U-special is a half hour television talk show

Talk show

A talk show or chat show is a television program or radio program where one person discuss various topics put forth by a talk show host....

 that first aired on Indian television in 2007 in New Delhi

New Delhi

New Delhi is the capital city of India. It serves as the centre of the Government of India and the Government of the National Capital Territory of Delhi. New Delhi is situated within the metropolis of Delhi. It is one of the nine districts of Delhi Union Territory. The total area of the city is...

. It was created by New Delhi Television. The show went on to become one of the channel's highest rated

Television ratings

Television ratings may refer to:* An Audience measurement technique* Television content rating systems, give viewers an idea of the suitability of a television program* TV Parental Guidelines, the American suitability ratings system-Audience measurements:...

 feature programmes.It is named after the Delhi transport corporations (DTC) bus service University-Special which is a student transport facility in New Delhi.
U-special gives young India a platform to comment on issues of contemporary socio-political relevance and is a unique show format that centres around India's urban youth and their lives on campus

Campus

A campus is traditionally the land on which a college or university and related institutional buildings are situated. Usually a campus includes libraries, lecture halls, residence halls and park-like settings...

. Its target audience ranges between the age group of 18-25 in India's capital city

Capital City

Capital City was a television show produced by Euston Films which focused on the lives of investment bankers in London living and working on the corporate trading floor for the fictional international bank Shane-Longman....

 - New Delhi. The show fluctuates between a fixed discussion format that is shot at a particular Delhi college

College

A college is an educational institution or a constituent part of an educational institution. Usage varies in English-speaking nations...

/university

University

A university is an institution of higher education and research, which grants academic degrees in a variety of subjects. A university is an organisation that provides both undergraduate education and postgraduate education...

 with a "show topic" and a more mobile structure where the narrative is split into fragments and shot at various colleges while strung together by a common line of questions and comments.

Structure and Content

The structure of the show is a pioneering format on India's relatively young Metro network culture. Both in terms of content and form U-Special is unlike previous televised youth forums in India. A segmented packaged aesthetic of capsulated realism in the everyday life of university in Delhi, is intercut with underlaid audio sequencing and a montaged para-narrative that projects a metamorphised half hour of televised campus trends. U-special mirrors peak moments on campuses in the capital while giving its audience an informed young perspective on contemporary affairs, and the average citizen of Delhi an insight into lives of 21st century Indian University goers. Its originality (in the Indian TV scene) lies in breaking bounds of straight jacket in-studio discussion and going beyond the fluff-narrative of a music channel template. While blending these two existing patterns the show represents Universities in a re-mediated hyper-edited template highlighting the contours of "college life", as it involves its audience, across the capital of India, in issues within and outside the Delhi student community. The U-special show format is a template that continues to be applied to youth talk forums in India, and has been replicated on NDTV's most recent metro network-NDTV HINDU. The shows Chennai

Chennai

Chennai , formerly known as Madras or Madarasapatinam , is the capital city of the Indian state of Tamil Nadu, located on the Coromandel Coast off the Bay of Bengal. Chennai is the fourth most populous metropolitan area and the sixth most populous city in India...

 avatar retains the original METRONATION Delhi "U-special" title, formatted structure and shooting style.

Episode Coverage

In the 250 episodes(appx)that originally aired on NDTV METRONATION Delhi between 2007–2010 , U-special covered every major Campus in the capital. The show addressed issues ranging from Mumbai 26.11 terror attacks (08), Delhi's serial blasts (08), Youth and climate change (08), The emerging fashion sector (07,08) Centralized reservation in Indian education (08), Panel Discussions with University Deans and College Principals during Delhi University campus admissions (07,08) , the Jawahar Lal Nehru University political culture (07,08,09), Homosexuality

Homosexuality

Homosexuality is romantic or sexual attraction or behavior between members of the same sex or gender. As a sexual orientation, homosexuality refers to "an enduring pattern of or disposition to experience sexual, affectional, or romantic attractions" primarily or exclusively to people of the same...

(illegal in India till 2009), Voting and youth participation in the New Delhi State elections (08), Campus Cultural Festivals and Campus Debates.

Technical Details

This section lists, in brief, the broadcast frequency, image processing software and transmission equipment used to create the show. U special is a half hour show with a frequency of airing three times a week. Episodes are shot on a variation of recording equipment including DVCPRO and HDTV cameras, these include either the SONY PD150 , Sony DSR-PD170 or Ikegami camera. U-special also went completely digital in 2008 when a majority of its episodes begun to be shot on Panasonic HVX and HPX (P2) chip systems that use solid-state memory and not tape to store HD footage. While the show usually uses two cameras on a given schedule, this number varies depending on the location, size and the number of participants in an episode. U-special is known to have used up to six cameras in episodes which were dealing with large quantities of audience data and visual imagery. In situations where U-special episodes are shot on multiple cameras , audio from the audience is captured on gun mics while the show host wears a cordless lapel mic which is attached to a Senheiser system radio transmitter with a ME 2 clip-on the microphone which is virtually invisible. The small bodypack transmitter and the camera receiver features nine frequency banks with four directly accessible presets. The post production editing work on U-special is carried out on both Avid and Final Cut Pro software bundles.