TMC
10-22-2021, 10:10 PM
https://melmagazine.com/en-us/story/russian-married-with-children
‘Married… with Children’ was way bigger in the Motherland than it ever was in America
Until 2004, there was really no such thing as a Russian sitcom, or at least, not a successful one. While the country has a proud tradition of comedy on stage and on film, Russian comedy on TV is quite a different story. “During the Soviet Union, the only comedy on television was sketch comedy and improv competitions,” explains sociology professor Jeffrey Brassard. Then, after the Soviet Union fell in 1991, Russia couldn’t afford to make much of anything, so all they had was dubbed versions of American shows and a few failed attempts to make their own situation comedies.
All of that changed in 2004 with Moya Prekrasnaya Nyanya — or My Fair Nanny — a Russian remake of The Nanny. Licensed by Sony, Moya Prekrasnaya Nyanya used the scripts from the original series, translated them, adjusted some jokes for Russian sensibilities and then taped them using their own actors. It was a smash hit, but its mantle as Russia’s number one comedy would soon be overtaken by something even bigger.
Premiering on March 8, 2006, Schastlivy Vmeste — or Happy Together — was the Russian adaptation of Married… with Children. Utilizing the same formula as Moya Prekrasnaya Nyanya, the show used the original scripts of the FOX sitcom, translated them, adjusted the jokes and performed them with their own cast of Russian actors. While it stumbled at first, the show would soon become Russia’s hottest comedy.
So successful was the sitcom that they ended up running out of American scripts to adapt and they soon began writing their own. All told, Schastlivy Vmeste ran for 365 episodes — compared to the 259 episodes of Married… with Children — and the show turned its stars into household names in Russia. Most impressively, in the Russian city of Yekaterinburg, where Schastlivy Vmeste takes place, a statue of Gena Bukin — the Russian Al Bundy — now stands in a public square.
This is the story of Schastlivy Vmeste, or how the most “American” of American sitcoms became Russia’s biggest comedy hit.
Author’s note: Several people involved in this oral history are ESL speakers, so their words have been edited for clarity as needed.
‘Married… with Children’ was way bigger in the Motherland than it ever was in America
Until 2004, there was really no such thing as a Russian sitcom, or at least, not a successful one. While the country has a proud tradition of comedy on stage and on film, Russian comedy on TV is quite a different story. “During the Soviet Union, the only comedy on television was sketch comedy and improv competitions,” explains sociology professor Jeffrey Brassard. Then, after the Soviet Union fell in 1991, Russia couldn’t afford to make much of anything, so all they had was dubbed versions of American shows and a few failed attempts to make their own situation comedies.
All of that changed in 2004 with Moya Prekrasnaya Nyanya — or My Fair Nanny — a Russian remake of The Nanny. Licensed by Sony, Moya Prekrasnaya Nyanya used the scripts from the original series, translated them, adjusted some jokes for Russian sensibilities and then taped them using their own actors. It was a smash hit, but its mantle as Russia’s number one comedy would soon be overtaken by something even bigger.
Premiering on March 8, 2006, Schastlivy Vmeste — or Happy Together — was the Russian adaptation of Married… with Children. Utilizing the same formula as Moya Prekrasnaya Nyanya, the show used the original scripts of the FOX sitcom, translated them, adjusted the jokes and performed them with their own cast of Russian actors. While it stumbled at first, the show would soon become Russia’s hottest comedy.
So successful was the sitcom that they ended up running out of American scripts to adapt and they soon began writing their own. All told, Schastlivy Vmeste ran for 365 episodes — compared to the 259 episodes of Married… with Children — and the show turned its stars into household names in Russia. Most impressively, in the Russian city of Yekaterinburg, where Schastlivy Vmeste takes place, a statue of Gena Bukin — the Russian Al Bundy — now stands in a public square.
This is the story of Schastlivy Vmeste, or how the most “American” of American sitcoms became Russia’s biggest comedy hit.
Author’s note: Several people involved in this oral history are ESL speakers, so their words have been edited for clarity as needed.