TV hosts turn their hands to acting in Ramadan season

Ingi Ali, Naglaa Badr,  Hiba Mandour, Amr Ramzy and Amr Adib The trend of the Egyptian TV host featuring in TV drama series began some years ago, but this year, and in the forthcoming Ramadan season in particular, the trend has expanded considerably. TV viewers are set to watch several TV hosts with roles as actors in many series which will air during Ramadan. Hiba Mandour is featuring in "Fi Ghamdet Ein" (In a Blink of an Eye), Ingi Ali in "Sirr Allani" (Uncovered Secret), Amr Adib in "Bab al-Khale'", Amr Ramzy in "Nagui Attalla's Gang", Karim Koujac in "Silsal el-Dam" (Heritage of Murder), Mohammed al-Samahi in "Al-Bahr wel Atchana" (The River and the Parched), Tamer Shaltout in "The Yahoo Bride", and finally Naglaa Badr will feature in no less than four series: "Al-Safaa" (The Slap), "Shams al-Ansari", "Nagui Atallah's Gang" and "Ala Kaf Afreet" (On the Edge).
This massive record  of TV hosts-come-actors is expected to be one of the most controversial debates about the Ramadan season dramas this year. Arabstoday reviewed the opinions of some of the specialists in media, drama and psychology about this trend.
Dr Mahmoud Khalil, a media professor was critical towards this trend saying that most  TV hosts who have featured in acting roles have failed to impress due to their lack of talent, especially as those hosts don't attend  courses that might improve their limited  attributes for acting.
"Every profession needs a special kind of talent, TV hosting and presenting is totally different from acting. It might be acceptable that journalists become TV hosts or vice-versa, as TV and press journalism are somehow connected to each other, while I believe drama is a totally different field," said Dr Khalil.
Another media professor, Dr Mahmoud Alam el-Din, said that TV hosts should only play minor roles in dramas, and only play the part of a TV host character as they are perfectly qualified for that, while those who try to portray themselves as real actors will always find it hard to return to their original job, as if they fail as actors, their popularity would be negatively affected, while if they succeed their fans will want them to continue and abandon their previous position.
The film critic Magda Mouris linked this trend to financial issues, saying that drama producers are offering the TV hosts double their fees and that is the real reason behind this trend. Mouris urged the producers to take the talent factor into account when they offer acting chances for anybody outside the profession.
Finally Dr Abdelmoneim Shehata explained this trend psychologically, saying that some TV hosts may try acting to gain more fame and popularity, as actors are known to be much more popular than TV hosts, but Dr Shehata didn't rule out that some of the TV hosts may really have genuine talent which they want to express.