Keen observers and shrewd anal-ists of Nepali politics are all tuned in to the 8 o'clock News, which has consistently garnered higher ratings than any other soap opera. It is even more riveting than the long-running Afghan teleserial, Loya Jirga and the Warlords and the brand new Indian television drama, The Unguided Missile Man. The reason is that our political drama has more back-stabbing, back-biting, back-pedalling, backing the wrong horse, back-scratching, greed and avarice than any other on the planet. (So far, there hasn't been any explicit sex yet, but we can't rule that out in future episodes.)

While channel hopping the other day to find out what was happening at the Nepali Congress HQ at Teku, I was given a tour de force of the exciting stuff our cable operator has on offer:

Dallas
Lucy is really getting out of hand-now she is trying to frame her teacher for sexual harassment. But guess who's coming to dinner: it is the fruit of Ewing's enemy's loins. Here is a spy who has leaked JR's less-than-legal dealings to the Senate Committee. As Jock's heart attack mandates a quadruple bypass, JR sets a trap for Gary by luring him to set up a new company called Enron. Ellie thinks Jock will leave her if she has a mastectomy, she can't take it any more and emigrates to New Zealand.

Dynasty
Alexis marries Cecil Colby, thus cementing the merger between Colbyco and Denver Carrington. But it's a jungle out there, as Alexis soon finds out to her chagrin. She starts flirting with an alpha male from the Masai Mara. Blake Carrington, stung by this treachery, finds his own she-lion, Krystle Grant Jennings, who struggles to fit into the lavish, powerful and sometimes ruthless lifestyle of the Carringtons as the pride hunts wildebeest on the Serengeti Plains but eat up a National Geographic cameraman by mistake.

The Bold and the Beautiful
Brooke is on the couch watching the World Cup quarterfinals between South Korea and Italy when she overhears Erica and Whip's conversation on the baby monitor. Stephanie tells Spectra that Bridget threw her out. Deacon, who is a bit slow upstairs, and has already watched the match live, tells Brooke the score. She nearly strangles him, unaware that Ahn has scored the golden goal and their marriage is already over. Brooke allows Deacon to feel the baby kick, Bridget can't take it any more and emigrates to New Zealand.


The 8 o'clock News
Sher tells Girija that he doesn't like him any more. Girija says, look you impudent twit, don't talk to me like that, and bans him from his parties for three years. Miffed, Sher runs off to get a bulldozer and demolishes the august house. Girija says, wait right here, I'll take care of you when I come back from China. Sher tells KP, don't just sit there, do something. But it's too late, Sher has Girija in a half-nelson while Girija lands an upper cut on the Sher's jaw. Now the weather: A bit unsettled over some parts of the kingdom in the next 24 hours.