TV leaders // March 12-18

Last week’s premiere was Valeria Gai Germanika’s series “A Short Course in a Happy Life” on Channel One. This time, Konstantin Ernst, in “co-authorship” with Denis Evstigneev, again presented to the audience a project that is completely atypical for current television. Two years ago there was a “School” of Germanika, which caused an unprecedented resonance in society. Then, outraged by this series, and even shown on the state television channel, Russian citizens complained to everyone they could, including the Minister of Education, Prime Minister Putin and even President Medvedev. The director, screenwriters, producers and the channel managed to hit a nerve in society two years ago. No letters have yet been written to the President and Prime Minister regarding the “Course of a Happy Life”. But the show is in full swing, so those who wish still have room to strive. And the current project of Guy Germanika does not leave anyone indifferent. Viewers are divided into two categories: those who are strongly against and cannot accept such a “happy life”, and those who saw in the series another reflection of reality.

“A Short Course in a Happy Life” absolutely breaks down and destroys the orderly flow of the average serial stream on Russian television screens. Especially against the backdrop of the endless “Bloods”, “Euphrosyne”, “Wedding Rings” and “Hearts of Mary”. All of them seem to be melodramas about modern life and the difficult destinies of women. Or the highly rated long-term hit “Varenka...” (in three parts) and the TEFI winner, the high-quality and popular series “Always Say Always.” Also about today. Love, betrayal, family, divorce, children... And this is roughly what it looks like: “Sofia, who has become a hostage to her brother-in-law, jumps from the yacht in despair and tries to swim to the shore. Grisha is at a loss: her and Peter’s plan has failed... Olga learns about the tragic outcome of Vyazemsky’s first experience with surrogacy..." (TV series "Krovinushka"). "Igor learns about Heinrich's death. Klim has a seizure. The court sentences Markov to ten years in a maximum security colony. Sveta loses her sight. Ulyana is held captive. An unknown person sets fire to the hangar in which Ulyana is located" ("Wedding Ring"). It’s probably even watchable, and many Russian viewers, women first of all, turn it on and wait for the continuation. They sometimes watch for six months, or even a year.

And of course, against this background, “my daughter is a whore, and it’s my fault that she became like this,” “this stupid grandmother,” “you can’t even give a blowjob,” “you’re such a creature, you damned idiot, what are you doing?” , you get laid at 14 years old,” “you shouldn’t have stuffed a child with all sorts of crap,” “and no one has ever satisfied me with their tongue” will seem like something well recognizable. "A Short Course in a Happy Life" is the story of four young women working in the same office. With different destinies, hobbies, love relationships, difficult relationships with husbands and difficult ones with children.

The characters in the series and the relationships are accurate and understandable, the situations sometimes with a certain touch of predictability, but unforced and uncontrived. An episode in one of the first episodes, where the following dialogue occurs between a schoolboy son and his mother: “Eat porridge!” - “I won’t, idiot,” hits backhand, just like the mother’s slap in response. Of course, there is a lot of sex in the series. Well, how could Germanika, who films about relationships between men and women, not have sex in a film or series? There's a lot of it. In a variety of manifestations and places (kitchen, hospital department, all kinds of tables, and the street, apartment, car...). Everything is important in the series: halftones, fragments, individual phrases, words, minor characters. Be it a police station, a gynecological clinic, a restaurant or a parent-teacher meeting at school. In general, “A Short Course in a Happy Life” is a talented director’s work, with a strong script basis and a tangible hand of producers who, due to their experience (professional and human), lead their line. Sometimes the difference between these lines - the director's and the producer's - is clearly manifested in the development of the characters of the main characters and in the series as a whole.

The series is shown in a late lineup, at 10:30 p.m., with a “under 18” restriction. It is unlikely, of course, that this is the channel’s concern for morality. Who today can be forced not to turn on the TV with such a reminder? “School” was on even later, at 11:30 p.m. But even then this did not stop people from watching, some from admiring, some from complaining to the president.

As for the ratings, it is clear that “Short Course...” cannot compare in terms of performance with prime TV series or with the same “Cop Wars” that are broadcast at the same time on NTV. It is curious that in Moscow the audience greeted the series more coolly. Its ratings in the first week of showing in the capital are lower than in other cities of the country: on average 12% of the audience. The all-Russian audience watches more willingly. And here the dynamics are more even: on average 14.5%. Moreover, this is among viewers of all ages - from 18 to over 55. But most of all “A Short Course...” - and this is not surprising - is watched by girls from 18 to 30 years old. But Muscovites are more indifferent. But in other cities, the share of Valeria Gai Germanika’s series last week reached 17% of viewers. The series has three more weeks of airing ahead. It has 16 episodes. And while he draws you in like a funnel, you always want to look further and further. Moreover, judging by the heated discussions on the Internet, “A Short Course in a Happy Life” is followed with equal attention by both those who praise it and those who do not like it at all. They swear, but for some reason they still look.

But those who watched a television production on the NTV channel called “Anatomy of a Protest” did not write letters to the president or prime minister. But they went to a protest rally. Against the background of the numerous stream of works produced by the directorate of social and legal broadcasting of this television company (the very name of this division in the context of the products it produces sounds like a mockery of common sense), “Anatomy of a Protest” aroused indignation among those who have not been the target television audience for a long time . To the long-favored and well-established version of federal television channels that the hand of the US State Department is behind all rallies “For Fair Elections” and protests against the authorities, they added some kind of blatant “development” about the fact that on Bolotnaya Square, Sakharov Avenue, New Arbat and Pushkinskaya Square were sold for money. And what especially after the airing outraged citizens and simply blew up the Internet was that they went to protest for tea and “cookies.” The corresponding footage and text were in “Anatomy of Protest”.

NTV showed all this on March 15, around midnight. And its share was quite normal: in Moscow 12.2%, throughout the country - 15.3%. But the resonance from what was shown surpassed any ratings in terms of the intensity of emotions and indignation. Instantly there were statements about a protest rally against NTV, curses and a boycott against the television company. It would be surprising if, against such a background, NTV, headed by Vladimir Kulistikov, did not react to this in its characteristic style. Less than a day has passed since the first show, and it has already become known that on Sunday, at 20:00 (NTV’s most advantageous position in prime time), “Anatomy of a Protest” will be shown again “based on numerous requests from television viewers.” Of course, this was an absolutely sophisticated way for NTV management to react to popular outrage. It is impossible to prove in court the staged footage of people who in “Anatomy of Protest” go to the “White Circle” rally for a thousand rubles given in their hands (at the same time, they calmly pose for the camera, do not intend to hide it and do not run away). We will never know the names of the same “numerous television viewers” whose requests were satisfied by NTV on Sunday. Well, maybe we can guess the names of one or two. A Kommersant correspondent asked NTV how in such a short time (the replay had already been announced on the evening of March 16) the channel was able to collect these same requests and how viewers came to urgently demand that “Anatomy of a Protest” be repeated to them. NTV responded like this: “All day long people called and wrote to our website (despite the fact that it was blocked at times - Kommersant ), and we met the viewers halfway. And the desire of the viewers was manifested in the active television viewing of the replay of the film, which was released on super prime Sunday ".

However, there have been much higher ratings in this line. The Sunday rerun of Anatomy of a Protest was watched by an average of 15% of the audience, with a rating of 6.5%. But, judging by numerous announcements, it could have been as much as 20-22%. But the main paradox, cynicism and uniqueness of NTV’s program policy is that even on the eve of the replay, on Saturday, in his main news broadcast, the presenter of the Segodnya program Alexey Pivovarov, talking about the protest rally on Pushkin Square, also spoke about the indignation of those gathered at Anatomy protest." That this film, in their opinion, is “a lie from the first to the last word.”

But the broadcast was even more contrasting on Sunday. With a difference of seconds after “Anatomy of a Protest”, its presenter Vadim Takmenev came out in the studio of “Central Television” and said that “we will try to honestly talk about everything that is happening this week.” And then in detail about the rally at Ostankino, where those gathered repeatedly chanted on camera: “Shame on NTV!” The presenter ended the story with the words: “The protesters, who demanded to stop the blatant lies and declare a boycott of NTV, did not leave for more than two hours. And in the evening... In the evening, a replay of the sensational film came out (“Anatomy of a Protest.” - Kommersant ). And immediately after it came out "Central Television" program. It remains to add that this was one of the best episodes of “CT” with absolutely the same percentage of viewers in Moscow (15%) as “Anatomy of a Protest”. And in the country it’s even higher (16.4%). Even later, at 23:00, a very bright episode of the talk show “NTVshniki” aired, where they discussed whether Mikhail Khodorkovsky should be released. 69% of viewers said it was time, and 61% voted that the former head of YUKOS is imprisoned only because of Vladimir Putin’s personal hostility. The program was also watched by a lot of people (almost 19% in Moscow and 15.3% in other cities). And after all this, everyone must choose for themselves whether he watches such NTV or boycotts it, left alone with “Anatomy of a Protest.”

Arina Borodina

A short course in the history of protest