If the Israeli company has a seismograph in traditional television, then the strong tremors registered this week in the rating tables indicate that something is happening every night on channel 14 on the remote.
On Tuesday this week, 300,000 Israelis chose to zap to him and stay close to the ground from 8:45 p.m. to 10:00 p.m.
True, the majority of the Israeli public will still try to guess who the borax is behind the mask, or will consume a rare source drama in Hebrew, but the buzz surrounding the "Patriots" is already hard to deny, and not only among media reporters and the brass.
This is one spark among dozens of shows with few ratings, but in the battle for the vices with the disintegrating network franchise and with the Public Broadcasting Corporation, which for some reason is perceived in Israeli society as elitist, "The Patriots" this week definitively became a player that must be taken into account, when it comes to a new phenomenon in a field that is very difficult to change in it habits.
A player to be reckoned with.
The Patriots, photo: Efrat Eshel
And for this victory party, which still felt like Beitar Jerusalem's draw with Barcelona, an event where the absolute underdog manages to momentarily tickle the indomitable winners, we chose to come this week. We came to the hottest television circus on your remote, to try to understand how what happened happened.
Leftists have no humor anymore
A little after the sun goes down, at the end of Modi'in there is a special place, where you can stand and smell the lagan.
The name "Jews" is a legitimate expression, where Holocaust survivors may also be called "fallen of the dead" - but there they also speak of legal reform and not of a governmental coup.
We remember the late Tommy Lapid and Dan Margalit still yelling at each other in "Popolitica", we remember Avi Ratzon doing the same in sports, and even with louder shouts, and we remember his late uncle Topaz as the one who gave the audience of Israel the second and third chance To appear on television for a little less than 15 moments of fame - and maybe also return home with a refrigerator.
In the "Patriots" they make use of all these components together, only without the part of the refrigerator.
"We are here to make a fan. To make television that is a fan for people who sit at home at the end of the day and haven't caught up with what was on the news all day," explains Yanon Magal, who arrives early and goes over the content that will be broadcast tonight in the program together with the editorial team.
"Once upon a time, the pan and the humor was really on the left. They were cool, full of self-humor. I don't know what happened there, but today it is clear that the right is the one with the humor. It is less jumpy and able to take things seriously - but also with a wink. Send me my imitation In 'Amazing Country', I don't know, they got caught on one thing I said and repeat it, without developing the character a bit more. Don't you understand, 'Amazing Country' makes a great show, and they are funny. It's perfectly fine television."
Come to make a pan.
The Patriots, photo: Efrat Eshel
One thing is clear, walking through the corridors of the channel that suffered from a battered image, from harsh and harsh criticism from the media and from a targeted assassination attempt on Yair Lapid, there is an atmosphere of victory.
The ugly duckling has become the swan that everyone is talking about, whether on Twitter or on the angry streets of Israel in the winter of 2023.
This atmosphere is felt not only from the direction of the talents, Style Yaakov Bardogo who sits in the entrance lobby with his feet on the table and interprets to those around him the transition of Ayala Hasson here 11. This feeling descends even to the security guard at the studio, who does not hide his tremendous pride in working for the channel.
The feeling is that something has finally connected to a "galactic explosion", as Yanon Magal repeats live every evening.
And this explosion is happening right now.
As expected, Magal is a friendly person when you meet him one on one.
In a moment he will start warming himself up like a boxer in the locker room, watching recent videos of Ehud Barak and Yair Lapid.
But mostly he claims that the funnest moments in general are related to his colleagues: "We now have a new corner called 'The Tishkurot Case', and this is the corner I like the most. Confused about colleagues is always fun. I really like it.
"You listen to the propagandists on Channel 12 or 13, or listen to Aryeh Golan on the radio in the morning. They let Ehud Barak speak about Meri Tziri for five and a half minutes without asking him a single question, and you understand a lot from that. Mainly why the audience is tired of hearing them. The public doesn't believe them, They think they are doing propaganda and not news. I see a series of articles about 'The Decline of Democracy', Elek, on Channel 12, and I understand why they lost interest in them."
A bit of history: "The Patriots" was broadcast for the first time in 2014, on Channel 20 at the time.
Between the years 2014-2018, the program was presented alternately by Aral Segal and Irit Linor, and among others it was led (also alternately) by Eliraz Sade, Attila Shumpelvi and Sarah B.K.
The broadcast of the program ended on July 24, 2018, and was renewed on June 23, 2019. The ratings were poor, and the program was seen as part of the strange esoterica of the channel which was even defined as a heritage channel.
With the transition of Channel 20 to Channel 14, and its rebranding as the "Now 14" channel, the program is broadcast from the "Now 14" studios in Modi'in.
In January 2023, the show built its own studio, and since then it has also been broadcast in the presence of an audience.
Yanon Magal became the main host starting last May, and the program is broadcast in his presentation on Sunday-Wednesday, and from the beginning of 2023 also on Saturday night.
A legitimate option for a date
When the night has completely fallen on the studios, a crowd that comes from all over the world to watch the show live begins to gather.
Yes, you read that right: from all over the world.
Last week, for example, people from Toronto and New Jersey visited the program.
They excitedly say that every afternoon they make time to watch what is happening in Israel, and it doesn't matter if they are at work or in the car.
They abandoned the competing channels a long time ago, and for them, as they themselves testify, "The Patriots" is the most reliable image of what is happening in the news and the way in which it should be read.
When they see a picture of Yonit Levy on one of the screens - they snort with contempt.
I don't remember when was the last time I saw such a strong identification with a character broadcasting from the screen, but the competing channels are met with contempt and hatred here, as if they were the enemies of the people and not professionals who, after all, want to make a decent living and return home to their families after reading a forecast from the teleprometer or interviewing some celebrity.
"They don't respect us, you understand. They don't understand us, they don't think like us," explains Yoav Hamsi "Masto Ra'anana".
Why North Ra'anana?
"Because Yanon always chooses to interview from the audience the one who came from the farthest, and I think we came from the farthest."
Hamsi doesn't know this yet, but he is expected to be disappointed soon, because as mentioned, a guy from New Jersey came to the studio this evening.
Hamsi defines himself as the king of the frozen doughs.
According to him, he established his empire in the 1970s: "At first they didn't want me, they said they didn't want Jahannon and Malvah in Co-Op and in supermarkets. I said I would come to them the other way around. I went to hotels, and there they started serving Jahannon and Malvah in Israel - And then I infiltrated the writers. They didn't want me in one place, I came through the window.
"Then I fought to find out the truth about my brother who was kidnapped from Yemeni children, and I saw the judges not doing me justice. I saw how it was reported on TV. Where I saw white with my eyes, they saw yellow. You see, this is the story of my life.
"Then Channel 14 arrived, and the 'Patriots' arrived, and suddenly there are those who represent what I think. Those who understand that the judges do not do justice, who understand that what we were sold in the news on the other channels is not true. A channel that represents what we were looking for in other places and were lied to - and here Suddenly we are told the truth. I came here today to be in the audience, because for me the people who participate in this program are Israel's intellectual elite, and I want something from them to stick with me. Like if I smoke next to you, the smell of cigarettes will stick to you? That's how I want some of their energy to stick with me ".
Hamsi, a smiling man who looks younger than his age, did not come alone this evening.
Next to him is Shush, his date, or as he calls her: "Shush the witty", a pretty girl who shows that she has spent several hours preparing for this evening at the hair salon.
"I am very disappointed with what we will become of your newspaper", she slaps me with a disappointed face when I tell her where I am from.
"You used to be a real right-wing newspaper, today you are like 'Haaretz', like 'Yediot', like 'Globes'. You have become another newspaper of the left. Look at him here," she points to Yaakov Bardogo, who has just finished filming his program and is turning to take a selfie with the audience who is waiting for the "patriots".
"You should bring him to the newspaper, because he is a man who cannot tell a lie, only the truth. Why don't you give him a regular column with you? Be right-wing like before."
I explain to her that he actually has a regular column in Israel Hayom, on a full page, every Friday.
"Well, I don't know, since you became like Haaretz, I don't take the newspaper from your section."
Shush interrupts the conversation to take a picture with Bardogo, and the audience is called into the studio.
The excitement is at its peak.
The production representative explains when clapping is allowed and how to behave on the broadcast, and everyone rushes in, wanting to take the best place.
"We are changing television in Israel."
Sickle, photo: Efrat Eshel
What are Israelis looking for?
Megal's partners are slowly starting to arrive at the program.
Itamar Fleishman, Neve Drumi, Yaki Adamkar, Yotam Zamri and on the left-handed Yanu standard - Eldad Yaniv.
This is tonight's lineup.
According to the responses, it seems that this is a very popular group.
To an outsider, it seems at first that the word "grey" will be colorful next to what they broadcast in terms of charisma, but when the cameras turn on, you can understand in an instant how they make good and cheap television here, one that has fascinated an average of a quarter of a million Jewish viewers every night for the past week.
Sickle triumphs over this cacophony with a high hand.
His television persona is light years away from the beautifully staged one in his morning hours, at the radio station, with his partner Ben Caspit, in what sometimes resembles a staged wrestling match - only with headphones.
During the program, the first big debate develops between two of the panel members, with Yotam Zamri explaining that he can understand how it happens that Jews take the law into their own hands in Hvara, while Itamar Fleishman, who comes from these places and many of his family members still live in the area, insists on explaining to him that Jews are not supposed to engage in this kind of Pogroms.
At some point the spirits get so heated that Shinon Magal gets up from his chair to calm the atmosphere.
This sentence should be read again: it is not enough to have someone on Israeli television in 2023 who manages to find a justification for an act of revenge against civilians, Yanon Magal is the responsible figure who maintains the culture of discussion.
Well, after that you ask why no one will sit down to watch an investigative program about a gymnast who gives gifts to the judges or ask to know what is really happening in the submarine case?
"I don't think there was one thing that happened that I can point to that is the factor responsible for the fact that we suddenly exploded like this," explains Hagai Siman Tov, the longtime editor of the program throughout its incarnations.
"From our point of view, we would walk down the street and constantly receive comments from people - that they were watching us. It was clear that this was not reflected in the rating tables, so we always felt that there were many people who saw us."
Rebranded.
The Patriots, photo: Efrat Eshel
Maybe it's thanks to the new branding "Now 14", I ask, or maybe the studios?
"There is no doubt that it is both. The fact that we moved to 14 on the remote helped us a lot. The fact that the new studio is beautiful and bigger and newer, and allowed us to bring in an audience, certainly made a decisive contribution. But there are also external influences, and this is the mindset in Israeli society, which aligns with what that we represent.
"They say all the time that we present things on legal reform in a way that you won't find on other channels, and that's why they come to watch us. But this week was marked by the security interest, and we still broke ratings records. We're giving something on television that many Israelis have been looking for for years and haven't found."
And the flowers for Yair Lapid
And of course there is another factor that Simen Tov proudly points to as the one who brought about the change: "We owe it first of all to Yair Lapid. His campaign against us during the elections brought us new audiences. He called us a 'propaganda channel' and wanted to shut us down, which was great for us. He actually caused a lot of people who didn't watch us to come to try us out. He caused himself tremendous damage, and his damage was our gain, because right-wing people who for years were looking for a media house - found it with us."
I ask Siman Tov if the agitation is the strategy that actually generates the discourse: "There is no doubt that the anger at the change government created an agenda that served us, but I can't say that it was the decisive factor."
The disintegration of Israeli society cannot be explained just by watching a program broadcast on the shallow medium called television.
To make a television channel the one responsible for the destruction that is happening before our eyes - would be unfair and irresponsible.
Yanon Magal can shout all night long: "Politicians, learn from Bibi Netanyahu who ran an entire campaign without going to the propaganda channels, and still managed to win the elections, come and interview only with us."
But the extent of its influence is limited.
The Israeli public watches "The Patriots", because as Hamsi said of the frozen doughs - finally someone respects him on the screen, and above all contains his opinions.
As far as the participants in the program and the audience are concerned, they are together making Zionism.
In their eyes, the success of the channel is a Zionist act.
"Today it is clear that the right is the one with the humor."
The Patriots, photo: Efrat Eshel
At the end of the broadcast, evening prayer
"We are changing television in Israel," Magal explains to me.
"We're doing something they haven't done before us, and giving viewers something they won't find anywhere else."
As an observer from the side, I can understand why such and such leftists flock to the studio.
After all, everything can be said about this extreme show, but one thing is certain: nobody is being shut up here.
Which is not sure what can be said about the other side of the barricade.
"It's also because of that, but it's not only because of that," Magal explains.
"When we hit the left-hander, he is the center of attention in the show, and that's why he wants to come. We all talk about him, everyone deals with him, and those who come to appear on television enjoy it. They are the stars of the evening."
On the screen, just before the end, the list of people who are scorned and laughed at is shown again: Ehud Barak, Yair Lapid, Channel 12 News. The feeling is that everyone has arrived home and no longer need to be ashamed.
When someone in the audience waves an Israeli flag, someone throws it at him: "Today they have already turned this flag into a symbol of protest and a political matter. Take it down, so they don't say we are provocateurs."
When the show ends, the audience descends from the stands for a photo and autographs.
The phones are taken out, and everyone promises that they will come here again the first chance they get, "because it was a perfect evening of a restaurant before, and the show after," concludes Hamsi.
The group stands and takes pictures with everyone, sends greetings and thanks from the bottom of its heart to everyone who came. There are no star manners here, because how much stardust can you scatter when you record a program in Modi'in, and even in its desolate industrial area, and even in a taxi some of the time you are scorned. But in Zionism As in Zionism, what is a hundred shekels between friends.
Just before everyone goes out into the night, the security guard shouts loudly: "We are praying Arabic now, we will be happy if you come, there is Arabic, we will be happy if you come."
He repeats this several times, until the program workers, the audience and the cleaners all gather around him - and pray together.
A huge smile spread across the faces of the participants.
It was a perfect evening for them.
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