"Of course, we made a present to those politicians who feel sure that
they decide everything in this country," says Lavrenty Malazoniya, adding
in support of his and Vyacheslav Pikhovshek's statement for Interfax, "However,
there was no political pressure on 'Fifth Corner.' We decided to wrap up
this television program solely because of internal differences."
"Both of us have always attached the greatest importance to quality
and perfection always means stress. It is extremely exhausting, and Vyacheslav
just got tired," continues Mr. Malazoniya, the program's producer and director.
I also think that's the essence of what happened. Both he and Mr. Pikhovshek
claim the last show three weeks ago, transmitted live and in a new format,
obviously lacked depth and had purely technical shortcomings. Yet this
was not the program's death sentence, for the project could easily return
to showing its teeth and real class. Personally, I think they overstate
somewhat. The fatigue they refer to must have been caused by precisely
their inability to reach the professional level these ambitious and talented
journalists wanted.
Of course, one may well ask whether this loss of quality was inevitable,
programmed by the pettiness and grayness of the Ukrainian political establishment.
However, Pikhovshek and Malazoniya mustered the courage to make this crucial
decision (Lavrenty says that for Vyacheslav taking this step was as easy
as putting a gun to the head and pulling the trigger) and they deserve
praise for it.
Naturally, this is my personal assumption and perhaps there is nothing
extraordinary about the situation. Every broadcast project comes to an
end sooner or later, so one can only sympathize with the 1+1 Channel which
failed to foresee it. Deputy General Producer Mykola Veresen insists that
their decision to end "Fifth Corner" left management in shock. It came
out of the blue. Yet there is little doubt that 1+1 will take this blow
in stride, the way it already has on more than one occasion. This loss
will serve as an impetus to further creative quest. Remember Anatoly Borsiuk's
anemic "Night Talk with a Woman" and its final closure which resulted in
the appearance of "Monologues," one of the most interesting programs on
today's Ukrainian television? By the way, Lavrenty Malazoniya is not giving
up further projects using new television technologies made up of various
most unexpected segments (something he has always been particularly interested
in). Let us just wait and see.
PS: Contrary to what the "Fifth Corner" authors state, some experts
maintain that their decision to close the program was caused by "requests"
received from certain political figures bypassing Oleksandr Rodniansky.






