The Best TV Shows on Central Television USSR

The love story of young Countess Natasha Rostova and Count Pierre Bezukhov is interwoven with the Great Patriotic War of 1812 against Napoleon's invading army.

What? Where? When? is an intellectual game show well known in Russian-language media and other CIS states since mid-1970s. Today it is produced for television by TV Igra on the Russian Channel One and also exists as a competitive game played in clubs organized by the World Association of Clubs. Over 17 000 teams worldwide play sport version of game, based on the TV show.

A series about the adventures of a Polish secret agent, Hans Kloss, who acts as a double agent in the Abwehr during Second World War in occupied Poland.

Alice Seleznyova, a girl from the future, finds herself 1984. Following her are the space pirates Krys and Joker Y, with most nasty pirate's intentions. Coming to her help is an ordinary boy, Kolya, and his friends from 6th grade. Based on Kir Bulychyov's 1077 novel "One Hundred Years Ahead."

Follows the comical adventures of a mischievous yet artistic wolf [Volk], trying to catch a hare [Zayats]. The series has additional characters that usually either help the hare or interfere with the wolf's plans.

The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes and Dr. Watson is a series of five films produced by Lenfilm for the Soviet Central Television, split into eleven episodes, starring Vasily Livanov as Sherlock Holmes and Vitaly Solomin as Dr. Watson. They were directed by Igor Maslennikov and filmed in Russia (the then Soviet Union) between 1979 and 1986, and the series was one of the most successful in the history of Russian television.

A Soviet spy is tasked with disrupting the negotiations between Karl Wolff and Allen Dulles taking place in Switzerland, aimed at forging a separate peace between Germany and the Western Allies.

Lord and Lady Glenarvan found a bottle in the ocean. This bottle contained a letter from Captain Grant that he and two of his sailors had survived a disaster at sea and need help. Unfortunately, the letter was damaged by water, and the latitude is known (37 degrees), but not the longitude. The Glenarvans decide to find Captain Grant.

Fitil is a popular Soviet/Russian television satirical/comedy short film series which ran for about 500 episodes. Some of the episodes were aimed at children, and were called Фитилёк, Fitilyok, Little Fuse. Each issue contained from the few short segments: documentary, fictional and animated ones. Directed by various artists, including Leonid Gaidai who presented his famous trio of Nikulin, Vitsin and Morgunov into the cast. It was called in USSR as "the anecdotes from the Soviet government".

A satirical film magazine produced by various film studios in the USSR from 1962 to 1991 and in the CIS from 1992 to 2003. The magazine's issues consisted of various stories: feature films, documentaries (with dubbed characters), and cartoons.

Set in late-1920s Soviet Union, Ostap Bender and Ippolit "Kisa" Vorobyaninov are after a stash of diamonds hidden in one of the chairs in 12-chair set. They are forced to go on a cross-country chase when the chairs are auctioned off.

The musketeers battle against the all-powerful Cardinal Richelieu and the treacherous Milady.

The second part of the series of television films based on the stories of Arthur Conan Doyle about Sherlock Holmes. The film consists of three episodes (The King of Blackmail, Mortal Fight and Tiger Hunt), filmed based on the stories of Arthur Conan Doyle "The Adventure of Charles Augustus Milverton", "The Final Problem" and "The Adventure of the Empty House", as well as small episodes from the stories "The Interpreter's Case", "Silver" and "The Retired Drunkard".

A young governess falls in love with her mysterious employer, but a terrible secret puts their happiness at risk.

The third part of the Soviet TV series based on the works of Arthur Conan Doyle about Sherlock Holmes. The events of the film take place in 1889. The country doctor Mortimer comes to Sherlock Holmes and Dr. Watson, who visited the detective's apartment the day before in his absence and forgot his cane there. Mortimer tells the legend of the Hound of the Baskervilles, a hellish hound that has been haunting the Baskerville family from Devonshire for several centuries, and reports the mysterious death of Sir Charles Baskerville, the owner of the Baskerville Hall estate. The newspapers write that Charles Baskerville's death was caused by a heart attack, allegedly he was very unwell, but Mortimer does not believe a single word of them, since he found tracks of a huge dog not far from the body of the deceased.

Leopold the Cat is a Soviet/Russian animation series about the pacifistic, and intelligent cat, Leopold. Leopold always wears a bow tie even when swimming. He is always confronted by two mischievous mice, Grey and White. It was filmed by T/O Ekran in 1975 - 1987 and its runtime is 87 min. As of 1987, there were 11 episodes in total. Eventually, in 1995, most of the episodes were released on DVD. It was directed by Anatoly Reznikov, and the screenplay was written by Arkady Hayt. Boris Savelyev wrote the score. The cinematography was by Ernst Gaman, Igor Shkamarda, and Vladimir Milovanov. Nelli Kudrina did the sound. His catchphrase is - "Let's live in friendship, guys". The catchphrases of the mice are "Come out, Leopold!" by one and "Come out, you foul coward!" by the second.

The year is 1940 and Nazi Germany is at the height of its military prowess, having captured most of Europe and eyeing the Soviet Union to the East. The Russian military command suspects hostile intent from Germany and so arranges for its spies to infiltrate ranks of the German military and the SS. Alexander Belov is a Russian spy, who travels from Soviet-held Latvia to Nazi Germany under an alias of Johann Weiss. His mastery of the German language, steel nerves and an ability to manipulate others help him to use his connections in the SS to ascend the ladder of the German intelligence. He uses his position to identify sympathetic Germans, who help him to procure vital intelligence, and to help local resistance movements in their collective fight against Nazism.

The children's humorous film magazine "Yeralash" is a one-of-a-kind work of cinematography that ironically approaches the solution of everyday problems, focusing on the views and needs of modern society, allowing different generations to achieve mutual understanding.

KVN is a Russian humour TV show and competition where teams compete by giving funny answers to questions and showing prepared sketches. The programme was first aired by the First Soviet Channel on November 8, 1961. Eleven years later, in 1972, when few programmes were being broadcast live, Soviet censors found the students' impromptu jokes offensive and anti-Soviet and banned KVN. The show was revived fourteen years later during the Perestroika era in 1986, with Alexander Maslyakov as its host. It is one of the longest-running TV programmes on Russian Television. It also has its own holiday on November 8, the birthday of the game, which KVN players celebrate every year since it was announced and widely celebrated for the first time in 2001.