Some error occured while loading the Quick View. Please close the Quick View and try reloading the page.
Russian TV Series in the Era of Transition examines contemporary Russian television genres in the age of transition from broadcast to post-broadcast television. Focusing on critical debates and the most significant TV series of the past two decades, the volume’s contributors—the leading US and European scholars studying Russian television, as well as the leading Russian TV producers and directors—focus on three major issues: Russian television’s transition to digital post-broadcast economy, which redefined the media environment; Russian television’s integration into global television markets and their genre systems; and major changes in the representation of gender and sexuality on Russian television.
“Thanks to the editorial efforts of Alexander Prokhorov, Elena Prokhorova, and Rimgaila Salys, students and scholars now have access to some of the most incisive and pertinent essays on the subject to date. … As television and media studies continue to gain prominence in the REEES field, Russian TV Series in the Era of Transition will prove to be a foundational text. Its broad range of topics, insightful analyses, and useful supplementary materials successfully address gaps in the existing scholarship, while its accessible tone is sure to attract broad audiences among scholars and non-scholars alike.”
— Graham Weaver, The Jordan Center Blog
“Russian TV Series is a welcome addition to a scanty bibliography. A handsomely produced book with many color stills, this edited collection consists of a brief introduction, nine essays, and five interviews with prominent figures in Russian television. (...) All the essays are well executed… [R]eaders interested in television will certainly benefit from the detailed synopses of these programs and the research leads related to production and reception that can be found in the articles’ footnotes.
Russian TV Series’ most valuable contribution to television studies scholarship may, however, turn out to be the five short interviews with producers and showrunners Alexander Dulerain, Sergei Fiks and Maksim Stishov and script writers Denis Gorelov and Nataliia Meshchaninova that conclude the volume. The interviewees speak with relative candor about their difficulties navigating Russian cultural politics and their hopes for a future that would include greater collaboration with their counterparts in Europe, hopes that strike me as deeply poignant in the present context.”
— Denise J. Youngblood, University of Vermont, Historical Journal of Film, Radio and Television
“Edited by three established scholars of Russian cinema and television, this useful collection includes a brief introduction by the editors, nine articles, and five interviews with producers, screenwriters, and directors active in Russian Television in recent years. College students and teachers of contemporary Russian media will find it an informative and useful introduction to the subject. … The authors of the nine essays approach this impossibly large subject from diverse and complementary angles: some concentrate on individual series or auteurs, while others focus on historical and/or sociological themes, sexuality, and technology. The thread which holds the articles together… is their authors’ belief that Russian television series can provide a privileged view into Russian society and culture.”
— Anthony Anemone, The New School, Russian Review (October 2022: Vol. 81, No. 4)
Alexander Prokhorov teaches at Russian and Film Studies Programs at The University of William & Mary.
Elena Prokhorova teaches at Russian and Film Studies Programs at The University of William & Mary.
Rimgaila Salys is Professor Emerita of Russian Program at the University of Colorado Boulder and an expert in twentieth century Russian literature, film, and culture.
Table of Contents
Note on Transliteration
Introduction
1. The Cultural Euphemism of Kul′tura: Soviet Nostalgia on the Russia-K Channel
Alyssa DeBlasio
2. The Great Patriotic Serial: Penal Battalion (Shtrafbat), Historical Taboos, and the Beginnings of the New National Idea
Stephen M. Norris
3. Orlova and Aleksandrov Redux: The TV Series
Rimgaila Salys
4. Putin-Era Television Productions about Catherine the Great: Active Measures as Period Drama
Elena Prokhorova and Alexander Prokhorov
5. Between Pornography and Nostalgia: Valery Todorovsky’s The Thaw (Ottepel′)
Lilya Kaganovsky
6. The State of Affairs: Screwing Family Values in Putin’s Russia
Tatiana Mikhailova
7. Glocalizing Neo-Noir: Iury Bykov’s The Method and Sleepers
Elena Prokhorova, Alexander Prokhorov, and Rimgaila Salys
8. Queer Families: Gender, Sexuality, and the Neoliberal State on Russian Television
Vlad Strukov
9. The Web Series Bitches (Stervochki) and Post-Legacy Television in Russia
Saara Ratilainen
10. Interviews
Alexander Dulerain: Television Producer and Showrunner
Sergei Fiks: Producer and Studio Executive
Denis Gorelov: Scriptwriter, Executive Producer, and Film Critic
Natalia Meshchaninova: Director and Scriptwriter
Maksim Stishov: Producer, Showrunner, and Scriptwriter
Contributors