Alexander Fedorov 100 most popular Soviet television movies and TV series: opinions of film critics and viewers Moscow, 2021 Fedorov A.V. 100 most popular Soviet television movies and TV series: opinions of film critics and viewers. Moscow: "Information for all", 2021. 144 p. What does the list of the hundred most popular Soviet television films and TV series look like? How did the press and viewers evaluate and rate these films? In this monograph, for the first time, an attempt is made to give a panorama of the hundred most popular Soviet television films and serials in the mirror of the opinions of film critics, film critics and viewers. The monograph is intended for high school teachers, students, graduate students, researchers, film critics, film experts, journalists, as well as for a circle of readers who are interested in the problems of cinema, film criticism and film sociology. Reviewer: Professor M.P. Thselyh. © Alexander Fedorov, 2021. 2 TABLE OF CONTENTS Introduction ………………………………….................................................................................... 4 100 most popular Soviet television movies and TV series: opinions of film critics and viewers ……………………………........................................................................................... 5 Interview on the release of the book "One Thousand and One Highest Grossing Soviet Movie: Opinions of Film Critics and Viewers"…………………………………………………………….. 119 List of "100 most popular Soviet television films and TV series.......................................... 125 About the Author .................................................................................................................. 135 References ……………………………………………………………………………………………………………… 140 3 Introduction What does the list of the hundred most popular Soviet television films and TV series look like? How did the press and viewers evaluate and rate these films? In this monograph, for the first time, an attempt is made to give a panorama of the hundred most popular Soviet television movies and serials in the mirror of the opinions of film critics and viewers. The book cites articles and reviews of Soviet and Russian film critics, audience reviews on the portals "Kino–teatr.ru" and "Kinopoisk", some parts of this text have been preliminary tested on the Yandex platform, on the portals "Kino–teatr.ru" and Kinopressa.ru and Facebook. Alas, it is not possible to estimate the size of the audience for the premiere screenings of Soviet television films. It is believed, for example, that at least one hundred million viewers watched New Year's TV premieres in the USSR. The book "100 most popular Soviet television movies and TV series: opinions of film critics and viewers" is a kind of supplement to the monograph: Fedorov, A. (2021). One thousand and one highest–grossing Soviet movies: opinions of film critics and viewers. Moscow: "Information for all", 1134 p. https://mediagram.ru/netcat_files/108/110/h_6890c972de504c0b3ff8887cb74c2edd I hope that the material in this book can be useful for higher education teachers, students, graduate students, researchers, film critics, film experts, journalists, as well as for a wide range of readers who are interested in the history of cinematography and TV, the problems of cinema, film criticism and film sociology. 4 100 most popular Soviet television movies and TV series: opinions of film critics and viewers 12 Chairs. USSR, 1976. Director and screenwriter Mark Zakharov (based on the novel of the same name by I. Ilf and E. Petrov). Actors: Andrey Mironov, Anatoly Papanov, Rolan Bykov, Georgy Vitsin, Nikolay Skorobogatov, Oleg Tabakov, Tatiana Peltzer, Lyubov Polishchuk, Natalia Zhuravleva, Lidia Fedoseeva–Shukshina, Vera Orlova, Mark Prudkin, Savely Bozh Kramarov, Boris Proskurin, Elena Shanina and others. TV premiere: January 2, 1977. Mark Zakharov (1933–2019) was a famous theater director, but his films, shot for television ("12 Chairs", "Ordinary Miracle", "This Same Munchausen", "Formula of Love"), had great success with the audience. They say that when the TV premiere of "12 Chairs" by Mark Zakharov took place on New Year's holidays in 1977, there was no limit to Leonid Gaidai's indignation. Still would! Mark Zakharov dared to enter his "reserved" cinema territory! By the way, the main film journals of the USSR – "Soviet Screen" and "Cinema Art" – in the year of the premiere of this film by Mark Zakharov bypassed him in silence, although often (especially "Cinema Art") they wrote about television films. Much later, Mark Zakharov himself said about his “12 Chairs” as follows: “The film came out protracted, almost without location filming, plywood scenery, a lot of offscreen text. In general, not God knows what!" (Quoted from: Pozdnyakova, 2016). I personally like Zakharov's "12 Chairs", which I wrote about in this article (Fedorov, 1991). Opinions of viewers about "12 chairs" are still, as a rule, polar, and the dispute, for example, on the Kino–teatr.ru portal has been going on for several years: "Pro": “In my opinion, Mironov and Papanov are the real Ostap Bender and Kisa Vorobyaninov. They were born to play these roles!" (A. Golovinsky). “In my opinion, Zakharov's movie is definitely better than Gaidai's. And funnier and more musical. … I am also pinned by director's tricks”(Denis). "Contra": “The main drawback of the film is that it is ... boring. There is simply no worse accusation for the adaptation of a comedy masterpiece” (M. Kirillov). “The only failure of Mark Zakharov, films in his “proprietary” genre were much better for him. Mironov frankly replays (but is excellent in musical numbers)” (Ilya). About Little Red Riding Hood. USSR, 1977. Directed by Leonid Nechaev. Screenwriter Inna Vetkina (based on the fairy tale "Little Red Riding Hood" by Charles Perrault). Actors: Yana Poplavskaya, Rina Zelenaya, Evgeny Evstigneev, Vladimir Basov, Nikolay Trofimov, Galina Volchek, Rolan Bykov, Stefania Stanyuta, Maria Barabanova, Maria Vinogradova, Yuri Belov, Dmitry Iosifov and others. TV premiere: December 31, 1977. Leonid Nechaev (1939–2010) directed 16 full–length feature films. These were mainly TV films shot in the genre of fairy tales. And the most famous cinematic tales of Leonid Nechaev were "Adventures of Buratino" and "About Little Red Riding Hood." The secret of the audience success of the film "About Little Red Riding Hood" is similar to "Adventures of Buratino": a wonderful acting ensemble, a funny script, the kingdom of the musical element, sparkling replicas of characters, an impressive range of colors... Opinions of modern viewers about the film "About Little Red Riding Hood" are sometimes polar. "Pro": 5 “The film was shot with elements of a musical, which the director will not change in any of his fairy tales. The film is successful again, the song "If a long, long, long..." performed by Olya Rozhdestvenskaya became a hit. And for young Yana Poplavskaya, the leading actress, boys from all over the Union write declarations of love. But the film itself was far from simple. There are practically no comedy attractions in the film, which were so rich in "Adventures of Buratino", there are fewer fights, brawls and other elements of an adventure film. The film "About Little Red Riding Hood" is more melancholy or something" (M. Kirillov). “It’s quite a decent children's movie. I doubt that someone will be able to shoot better, given that the fundamental principle of Charles Perrault does not have two full pages per script. … Quotations alone – for a whole volume… Beautiful songs” (A. Miroshin). "Contra": “This film should not be shown to young children. Such a Little Red Riding Hood can only scare her with her shouts... And Poplavskaya was quite in her place here. ... But the rest of the directors is clearly too clever. Even if we close our eyes to the inconsistency with the original source, which, I agree, is simple enough for a two–part film, it is still fenced in here. And it is not clear for what purposes. ... What is all this for? An adult can't figure it out here, and even children of school age, after watching, will at best be puzzled from what they see” (Andrey). “This film is a rare tedious thing! More or less he sticks to Rybnikov's music, and even then songs with endless repetition of one word... All this miserable and tedious "action" suggests that the film crew gathered at the resort to relax, and at the same time something shoot. And this is doubly offensive, because the actors involved are really great – our favorite actors!" (N. Rozhkova). Adjutant of His Excellency. USSR, 1969. Directed by Evgeny Tashkov. Screenwriters Igor Bolgarin, Georgy Seversky. Actors: Yuri Solomin, Alexander Milokosty, Vladislav Strzhelchik, Vladimir Kozel, Tatiana Ivanitskaya, Evgeny Shutov, Nikolai Timofeev, Andrey Petrov, Victor Pavlov, Evgeny Tashkov, Yuri Nazarov, Valentin Grachev, Evgeny Teterin, Larisa Danilina, Nikolai Karbbe, Gennady Valois, Oleg Golubitsky, Valentin Smirnitsky, Igor Starygin, Nikolai Gritsenko, Sofya Pavlova, Anatoly Papanov, Mikhail Kokshenov, Lyudmila Chursina and others. TV premiere: April 1970. Director Evgeny Tashkov (1926–2012) directed 11 films, three of which ("Thirst", "Come Tomorrow" and "Crime") were included in the thousand of the most popular Soviet films. And this is not counting his main hits – the television series “Major "Whirlwind" and "Adjutant of His Excellency". In the year of the TV premiere "Adjutant of His Excellency" the Soviet film press greeted him on the whole warmly (Revich, 1970: 2–3; Tulyakova, 1970: