The Last Man on Earth on 1+1

Now that Russian serials are banned, the Ukrainian television space is gradually beginning to get renewed. New national serial film projects have been launched, and some products have even been shown and stirred up heated discussions among the viewers. The 1+1 channel has gone farther in creating its own content. From October 24 on, at 00:30 every Sunday night, the channel will be broadcasting an English-language serial with Ukrainian subtitles.

The Ukrainian TV circles have been discussing the idea of beaming serials in the native language for quite some time – mostly in the context of a community broadcaster, for this is a social rather than a popularity-seeking project (as far as national audiences are concerned). Yet 1+1 decided to take a risk. The first to be broadcast is the American post-apocalyptic comedy serial The Last Man on Earth. The channel and the Web are already showing a trailer, which not only intrigues the viewers, but also explains interestingly the idea of showing an English-language soap opera on Ukrainian television.

In addition to broadcasting an English-language serial, 1+1 is launching a social project, Common Language, which the channel has drawn up together with the pressure group “November 21” (incidentally, 1+1 Director General Oleksandr Tkachenko is a member of this group. Each of the serial’s episodes will be preceded by the story of a well-known person, which smashes foreign language learning stereotypes. In the program’s debut on October 24, Sviatoslav Vakarchuk, the front man of the group Okean Elzy and the coach of “This Country’s Voice,” will share his experience. On the whole, 1+1 has prepared nine personal stories of the people of different walks of life, who share their own experience of learning a foreign language and overcoming the linguistic and psychological barrier. The problem is being tackled from two angles – a deep and serious one on the part of an adult and a light and ingenuous one on the part of a child. There will be some interesting family stories, for example, of a 78-year-old woman who learned English by means of a dictionary in order to see her daughter’s family in the US. There will also be stories about ingenuous children, e.g., about a young girl who wrote a letter to the British queen, and the stories of book buffs, for instance, of a polyglot who learned English on Agatha Christie’s audio-books, etc. Among the project participants are such widely-known individuals as the abovementioned Sviatoslav Vakarchuk, the musician Oleh Skrypka, and the soccer coach Serhii Rebrov.

“The channel management hit upon the idea of showing English-language serials with Ukrainian subtitles in the spring of this year. We decided to implement it in May,” says 1+1 program manager Andrii KOVAL. “We think a lot of people want to learn English now, but they lack motivation. So, this both entertaining and educational project will help boost this motivation in TV viewers. By showing serials in the original language, we hope to attract an additional audience – highly educated and perhaps better-off people who are usually unwilling to watch Ukrainian television. We still think this product will get them interested. In general, we expect to see average ratings in the post-prime slot. In addition to The Last Man on Earth, we plan to show Empire, another cult serial of 2015. Follow the announcements!”