Medcezir (Tide) is a Turkish teen drama series written by Ece Yörenç and Melek GençoÃÂlu. It is an adaptation of the American TV series The O.C., created by Josh Schwartz. The story revolves around Yaman Koper, a boy with a poor background and disturbed family life portrayed by ÃÂaÃÂatay Ulusoy, and a rich girl named Mira Beylice, portrayed by Serenay Sarñkaya.
Medcezir first premiered on 13 September 2013 on Star TV. Due to its high ratings, the series was renewed for a second season which premiered on 12 September 2014. Director Ali Bilgin stated that the series would be renewed for a third season. However, as the second season did not receive as high ratings as its preceding season, scenarist Ece Yörenç confirmed that the series would end with two seasons. The series ended on 12 June 2015 with 77 episodes in total.
With a turnover of 25.6 million by the end of season one, Medcezir became the fifth most successful series in Turkey in terms of net sales and earning the producer as much as possible.
Yaman who lives in Tozludere one lower socioeconomic area of Istanbul's suburbs, has always tried to change his destiny by working hard to earn a good life. On the day of his brother KenanâÂÂs birthday, they are both arrested because YamanâÂÂs brother steals a car from a gas station. That evening, Yaman's destiny changes when he meets Selim Serez, a wealthy lawyer who helps him out of jail. Selim sees Yaman as a promising young man and offers him help. When Yaman's mom kicks him out of the house, he is forced to contact Selim and accept his help. He then goes to Selim's house in Altñnkoy, an exclusive upper-class neighborhood in Istanbul, and is offered a job as a gardener for a week, as well as a place to live in the pool house outside the main house. Even though Yaman is aware that there are no miracles in real life, he doesn't have another option other than going through that door. Carrying the weight of the world on his shoulders, surrounded by people he doesn't know, he faces a more difficult life than the one he had in Tozludere. In Altñnkoy he meets Mert, Selim's son, with whom he immediately becomes friends. He also meets Mira, a young, beautiful rich girl who lives next door and they fall in love.
Challenges arise for the young Yaman who enrols in the Asñm à Âekip Kaya University along with Mira, Mert, Eylül and their friends.
Orkun, Mira's ex- boyfriend, is envious of Yaman and creates problems for him deliberately to get him out of Altñnkoy. He joins alliances with Hasan, Yaman's stepfather, in this plan.
In January 2013, it was reported that Ay Yapñm was planning to produce the series under the title Aà Âk Hikayesi and was trying to negotiate with ÃÂaÃÂatay Ulusoy for the leading role. As in March 2013 a series with the title Bir Aà Âk Hikayesi began to air on television, the production company changed the series name to Medcezir. One of the screenwriters, Ece Yörenç, revealed some details about the series on Twitter on 29 June 2013. Yörenç named a few members of the main cast and stated that series would begin in September. It was also revealed that it would be an adaptation of the American TV series The O.C.. On 21 July 2013, it was reported that the principal shooting would begin on 2 August. On 1 August the cast and crew came together to go over the scenario and on 2 August the first promotional videos were recorded in Tuzla. The first promotional video was released on 6 August. The other screenwriter, Melek GençoÃÂlu, later announced that he would stop working on the series after the 8th episode. Due to receiving high ratings, the series was renewed for a second season. The shooting for the second season began on the second week of August 2014 and it premiered on 12 September 2014. While the second season was being aired, director Ali Bilgin stated that the series would be renewed for a third season. However, due to low ratings, scenarist Ece Yörenç confirmed that the second season would be the final season of the series. It ended on 12 June 2015 with 77 episodes in total.
The project an adaptation of the work by Josh Schwartz, and the main team of writers consisted of Ece Yörenç and Melek GençoÃÂlu for the first eight episodes. After the eighth episode, Ece Yörenç became the main screenwriter for the series. Burcu Görgün Toptaà  and Pelin Taran Cura also joined the crew as assistant writers. The script was edited by Serdar ÃÂakular and Ali Bilgin directed all the 77 episodes. Deniz Yorulmazer served as the series' second director, and Semih BaÃÂcñ took the position of assistant director. The series was produced by Kerem ÃÂatay and Ali ErdoÃÂan served as the general coordinator. Rezzan ÃÂakñr served as the cast manager, while Onur Tuàwas named the series' artistic director and BarÃ±à  Ià Âñk became its cinematographer. Deniz Marà Âan and Baà Âar Dizer were fashion consultants to the actors and ÃÂmer Lekesiz took charge of the production team as the main manager.
Toygar Ià Âñklñ was asked to create the music for the series. Ià Âñklñ created the music for the main title and all the different themes for the series. In 2014, Medcezir won the Best TV Music award at the 2nd Turkey Music Awards and in 2015 it received a nomination in the same category. Also in 2014, it won the Best TV Music award at the Magnum Golden Butterfly Awards. Television critic Gizem KaboÃÂlu commented on the success of the series' soundtrack by praising Toygar Ià Âñklñ and believed that it was good enough to revive the memories of The O.C.s legendary music. The characters Mira (Serenay Sarñkaya) and Yaman (ÃÂaÃÂatay Ulusoy) perform many different songs in a number of episodes. In the third episode, Mira performs one of Ajda Pekkan's song from 1990 titled "Yaz Yaz Yaz" and the video of this scene became one of the most watched videos on Internet in Turkey. In the sixth episode, Mira and Yaman performed Mazhar Alanson's 2002 song "Ah Bu Ben". The promotional teaser for the second season featured a song by Kibariye titled "Sil Baà Âtan" and garnered positive reviews. Serenay Sarñkaya also commented and said that "Kibariye, and Sil Baà Âtan both had a huge impact" on bringing out the positive reviews for the teaser. In episode 42, BarÃ±à  Falay performed a song with lyrics taken out of a poem by Omar Khayyam. His performance was praised by fans and critics alike. Aslñ Orcan performed the song together with Falay. Milliyet wrote that all the songs in the series were successfully performed with good compositions and vocals. Many old and new songs such as "Sevdim Seni Bir Kere", "Masum DeÃÂiliz", "Kandñrdñm", "Senden Daha Güzel", "Benim Ol", "Sen Ona Aà Âñksñn" and "Kafa" were performed in different episodes by various characters and used on the series' soundtrack. The song "Bir Kuyruklu Yñldñza Mektup" was prepared specially for the series and was first performed with instruments in episode 54. The version which contained the lyrics was first performed by ÃÂaÃÂatay Ulusoy and Serenay Sarñkaya in episode 61. Halil Sezai and ÃÂiÃÂdem Erken made a guest appearance in the series and performed the song "Dünyayñ Durduran à Âarkñ". The song was again performed by Serenay Sarñkaya and ÃÂaÃÂatay Ulusoy in the series' finale.
Medcezir was mostly filmed in Istanbul. The story was set in Altñnkoy, and the scenes were recorded in the district of Tuzla in Istanbul. The scenes taking placed at the university were filmed at Istanbul Kemerburgaz University located in BaÃÂcñlar. The place called Tozludere in the series was in fact Mustafa Kemal Neighborhood in ÃÂmraniye. Altñnkoy and Tozludere are both fictional places created by the screenwriters. The scene involving the holding were filmed in Ataà Âehir as well as in UludaÃÂ, Bursa. Other locations included à Âile, Büyükada and Karaköy.
Medcezir received positive reviews from most critics and was claimed to be even better than The O.C.. Writing for Sabah, Yüksel Aytuàmentioned that "Medcezir has brought a breath of fresh air to television with its first episode, but unfortunately I see from the first episode that the scenario has some troubles". It was initially determined by Warner Bros. that following the popularity of The O.C, the series was to be made by Ay Yapñm to invest in a number of other countries, however Medcezir became more popular than The O.C. in many countries and was promoted by Warner Bros. as one of the most successful TV series in the world. The vice president for format development and marketing of Warner Bros., Andrew Zein, gave an interview to Television Business International magazine in which he said that Medcezir was a very successful series on a world-wide scale among the productions adapted from their works, and that Medcezir was very striking and engaging as an iconic project. American magazines Variety and The Hollywood Reporter reported on the Turkish version of The O.C. and found it to be made in accordance with worldwide standards. Shortly after the first episode of Medcezir was broadcast, Agos called it The New Phenomenon of the Screen and added that it "is already a candidate for being one of the best series of this season". Ayà Âe Karaduman, who wrote a review on Radikals website, commented that "The series that brought together all the talented and experienced actors as a cast, has a script that completely fell below my expectation." She believed that the cast of Medcezir were good, but the script was weak and not genuine at all. Another Radikal writer, Zeynep Gönenli, commented that "for an adaptation, to be different from its original work and to not be like it, and to do it without ruining the story is something that is not common at all". For the first season, the script for Medcezir was closely based on The O.C. but it was later announced that the second season would progress in a different way.
After the series ended, the former governor of Istanbul Hüseyin Avni Mutlu commented on the finale: "43 years ago the finale of Love Story and now the end of Medcezir left us devastated". Media reported that the finale of the series was written cleverly and would surprise the audience. Writing for Vatan, Oya DoÃÂan believed the finale was the way that the viewers wanted it to be and added that the series was successful in leaving its influence behind. The website for Milliyet newspaper published a list of successful series with high ratings, in which the name of Medcezir also appeared as one of the unforgettable shows. In another article on Milliyets website the finale was described as an ending "fitting the name Medcezir, a great farewell". On the day the finale was set to air, the hashtag "#hiçunutmayacaÃÂñz" (we'llneverforget) was used by fans on Twitter, which ranked first on the Trend Topic list hours before the episode was broadcast and after five hours with 106,326 tweets it became the most frequently used hashtag on the platform. The website N'oluyo published an article by Nida Fñndñk, who said that she would remember the series as a fairy tale and added that it had created a very beautiful two years for its audience.
When the series became a phenomenon on social media, the fans began to label the characters Mira and Yaman as Yamira. A website called Eylül'ün Notlarñ (Eylül's Notes) was opened as the series began and the website was used by the character Eylül in the TV series. The character also wore outfits chosen and suggested by fans on the website. At the same time, many contests were organized with the participation of fans through an Instagram account opened for Eylül. Following the competitions, the winners met with Hazar Ergüçlü, who portrayed Eylül in the series, and took part in various activities with her such as shopping and received special invitations. Virtual games related to the series were prepared on some video game websites.
The first episode received a rating of 5,14 in the total group during the prime time becoming the most watched program in that category, and ranked third in the group AB with a rating of 4,63. The following episode ranked fourth in total and second in the AB category. Medcezir ranked fourth and sixth in the EU in terms of the most watched TV series with the ratings it received in the first weeks of its broadcasting. The first episode of the second season ranked first in both the total and AB groups with the rating of 6,77 and 8,87 respectively. The episode that aired three weeks before the finale did not rank among the most watched series in the total group and ranked eight in the AB category. The final episode ranked eighth in both the total and AB groups.
After its release, Medcezir won many awards and received various other nominations. It received its first award at the 2013 Siyaset Dergisi Awards and it received the Best TV Series of the Year, the Best TV Actress and the Best TV Actors awards. At the 2014 Ayaklñ Newspaper TV Stars Awards, the series was nominated in various categories, including the Best Drama Series, the Best Drama TV Actor, and the Best Drama TV Actress, out of which it won six awards in total. In the same year, Medcezir won the Best Drama Series award at the Bilkent Television Awards, the Most Successful Series award at theðTàAchievement Awards, and the Best TV Series award at the Galatasaray University The Bests Awards. In 2014, Serenay Sarñkaya won the Best Actress award at the Magnum Golden Butterfly Awards and the composer was awarded with the Best Music award. The series also won the Best TV Music award at the 2nd Turkey Music Awards and was nominated in the same category in 2015. Medcezir was a nominee at the Seoul International Drama Awards for the Best Drama Series award and was ranked second. ÃÂaÃÂatay Ulusoy was also nominated for the Best Actor award.
Medcezir gained a lot of popularity among Turkic countries (especially in Azerbaijan), Iran (especially Iranian Azerbaijan), Balkans, Latin America (especially Chile, and Pakistan where it has been a complete success), and Arab countries. In Bulgaria the series takes the second place in September 2015 with almost one million viewers and it is the most watched series in the country.