishBradley, John R. ''Saudi Arabia Exposed: Inside a Kingdom in Crisis''. ''Palgrave Macmillan''. 19 May 2005. 7.) was a popular

Saudi Arabia Saudi Arabia, officially the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia (KSA), is a country in West Asia. Located in the centre of the Middle East, it covers the bulk of the Arabian Peninsula and has a land area of about , making it the List of Asian countries ...

n satirical comedy that ran for 19 seasons and is considered one of the most successful television works in Saudi Arabia and the Arab world. The show followed a

sketch comedy Sketch comedy comprises a series of short, amusing scenes or vignettes, called "sketches" or, "skits", commonly between one and ten minutes long, performed by a group of comic actors or comedians. While the form developed and became popular in ...

format. It aired on the Saudi state-owned television channel Saudi 1 for 13 seasons, but in 2005 it was bought by MBC. New episodes ran exclusively during

Ramadan Ramadan is the ninth month of the Islamic calendar. It is observed by Muslims worldwide as a month of fasting (''Fasting in Islam, sawm''), communal prayer (salah), reflection, and community. It is also the month in which the Quran is believed ...

right after sunset. The

United States The United States of America (USA), also known as the United States (U.S.) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It is a federal republic of 50 U.S. state, states and a federal capital district, Washington, D.C. The 48 ...

Library of Congress The Library of Congress (LOC) is a research library in Washington, D.C., serving as the library and research service for the United States Congress and the ''de facto'' national library of the United States. It also administers Copyright law o ...

requested some parts of the work be placed in the library's archive. The idea of the series started through the artists Abdullah Al Sadhan and Nasser Al Qasabi, and directed by Amer Al Hamoud. After the first two seasons, the trio separated to be the duo Abdullah Al Sadhan and Nasser Al Qasabi, in cooperation with the director Abdul Khaleq Alghanem.

Synopsis

The show consists of episodic comedy sketches that present social commentary on Saudi society. Every episode has a new story and characters, though popular characters tend to reappear in new storylines. Most episodes poke fun at the flaws of Saudi society, while others show a tendency for dark comedy and melodrama. The show was one of the pioneers of self-criticism in the Saudi media, with the episodes often dealing with sensitive topics such as social aspects, culture, terrorism, marital relations, and religion. The show satirizes regional social, cultural, and legal state found within Saudi Arabia.

Cast

* Nasser Al Qasabi *Abdullah Al Sadhan *

Fahd Al-Hayyan Fahd Al Hayyan (; 22 March 1971 – 15 May 2023) was a Saudi Arabian actor, who started his career in 1991. He was mostly known for his various roles in the Saudi comedy '' Ghashamsham'' and '' Tash ma Tash''. Al Hayyan died on 15 May 2023, at t ...

* Yousef Al-Jarrah *Bashir Ghoneim * Mohammed Al-Assa *Habib Al-Habib * Rashid Al Shamrani * Ali Al-Mdfa *Khaled Sami * Khaled El Sayed *Fahad Olayan * Reem Abdullah

Set locations

* * * * * * * * * * * * * *

Reception

John R. Bradley, author of ''Saudi Arabia Exposed: Inside a Kingdom in Crisis'', said that the show continues to run and receive high ratings because, in Saudi Arabia, people perceive comedy to be a good valve for frustrations for social, regional, and other issues. The show has been a target for religious clergy after an episode aired which criticized the judges of the local courts (who are clergymen) for skipping work or leaving early, leaving paperwork and cases delayed. One episode portrayed the difficulty for women to do basic things without a

mahram In Islam, a () is a family member with whom marriage would be considered permanently unlawful (''haram''). A woman does not need to wear hijab around her mahram or spouse, and an adult male mahram or husband may escort a woman on a journey, a ...

(a legal male guardian). The two heroines of the episode were alone because the husband of one and brother of the other were in Paris for a few weeks. The women were harassed and flirted with in parks by young men, escorted out of shops, and turned away from banks. They tried to regain freedom of movement by borrowing a senile grandfather (a cure worse than the disease) and finally disguised the daughter of one and niece of the other as a little boy. Ultra-conservatives deemed this episode offensive to Islamic traditions. Many people considered this episode to be somewhat exaggerated but true. The two stars of the show even received death threats from terrorists after the show aired an episode which attacked

terrorism Terrorism, in its broadest sense, is the use of violence against non-combatants to achieve political or ideological aims. The term is used in this regard primarily to refer to intentional violence during peacetime or in the context of war aga ...

. Actors constantly receive death threats. In 2011, the show was discontinued, but it was announced that near late 2022 a new season would be released for Ramadan. Badria Al-Bishir details what she calls battles between the extremists (mutawa) and the liberals in Saudi Arabia. The show is considered a milestone in the critique of extremist thought in Saudi Arabia, which has been used to shape public opinion. It rose in times when the newspapers and TV production were dominated by the liberal party, while the educational systems were dominated by the religious party. The nature of the clash has often been explored in the Tash ma Tash program.

Notes

References

{{Reflist 1990s comedy television series 1990s Saudi Arabian television series 1990s television sketch shows 1993 Saudi Arabian television series debuts 2000s comedy television series 2000s Saudi Arabian television series 2000s television sketch shows 2010s comedy television series 2010s Saudi Arabian television series 2010s television sketch shows 2011 Saudi Arabian television series endings Culture of Saudi Arabia MBC Group Saudi Arabian comedy television series Saudi Arabian television series Society of Saudi Arabia