Shenderovich's program "Dolls" on NTV

2024 Author: Leah Sherlock | [email protected]. Last modified: 2023-12-17 05:25

Shenderovich's "Dolls" program is a satirical entertainment television project that aired in prime time on the NTV channel from 1994 to 2003. It discussed topics that are acute for domestic politics and public life. In this article, we will talk about the project itself and its creators.

Appearance of the program

Shenderovich's "dolls" began with the fact that producer Vasily Grigoriev acquired from the French owners of a similar project the rights to produce the program in Russia.

The very first dolls were made by the French master Alain Duverne, the creator of the original designs. After their production Andrey Drozdov took over.

It is believed that the first releases of Shenderovich's "Dolls" program were unsuccessful. They had to be re-shot and re-mounted several times. The creators could not work out their own style, which they aspired to.

Serving principle

Own principle of presenting material in the program "Dolls"came about largely by chance. In December 1994, a New Year's issue with quite harmless jokes was being prepared for broadcast. But on December 11, troops were brought into Chechnya, such a program became inappropriate.

Then it was decided to film Mikhail Lermontov's novel "A Hero of Our Time" in the format of Shenderovich's "Dolls" program. This move turned out to be relevant and fresh. After that, the creators used parodies of classic texts and plots more than once.

Many editions of Viktor Shenderovich's "Dolls" program were based on playing famous literary works, as well as historical figures and events.

The actors were portrayed by latex dolls, reminiscent of politicians of those times. The issues were relevant, on the topic of the day, they discussed fresh political conflicts. In total, about 360 episodes were released.

Production

The creators of Shenderovich's "Dolls" program on NTV now recall that the production of each issue began with writing a script. It should have been ready on Monday morning.

The voices of politicians were voiced by guest actors. After that, they started shooting the visual sequence itself with the help of puppets. It was necessary to carefully monitor that their movements and articulation coincided with the soundtrack. Interestingly, in some episodes, the puppeteers did not manage to hide well, they can be seen in the episodes that hit the air.

During editing, the text could be rewritten or re-voiced if there were anyimportant events, the political situation changed. In some cases, the whole plot had to be redone.

For example, in 1998, on the eve of the election of a new prime minister of Russia, a scenario was written in case each of the likely candidates won. They were Viktor Chernomyrdin, Yuri Luzhkov, Yevgeny Primakov and Yuri Maslyukov.

The release of programs has been accompanied by scandals more than once. In 1995, a criminal case was initiated against its creators because of the humiliation of the honor and dignity of the individual. The reason was the release, in which politicians were depicted as heroes of Maxim Gorky's play "At the Bottom".

The case was closed, and after some time, one of the defendants in this scandal, Viktor Chernomyrdin, who at that time served as prime minister, met with his doll. This event was widely covered in the media.

Screenwriter

One of the inspirers of the program is the scriptwriter of the very first episodes, Russian writer and journalist Viktor Shenderovich. He now works as a columnist for The New Times socio-political magazine.

Efim Smolin and Grigory Gorin recommended him to the project producers. Later, Gor Nikolaev, Alexei Vinokurov, Isaac Friedberg and many others joined in writing the script.

Shenderovich worked in the "Dolls" program until 2001. He left the channel with Kiselyov's team after the media began to be persecuted by the authorities in the early 2000s as an asset to the opposition oligarch Vladimir Gusinsky.

"Dolls" without Shenderovichhave been out since April 2001. Many at the time noted that the script had lost its originality and political edge. Interest in the project began to disappear.

In the middle of 2002 the program disappeared from the air. The producers said that this was a short break due to the preparation of new models and the reconstruction of the channel's broadcasting grid. The transmission returned in November 2002. In early 2003, it was finally closed due to low ratings.