What TV hits not to miss this spring?

February has entered its second half and some of us are already secretly hoping that spring will soon be knocking at our door. It is also the time of year when we sit down in front of our screens in the evenings and can count on the TV stations to start outdoing themselves in attracting our attention to their new and improved programme structure, rich in news from their home workshop.

Markiza Television has had a successful year 2024 with proven shows, which it is building on in 2025. However, it is not just sticking to older titles and as soon as January, it is also broadcasting one of two new series in the form of an original daytime series. Its crossovers, Oteckovia and later Mama na prenájom, were based on a foreign model. Sľub has an original script and perhaps because of that it has enjoyed good ratings so far. For it transports viewers back to a time when jeans could only be bought at Tuzex for bony bills, but most of us still had them sewn by our mother at home on a Veritas sewing machine. The first episode aired on 13 January and achieved a viewership of 10.6 RTG in the shopping target group and a share of 34.5%. Although the viewership dropped slightly from the next episode onwards, the average for the whole month with 8.8 RTG exceeded the viewership of series 3 of Mama na prenájom with 7 RTG in the same period last year. By comparison, JOJ TV's rival Bez servítky achieved a January average of 5.2 RTG and a share of 19.2%. And if we creep back in time and look at the longest-running daytime series Oteckovia from 1 January 2018 to 10 June 2022, January averages were highest in 2019 at 11.4 RTG with a 38.2% share. January 2022 was only 7.6 RTG with a share of 24.8%. Thanks to this, the series has gone bye-bye and has been replaced by Mama na prenájom in the next year.

The start of the second new series, the miniseries Vina, was February 24 in the evening PT slot on Mondays. Vina is a British adaptation of the Broadchurch series. The story is set in a quaint and somewhat sleepy town where the peace and relationships between the residents are disrupted by the murder of 11-year-old Daniel. The investigation of the local captain Elena Mikušová and her new distant colleague Adam Hanzel gradually uncovers not only the clues pointing to the killer, but also the dark secrets of all the inhabitants.

Slowly becoming a constant, the period series Dunaj k vašim službám has enjoyed long-lasting success. Whole families sit down in the evening in front of the TV screen as we used to sit down to Dietl's series, or later to Dallas on ORF. It has had a hugely successful year in 2024, in which the fifth, and so far most successful, series was broadcast in the winter, the sixth in the spring and the seventh and eighth in the autumn. Of the 84 episodes of the fifth most successful series, as many as 41 episodes achieved a viewership of over 10 RTG and even 11.5 RTG on 28 March with a 33% share. The two autumn series maintained long-term average viewership of 8.6 RTG and 9.1 RTG with shares of 28.5% and 29.4% respectively. In comparison, rival JOJ TV's Kriminálka kraj 2, broadcast on Thursdays at the same time, achieved only an average viewership of 4.5 RTG with a share of 14.7%, and Tuesday's Nemocnica 4 RTG and 13%. Since 6 January, the ninth series of the series has been on air and its popularity has not declined. The first 44 episodes achieved an average viewership of 9.2 RTG and a share of 29.8%.

The cooking reality show Na nože with Martin Novák returns to the screens on 26 February. The third series had a record viewership in spring 2024 with an average of 9.6 RTG and a share of 30.8%.

Let's Dance is scheduled to start its tenth anniversary series on March 2 at 8:30pm and will air every Sunday until the finale in early May. The ninth series aired last spring and was a great success for Markiza. In the buying target group, all live broadcasts achieved an average viewership of 8.5 RTG and 32.4%. Year-on-year, the show thus increased it by 0.7 RTG and its share by 4.1%. The number of viewers aged over 12 increased by 32,000 compared to series eight.

From 7 March, the broadcaster is launching the third series of Ruža pre nevestu, which has also been successful on streaming platform Voyo. The two previous ones, aired each in the spring of 2023 and 2024, had similar viewership, slightly above 5 RTG and a share of around 20%.

JOJ TV is not lagging behind its competitors and is coming up with new features in the programme structure. Just as Markíza launched a new series of "Dunaj" in January, JOJ is coming up with a new family saga "Ranč", which is scheduled to start on the same day, 6 January. The series has 32 episodes and follows the fates of two families, Havranovci and the Zimanovci, who are divided by ancient sins and secrets. The storyline is filled with love, betrayal and secrets uncovered as the younger generation tries to overcome the darkness of the past.

Both series are on the screens twice a week, Dunaj on Tuesdays and Thursdays, Ranč is on Mondays and Wednesdays. Since the first episode aired on the same day and time, it's interesting to look at how they shared viewers with each other. After all, Dunaj is an established format, with Ranč featured as a new show that day. While the 9.1 RTG and 25.5% share couldn't compete with Ranč, 8 RTG and 21.7% share are more than a good start. The premiere episode drew up to 696,000 viewers over 12 years of age to their screens, making it the most successful non-televised Monday night program on TV JOJ. Viewers did not lose interest during the next episodes either. In January, 8 of them were aired and their average viewership of 6.6 RTG and share of 21.8% was not far behind the first one.

During the spring, Saturday evenings on JOJ will belong to their own creation. The main Saturday night show was originally planned for 1 March. However, the start date has already been postponed to 15 February. The romantic reality show Vezmeš si ma? was filmed throughout last year. Each episode will feature a storyline in which viewers will get to know a jilted bride whose plans her partner has no idea about. Over three days, the brides must organise everything they need to do with the help of television, while gradually breaking the news to family and loved ones.

Right after Vezmeš si ma? ...the network will start another newscast after 10 p.m. Comedy series starring Zuzana Fialová Psychosimona.sk. The main character is an attractive woman in her forties who is the carefree wife of businessman Richard. Her husband goes bankrupt during a pandemic and has a heart attack. Simona has to make a living on her own, so she starts providing psychological counselling on the Internet. Her method of therapy, though down-to-earth, harsh, cynical and mostly immoral, is effective and successful. Her clients are happy, Simona earns a good income, but over time she herself begins to change.

Another new series, the comedy series Večne mladí, which follows the stories of three seniors who start a new life in a luxury retirement home, has been moved to the autumn so as not to take all the trumps out of their sleeves. As of 6 December, it can only be enjoyed by subscribers of the Premium package on JOJ.