HIKMAH - The Sinetron

I am not in the habit of watching soaps be it Malaysian (except some episodes of Sembilu, Sembilu Kasih and Nabila), Japanese, American, Filipinos, Latin Americans (yucks!!) or Indonesians (sinetron), but I have done my followings of some good ones (my opinion, of course).
My first experience of soaps were definitely The Sullivans. An Australian soap about some Aussie family circa WW2. The only reason for watching them is because they have handsome guys in it (I particularly remember Terry Sullivan, the youngest son). And my next experience would be The Bold and Beautiful. It was awww sooo borink!!! The Japnese soap "Oshin" is also a favourite but all others like Chiaki are abosolute NO NO! But who wouldn't remember Moero Attack?
I wouldn't count Dallas, Dynasty, Falcon Crest and Knots Landing as "soaps" because in Malaysia the were aired once (or at most twice) a week. During lunch hours, in between lectures while in UK I used to follow Neighbours, Home & Away and when there was absolutely nothing else to do, I could also set aside my ego to watch Coronation Street, East Enders, Flying Doctors, (and hohohohoho!) Prisoners Cell Block H, just to name a few. Mind you, my favourite shows in UK would definitely be all the games shows (Fifteen To One, Countdown etc) plus all the English sitcoms, which I found rather intelligent (even rab C nesbit!).
Anyway, now I am hooked with Indonesian Sinetron "Hikmah", well into its third season (in Malaysia) now. I watched this soap (Season 1) since about 3 years ago, during Ramadhan. Season 2 was also aired during Ramadhan and I was at home on maternity leave, so I did not miss any episode (except when the Astro is "Services Currently Not Available" i.e. hujan lebat or angin kencang). But Season 3 is aired at 9.00 pm to 10.00pm on weekdays and for the first time they have repeats at 6.00 am (or is it 6.30 am) too.
The soap is basically about a rich family head by Bu Ratna, who has three sons (Arman, Adrian and a recent edition in Season 3, Adit) and a daughter, Lika. Arman is single (married in Season 2 but the wife, a rag to riches case, proved to be a bad manipulating woman, who in the end was imprisoned), Adrian is married to Anna (Season 1 was about the ups and downs of this couple) and Adit is the focus of Season 3 plots. Lika was separated from her husband Nanda in Season 1 but got back together in Season 2 and now Lika is pregnant with her third child in Season 3.
Apart from this family's story, there is also a sub-plot on the marriage of Surya and Sinta, with some comical efforts injected by their close frined Teddy. In Season 1 there was no third sub-plot but in Season 2, they (unsuccessfully) added on another story about a girl who is involved in black magic. I supposed it was just an attempt to introduce new faces to the sinetron viewers as I later saw these people in other new sinetrons.
For Season 3, the sub-plot is more related to the main characters. It is about an orphaned Juwita, a cleaner at Adrian's office, who is being bullied by his brother and sister-in-law and later sponsored by Adrian to continue with schools and then it was all about her problems with the school bullies, her triangle relationship and currently, the accusation by her brother and sister in law that she is being "kept" by Adrian.
The reason why the whole family is glued in front of the TV for Hikmah are because of this 3 reasons:
1. Good theme song;
2. No angels or fairies or magics involved in the storyline (A favourite for Indon sinetrons of late);
3. "Real" and with not too many coincidences and "weak" people (like Mutiara Hati.. just can't stand it!!).
But my main reason for watching it in the first place was..... er...... Gunawan aka Arman..... and I know that a friend of mine drooled and daydreamed about Gunawan when she was pregnant with her third son.......