Bringing home the bacon for their TV networks TV leading-men who set women's hearts aflutter There's a hot competition going on currently, among the Turkish TV Channels that present night-time drama serials this season. In these TV ratings-wars, the attractive actors who play the leading-male roles in the serials have a big effect on fans and, also, on ratings. Two of the hottest leading men are Uğur Pektaş and Halit Ergenç... Click for enlargement! Uğur Pektaş, younger generation heart-throb While still enrolled at Halen Kocaeli Üniversitesi in the School of Hotel Management, the 25-year-old Uğur entered and placed first in last year's TV Survivor contest in Turkey. Shooting for the moon upon that initial success, he expressed his hope of becoming the Turkish Brad Pitt! And he's on his way... After taking secondary roles in Hopes and Realities (Düşler ve Gerçekler - 2005) and the Black Sea classic Bird Language (Kuş Dili - 2006) -- Uğur is now in a starring role as Detective Murat in the hit 'shoot-em-up' police series, Back Streets (Arka Sokaklar). But, his quick rise to fame has made him wary of women coming-out-of-the-woodwork. He says, "You can never guess to what length's some woman will go..." Click for enlargement! Halit Ergenç, older generation heart-throb Not everyone knows it but Halit Bey's talents extend beyond acting... to song and dance -- from opera to Elvis from ballet to swing, Peri watched his showcase interview on The Transparent Room (Şeffaf Oda) this past Sunday and was knocked out by Ergenç's versatility -- when he sang in 3 or 4 different musical styles and languages. While studying to be an Engineer at İstanbul Technical University (İTU) he became dissatisfied, quit there, and enrolled in the Musical Theater Actors School at a Mimar Sinan University (also in Istanbul), from which he graduated. With dreams of musical stardom on the "Great White Way", he went to America where he got his early experience -- though a major success eluded him. When he returned to Turkey he made several successful appearances in the theater, in opera, and in musicals. Afterwards, (in a supporting role) he played Devran in the romantic TV series Zerda (2002-2004). That lead him to stardom as Sinan, in the blockbuster series Aliye -- in which he is transformed from an evil SOB during early episodes to a reformed 'good guy' in the later and series-ending episodes. He's got 19 movies to his credit (the most recent, a hostage film called 'Tramway' in 2006) -- and his latest TV series, 1,001 Nights (Bin Bir Gece) -- which is reminiscent of the Robert Redford, Demi Moore, Woody Harrelson film "Indecent Proposal" -- is currently wowing Turkish TV audiences. Halit Bey says he "opens up like a flower when he's in love." Which is nice, innit ladies... But we like him best because he also says... that he doesn't like Association Football. yessss!