TOP 15 best Russian TV shows

Many people today spend their leisure time in the old fashioned way: in front of the TV. However, the large number of channels that have appeared recently does not indicate a high quality of programs, therefore, choosing the program suitable for viewing is not as easy as we would like. In this review, we will tell you about the best domestic TV shows in the history of domestic television that are interesting to watch. Let’s look at them without further ado, so that you can choose the most suitable for yourself. When compiling this rating of the best Russian series, we relied primarily on user reviews, so only the most famous programs were included here.

Top TV shows Top 15

15. Penalty

This multi-part film with a single plot was released by the McDos film company in 2004. It was based on the novel of the same name by Eduard Volodarsky, directed by Nikolai Dostal. The author of the work, when creating it, relied on real recollections of the participants of the Great Patriotic War, who had to fight as part of the penal battalions. Unfortunately, they were not destined to see the film itself, since by the time it was released, none of them were left alive. Military consultants were not involved during the filming, the services of technical consultants were involved, who were responsible for the accuracy of the costumes and the compliance with the era. Due to the fact that there were no military consultants, there are many factual inaccuracies in the film. One of the most obvious is the following: political prisoners and ordinary criminals were not sent to general penal units.

The series has won a fairly large number of Russian awards. He was nominated for the TEFI 2005 Prize in five categories at once, and he took the coveted figurine in the nomination “Television Art Series”. He received the Golden Sword Award at the Yu.N. International Military Film Festival Ozerova. At the same festival, he became a laureate in the nomination "Best Screenplay for the film", as well as "Best Leading Performer". Criticism and the audience also reacted very favorably to this series.

Benefits:

• Eleven episodes united by a common plot;
• Full compliance with the era in terms of weapons, suits and so on;
• A quality game of actors.

Disadvantages:

• There are actual inconsistencies.

14. The Apostle

Another serial film dedicated to the Great Patriotic War and featuring an interesting and exciting plot. A total of 12 episodes were filmed, which are combined by a common and fully completed story. The plot is based on the work of the NKVD in the war years. The history of the creation of the series is quite complicated - take at least the fact that three directors worked on the film at once. Gennady Sidorov began to shoot him, who after filming about half of the materials left the project with great scandal. He was so grand that his name did not even appear on the credits - instead of him is a fictional Ivan Ivanov. He was replaced by Nikolai Lebedev, who was also not included in the credits. At the final stage of work, Yuri Moroz joined the project - they worked together with Lebedev until the very end.

The plot is quite original: in 1942, the German command decides to throw a sabotage group into the territory controlled by Soviet troops. However, everything is not going according to plan - the radio operator kills everyone on board the aircraft, drops off its board and surrenders voluntarily to the Soviet security officers, immediately telling them of their readiness to cooperate with the authorities. Not everyone died on board the aircraft - one of the members of the group was just stunned, he manages to escape. It turns out to be a thief Pyotr Istomin, who previously passed a training course in a fascist saboteur school. At first, he also agrees to cooperate, but later decides to escape and dies during the escape. Instead, the NKVD department decides to use his twin brother, Pavel Istomin. Around him, history will develop.

Benefits:

• Non-linear plot;
• Good casting;
• Completely completed story.

Disadvantages:

• There are several commonplace and predictable plot moves.

13. Deadly force

This is one of the first series dedicated to workers of the then Russian police, its hard working days. It was created as a competitor to the most famous series of stories - “Streets of Broken Lights”, but the result was a rather interesting and distinctive project that lasted for 6 whole seasons. This is a pretty decent time for domestic television. The plot begins in 1999 in the northern capital, it develops around the operational staff of the slaughter department. In the first season, which includes nine episodes, the plot is general. Subsequently, each series represents a complete story.

The main characters of the series are police officers who investigate not only domestic crimes, but also the activities of organized crime groups. In the series you can find a large number of different references to the works of Russian cinema, foreign series and so on. The ratings of professional critics were highly controversial. On the one hand, it was noted that the series was made at a qualitatively high level, especially, this related to directorial and cameraman work, a non-standard script, good humor. However, many said that the film itself largely copies the streets of broken lanterns. Here, most of the stories are frankly adventurous and even adventurous in nature, there is a political accent, there are many invited stars of domestic cinema.

Benefits:

• The series is made with high quality, it is very interesting to watch;
• There are many references to works of Russian and world culture;
• Good acting.

Disadvantages:

• Some absurdity of the characters.

12. The brigade

This is a cult domestic serial film, released in 2002. He immediately became very popular among the audience, and also earned a large number of reviews among critics, both positive and negative. The film includes 15 episodes, the action in which develops from 1989 to 2000. In the center of the picture is the story of four friends who created their own criminal group, the main one of which was Sasha Bely. The film was shot by Avatar Film. The series became the debut of director Alexei Sidorov, and the leading actors - Panin, Bezrukov, Dyuzhev, Vdovichenkov and other actors became famous after the release of the screens.

The script of the picture was written by Alexander Veledinsky, who was prompted to create the plot by the events of the 1998 default. The director subsequently noted that although the characters do not have prototypes in real life, all the events of the television movie were almost completely realistic. When creating the script, consultations were held with police officers, security officials, as well as representatives of criminal structures.Direct work on the series took a very long time - only the filming itself took about 10 months - from September 2000 to June 2001. In general, the creation took more than two years. The "Brigade" became one of the most expensive Russian series at that time - the cost of each series was about 180 thousand dollars. Due to the requirements for the timing of television series, some episodes had to be removed or reduced, due to which certain points seem incomprehensible.

Benefits:

• One of the few iconic Russian TV shows;
• Excellent acting
• The original plot.

Disadvantages:

• Due to the cut out sen, some of the motifs of the characters seem incomprehensible.

11. The death of the empire

This is another serial film, each series of which is a logical continuation of the previous one. As critics noted after the release of the series, which was first shown on television in 2005, the picture has a wide variety of inaccuracies, but even they did not cause rejection among the audience. The storyline covers literally several months of 1914 that precede the outbreak of World War I. At the center of the story is Captain Kostin, who went through the Russo-Japanese War and, by the time the action begins, enters the service of counterintelligence. His tasks include the disclosure of criminal intentions, the suppression of terrorist acts. The closer the start of the war, the more difficult it becomes to work, as clouds are gathering more and more over the capital. One of the main negative characters are employees of the German embassy, ​​who are regularly seen in all kinds of espionage conspiracies. They are trying to get Russian military secrets and forward them to their country.

Good, albeit not very popular actors were involved in the work on this series. The main role here was played by Alexander Baluev, who was able to perfectly get used to the role of the military. In addition, Marat Basharov and Andrei Krasko were involved. On the screen, it was possible to reproduce some real historical characters - General Renenkampf, Lavr Kornilov and many others. The main thing that the audience liked about the series is the realism and maximum truthfulness of both the story itself and the characters.

Benefits:

• The spirit of the era is well conveyed;
• Custom story moves;
• Many lines of narration have a real basis.

Disadvantages:

• Some one-sided plot, as critics noted, but most viewers did not pay attention to this.

10. Gangster Petersburg

A very interesting and popular domestic series, which was shown on the screens of Russian television in the mid-2000s. Several works of Andrei Konstantinov formed the basis, but plots from other authors were also borrowed. As critics say, the series can be divided into two parts: from the first to the sixth films and from the seventh to the tenth. The first tells about the 90s of the last century, when gangster lawlessness reigned, corruption flourished both in law enforcement agencies and among the power structures that merged with criminal groups. The second part is characterized by an almost complete replacement of characters, actions are transferred to the present, and the main theme of the story is leaning toward large business. Each part consists of several series united by a common plot.

The series is based on stories about the fate of characters who, for one reason or another, are forced to encounter criminal circles in the northern capital, and often even the best of intentions can lead them on the wrong path. As a result of this, each hero has to decide for himself how exactly the priorities are most important for him: love and friendship or desire for revenge.Often the line between good and evil is quite thin, so the hero himself does not even have time to understand when he turns from a good guy into a bandit. The series received a decent number of awards, it was well received by the audience.

Benefits:

• The originality of the development of the plot;
• The atmosphere of the mid and late 90s is perfectly conveyed;
• Interesting actors whose characters develop over the course of the series.

Disadvantages:

• Critics say the TV movie’s atmosphere is rather bleak.

9. Kitchen

This is the first comedy series that was included in our review of the best serial films in the history of modern Russian television. It was released by the film companies Yellow, Black and White and KeyStone Production, and the STS television channel acted as the customer. It is based on the upscale restaurant of French cuisine Claude Monet, starting from season 5 it was renamed Victor. The idea arose in the spring of 2011, and literally six months later it was possible to shoot a pilot series, which had a number of significant differences from the version familiar to viewers. First of all, the role of the owner of the establishment was played not by Dmitry Nagiyev, but by Vladimir Kristovsky, the restaurant had a different name. The producers of the STS company ordered two seasons at once, the shooting started on July 6, 2012.

This project has become one of the most expensive among domestic comedy products: about 200 thousand dollars were spent on the release of one series. For the initial 40 episodes, 8 million dollars were allocated (the rights to only one song by Beyonce amounted to 1 million rubles). The first series was shown to viewers on October 22, 2012. In the future, another 4 seasons were filmed. The producers, despite the support of the audience and their demands to continue shooting, abandoned the idea of ​​continuing. However, a feature film was released, dubbed “The Kitchen. The Last Battle ”, which was released on cinema screens on April 20, 2017.

Benefits:

• A good play of actors, realistic interiors;
• Original plot moves;
• The series was well received by the audience.

Disadvantages:

• It was decided not to continue shooting even with the active support of the audience.

8. Liquidation

Another detective multi-part feature film, which was released on television in 2007. The director here was Sergey Ursulyak. As the eventual basis of the series, there is a story about the struggle of the NKVD workers with crime after the end of World War II. The well-known myth that Marshal Zhukov managed to cope with Odessa crime with the help of the reckless arrests of all criminal authorities and the execution of street robbers without trial was widely reflected here. The main roles in the series were played by Vladimir Mashkov, Mikhail Porechenkov, Sergey Makovetsky.

The plot begins to develop in 1946 in Odessa. Police officers catch the bandit Senka Shaly, who leads them to a warehouse with a large number of various stolen items, among which there are about a thousand sets of military uniforms. The criminals received the goods through fake invoices. At the same time, the ill-conceived actions of Marshal Zhukov only cause irreparable harm: the bandits carry out many pogroms, and the shooting of small criminals without trial and even leads to widespread discontent among the common population. The plot is based on the diary of David Kurland, who worked as the deputy chief of the criminal investigation department of Odessa.

Benefits:

• Good historical accuracy;
• The unsurpassed Odessa flavor is conveyed;
• An interesting and twisted plot.

Disadvantages:

• A large number of actors, it is difficult to keep track of all of them.

7. National Security Agent

Another detective serial film dedicated to the adventures of the agent of the federal security service Aleksey Nikolaev, who was perfectly played at that time by the still little-known actor Mikhail Porechenkov. The first three series were shown on television from the first to the third of January 2019 on TNT. Entirely, the premiere season came out from August to November of the same year. Starting next year, the show begins on NTV. The same thing happened with the second season. A total of 60 episodes were shot.All stories take place in St. Petersburg, especially since the main character has lived his whole life in this city. Alexei Nikolaev spent his childhood on Ligovka, after school he entered the theater institute, from where he was expelled for a fight. Later he came to Afghanistan.

Alexander Kapitsa, who had previously worked with Streets of Broken Lights, was the producer of the series. The series is quite intriguing: all the stories are original, the cameramen and the director managed to organically convey the atmosphere of St. Petersburg in the 1990s. The main character is very interesting, makes you empathize with him, has a good sense of humor. All other characters - real men who are faithful in friendship, are always ready to come to the rescue of their comrades. As critics say, this series was able to show the Russian soul and our national character well.

Benefits:

• The original series;
• Well shot;
• Pretty long.

Disadvantages:

• Some implausibility of a number of stories.

6. Method

One of the most modern TV series among all included in our review. It is a psychological thriller with elements of a detective story. This television movie has a rather interesting fate. The pre-premiere closed screening of the two series, which was attended by representatives of the media and film business, took place in September 2015 at the Moscow Pioneer cinema. It was attended by the producer of the picture and the Director General of Channel One Konstantin Ernst, who immediately after that signed a contract with the creators of the picture to extend the series for at least one more season. The television premiere took place in October of the same year, a new season will be released in the fall of 2019.

The main role is played by Konstantin Khabensky, his character is an extraordinary and very mysterious person. He works as an investigator, and at a very high level. They resort to his help when it is necessary to investigate complex and extremely complicated murders. He works, as a rule, alone and does not tell anyone the features of his methods. He almost always catches killers and other criminals, and he often executes them directly at arrest. One fine day, the trainee Yevgeny Steklova is assigned to him, the role of which is played by Paulina Andreeva. However, working with an extra-class investigator is not as easy as it might seem at first glance.

Benefits:

• Non-trivial plot;
• Good development of heroes;
• The atmosphere of gray reality is perfectly conveyed.

Disadvantages:

• The motivation of the protagonist in the murder of criminals is not always clear.

5. Saboteur

It was released on television in 2004, the series was written based on the novel of the same name by Anatoly Azolsky. The action takes place at the height of World War II - in 1942. The plot is based on the theme of young reconnaissance saboteurs. Young guys who have just graduated from the school of intelligence develop and implement very complex operations, operating mainly behind enemy lines. This topic has received a new and original development, the director and actors managed to bring it to a fundamentally new level. The plot is dynamic, constantly in suspense, all the stylistic tasks assigned are implemented impeccably.

At the center of the story are two young beginner scouts: 16-year-old Lenya Filatov and 20-year-old Alexei Bobrikov, who were played, respectively, by Alexey Bardukov and Alexey Solonchev. They operate under the leadership of a young lieutenant Kaltygin, whose role was perfectly played by Vladislav Galkin. Despite the fact that the series was received favorably by the audience, among critics it caused a large number of negative reviews. In particular, many of them said that the film perverts domestic history. In addition, many inconsistencies were noted - sergeants receive officer ranks without completing officer courses, and saboteurs are thrown into the rear of enemy troops with asterisks on caps.

Benefits:

• The dynamism of the plot;
• The creators tried to reveal one of the unknown pages of the Great Patriotic War.

Disadvantages:

• Grotex image of command;
• There are plot and actual inconsistencies.

4. Special Forces

He appeared on television for a long time - in 2002, not too long: it includes three episodes, a year later a sequel consisting of four episodes was released. It was originally planned to shoot about 24 episodes, but after the terrorist attack in Beslan, the head of the First Channel Konstantin Ernst decided to suspend work on the picture. In general, filming began back in 2001. Initially, Igor Lifanov, Evgeny Sidikhin and Evgeny Dyatlov were involved in the roles of central characters. Four series were shot with them, but the manual did not like the products, which is why the material was put on a shelf.

In the version, which nevertheless appeared on television screens, already quite famous actors appeared - Alexey Kravchenko, Igor Lifanov, Mikhail Porechenkov, Vladimir Turchinsky, Alexander Baluev and many others. The plot is based on completed stories about the difficult everyday lives of soldiers serving in elite units of the armed forces. They account for the most difficult operations in various hot spots located both in the country and abroad. In particular, the first episode takes place in Chechnya, where special forces capture Chechen terrorists. The second series is devoted to the history of the destruction of the terrorist Sharaf and his group, the third episode takes place in the northern capital, where special forces are fighting against counterfeiters.

Benefits:

• Dynamic development of the plot;
• Good scenery;
• Great acting.

Disadvantages:

• It's hard to call the series intellectual.

3. Streets of broken lanterns

One of the first Russian-made detective series to be released on television in 1998, but the first pilot episodes were shot three years earlier. To date, this series has as many as 16 seasons. Each series is a complete story, however there are several two-part episodes. They are dedicated to the everyday life of employees of the St. Petersburg police department. Today it is the longest running time series on air in the history of modern Russian television. The first episodes were shot based on the works of Andrei Kivinov, who worked as an employee of the murder disclosure department in the Kirov District Department of Internal Affairs of St. Petersburg. Initially, the RTR channel acted as the customer. Unfortunately, the producers refused to release products on the screens due to the low quality of sound and pictures.

Subsequently, the creators of the series bought the rights from RTR and sold them to TNT, where the premiere took place. All episodes of the first season (there are 32 episodes) were shot based on the stories of Andrei Kivinov, then there were other scriptwriters, but he remained in the project as a consultant. The viewer reacted positively both to the heroes themselves and to the atmosphere shown in the series. Critics also very favorably received, especially since the “Streets of Broken Lights” became a truly new milestone in the history of modern Russian television. The first few episodes literally pulled into aphorisms, and the episode, where the whole team of the main characters performs A. Pugacheva’s song “Call me with you”, outstripped almost everything on TV in popularity.

Benefits:

• Very lively and interesting characters, each of which is an extraordinary personality;
• Good plot moves that are almost always unpredictable;
• The Petersburg atmosphere is conveyed with all scrupulousness.

Disadvantages:

• Viewers could see this series a few years earlier.

2. The Master and Margarita

Moscow, 1934. Two writers strolling along the Patriarch Ponds. It seems to be nothing unusual, but here they come across none other than the ruler of the underworld itself.And this is only the beginning of an exciting narrative of the great master of the artistic word M.A. Bulgakova, which was filmed by no less remarkable director V. Bortko. As he himself noted in an interview, he set himself the goal of conveying the contents of the novel to the fullest and closest to the text. He succeeded, especially since he was able to attract to the work on this project a whole scattering of domestic cinema stars - O. Basilashvili, V. Galkin, K. Lavrov, S. Bezrukov, R. Kartsev and many others. The premiere took place on December 19, 2005 on the Rossiya channel; over 40 million people watched the first two episodes.

Despite the huge popularity among ordinary viewers, most critics made negative reviews, calling the series a dummy, a monstrous film, and so on. Indeed, V. Bortko took on a very difficult task - to film the most mysterious novel of Russian and Soviet literature. For the most part, he succeeded, but there were still flaws. The following move seemed quite interesting to both the audience and the critics: all the Moscow episodes were given in black and white, and the Yershalaim chapters in full color.

Benefits:

• Large-scale adaptation of one of the most popular novels of Russian literature;
• Excellent cast selection;
• The almost complete absence of blemishes and stylistic inaccuracies.

Disadvantages:

• Some discrepancy between the age of the characters and the real age of the actors.

1. The idiot

Another large-scale adaptation of the work of Russian classical literature from the famous director V. Bortko. The series includes ten episodes, the duration of each of which is 55 minutes. He was shot by the Studio 2-B-2 Entertainment company, and the Rossiya television channel acted as the customer. The series became available to a wide audience of viewers in 2003. Immediately after the release, he was nominated for many TEFI awards, and he was able to receive seven statuettes. The series came out the winner in the nominations "Best Television Feature Film", "Best Male Performer", "Best Female Performer" and so on. In the same year he won several Golden Eagle awards, also in several categories at once.

The plot is well known to all people who read the novel of the same name by F.M. Dostoevsky. Before starting filming, the director carefully studied the novel itself, the script for it, read the diaries and found places in the northern capital that were somehow related to this work. Prince Myshkin performed by Evgeni Mironov turned out to be a very lively and extraordinary character. The shooting took place precisely in those places that were reflected in the work: the group was not only in St. Petersburg, but also in Moscow, and a couple of episodes had to be shot in Switzerland. The whole props are genuine, not adapted - things were borrowed from museum compositions, antique collections. All this allowed to give the picture a real historical authenticity.

Benefits:

• High-quality adaptation of the classic work;
• Excellent cast selection;
• Detailed study of characters.

Disadvantages:

• Not found.

In custody

Our review of the best Russian TV series has come to an end. If you have not found your favorite work, you don’t need to be offended by us, as we have given the rating a certain share of subjectivity. You can tell about your favorite series in the comments to this article - it will be very interesting for us and our readers to find out which films you prefer.

(2 ratings, average: 5,00 out of 5)

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