New comedy series on Czech public television to feature crude humor, racist remarks and vulgar language
A new comedy miniseries called “Most!”, which is a joint project of director Jan Prušinovský and screenwriter Petr Kolečko, will begin on 7 January on Czech Television’s Channel 1. In eight episodes it will follow the stories of people from the northern Bohemian town of that name.
The writing features crude humor and characters who speak in vulgar language and comment on racial or social minority groups. Performers and producers held a screening of some of the content in November for journalists.
“Petr Kolečko needs to be in a tight space, to really bite into something, and then he knows how to be mercilessly funny. For that reason we were looking for something that requires that kind of merciless humor. We told each other that the subject could be the fear that generates xenophobia and other types of fear. It’s sharper, that’s the essence of it,” creative producer Michal Reitler said.
“For a comedy to be good it must touch on something that is a big deal, something that hurts. This series, I think, will inflict some pain on some people here and there, from time to time, and that’s good,” Reitler told the press.
The plot of the miniseries takes place in the city of Most, in actual locations such as the Severka restaurant. Of course, Kolečko says the aim is not to generally characterize local residents in a certain way.
“The story just happens there. There are themes in it, though, that are probably significant for Most or for that region,” said the author.
The main role, a peculiar character named Lud’an, is played by Martin Hoffman. Opinions about how to conceptualize the protagonist differed among the creative team during the development of the series.
While Kolečko saw Lud’an as more of a blockhead who avoids conflict and wants to get along with everybody, Prušinovský sensed the potential for a certain boorishness. “He’s an example of a bull in a china shop, an egoist who loses because he is so sure of himself and follows his own instant judgments,” the director characterizes the protagonist.
Prušinovský decided to collaborate on the project after its basic framework was created. “Sincerely, I did not decide that I would like to do it until after I was in Most. I wanted to know what Petr was writing about, basically, to comprehend it,” the director said.
In association with the inclusion of themes such as homophobia, racism and transgender issues in the plot, the director did continual research to familiarize himself with each issue. “One needs to know more about such things in order to keep a balance during production,” he said.
The series will be the sixth joint project of the director and screenwriter. It was first presented to audiences in May of this year at the Brno-based festival of online broadcasting and television series called Serial Killer.
In June they screened “Most!” together with their coworkers at the Kosmos cinema in Most itself and also held pre-premieres in another five Czech cities. According to the producers the responses to the screenings were especially positive.
