Tsargrad continues to acquaint you with the rating of the best TV shows of the 21st century, compiled according to the results of a survey of Russian viewers and experts conducted by the Kinopoisk portal.
Recall project “Kinopoisk” was implemented in 2022. Survey participants could choose the best of the series that started from the early days of 2001 until the middle of 2022.
Read the previous parts of the serial rating (in order of increasing popularity, from the last, 100th place, in the list and above):
40s – “Peaky Blinders” (2013-2022, UK) – a series that is amazing in its existence. In an era of dominance in the West of militant feminism and the abolition of brutality, 6 seasons and 36 episodes filled to the brim with testosterone and adrenaline are almost a miracle. A series about a street gang from Birmingham called “Peaky Blinders” (sewn razors into the edges of caps and used hats as weapons) of the early 20th century is good for literally everyone. The main musical theme, Nick Cave’s Red Right Hand, has been playing since the first seconds of the project. The main star of the series is Cillian Murphy (Thomas Shelby, head of Peaky Blinders), who is underestimated by many as an actor because of his too cute appearance – but in vain. An excellent selection of performers, including Tom Hardy, Adrien Brody, Anya Taylor-Joy and others. And just the good old atmosphere of real gangster wars with a British accent.
Starring Cillian Murphy, Helen McCrory, Paul Anderson, Sophie Rundle and others.
39th – “Ted Lasso” (2020 – present, USA) – a wonderful comedy project, hinting that even in modern Hollywood, with its censorship rules of political correctness and gender-racial quotas, there remains a tiny, but not yet drawn-out loophole for real humor. The story of how an unlucky American football coach suddenly becomes the mentor of an English football team (we call it soccer in the States) is truly beautiful. Firstly, the Americans out loud ridicule themselves – self-confident barbarians who know nothing about the culture of other countries. Secondly, no less ironic arrows go to the pretentious British with their mania for preserving traditions and elevating football to the status of a religion. Thirdly, the performer of the role of Ted Lasso – actor Jason Sudeikis (he is also one of the creators of the series) – is a limited range performer, but in this image he hits the top ten.
Starring Jason Sudeikis, Hannah Waddingham, Jeremy Swift, Brett Goldstein and others.
38th – “Sex Education (Sex Education)” (2019 – present, UK) – the first two projects of today’s part of the list were tuned in a positive way, but modern reality quickly brought them to life. “Sexual Education”, which tells about the everyday life of high school students in the English suburbs, is positioned by the creators as a film about revealing the problems of adolescents that prevent them from fully realizing themselves and overcoming the psychological and other dangers of adolescence. And the sexual side of the narrative (which speaks “about everything” with unceremonious frankness) is, they say, only one of the components, an element of reality. This slyness – an emphasis on sexual life, which does not enlighten, but only corrupts the young viewer, is the main content of the series. Thanks to the strawberry, the project attracts attention and keeps it. Without “this”, we would have had an average level and banal content of a school melodramatic series with mediocre ratings.
Starring: Asa Butterfield, Gillian Anderson, Shuti Gatwa, Emma Mackie and others.
37th – “Ozark” (2017-2022, USA) – after all, American TV people cannot be deprived of the ability to create an exciting detective story, stuffed with family psychology and Hamlet’s torments, from the simplest scenarios. “Ozark” is the story of a financial fraudster who escaped from Chicago to a prestigious resort town. Marty Bird did not really explain the reasons for the rapid change of residence to the new neighbors. Perhaps this is somehow connected with the fact that he stole a substantial amount from the Mexican drug cartels … In this series, it is difficult to find something clearly similar to Breaking Bad, but when you watch one project, you will definitely remember another. Of course, Jason Bateman (Marty Bird) is three heads below Bryan Cranston in terms of acting, but the magnificent Laura Linney strikes the balance.
Starring: Jason Bateman, Laura Linney, Sofia Hublitz, Skylar Gaertner.
36th – “Clinic” (2001-2010, USA) – a frankly goofy comedy series about the everyday life of doctors in an American hospital has such a cult status that it is surprising to see him at such a distance from the top ten. It is unlikely that the question “What exactly do you like about the Clinic?” someone can give a reasonable answer. “It’s just very funny” – most likely, the only argument will sound like that. And this is the best feature for a comedy project. What’s the difference, due to what the viewer becomes funny? Moreover, the “Clinic” does not descend to outright vulgarity and did not have time to experience the pressure of the “agenda”.
Starring: Zach Braff, Donald Faison, Sarah Chalk, John McGinley, Judy Reye and others.
35th – “The Leftovers” (2014-2017, USA) – in 3 seasons and 28 episodes, the creators of the series (Damon Lindelof and Tom Perrotta, the author of the novel on which the plot is based) told an intricate fantasy story with religious overtones. According to the scenario, in 2011, 140 million people disappeared all over the world in an instant (as it is constantly emphasized – 2% of humanity). This led to the catastrophic decline of traditional religions and the emergence of new sects and currents, some of which are reminiscent of the prophecies of the Antichrists. As an action-packed thriller on the apocalyptic theme, The Leftovers is a very interesting and high-quality series. Only poorly disguised hostility to traditional religions spoils everything. To “delete” Christianity from history on a far-fetched pretext is very similar to theomachism. Although it seems as if you will surprise someone in the modern West with the fight against God …
Starring Justin Theroux, Amy Brenneman, Liv Tyler, Christopher Eccleston and others.
34th – “Chiki” (2020, Russia) – Eduard Oganesyan’s 8-episode project tells about four girls “with low social responsibility” in the south of Russia. Under the influence of one of them, who returned from Moscow, the former “priestesses of love from the highway” decide to start a new life and open a legal business. Thanks to the bold plot idea, the color of the domestic hinterland and good acting work, “Chiki” had a good tragicomic potential. But even talented ideas under the influence of Russophobia turn into something incomprehensible. And “Chiki” is precisely a Russophobic project – according to the authors, everything is so bad in Russia that only prostitutes can save it. All the rest are either “none” or negative. Especially domestic liberal “cultural environment” was touched by the disguised, but obvious tolerance of the series to various kinds of perversions.
33rd – “Girls” (2012-2017, USA) – the author’s project of the writer and director Lina Dunham, who wrote an autobiographical script and played the main role. The role of an aspiring writer in her early 20s who is on her way to success in the company of several girlfriends of the same age but different interests. The series is useful for getting acquainted with what modern “Western values” have already turned a part of American women into. The most dramatic thing about the project is that it is perceived more in an entertaining way, and its characters are seen as positive examples. Although the story and its characters are charming in their own way. And I must say special thanks to Adam Driver, the only important male character.
Starring: Lena Dunham, Allison Williams, Jemima Kirk, Zosia Mamet, Adam Driver.
32nd – “Brigade” (2002, Russia) – if before that there were vague doubts about how Russian in origin the rating of the best series according to the Kinopoisk poll is, now doubts have strengthened to serious suspicions. Put the “Brigade” in the 32nd position in the list? The people who have done this must be born in the 21st century without exception. That is, one cannot physically remember the stunning effect that the saga of the tragic but bright path of four friends in the “dashing 90s” produced in Russian society 20 years ago. The series by Alexei Sidorov, with all the ideological, directing and acting costs (let’s be honest – the artists played with “one or two” colors; accurately and to the point – but with one or two …) is an example of the mysterious birth of a cult work from almost nothing. From the weightless feeling of a meat grinder just experienced and the psychological need to comprehend everything in an artistic form. It is impossible to idealize the “Brigade” and its characters – but the 32nd place …
Starring – Sergey Bezrukov, Vladimir Vdovichenkov, Dmitry Dyuzhev, Pavel Maykov, Andrey Panin, Ekaterina Guseva.
31st – “Gravity Falls” (2012-2016, USA) – An animated series that tells about the holidays of a brother and sister with an extravagant but kind grandfather in the American wilderness (the fictional town of Gravity Falls, the non-fictional state of Oregon). The author of the project, Alex Hirsch, managed to create a truly authorial modern fairy tale, inspired by The Simpsons in form, and close in content to the fantastic stories that children tell each other around the campfire. By the way, does anyone know if modern children sit around fires?.. Hirsch worked thoughtfully, “sewing” into each episode a huge number of cultural references and allusions. Therefore, in 4 years only 2 seasons and 40 episodes were released. But “Gravity Falls” immediately became and remains a real phenomenon, which many subsequent animated series are guided by.
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