TV

Voroniny (Воронины) is a Russian comedy television series. Airing on CTC network, for its first ten seasons the show was a Russian adaptation of the successful American sitcom Everybody Loves Raymond. After season 11 (the show is currently on season 18), the show became an original series. As a classic situation comedy, Voroniny does not have a strict […]

Dom-2 (Дом-2) is the longest running reality TV show in the world. When it first aired in 2003, the contestants’ objective was to construct a house while at the same time finding a romantic partner. After contestants have coupled up, they then compete for the house itself. Hosted by Ksenia Sobchak (Ксения Собчак) and Ksenia Borodina […]

Fizruk (Физрук) is a Russian comedy television series. The main story line revolves around an ex-criminal who finds himself working as a physical education teacher. To make it work, he must rebuild relationships with old acquaintances and his family, and build new relationships with his new students and fellow teachers. Airing on TNT (ТНТ) since […]

Bооba (Буба; the creators chose the English-language transliteration themselves) is a pretty new Russian animated cartoon series for very young children. Begun in 2014, there are now 16 episodes of about four minutes each, and new ones are released monthly. The show it is well-regarded by the parents who’ve posted online reviews of it. Booba […]

Fixiki (Фиксики—the unusual spelling of the transliteration is due to the fact that the Russian word is actually taken from the English word “fix”) is a contemporary Russian cartoon series. It is based on the story “Warranty People” (“Гарантийные Человеки”) by Soviet/Russian writer Edward Uspenskiy (Эдуард Успенский), about small people who live inside machines and electronics and […]

The Barboskins (Барбоскины) is a contemporary Russian cartoon series. It began in 2011, and is already on its 10th season. It is created by Melnitsa Studios, the same people behind Luntik and the Ivan Tsarevich film series. There are almost 200 episodes, each about five minutes. The show is about a family of humanlike dogs—two parent dogs and five puppies. […]

Luntik, or, in full, The Adventures of Luntik and His Friends (Приключения Лунтика и его друзей), is a contemporary Russian children’s cartoon series. Begun in 2006, it already has more than 450 five-minute episodes, and more are currently being planned. The show tells the story of Luntik, a cute little four-eared creature who grew up on the […]

Smeshariki (Смешарики; taken from the words смешные, “funny,” and шарики, “balloons”) is a Russian cartoon series for young children. It tells of the daily lives and occasional adventures of nine little balloon-creatures. Thus far, the show, which started in 2004, consists of more than 450 episodes of around 10 minutes each. It sounds silly, but the […]

Masha and the Bear (Маша и Медведь) is a highly popular Russian cartoon series that originated in 2009. Now in its eighth year and its third season, it consists so far of 60 seven-minute episodes, featuring cute animation and few words. It’s already a classic—among not only Russian children but also students of the Russian language. The […]