MUMBAI: Zee has joined the bandwagon in the race for ratings among shows and slots. The Subhash Chandra led Zee Entertainment Enterprises Limited premier Hindi GEC has pulled out its first 10.30 slot for an original fiction show.  Zee is set to air its new finite series Amma at that slot from 25 June every Saturday and Sunday. 

With this, Zee has joined Star Plus and Colors in the weekend ratings chase. Star Plus initiated the trend of airing fiction on weekends that was later followed by Colors which aired super hit shows such as  24 Season 1 in 2015 at the 10 pm slot on Friday and Saturday. Colors added the just concluded Naagin at the 8 pm slot which has now been replaced by Kawach. The entrance of Zee in the 10.30 pm time slot will surely to heat up the competition. There are other GEC's too which are exploring weekend opportunities according to sources. 

Produced by Farhan P Zamma, Amma is based on life of Jenabai Daaruwala, who is a well - known name in the Mumbai underworld mafia.  The finite series will explore the journey of the rise of this female don.  A source revealed that the per episode production cost is approximately Rs 8 to Rs10lakhs. 

In the past also Zee also experimented with fiction series on the weekend slot. In 2014, the channel launched Neeli Chatri Waale, a mix of comedy and drama at the 8 pm time band on Saturday and Sunday.  Apart from this, the channel also took its Sunday programming a notch higher with the new adventurous show Janbaaz Sinbad at the 7 pm time slot which was launched on 27 December 2015. 

Amma has been pitched against Star Plus’ new show Jaana Na Dil Se Door. &TV has no original content airing on Saturday at 10.30pm but on Sunday it has a new show Life Ka Recharge at that slot. Life OK airs the repeat telecast of Savdhaan India at 10pm. Sony Entertainment Television has a CID telecast on at the same time band. Sab TV telecasts the repeat of Tarak Mehta Ka Oolta Chashma and Colors has its comedy shows at 10pm Comedy Nights Bachao on Saturday and Comedy Nights Live on Sunday. 

Could this just be a beginning of a new era in television?