Kitchen (Кухня) is Russia’s favorite recent sitcom. Spanning six seasons and a movie (!), it aired between 2012 and 2016 and has since led to a spin-off, Hotel Eleon (Отель Элеон), about some of the favorite secondary characters. A second movie should appear in 2017. The show takes part mostly in the eponymous kitchen, in one […]
Streets of Smashed Lampposts (Улицы разбитых фонарей), or Menty (Менты; a usually derogatory word for cops) is a long-running Russian police procedural. It’s been going since 1998, and there are now 16 seasons. Each episode features a different case to be solved, while also describing the everyday lives of Russian police officers; it’s similar in some ways […]
Since 2009, the Republic of Tatarstan has begun to develop its own native animation industry—meaning that Tatar language-learners (and Tatar children) have a new source of material at their disposal. Many of the cartoons are released in multiple languages, including not only Tatar, but also Russian and English. The cartoons come from Tatarmultfilm (Татармультфильм), a […]
Comedy Woman (title originally in English) is a Russian sketch/standup comedy show—sort of the female version of Comedy Club, in which women barely take part. The show started in 2008, and there are now nearly 200 episodes. The show grew out of the comedy club/cabaret show Made in Woman. It was founded in 2006 by Natalya Yeprikyan (Наталья […]
Let Them Talk (Пусть говорят) is a Russian talk show reminiscent of the classics of American daytime TV—particularly Jerry Springer. The show has been airing since 2001, when it was called The Big Wash (Большая стирка—because you could watch it while you did the laundry); after a few years it was changed to Five Evenings (Пять вечеров), and then […]
Let’s Get Married! (Давай поженимся!) is a Russian talk matchmaker show—kind of like the American Dating Game, but slightly more family-friendly. The show has been around since 2008, but it feels like it’s been much longer. Indeed, there have been more than 1,500 episodes. It doesn’t seem to have good critical reviews, or even good viewer […]
Live Well! (Жить здорово!) is a Russian talk show that Russians seem to love and hate in equal measure, and at the same time. It’s only been on since 2010, but it airs every morning and there are well over 1,000 episodes already. The show is basically about health, though with a somewhat ridiculous, unintentionally […]
Pole chudes (“field of miracles”; in Russian Поле чудес) is the Russian equivalent of Wheel of Fortune. It started in 1990 and is still going, and there are well more than 1,000 episodes. The game rules are pretty similar to Wheel of Fortune. The contestants guess words or phrases on a given topic, taking turns […]
Comedy Club (no Russian title) is a highly popular Russian stand-up comedy show. The show began airing in 2005 and surpassed its 500th episode in December 2016; as of this writing, there are almost 530. According to the show’s website on TV channel TNT, “The residents’ jokes live in our consciousnesses … they are called […]
Uralskie Pelmeni (Уральские пельмены; “pelmeni from the Urals”) is a Russian sketch comedy group originally from Ekaterinburg. They started out as a KVN team in 1993, winning the Highest League (Высшая лига) of KVN in 2000. As a result of their KVN popularity, they were able to start their own sketch comedy show in 2009, […]
Wait for Me (Жди мне) is a Russian talk/reality show, though quite unlike what that that genre usually means. It’s not only a TV show but a government service for finding missing people. It’s termed an international social project, just just a TV show—the show notes that “We search throughout the entire world and unite […]
While Everyone’s Home (Пока все дома) is a TV entertainment/talk show that’s been airing since 1992. There are now 25 seasons. The show follows the host, Timur Kizyakov (Тимур Кизяков), who also writes the show, as he visits various famous people and their families at home. As the show’s website notes, “While Everyone’s Home is […]
