Thread: Foreign TV in Russia

A twist of the thread about how Travel Television shows Russia to Americans.

I've been watching some Russian TV while I have been here. There is one show that is an EXACT copy of Married with Children. And I do mean duplicated right down to the dog.

RU Music is MTV, and often has American Music videos mixed with Russian. I'm a little too old to have much of a taste for this kind of music, but the same people behind MTV and VH-1 are behind RU Music.

American reality TV is also popular, along with Russian knockoffs. Actually, the Russian knockoffs are more entertaining. The Russians can do more with less, give them a conveyor belt, buckets of water, and a bin of scrap metal and they can make it interesting. Low budget reality TV.

And there is always foreign TV with Russian voices overdubbed. The English, French, or Italian is not removed, just the Russian overdubbed. I wonder what Russians think of us. That we all live in big houses, we get into shootouts once a month, and that we drive the occasional high speed chase and smash up our cars for sport.

The bottom line is, there is a major foreign influence on Russian TV.

What shows did I miss?

The bottom line is, there is a major foreign influence on Russian TV.

Yes, there is. Out TV is a shame, really, but hey, many programs belong to the Sony Entertainment company and they're broadcasting them all over the world. There are bought licences for every talk-show, reality-show and mini-series. Creativity appears to be vice in the eyes of directors on Russian TV channels. I don't watch TV except for some occasional old movie or documentary.
And more - if you take 60 minutes' broadcast of any Russian TV channel, more than half of it (I mean 30-40 minutes) will be commercials.
TV is an enemy!

So just out of curiosity, and since the topic was brought up, which popular American dramas/reality shows are aired on regular Russian tv? I'm spending this fall in Moscow and ashamedly admit that I am having a minor meltdown over missing some of my shows haha.

You're travelling across the world and you plan to be sticking with the same soaps? You ought to expand your horizons instead!

I think the shows are probably dubbed for the record, so you might not be able to follow unless you speak decent Russian. I saw the comment about voiceover-dubbing; this particular form of dubbing can be irritating unless you are used to it, but it's good for learning languages.

Even without living there, based on the descriptions above, it seems that Russian TV is not in a very innovative phase right now... Same as TV in many European countries. So you can probably expect to see more or less the same shows that you are used to from the US, but running up to a year behind the US. (My advice: Use this time to wean yourself off your junk-TV addiction!)

Like I said in another thread, I last watched Russian programs as a kid in the1980s when they were known for high artistic quality and interesting plots. After a quick trip down "memory lane" I realise that this was a pretty good time for media in my country (Sweden). You could still turn on the TV and get intelligent, enrichening programs from a variety of countries instead of commercials + dumbed-down shows that bring out the worst in people..

Quantity is not always quality.

Hopefully some good independent Russian film makers and TV producers exist though. I am going to find out.

Originally Posted by Johanna

...it seems that Russian TV is not in a very innovative phase right now...

Originally Posted by Johanna

Hopefully some good independent Russian film makers and TV producers exist though. I am going to find out.

They all went to Ukraine. Producing is much cheaper there.