Evening with Vladimir Solovyov

NTV (2005-2008)

At the beginning of 2005, on NTV channel , where after the closure of the program “ Namedni ”, “ Freedom of Speech ”, “ Red Arrow ” and “Personal Contribution” a year earlier, almost no analytical programs on relevant topics remained ^[7] , it was decided to create talk show, which would take over the functions of all closed transmissions ^[8] . The idea of ​​the program belonged to the then main NTV producer Alexander Levin ^[7] .

The first talk show was aired on March 27, 2005, although it was originally planned for February 20, 2005. The reason for the transfer of the program’s air was due to technical reasons - the unavailability of the studio scenery in Ostankino by the date of the first air ^[9] . Other reasons were mentioned related to the unsuccessful pilot release and the presence of politically incorrect passages in it, but they were soon refuted ^[10] .

The program had a time of 1 hour and came out in the format of a television magazine. This television magazine, according to the creators, was supposed to synthesize elements of talk shows and just shows, interviews, TV bridges, documentaries and computer animation ^[7] . The program was attended by the main newsmakers of the outgoing week, invited experts and viewers. The range of topics was not limited solely to political topics - social issues (the threat of bird flu , xenophobia as a mirror of Russian reality, etc.) and events in the sphere of show business ^[7] and sports ( Winter Olympic Games 2006 ) could become a reason for discussion. in Italian Turin ) ^[11] . Each block of transmission that began after the ad block was dedicated to its topic, and it was already discussed with a different composition of participants. For the transfer could discuss up to 3 topics. In contrast to the previous Sunday’s analytical projects of the Itogi and the Other Day channels, the participation of correspondents of the NTV Information Service ^{[7] was} not meant in Sunday evening. Recording of the broadcast, shown on Sunday, took place on Saturday evening ^[12] .

Sunday Evening with Vladimir Solovyov from NTV was being prepared by the same drafting group that worked on his other program - “ Go to the barrier! ". She invited a politically and (or) economically savvy crowd to the program. A strict dress code, an active audience position and cues from the audience were welcomed, especially active spectators had the right to speak at the “free microphone” ^[13] . The program was released on Sundays at 22:00 (one time - at a time not typical of similar programs at 22:22) ^[14] and began with the screensaver of the NTV clock dial counting the last seconds before the start - the same as before the Today programs and The other day.

The first issues were extremely crude in construction and aired with extremely low rating indicators for NTV at 5.2% with an audience share of 11.7% ^[14] . By the end of the television season, “Sunday Evening” was perhaps the only successful idea of ​​Alexander Levin, collecting a stable audience from the screens ^[15] . Soloviev said that “Sunday evening” was created and existed not so much as the final analytical program, but rather the author’s program ^[12] , as “the transfer of influence, which was very close and dear to him”. It was in her, according to him, that Dmitry Medvedev first appeared in a new capacity, with Bush , Saakashvili , Kudrin , Gref performing ^[16] . In the issue of January 22, 2006, Michel Legrand spoke in the last block of the program in the studio.

In August 2008, Sunday Night with Vladimir Solovyov on NTV was closed as a project that completed its tasks in the pre-election year, both before the parliament and before the presidential election ^[17] . Although the channel, as usual, did not officially participate in campaigning for candidates and did not provide them with airtime ^[18] . There was a version that the program could be closed due to low ratings ^{[16] [19]} , but it was disproved by Solovyov, saying that according to ratings his program was often ahead of Channel One , where broadcasts of professional boxing matches went along with it ^{[ 20]} .

The host wanted to devote the first program in the 2008/2009 season to the war in South Ossetia ^[16] .

In the period from September 2008 to April 2009, the presenter was still listed on the channel as the presenter of the program "To the barrier!" ^{[21] [22]} , closed in May 2009. Solovyov still does not know the exact reason for his dismissal from the channel, but suggests that this could happen because of dissatisfaction with his statements on the radio ^[23] (in particular, in the Nightingale Trills program on Silver Rain Radio, Soloviev mentioned that the entire judicial system in Russia is subordinate to Valery Boev, the rector of the president’s administration for personnel matters and state awards, which the latter perceived as slander ^[24] ). According to Stringer news agency, the dismissal was due to the fact that Solovyov accused candidate for chairmen of the FAS MO , fellow student Dmitry Medvedev of LSU Valery Adamova (her husband Oleg Adamov at that time was the first deputy general director of NTV) in obtaining financial income with the help of the government Moscow ^[25] .

Russia-1 (since 2012)

They returned to the idea of ​​a Sunday talk show with Vladimir Solovyov only 4 years after closing ^[26] . By that time, its author and presenter had already switched to the All-Russian State Television and Radio Broadcasting Company , where he did his talk show “ Duel ” on the channel “ Russia-1 ”.

On September 9, 2012, the first release of the program on the Russia-1 channel was released under the name “Opening of a new political season” ^{[27] [28]} , and since September 16 it has been released under the permanent title “Sunday evening with Vladimir Solovyov”. The program began to appear on Rossiya-1 at a later time and with more extended timing. As before, from 3 to 4 topics with different composition of participants that changed after each ad unit began to be discussed for the transfer. In the first season and part of the second (before the aggravation of the political situation in Ukraine), the program’s broadcasts aired at 23:30 ^[29] , and from April 20, 2014 it began to air in the time slot 22: 00-23: 00 after the program “ Vesti Nedeli ” with Dmitry Kiselyov . Also, since 2014, the program always ends later than the time specified in the TV program, shifting down all the other films and broadcasts standing after Sunday Night ^[30] .

Since 2013, the program has been released in high definition on the Russia HD TV channel (since July 2016 - Russia-1 HD) according to the same schedule as the original version of Russia-1.

After the start of events in Ukraine ( Euromaidan ), in January 2014 the number of program releases on busy days began to increase ^[31] . As a rule, they began to occupy the timeslot in the grid after 21:00, in which Russian series were previously released. Almost all such editions of Sunday Night were distinguished by pronounced harsh statements by the presenter and speakers on the situation in Ukraine and its political figures ^{[32] [33]} . A broadcasting schedule was sent to all television programs during the week of February 17-23, 2014, where the program “Sunday evening.” Was indicated in the evening block. Olympic issue. " According to the name, it was planned to discuss the results of the day at the Winter Olympic Games in Sochi . Despite this, most often in these issues, in connection with the prevailing circumstances, events in Kiev were discussed in the identical negative way as before ^[34] .

From March ^[35] to July 2014, in light of the increasing international tension regarding the events in the Crimea and the Donbass , special editions of Sunday Night were broadcast on Fridays at 21:00 or later ^[36] (in print programs instead of Sunday evenings "always indicated" Duel "). In 2014–2016, the program went on summer vacation, shorter than the rest of the programs on Rossiya-1 TV channel, and began to appear more and more unscheduled instead of the films and series shown in all print programs ^[37] , usually after Sunday issues of the Vesti program in the format of the Vesti Nedeli. Since 2017, Sunday Night has not gone on summer vacation at all.

Since September 22, 2014 almost daily (depending on the events), the air has been broadcasting under the name “Evening with Vladimir Solovyov” ^[38] , which, as a rule, have less airtime than “Sunday evening”. At first, they went on the air at 21: 00-21: 30, later they moved to the block after 23:00. The first issue of “Evenings” under the corresponding heading was devoted to the discussion of the opposition “Peace March” against the war with Ukraine , where, in addition to the standard set of participants, the opposition politician Vladimir Ryzhkov participated ^[38] . After the closure of the programs “Duel” and “ Special Correspondent ” in October 2017, “Evening” took their time slots, thereby leaving Monday through Thursday.

The composition of the invited participants in the studio from transmission to transmission, basically, does not change. The same people began to take part in almost every issue: Vladimir Zhirinovsky , Gennady Zyuganov , Sergey Mironov , Pavel Astakhov , Dmitry Kulikov , Vyacheslav Nikonov ^[37] , Sergey Kurginyan , Igor Korotchenko ^[39] , Sergey Zheleznyak ^[40] . Later, Evgeny Satanovsky ^[41] , Sergey Mikheev , Elena Suponina, Semyon Bagdasarov , Michael Bom ^[42] , Boris Nadezhdin , Alexey Pushkov , Vadim Karasev , Vadim Tryukhan ^[43] , Vyacheslav Kovtun, Elena Bondarenko and others were added to them. The practice of Solovyov’s conversation in the studio with an invited guest in private, which was widely used at NTV, continued: most often Dmitry Kiselev , Evgeny Satanovsky or Maria Zakharova were in the guest’s position ^{[44] [45]} .

In an interview with Boris Korchevnikov in the program “The Fate of a Man”, Solovyov ranked Satanovsky, Mikheev, Kulikov and other similar political scientists as his promotion and “launch into orbit” ^[46] .

Starting March 25, 2018, the Sunday program will be aired from the new studio at Mosfilm (where the pre -election debate was held earlier) and with a new screensaver.

Starting from September 2, 2018, the spin-off of Sunday Evening will be released - the program Moscow. Kremlin. Putin ”, in which all attention is paid to the activities of Russian President Vladimir Putin . She took the time slot immediately after Vesti Nedeli, and Sunday Night itself began to appear a little later - in the interval 22: 30-23: 00.

According to television critic Sergei Varshavchik, “Sunday Evening” on NTV “looked more like an entertainment than an information program, and made an impression of imitating social-analytical programs” ^[47] . Elena Afanasyeva noted that “Sunday evening with Vladimir Solovyov” on NTV is “a show in which the main thing is not guests and not topics, but, as always and everywhere, Vladimir Solovyov himself” ^[48] . In another article, Solovyov was described to her as “a showman from political analytics” ^[49] .

Russian television journalist Vladimir Kara-Murza Sr. sharply criticized Solovyov’s programs after 2014 for their subject matter and almost never changing and pretentious composition of their participants:

“ The roles of the“ experts ”are still the same greasy deck. At first, these irresponsible talkers vilified Ukraine for almost two years. Then, when the failed topic was ordered to quietly collapse, switched to Paris . And now the same people are telling us about Syria , a downed plane and the fight against terrorism ^[50] . ”

- Vladimir Kara-Murza-st.

Russian and Ukrainian journalist Ayder Muzhdabaev , deputy general director of the Ukrainian television channel ATR , targeted at the Crimean Tatar population, also sharply criticizes Solovyov’s programs:

“ Everything is there, from beginning to end, one hundred percent lie and hell . It lasts two and a half hours. And something like this happens every day on all channels - in the news, “analytical” programs, etc. <...> What kind of Goebbels is there with a miserable radio and newspapers. The world never knew such brainwashing. And here I already don’t know whether we should blame the Russians or sympathize with them (those who do not kill and do not propaganda, of course) ^[51] . ”

- Ayder Muzhdabaev

In August 2017, the Russia-1 and RTR-Planet television channels were criticized by the Lithuanian Radio and Television Commission for inciting war and hatred through a series of broadcasts on these channels ^[52] . The Lithuanian authorities were outraged by the content of the May 31, 2017 issue of Solovyov’s program, during which LDPR leader Vladimir Zhirinovsky proposed “to put forward an ultimatum to the Baltic states so that they would withdraw all NATO troops 300 kilometers from the borders of Russia,” and if they do not, then - “Take certain measures” ^[53] . In response to the allegations, the head of the Directorate of International Relations of the All-Russian State Television and Radio Broadcasting Company, Peter Fedorov, stated that all reproaches regarding the content of such programs are unfair, and the experts ’opinions are“ people freely express their point of view ” ^[52] .

A negative reaction of some viewers and television critics was caused by the release of the program of March 25, 2018, which was not overturned in accordance with the fire in the Winter Cherry shopping center in the city of Kemerovo . At the time when the deaths of 37 people had already been confirmed, the guests in the studio were discussing Solovyov’s film “World Order-2018” and the poisoning of Sergey Skripal ; the fire was devoted only one direct inclusion for all airtime ^{[54] [55]} .

In the case of large-scale emergencies or important events in the country or abroad, the program goes unscheduled without a fixed timing of the time on the air.

• On December 2, 2007 ^[56] and March 2, 2008 ^[57] , NTV aired special issues of the program dedicated to summing up the results of the parliamentary and presidential elections in Russia . Politicians and political scientists participated in the program, and two lines were also established for SMS voting and answers to questions posed by the program’s editors. They contained 2 possible answers - “Yes” and “No”. Эфир перемежался с включениями из студии программы « Сегодня », где работали ведущие Кирилл Поздняков , Алексей Пивоваров и Александр Яковенко .
• Аналогичные спецвыпуски вышли на канале «Россия-1» 18 сентября 2016 года и 18 марта 2018 года ^[58] . Они были посвящены итогам выборов в Государственную думу VII созыва и выборов Президента России соответственно, но в этих случаях отсутствовало SMS -голосование. В 2016 году эфир прерывался на включения программы « Вести » с Эрнестом Мацкявичюсом , в 2018 году — на специальные выпуски программы « 60 минут » с Евгением Поповым и Ольгой Скабеевой .
• 28 февраля 2015 года в 14:20 вышел специальный выпуск программы, посвящённый убийству российского политического и государственного деятеля, сопредседателя партии РПР-ПАРНАС Бориса Немцова ^[59] .
• 28 сентября 2015 года с 17:20 до 20:00 и с 21:00 до 2:00 выходили специальные выпуски программы, посвящённые речи Владимира Путина на Генеральной Ассамблее ООН , включавшие в себя и прямую трансляцию самой речи ^{[60] [61]} .
• 24 июля 2016 года, когда решался вопрос, допускать ли россиян на Летние Олимпийские игры в Рио-де-Жанейро или нет, в воскресенье также выходил выпуск программы по данной тематике ^{[11] [62]} .
• 7 ноября 2017 года вышел специальный выпуск программы, посвящённый 100-летию Октябрьской революции .
• С 28 февраля по 15 марта 2018 года, в период предвыборной агитации, в рамках эфирного времени программы выходил блок теледебатов с участием кандидатов на пост Президента РФ ^[63] .
• 14 апреля 2018 года в субботний эфир вышел специальный выпуск программы, посвящённый авиаударам коалиции по Сирии .

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