This time, Czech Television recalculated. The biggest competitor defeated her with her own, moreover, old weapon

There is no doubt that the program of the public channel and private stations is starting to resemble more and more. This trend, which can have a serious impact on Czech Television due to problems with its financing, is already manifested so far that, for example, Nova Television broadcasts popular series from the rich archive of ČT. And even with them, they triumphantly win the holiday battle for the highest possible viewership.

For example, on Thursday evening, the largest number of viewers chose the forty-year-old detective series produced by ČT “Małý pitaval z velky mešto”. Moreover, it is rather curious that a private station, trying to attract as many younger viewers as possible, would broadcast something like this in prime time at all.

Normalization open-air museum

However, it is quite possible that this age group watches “Pitavala” more like a parody. They joke about the crime-fighters who catch criminals in the orange-and-white Volga and the fact that it is difficult to find a single, at least slightly negative character among the “comrades”. Nevertheless, some people are not so amused and evaluate the popular series uncompromisingly: “This isn’t retro fun, this is a normalizing pink-painted open-air museum with a portion of the proceeds going to support period propaganda.” As can be seen from various discussions, the popularity of this series is rather due to the cast, for example the often neglected Vlastimil Hašek or famous bards in episodic roles, whether it is Čestmír Řanda, Ota Sklenčka, Josef Bláha, Lubomír Lipský, Josef Kemr, or Rudolf Hrušínský.

Major Jirsák

Some appreciate that it successfully evokes the atmosphere of the 1980s, for example a very popular TV show in which the Federal Criminal Investigation Department announced a search for criminals or missing persons. One of its main faces was the criminalist, Major Leoš Jirsák, who collaborated with Jaroslav Dietl on the screenplay “Malého Pitavala” and introduced him to real criminal cases. He himself appeared in a number of films and TV shows and was also the author of the subject of the controversial Czech TV series “30 cases of Major Zeman”.

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Of course, it wouldn’t be TV hitmaker Jaroslav Dietl, trying to sneak current allusions into his scripts, if he didn’t dig into the “heroes” of his time: “And hey, as soon as they announce it like that, it’s already over,” a quarrelsome pensioner, played by František Filipovský, comments on the search of the crime center. In front of the TV screen, he complains that the detectives have botched the search again: “And then they want us to rip it out for them,” he adds angrily. However, the appropriately self-confident and, for that time, unusually well-dressed criminal (Pavel Zedníček) promises “grandfather” that they will definitely find the perpetrator and of course he will fulfill his promise.

By the way, some of the scenes with Zedníček, for example when he sprawls on the table in his office and points at the map with a pencil in the episode called “Party Store Manager”, or when he does not stop his diligent search for the murderer, even when kissing his partner, really have an impact as a parody of crime fiction.

Viewers can watch the series Malý pitaval from the big city on Thursday evenings on Nova, or in a rerun on Saturday after lunch.

Source: Television Nova, Czech Television, ČSFD.cz