Attempts to popularize the army in the eyes of conscripts on our television with varying intensity have been made for many years. From time to time, various serials about army life are filmed and sentimental songs are invented, under which credits float across the screen. Very good actors are often involved in filming. And all to no avail - the popularity of the army was not, and is not. The people are looking, but they are not in a hurry to join the army, realizing the difference between the service of the serial and the real one. It is about the same as between the circus and life.
But the television bosses, together with the Ministry of Defense, are not aware of this. Therefore, as reported by many media outlets, it was decided to hit the conscripts' minds with the main television caliber for this audience - a reality show such as "Dom-2". In fact, who watches the series? Mostly housewives, and they are as far from the service as from the moon. We do not call women, neither young, nor, moreover, the elderly. But "Dom-2" is watched by young people, here the market niche is determined with maximum accuracy. But this is where the accuracy ends, then there are some miscalculations that are already visible now, even before the start of the project.
The show called "Army" is planned to be launched on Channel One in July. But the principle of recruiting participants will not be the same as in a commercially successful prototype. No castings - the participants will simply be appointed from among the "stars" of show business, sports and politics. Something tells us that there will be more pop singers there than others, because there are not so many young famous politicians and they are difficult for teenagers to recognize. And athletes need to train. There will be about twenty participants in total, which will be enough for two army tents.
It was decided not to build any houses for them, but to get by with tents, and this speaks of the low budget of the project or that the participation of famous "soldiers" is not cheap and needs to be saved.
The fact that there will be at least two tents is clear from the fact that, as announced, not only boys, but also girls will take part in the show. This is the second stretch of the project - women, as already mentioned, are not subject to conscription and their participation in the project is dictated only by the need to create a love affair.
Indeed, the participants of "House-2", in accordance with the concept of the transfer, are building a house and love. The second is more than the first. And the members of the "Army" will get their homes, that is, tents, ready-made, and they will only have to build love and, along the way, shoot back and forth from military weapons that will be provided to them along the way. It is reported that these will be not only machine guns, but also grenade launchers with tanks (I would not like to have a dacha next to the filming of "Army". - Approx. Auth.). However, real officers will be instructing the stuffed soldiers and soldiers, and this allows us to hope that accidents will not happen.
It is also easy to imagine the structure of the future project: morning shooting, afternoon rest, evening shura-moors. A sort of army skit with beer, in no way capable of competing with football.
The shooting site will be the Taman division's training ground in Alabin near Moscow. Construction materials, workers and television equipment will be delivered there during the week.
The show will run in the evening prime time. It will be in the same company with "Star Dances" and "Ice Age", according to a source on the channel. The composition of the participants and presenters is kept in the strictest confidence.
A headache for the organizers is to determine which of the army standards will be pulled by the pampered "stars", and which ones are better off. And, of course, as already mentioned, the main thing is that they do not hurt themselves against real weapons and do not hurt others. It is known that not all of them served in the army, and all sorts of faces can nevertheless be suitable for shooting.
Last year, for example, Vladimir Zhirinovsky offered Timati his help in getting him into the army. As you know, the military registration and enlistment office rejected the artist for the reason that more than 50% of his skin area is covered with tattoos. Vladimir Volfovich considered that this was in vain and a one-year service would only increase Timati's popularity among fans.
It should be noted that there is evidence of this. At one time, service in the army raised Elvis Presley to the pinnacle of popularity. True, there he became addicted to psychostimulants, which later ruined him. But that is a completely different story, and the army there was real, and not television, as in our case. So, it would be very interesting to see Timati in the project. Maybe they'll take him there?
Now regarding the way of life and believability. It is very curious whether the "stars" will go home after filming or will they stay in tents? Will they be tonsured according to the army model, or will they be allowed to walk in stubble and hair? The detail is small, but important for reliability.
Most importantly, will they show bullying in the show, or will they again pretend that it is not there? Will there be "spirits", "scoops", "demobilization" here, as it is in real life? Will we see officers who are not in charge of order in the barracks? Will the "stars" eat real soldier's food made from cereals, dried potatoes, low-quality stew, or will they be brought in dinners from the nearest Italian restaurant?
It is also a pity that the project will come to television screens only now, and not two years ago. Then the dwarf Vovchik, an excellent comedian, was still alive and was actively filming. He would fit this project very well and could play here the commander of the tent unit. With the total amount of pretensions and conventions, this would not in the least damage the credibility of the "kin", and perhaps even strengthen it. And in this case, an announcer for deaf and dumb viewers would look very organic in the corner of the screen. They would surely have believed everything that was happening. Because the real conscripts, it seems to us, will not believe, and the mere opportunity to shoot from combat "bunches" will not attract them to the army.
