Shenderovich’s “Dolls” program is a satirical entertainment television project that went on prime time on NTV 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.
Program appearance
Shenderovich’s “Dolls” began when producer Vasily Grigoriev acquired the rights from French owners of a similar project to produce a program in Russia.
The very first dolls were made by the French master Alain Duvern, creator of original designs. After their production, Andrei Drozdov took up the job.
It is believed that the first releases of the Shenderovich Dolls program were unsuccessful. They had to be remounted and remounted several times. The creators did not succeed in developing their own style, to which they aspired.
Filing principle
Own principle of presentation of material in the program "Dolls" arose largely by accident. In December 1994, the New Year’s issue was being prepared for broadcast with quite innocuous jokes. But on December 11, troops were brought into Chechnya, such a program became inappropriate.
Then it was decided to film in the format of the program "Dolls" Shenderovich novel by Mikhail Lermontov "Hero of Our Time". This move turned out to be relevant and fresh. After that, more than once the creators used parodies of classic texts and plots.
Many episodes of the program "Dolls" by Viktor Shenderovich were built on the beating of famous literary works, as well as historical figures and events.
The actors were depicted latex dolls, reminiscent of politicians of those times. Issues were relevant, for the sake 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 each production began with a script. He should have been ready on Monday morning.
The voices of politicians replicas voiced guest actors. After that, they started shooting the most visual series using dolls. Care should be taken to ensure that their movements and articulation coincide with the phonogram. Interestingly, in some episodes, the puppeteers did not manage to hide well; they can be seen in episodes that aired.
During editing, the text could be rewritten or re-sounded, if any important events occurred, the political situation changed. In some cases, it was necessary to redo the whole plot.
For example, in 1998, on the eve of the election of the new Prime Minister of Russia, it was written according to the script in case each of the likely candidates wins. These were Viktor Chernomyrdin, Yuri Luzhkov, Evgeny Primakov and Yuri Maslyukov.
The exit of programs was repeatedly accompanied by scandals. In 1995, criminal proceedings were instituted against its creators due to humiliation of honor and dignity of the individual. The reason was the issue in which politicians were portrayed as the heroes of Maxim Gorky's play “At the Bottom”.
The case was closed, and after a while one of the defendants in this scandal, Viktor Chernomyrdin, who at that time held the post of prime minister, met with his doll. This event was widely covered in the media.
Screenwriter
One of the inspirers of the program is considered to be the scriptwriter of the very first issues, Russian writer and journalist Viktor Shenderovich. Now he works as a columnist in the political journal The New Times.
The producers of the project were recommended by Yefim Smolin and Grigory Gorin. Later, Gor Nikolaev, Alexey Vinokurov, Isaac Friedberg and many others joined in writing the script.
Shenderovich worked in the "Dolls" program until 2001. He left the channel with the Kiselev team after the authorities began to harass the media in the early 2000s as an asset to the opposition oligarch Vladimir Gusinsky.
"Dolls" without Shenderovich came out in April 2001. Many at that time noted that the script lost its originality and political acuity. Interest in the project began to disappear.
In mid-2002, the program disappeared from the air. The producers said that this was a short break associated with the preparation of new models and the reconstruction of the broadcasting network of the channel. The transmission returned in November 2002. In early 2003, it was finally closed due to low ratings.