Watching Soviet TV in the Early 1980's. Life in the USSR

Поділитися
Вставка
  • Опубліковано 16 чер 2024
  • My recollections of watching Soviet TV programming in the 1980s, when I was a kid and a teenager. Soviet state propaganda. Soviet news program "Vremya" (TIME), occasional cartoons, lack of commercials, and so on.
    0:00 Intro
    0:14 The video discusses how in the USSR, government-controlled salaries led to workers seeking extra benefits through stealing or finding alternative work.
    3:41 The video discusses the prevalence of stealing and sharing of goods in certain locations in the Soviet Union.
    7:12 The video discusses various methods of smuggling liquids from a workplace, such as wine or cheese, using hot water bottles and hiding spots.
    10:35 The video is about funny stories of people sneaking items out of their workplace in Soviet society.
    14:00 A kid recalls a funny story of being sent to a construction site to get cement by his mom.
    Recap by Tammy AI
    My books about arriving in America are available on my site:
    www.sputnikoff.com/shop
    Amazon: www.amazon.com/dp/B08DJ7RNTC
    "Ushanka Show" is a collection of stories about life in the USSR.
    SOVIET EDUCATION: • SOVIET EDUCATION
    SOVIET LEADERS: • SOVIET LEADERS
    CHERNOBYL STORIES: • Chernobyl's Dirty Litt...
    SOVIET AUTOMOBILES: • Chernobyl's Dirty Litt...
    SOVIET MUSIC: • SOVIET MUSIC
    SOVIET MONEY: • SOVIET MONEY
    SOVIET HUMOR: • Video
    My FB: / sergei.sputnikoff.1
    Twitter: / ushankashow
    Instagram: / ushanka_show
    You can support this project here: / sputnikoff with monthly donations
    Support for this channel via PAYPAL: paypal.me/ushankashow

КОМЕНТАРІ • 947

  • @UshankaShow
    @UshankaShow  3 роки тому +155

    Hello, comrades!
    My name is Sergei. I was born in the USSR in 1971. Since 1999 I have lived in the USA.
    Ushanka Show channel was created to share stories as well as my own memories of everyday life in the USSR.
    My book about arriving in America in 1995 is available on Sputnikoff.com
    or Amazon:
    www.amazon.com/dp/B08DJ7RNTC
    Please contact me at sergeisputnikoff@gmail.com if you would like to purchase a signed copy of “American Diaries”
    You can support this project here: www.patreon.com/sputnikoff with monthly donations
    Support for this channel via PAYPAL: paypal.me/ushankashow
    Ushanka Show merchandise:
    teespring.com/stores/ushanka-show-shop
    If you are curious to try some of the Soviet-era candy and other foodstuffs, please use the link below.
    www.russiantable.com/imported-russian-chocolate-mishka-kosolapy__146-14.html?tracking=5a6933a9095f9
    My FB: facebook.com/sergey.sputnikoff
    Twitter: twitter.com/ushankashow
    Instagram: instagram.com/ushanka_show/
    Reddit: www.reddit.com/r/The_Ushanka_Show/

    • @Sairam004
      @Sairam004 2 роки тому +7

      Vladimir Putin is trying to revive Soviet union back I guess......

    • @frodolives8969
      @frodolives8969 2 роки тому +1

      Thank you, Comrade! I enjoyed your program.

    • @ricardoyamada6409
      @ricardoyamada6409 2 роки тому +1

      I went with my father to " soyuz socialistiski soviestiski respusblik" in 84.
      I was 6,but remembered of two things: the cold and the hospitality of russian people.
      Drug Sergey,udachi tebe,tvoim blizkim i tvoyemu kanalu. Privet iz Brazilli!!!

    • @thehillbillygamer2183
      @thehillbillygamer2183 Рік тому

      You realize almost all Hollywood movies and say the past 12 years 15 years 99% of them is sjw leftist propaganda and the news is worse it's all left as propaganda except for Fox News and you know that's the opposite but there's no actual just the facts news like there should be just the facts that's what I want just the fact I don't want your f****** opinions I don't want your leftist leaning b******* I want the news just the facts

    • @thehillbillygamer2183
      @thehillbillygamer2183 Рік тому

      You realize that 99% of All American News is propaganda for the Democratic party the sjw is the feminist the gays

  •  5 років тому +745

    We had commercials in Czechoslovakia. It was like, drink milk! eat eggs! garlic is healthy! cabbage salad!

    • @UshankaShow
      @UshankaShow  5 років тому +202

      Fly Aeroflot, the only airline in the Soviet Union!

    • @Pidalin
      @Pidalin 5 років тому +53

      @@UshankaShow Flying was sci-fi for people here. My father flied to Kyrgyzstan because of work but I don't know any other people who were in plane in communism era.

    • @1000eau
      @1000eau 5 років тому +17

      There was also those types of commercials in France until 1968.

    • @Salman-sc8gr
      @Salman-sc8gr 5 років тому +22

      That was good,rather than American GMO junk food ads

    • @Prairielander
      @Prairielander 5 років тому +5

      I think the state has gone too far when it spends your wealth for advertisements like that.

  • @Violent2aShadow
    @Violent2aShadow 5 років тому +330

    "I would understand that you play commercials before the movie and, maybe after the movie. But to stop the movie right in the mid-"
    * *UA-cam Commercial starts playing* *

    • @ultraloyalservant2felineov41
      @ultraloyalservant2felineov41 4 роки тому +20

      Before there was no DVR to record, pause or forward shows. So commercials was an an opportunity to use the bathroom real quick

    • @danika725
      @danika725 4 роки тому +1

      adblock ;)

    • @anetawierzbowska5085
      @anetawierzbowska5085 4 роки тому +3

      @@danika725 i don't think there's adblock for the app

    • @lisaschuster9187
      @lisaschuster9187 4 роки тому +1

      Aneta Wierzbowska The only adblocker is to SUBSCRIBE.

    • @Mynipplesmychoice
      @Mynipplesmychoice 4 роки тому

      Ohhhhhhhhhb the irrrrrrrrrroooooonnnnnnnnyyyyyy ha ah hahaha hahaha haha u aha
      What is it like to be the on only person in the world to come up with that jk. U have a business card? U do parties???????

  • @mirka
    @mirka 5 років тому +229

    Talk about shock of a commercial: I moved to US in 1990, rarely watched TV as I was working a lot. August 1991 heard about coup d'état attempt in Moscow, switched on CNN and saw Yeltsin climbing the tank to give a talk. Unfortunately there was a commercial break and I never heard what he had to say, as it was live from Moscow :-)

    • @thebiggestofchungi3538
      @thebiggestofchungi3538 5 років тому +39

      Really? You would think that the speech would have been more important than an ad for soap or whatever else it was trying to sell you

    • @mirka
      @mirka 5 років тому +47

      @@thebiggestofchungi3538 not for American TV, commercials are breaking AnY news , automatically. AT least it was this way in 1991.

    • @thebiggestofchungi3538
      @thebiggestofchungi3538 5 років тому +7

      @@mirka oh well thanks for informing me

    • @ParkerUAS
      @ParkerUAS 5 років тому +32

      Break into that to sell crap, but the White Bronco chase was unbroken for hours. I lived in Texas, couldn't have cared less about a 1970's football star in a police chase.

    • @antonkider7360
      @antonkider7360 3 роки тому +5

      Oh! I remember that also...

  • @TheGloriousLobsterEmperor
    @TheGloriousLobsterEmperor 4 роки тому +170

    I can't believe I haven't found this channel before. Your recounts of events are absolutely fascinating!

    • @braindeadfred1801
      @braindeadfred1801 4 роки тому +4

      Agreed. I was a child in the 80s and always heard the family talking about russia and stuff, i remember Chernobyl comming on tv. But thats about it. I always wondered "how it is on the other side of the fence". Very enlightening video

    • @texastea5686
      @texastea5686 3 роки тому +3

      @@braindeadfred1801 same. I was born in 76 and terrified of a nuclear war with Russia. I would see the Russian Olympics and the gymnasts always looks so cold and not friendly lol i too wondered what life was like in the USSR as a child.

  • @everydayabovegroundisagood1693
    @everydayabovegroundisagood1693 5 років тому +118

    I'm Cuban and was in Moscow studying during the 80's and I remember this.

  • @armandomercado2248
    @armandomercado2248 5 років тому +178

    I remember the good old days listening to Radio Moscow. There would be a huge international crisis and the lead story on the news would be about the wheat harvest.

    • @UshankaShow
      @UshankaShow  5 років тому +50

      It was always a BATTLE for harvest. Like wheat and rye were putting out resistance

    • @mjfan653
      @mjfan653 4 роки тому +8

      @@UshankaShow the soviet citizen was used to fighting! fighting for work results, for the harvest, for the bread in a breadline. students fought for good results in study, doctors fought for advancements in medicine, party members fought over red banners and drunkards fought against alcoholism! everyone fought for the union :D

    • @steviemac9055
      @steviemac9055 3 роки тому +7

      Same in the UK - there could be big political, international or scientific stories but most newspapers published headlines about show biz. Now it's the same with tv channels.

    • @kayem3824
      @kayem3824 3 роки тому +7

      @@UshankaShow I don't know if you've done anything on Soviet animations and films for children in general. They were the best, nothing stupid in them.

    • @degrelleholt6314
      @degrelleholt6314 3 роки тому

      @@UshankaShow LOL

  • @konataizumi774
    @konataizumi774 6 років тому +270

    ( commercial pops on )Sergei : WHAT IS THIS CRIME

    • @Rainaman-
      @Rainaman- 6 років тому +11

      Aiden Hicks when youtube plays an ad before this: Sergei - what is this crime?

    • @user-wb5vd7sj6q
      @user-wb5vd7sj6q 5 років тому

      В СССР преступность была на высоком уровне, хех.

    • @thetooginator153
      @thetooginator153 5 років тому +3

      Translation of Даниил Захарченко (Daniel Zakharchenko) comment: “There was a high crime rate in the USSR. Lol.”
      Useful/interesting words:
      Преступность = “Crime” noun. This is the word for the phenomenon of crime, not an individual crime (Преступление).
      Высоко = “high”
      Уровень = “level”, “rate”. Same word used for the level tool.

    • @charliehelyes
      @charliehelyes 5 років тому +2

      in the UK we still dont have adverts on BBC channels, and back then they were the only channels that existed so we were the same.

    • @Pilum1000
      @Pilum1000 4 роки тому +2

      @@user-wb5vd7sj6q лажа

  • @dzonikg
    @dzonikg 5 років тому +11

    I am from ex Yugoslavia that was also communist and i been in 1985 to USSR with my father and biggest shock for me was that there was no commercials..anywhere..in Yugoslavia there was commercials everywhere..i am very nostalgic about TV from 80s..i thing domestic TV program i grow up was many times better then now...now i mostly watch youtube

  • @YBM2007
    @YBM2007 3 роки тому +11

    That guy in the kids show, showing up drunk AND dropping the F-bomb made me giggle :D

  • @wizardsoulkingdom
    @wizardsoulkingdom 4 роки тому +38

    Oh dear, how many memories!! I'm from Cuba, here everything was Soviet, I mean the electronics, and also much of what they played on TV, although in Cuba thanks God they did not close too much and international stuffs were played on TV like American cartoons and movies, but yes also many Soviet cartoons, like that one of the wolf and the hare, but what shooted my memory was the color TV called Elektrom, cause they sold that one here. We had color Tv in my house in 1988, Soviet one too, called Krim 218, that one broke soon and government gave us instead another one called Orizon, also Soviet. But many of my friends got Elektrom. Greetings.

    • @degrelleholt6314
      @degrelleholt6314 3 роки тому +5

      Man, it's like another world. Same consumer complaints, just on another world. Greetings.

  • @paskapaavo
    @paskapaavo 6 років тому +84

    In Finland at 80's we have got only two channels. They were broadcasted by national company Yle. Children programs were mostly animations and cartoons from eastern block countries Poland, Czechoslovakia... There was political issues that influenced what was shown in tv. Soviet has heavy pressure to Finland domestic policy.

    • @Deerock_FL
      @Deerock_FL 5 років тому +12

      My mother is from Finland so ive spent several summers there. I remember watching tv there in the 80s and 90s when I was a kid and finding it odd that there was no tv programming until the afternoon and evening. Being from the US, this was very strange to me

    • @Asptuber
      @Asptuber 5 років тому +4

      But we also had a commercial TV-company, Mainos TV (and in the 50-60ies also another private company, Tesvisio, started by engineering students). They didn't have their own channel until late 80ies(?), but had programming blocks on the two main channels. Mostly, but not exclusively, imports.

    • @Mario_N64
      @Mario_N64 5 років тому +13

      We used to think as kids that Finland was a super-capitalist country, with all the amenities and consumerism this entails. Then I watched some Finnish films from the 80s, and I was surprised that it felt more like a Soviet republic, sort of like Latvia or Estonia. It was surprising. I thought it would be more like Denmark or something...

    • @herbertsdottir9223
      @herbertsdottir9223 5 років тому +10

      @@Mario_N64 they had to pacify the USSR. Finnland was part of Russia once and they always feared invasion.

    • @Mario_N64
      @Mario_N64 5 років тому +7

      @@herbertsdottir9223 I totally understand. Mexico had half of its territory seized by the US in a war. They had to be appeased, since you can't really move away from them. At the same time, you have to reject unwanted influence.

  • @gabbyhyman1246
    @gabbyhyman1246 4 роки тому +43

    My grandparents were from Kiv. As a kid in New York I often wanted to write our family who stayed behind in Russia. But no one knew the address and one uncle said the family would be punished by the KGB if they got letters from the USA. I hope I can go to Kiv someday. I hear the ice cream is amazing. Spacibo for your channel!

  • @encodersofia
    @encodersofia 5 років тому +22

    10:20 Электрон Ц-280 Д TV. We had this one in Bulgaria. Color TV, but only received SECAM system. In the 90s the broadcast started switching to PAL system. We called a TV technician to fit an additional board to receive PAL. Also fitted remote control. The manufacturer gave you on paper the shematic of electronics of the TV. It was no trade secret like nowadays

    • @Eddies_Bra-att-ha-grejer
      @Eddies_Bra-att-ha-grejer 10 місяців тому +3

      Those schematics were available for western TV sets as well, but you weren't given them with the TV set. They were called Service Manuals, I've got one for a 1993 Bang & Olufsen set.

  • @Springbok295
    @Springbok295 5 років тому +25

    Reminds me of watching TV in Yugoslavia every summer in the 70s and 80s when my family visited family and friends over there. There were two channels and commercials were set aside to run for a 15-minute uninterrupted time slot. The programs were always news (showing agricultural stuff, clapping crowds, some bureaucrat visiting a factory, some bureaucrat wearing ill-fitting suit and ridiculously over-sized glasses, some more bureaucrats sitting at a long conference table nodding and looking bored with pitchers of water and a funky orange juice in front of them, people smoking, some weird program at a rocky beach showing women topless (no not the pretty kind), some bureaucrat walking down plane steps to shake hands with some African Communist dictator , some weird music variety show, badly dubbed Tom and Jerry cartoon, and a war film set in WWII. Yep, even when visiting Yugo back in the day I watched a lot of TV.

    • @dzonikg
      @dzonikg 3 роки тому

      Depend where were you and what channels you would get with antenna ..in Yugoslavia there were actually 8 broadcast stations with different program (TV Beograd ,TV Zagreb,TV Sarajevo ,TV NOvi Sad ,TV Titograd etc..) and everyone off them had 1 or 2 channels..so maybe for stranger it was boring but for me it was very quality program..yes there was news program call Dnevnik witch was boring and it run half hour ,3 times a day but everything was good...commercials were 5 -10 minutes every hour ...maybe you remember some commercials ua-cam.com/video/lBe_mEaeYJI/v-deo.html

    • @alexanderchenf1
      @alexanderchenf1 11 місяців тому +1

      China airs bureaucrats doing boring stuff to this day

  • @baronmeduse
    @baronmeduse 3 роки тому +8

    Quite a lot of folk in Britain didn't have a colour telly until the early/mid 80s. There was also a lot of boring TV. All the modern type of 'youth' TV only really got started in the early 80s. Until about early 1983 some channels didn't even start until past noon and there were only three of them anyway until Channel 4 started. It's not like the Soviet Union was alone.

  • @UkraineJames2000
    @UkraineJames2000 5 років тому +19

    It's great to see your show rising in quality. I love watching a topic on your videos, then later bringing it up with my parents to find they have had similar experiences as you.

  • @glenchapman3899
    @glenchapman3899 5 років тому +85

    And then there was the weather report, which was usually horribly wrong and we had lots of jokes about it...........good to see no matter what country or political ideology you live with.............no one could get a weather report right :)

    • @taichiwinchester1102
      @taichiwinchester1102 4 роки тому +5

      I remember in the early 2010s when I moved to Canada the local weather forecast was so wrong. We had much better ones in China. Nowadays the forecasts are actually super accurate. I think they probably just gave up and switched to US satellite sources.

    • @michaelmckenna6464
      @michaelmckenna6464 Рік тому

      @@taichiwinchester1102 In Italy, the weather reports range in accuracy from good to bad (like everywhere else).
      The weather map in LA SICILIA (local newspaper) had a map of Italy (where it’s sunny in Sicily) and a map of Sicily (where it’s raining) side by side.
      The Italian Air Force’s weather forecasts on the other hand, are so incredibly accurate that you could set your watch to it.

  • @brandons3174
    @brandons3174 5 років тому +12

    I could seriously listen to you for hours. You are sharing a lot of interesting facts here and I'm glad its on UA-cam for everyone who is interested to find it.

  • @richiecuzzz1
    @richiecuzzz1 5 років тому +31

    The picture of the guy who was telling that kids story while drunk is exactly what I would imagine he looked like haha. The story had me laughing so hard!

  • @2.7petabytes
    @2.7petabytes 5 років тому +36

    Just found your channel! I was born in 1970. I remember well as a young boy here in the USA, the amount of fear that was fomented by our two governments! Many of us were convinced there would be a nuclear war! I took several years of Russian in grade school, but have forgotten more than I remember. Thanks for your videos!

    • @IcelanderUSer
      @IcelanderUSer 5 років тому +5

      I too was born in 70. I don’t remember ever feeling like nuclear war was going to happen. That movie in 83 or so about a nuclear winter really made me feel that neither country would ever want to start one. I do remember thinking how sad life must have been. I had always imagined that the sun didn’t shine there. It was always dark and overcast, raining or snowing all the time. I also couldn’t believe how people were not allowed to read what they wanted. No people magazine.
      Strangely, when I went off to college I didn’t have a tv in my dorm apartment. So when the Wall came down, when the Soviet Union broke up I sort of missed it. I remember thinking how great it was that Eastern European countries could do their own thing.

    • @2.7petabytes
      @2.7petabytes 5 років тому +1

      B do I hear what you’re saying. It must have been my family and the people I grew up around. Most of them had a dark take on the future.

    • @sebastianguevara3615
      @sebastianguevara3615 Рік тому

      2.7 Petabytes Shut Up!!!!!!!! Communist Pig Typical Malicious Anti American Propaganda You’re A Traitor And A Communist Move To Communist China 🇨🇳 Or Better Yet Move To North Korea 🇰🇵!!!!!!!!

    • @stevenobrien557
      @stevenobrien557 Рік тому +2

      @@IcelanderUSer the fear wasn't that someone was going to decide to start a full scale nuclear exchange, the fear was that someone was going to start a limited nuclear attack and it would escalate from there. NATO were definitely going to have to resort to tactical nuclear strikes in the event of an invasion and after the fall of communism it turned out the Warsaw Pact were planning pre emptive tactical nuclear strikes in their Seven Days to the River Rhine war plan.

    • @evil993
      @evil993 11 місяців тому

      ​@@stevenobrien557it was also the plan. It was to make any exchange a full scale one. We placed troops in Germany, knowing full well they would never be able to hold back an invasion. But they WOULD force the Soviet union to kill thousands of Americans. Called "tripwires" they ensure that America will be forced to respond, even if 5,000 troops couldn't really do much in the grand scheme. We still do this today, many NATO allies including the US sent just a mere few thousand troops to Europe when Ukraine was invaded, positioned on the Ukrainian border. Should Russia have had any ideas about going beyond, they'd have had to involve NATO. Same goes for soldiers stationed in South Korea.
      Honestly, the entire idea of a "tactical" use of a nuclear weapon was insane anyhow. I don't see a world wherein you could use such weapons in a limited fashion. So despite the aspect of ramping things up a lot, Id say it also does a lot to prevent anyone from going ahead with nuclear war.

  • @KayuraYukishiro
    @KayuraYukishiro 5 років тому +23

    I remember my childhood watching a Black&White TV with no remote control in the 80´s... That was the reality in Brazil, when modern-colored TVs were absolutely expensive...

  • @soupycask
    @soupycask 6 років тому +80

    This was my first episode of the ushanka show

  • @danopticon
    @danopticon 3 роки тому +14

    I grew up in a nonaligned nation, so we got programming from around the world: some U.S. sitcoms, plenty of Dutch, French, and Belgian science shows, some US cartoons and lots of British children’s programs - _Here Come the Double-Deckers!_ was a great personal favorite - and loads and loads of wild Soviet bloc animation, which were probably the cartoons I loved second-best after Chuck Jones. Great channel, love your videos!

  • @Mario_N64
    @Mario_N64 5 років тому +49

    Mexican state TV aired the fairy tale shows often, and some science fiction films. That, and Japanese anime like Astroboy and Candy Candy made for great Saturday mornings.

  • @rollstuhlmeister
    @rollstuhlmeister 4 роки тому +8

    As a British person, I'm used to having no commercials, because the BBC doesn't have commercials. Then, unfortunately, from the 1990s onwards they started advertising themselves between programmes.We only had three channels in the UK until 1982. By 1989 we had another one and satellite TV started. We weren't that far ahead in Britain

    • @jeffw1267
      @jeffw1267 2 роки тому +1

      Yeah, but there's a license fee for TV (and radio). In the US we had commercials, but it made sense because the broadcasts were free. Once you bought a TV to receive them you didn't have to spend any more money (except the small cost of electricity for the TV).

  • @dissdad8744
    @dissdad8744 5 років тому +5

    In East Berlin we were watching West German shows like "Sesamstraße" (West German version of American Sesame Street) and "Hallo Spencer" when I was a child in the 1980s. But our own "Sandmann" television show was also quite good. We were also listening to HipHop from American Forces Radio in West Berlin.

    • @becconvideo
      @becconvideo 3 роки тому +1

      and the East-Sandman is still around. His Western counterpart got layed off sometime in the 90ies. (probably the only westerner these days who had to leave for an eastener)

  • @MrShobar
    @MrShobar 4 роки тому +22

    Re: "Goodnight, Kids". Americans received the same ethical lessons through "Captain Kangaroo", a morning show on CBS television (1950's -'60's) that also used puppetry in conjunction with real actors.

  • @themrpoopo
    @themrpoopo 6 років тому +26

    In Cuba, the news in television are exactly like you described here. We use to have those Elektron TV sets!!!

    • @Shadow77999
      @Shadow77999 5 років тому +5

      Did u guys get to catch to catch TV from Miami?

  • @jovohodzic508
    @jovohodzic508 3 роки тому +5

    In Yugoslavia we did have commercials, but without interrupting the movies or TV shows. However, sporting events, music shows or other entertainment programs were interrupted regularly. At which intervals I don't remember, but I do remember commercials were quite frequent.

  • @ultraloyalservant2felineov41
    @ultraloyalservant2felineov41 4 роки тому +24

    Commercials give the viewers a chance to use the bathroom. There were no DVR to record, pause, forward like today

  • @stefankrautz9048
    @stefankrautz9048 4 роки тому +6

    In GDR television was very alike. I remember we had alot tv series that should show the peaceful life in east germany. Actors drove the best cars, very little conflicts in stories.
    The only news in television was the preparation of 40-year anniversary of GDR almost every day. :D I was too little but I see the clips on youtube now.

    • @becconvideo
      @becconvideo 3 роки тому +3

      I wonder if anyone watched that at all. My Dresden family just went outside instead of watching TV. I had a little black and white set in my room and until I connected it to the big antenna I watched mostly French/Italian movies - e.g. the Fantomas series with Louis de Funès or incredibly hectic Italian productions.

  • @acp404
    @acp404 5 років тому +29

    19:13 The TV's "test picture" was meant for the TV set repair shops so they can adjust the picture and sound (hence the tone).

  • @jinjiyoshi5548
    @jinjiyoshi5548 4 роки тому +5

    That's extremely interesting that there were no commercials on soviet tv.

    • @bradjames891
      @bradjames891 10 місяців тому

      How is that interesting? Everything was for the Communist party. What exactly would you show advertisements of?

  • @Heksefatter
    @Heksefatter 3 роки тому +2

    I grew up in Denmark in the eighties. And compared to us back then, Soviet TV seems positively kid-friendly. We had one stupid channel until 1989 and it showed even less TV for kids than the Sovets did. In fact, 15-30 minutes of kids TV every day and more on weekends would have seemed like paradise to me back then.
    And on top of that, their TV shows for kids seems to have had higher production value than ours. The mind boggles.

  • @vidmizz
    @vidmizz 5 років тому +20

    I was born in 1997, but I loved watching "goodnight kids reruns" when I was a kid

  • @purvy7240
    @purvy7240 5 років тому +22

    These videos are fascinating! I admittedly came with the Chernobyl video crowd but hearing the basic lifestyle that isn’t super publicly known is almost better!

  • @radornkeldam
    @radornkeldam 5 років тому +6

    Test card broadcasting was pretty much a necessity back then. All countries did it, not just USSR.
    The sound pilot signal was also part of a proper test card, as the sound reception might need testing too.
    That it might help protect your picture tube by making you turn the TV off to avoid the annoying sound is probably just a convenient side effect and not really a planned feature.

  • @michaelolz
    @michaelolz Рік тому +2

    I love old electronics. That television with the woodgrain around the bezel is actually really pretty in a retro way.

  • @karanmarwaha6605
    @karanmarwaha6605 4 роки тому +2

    Love your channel! Please don't stop making videos. Hardly there are any sources other than a handful of books.

  • @Comrade2face
    @Comrade2face 6 років тому +158

    In Soviet Russia your TV watches you!

  • @Queretonix
    @Queretonix 5 років тому +13

    Glasnost is the ability to be heard. Golos is voice in Russian. So glasnost in direct translation is voiceness- the ability to use your voice, to be heard. My parents are from the former USSR so I know Russian pretty well.

    • @alquinn8576
      @alquinn8576 5 років тому

      wouldn't it be golosnost then? i thought it was from glasnyy

    • @Queretonix
      @Queretonix 5 років тому

      @@alquinn8576 glasny is from golos. I missed a step there xD

    • @alquinn8576
      @alquinn8576 5 років тому

      @@Queretonix ah that makes sense then

  • @TheGeoScholar
    @TheGeoScholar 3 роки тому +2

    Sergei, you really gave me my own trip down memory lane. You mentioned Spokoinoi Nochi Malyshi. I remember that show because it was featured on Mr. Rogers Neighborhood here in the USA. Mr Rogers went to Russia, got to see where Spokoinoi Nochi Malyshi was made. And then Tatyana Vedeneyeva visited Mr. Rogers in America. Thank you for mentioning that program. A bit of my own childhood in America included and your own memories of the USSR came together.

  • @johnprice5784
    @johnprice5784 4 роки тому +2

    That beep noise on the test card at 19.19 is exactly the noise my tinnitus sounds like twenty-four hours a day every day, god is it annoying. We had music on the British test card and the beep was only there after the TV shut down for the night, am I showing my age now or what (60), you programing is reminiscent of ours (though ours in the late sixties) when we had only two channels, the third BBC 2 came along in 1964, funny thing is that now with hundreds of channels there is still bugger all worth watching. Love the channel, keep it up.

  • @cevizagac5725
    @cevizagac5725 5 років тому +6

    Wow i just found this channel. That is great. I love USSR times ))

  • @hadryannah
    @hadryannah 3 роки тому +3

    I remember a third public broadcast channel being introduced in Yugoslavia just as the country was falling apart and entering transition. It also used a satellite feed of Super Channel to pad out the programming. I'll never forget Super Channel's logo--a red and yellow cartoon Saturn, with an S at the center. Used to watch new episodes of the Transformers and He-Man that had not yet been (and would never be) dubbed in Serbian on it. Later, the local private TV stations did the same thing with Sky One/Sky Movies, before they got scrambled, and Cartoon Network. Watching your videos, I'm amazed at how similar my experience of growing up in Yugoslavia was, even though it had broken things off with the Eastern Bloc a long, long time before I was born. Paired phones, ugly plastic eyeglass frames, meters of shelves stocked with the same 3 products (jars of plumb jam as far as the eye can see!), pyramid-shaped yogurt, getting friendly with the butcher so he'd save you a nice cut of meat, etc. I'm sure it all sounds awful to people from the West who had never experienced anything like it, but back then, it was just normal for me. And even from this vantage point, I don't think all of it was bad, even though I certainly wouldn't want the system in its entirety to make a comeback.

  • @MegasAlx
    @MegasAlx 2 роки тому +1

    This channel is just amazing! Pure gold.

  • @stephen9869
    @stephen9869 4 роки тому

    Really interesting, thanks for making and sharing!

  • @krisuknichter5931
    @krisuknichter5931 6 років тому +17

    In the -70's and the --80's the Estonian tv had some commercials (Reklaam TV) where some Sovjet products were advertised....

    • @onuonu7336
      @onuonu7336 5 років тому +2

      Like everything in soviet union, it was said from above, how much anything is needed and must be done. So there was money that was meant to make commercials and companies had to spend it ...on commercials. And sometimes the outcome was that commercials were made for products, that you couldn't actually buy. Like some kind of a motor water vechicle, that was only seen in the commercial and I have a feeling that it was the only one that existed.

    • @rippspeck
      @rippspeck 5 років тому +2

      +Onu Villi I get the feeling that there's more behind that. If I had watched commercials for products that do not exist, I might have wondered if all those commercials one could see in Western TV might be fake as well.

  • @moretar
    @moretar 5 років тому +7

    It's so good to hear about those years. Greetings from Spain!

  • @gustavogoncalves3083
    @gustavogoncalves3083 5 років тому +1

    Thank you very much! I'm Brazilian and I always have interest about soviet tv ahows, what you had on tv, what was it like, you pretty much gave me a great deal of information! Thanks thanks thanks!

  • @steelcityterps
    @steelcityterps 5 років тому

    Loved it. Thanks for uploading.

  • @javi2567
    @javi2567 3 роки тому +4

    It's actually kinda cool that they would broadcast good news cause over here all we ever get is panic and bad news.

  • @PlanetBabylon
    @PlanetBabylon 3 роки тому +5

    As someone who needs constant entertainment, I'd probably go mad if I lived in Soviet Union. But not being interrupted by ads while watching your favorite programs sounds great. We need a Soviet UA-cam! 🤣🤣🤣
    Great video and channel! I love hearing about the past from people who've been there. It's the closest we can get to time travel!

    • @UshankaShow
      @UshankaShow  3 роки тому +5

      Vodka cures boredom and madness

  • @texlahomagirl9809
    @texlahomagirl9809 5 років тому +3

    I just found this channel. Большое спасибо! 😊

  • @dorianphilotheates3769
    @dorianphilotheates3769 5 років тому +5

    Fascinating channel you’ve got; very informative and entertaining. A little window into the Cold War...well done!

  • @robertcorbell1006
    @robertcorbell1006 3 роки тому +3

    When my parents were little, contemporaneous with the Cold War, the US had a show almost exactly like "A Visit From a Fairy Tale" called "The Wonderful World of Disney" that also came on on Sunday nights. It would feature movies, serialized miniseries, "making of" segments about Disney parks and rides (my favorite is the one for the original ride version of Pirates of the Caribbean), and cartoon segments among other things. Growing up, my parents showed me some of it which is why I love the old-school, live-action Disney a lot more than almost all of the new stuff.

  • @blackbird8632
    @blackbird8632 5 років тому +3

    Awesome vids, really like them. Thanks from a dutch subscriber.

  • @evgenia_essentuki
    @evgenia_essentuki 4 роки тому +2

    Сергей, здорово, что Вы имеете второй канал! Очень интересно освещаете! Один мой друг из Америки изучает Россию по Вашим видео. Он мне и жал ссылку. Приятно видеть вас и с другого ракурса🤗 Удачи Вам на Ваших каналах!!!)

  • @dijikstra8
    @dijikstra8 2 роки тому +3

    The kids TV sounds about similar to Sweden at the time actually, we had childrens programming at 18.15 every night and I believe something longer on the weekend. Much of it was much better than the stuff on TV now in my opinion even if the production value was not as high.

  • @jokester3076
    @jokester3076 5 років тому +10

    the Trololo Guy Eduard Khil became a huge internet meme on UA-cam nine years ago, from some weird yodelling song he sang on Soviet tv in the 80’s.

  • @donjud1
    @donjud1 6 років тому +114

    No commercials??? It sounds like most of it was one big commercial... Keep up the good work.

  • @RogerThat787
    @RogerThat787 Рік тому +1

    Almost 1k comments. Comrade Sergei killing it as usual! Thanks for sharing.

  • @zlee11
    @zlee11 4 роки тому

    Very interesting. Thank you for posting.

  • @kyriljordanov2086
    @kyriljordanov2086 5 років тому +3

    The fairy tale of Ivan and Nast'a (called Mrazik in Czech and Slovak, I don't remember in Russian) is still one of the most popular programs in Czechia and Slovakia today played in December. My children know this movie by heart. Nice to see it here on your video.

  • @jamescorona5438
    @jamescorona5438 5 років тому +33

    I am deeply distributed by you tube stopping this video to sell me a freaken Ford

  • @hannon244
    @hannon244 3 роки тому +2

    In Soviet union, TV watches YOU ! 🤣 Great videos btw, very interesting!

  • @leonarddurecki5988
    @leonarddurecki5988 5 років тому +1

    I watched a program back in 1987 called "Behind the iron curtain" that showed live Soviet TV. It was late Friday night which meant the Saturday morning cartoons were running, they were dubbed and subbed in various languages to the point it was almost indecipherable.

  • @obywatelcane6775
    @obywatelcane6775 Рік тому +3

    Soviet TVs Rubin, Elektron, Czajka and Berozka were popular in Poland in the 80's and early 90's.
    14:01 - we had one guy like that too. His name was Bronisław Pawlik and that show title "A bear from the window" - Miś z okienka. He was talking to that puppet bear. After one episode when he was thinking that cameras stopped rolling he said something like and now dear kids you can kiss the bear in his ass 😀

  • @Tuupoification
    @Tuupoification 4 роки тому +5

    I was a kid in 80s in Finland. I still have good memories about watching animations from eastern block - DDR, Czech etc. Maybe its nostalgia though.

    • @becconvideo
      @becconvideo 3 роки тому +2

      Childrens TV from the DDR - fairy tails (real ones - I don't mean the newscast ;-) ) and animated childrens programs from Czechesklovakia were quite good by the way. I wonder why the Soviet TV didn't bring them.

  • @jordanlamothe7542
    @jordanlamothe7542 2 роки тому +1

    Born in Canada (1992). Had a profound curiosity about the Cold War and by extension, The USSR. So many decades of history I wasn't around for. Grew up in a modest Western household, but still took for granted what electronics and home entertainment we did have...
    There was a time I thought we reached a pinnacle of technological innovation. I simply couldn't imagine the tube tv's and game consoles of the time being better. It's insane to see where we are now, how different that change is for an older age group. Not even that, seeing what kids have now, which didn't exist when I was growing up.

  • @TheMundusvultdecipi
    @TheMundusvultdecipi 5 років тому +2

    Interesting channel! I'm a history buff and concerning Russia/SU esp. the periode from about 1905 until the late fifties interests me the most, read about the revolution, the brutal civil war, Bolshevik infighting, Stalin's rise to power, the purges and so forth. Khrushchev's somewhat interesting but surreal memoirs, Solzhenitsyns "Gulag Archipelago", probably the most powerful denouncement I've ever read, and some other memoirs of former prisoners.
    Just went quickly through your video section and seems you covered lots of very interesting topics and have some great footage. Subbed.

  • @betaman7988
    @betaman7988 5 років тому +6

    Have you seen the Channel 3 Moscow series? It’s from an American news channel in 1985 and 1986 that gained Soviet Television through satellite and translated and analysed the programming. It is quite interesting since there are a few commercials and product reviews for products such as radios and clothes. I think the purpose was more to show what the Soviets were making rather than actually selling the product.
    Also on British TV the newsreader Reginald Bosenquet would sometimes read the news drunk, giving him the nickname Reginald Boozenquet.

  • @RandomDudeOne
    @RandomDudeOne 4 роки тому +4

    In the early 1980's, the commercials were usually more entertaining than the show.

  • @michaelmckenna6464
    @michaelmckenna6464 Рік тому

    Great program. Thanks for posting.

  • @links2films201
    @links2films201 6 років тому +1

    In Portugal we also had that screen to adjust the picture but it was a channel apart 24\7 ,the TV channels didn't have to stop broadcasting.

  • @cflo1386
    @cflo1386 4 роки тому +14

    Pee-Wees Playhouse would've killed it in Soviet Russia.

  • @seanledden4397
    @seanledden4397 5 років тому +5

    I recognize that one clip where the young man is putting a witch into an oven! I saw the movie it comes from on Mystery Science Theater 3000. The movie's English title is "Jack Frost," and I think it's full of colorful, goofy fun.

  • @andrewvernon4664
    @andrewvernon4664 Рік тому +1

    I desperately wish we had no commercials! I have UA-cam Premium, Amazon Prime, and Netflix. Those are the only places I watch anything precisely because I cannot stand commercial interruptions while I'm watching a show or movie. I still use DVDs, too. TV commercials are so obnoxious, especially modern ones.

  • @henripentant1120
    @henripentant1120 2 роки тому

    Great insight thanks for sharing your memories.

  • @MrYousifmen
    @MrYousifmen 5 років тому +10

    20:50 very intetesting.. I have always wondered if soviet people moved from state to another like americans do, I'm glad that you mentioned that. greetings from the middle east.

    • @OSTARAEB4
      @OSTARAEB4 5 років тому +3

      No, they needed permission from the government to travel to different Republics and needed official work and travel permits.

    • @Alexey_Varonov
      @Alexey_Varonov 11 місяців тому

      Даже странно читать такой вопрос. В СССР не было внутренних границ.

    • @Alexey_Varonov
      @Alexey_Varonov 11 місяців тому

      @@OSTARAEB4 Вам не стыдно от собственного вранья?

  • @flioink
    @flioink 5 років тому +3

    My uncle also had a color TV and we often went there to watch movies at their house.
    Big old "Rubin" TV that had to "warm up" to get the colors right.

    • @rippspeck
      @rippspeck 5 років тому

      Didn't the Simpsons buy one of those in a very old episode when their TV broke?

  • @cxidp
    @cxidp 4 роки тому +2

    I will not mention the name a school teacher who told our 1985 class that the USSR, the UN, and UNESCO were horrible. 3 years later I learned more nuanced view from a university professor. My life lesson is that the truth sits somewhere between competing narratives.

  • @degrelleholt6314
    @degrelleholt6314 3 роки тому

    That was really cool to watch. Thanks, Sergei.

  • @yaroldimanzano2199
    @yaroldimanzano2199 4 роки тому +7

    Man, you're talking about Cuba... In Cuba they did a super rigorous copy of all what your are saying. It is incredible how we are so different and super similar in our souls and experiences because a social engineering. They had the Editorial Mir and Progress for books in foreign languages and grew up reading them. I probably know more about Russian literature than Russians.

    • @becconvideo
      @becconvideo 3 роки тому +3

      Communism is boring all over the same crap. Luckily we had West TV in East Germany (most parts of it except the "valley of the unknowingly" - the city Dresden and surroundings) Meanwhile that boredom seems to return to the TV at least in Germany ...

  • @mattsmith1137
    @mattsmith1137 5 років тому +4

    I was born a couple years before you in California and when we grew up in the seventies/eighties we had awesome technology like color tv, etc and lots of great entertainment compared to what you had in Ukraine and all we ever did was complain about not ever having enough entertainment or channels to chose from. I guess it’s almost an exclusive American trait that still exists. We are continually unsatisfied with what we have and always strive to have more and better which is a good thing in my opinion.

  • @nataliakoskela4092
    @nataliakoskela4092 5 років тому +1

    I was born in USSR in the 1980 and I remember quite a bit of cartoons and movies. All the movies were soviet of course. And there were series too like The Musketeers. I’ve always loved tv and have a lot of memories of tv programs I loved but I probably remember watching much more than I actually did.

  • @fl0atpvnk
    @fl0atpvnk Рік тому

    I just found your channel earlier today and I am loving the content and stories you tell! My family left the cccp before the German invasion, we think we were from belarus. Cool stuff man!
    Also those are puppets that the children’s show lady is holding 👍🏼

  • @gigi3377
    @gigi3377 5 років тому +14

    Reminds me of the 80s Wendy's commercial "Soviet fashion show".

  • @Kyanzes
    @Kyanzes 5 років тому +15

    I loved some of the Soviet tales. I remember we had no tv casting on Mondays in Hungary and in the program guide the page for Monday always had a crossword puzzle under the caption "For program break" LOL :) They started to cast on Mondays in the late 80s.

    • @jesselivermore2291
      @jesselivermore2291 2 роки тому

      could you rent movies? if you had a vhs recorder? did you saw any good movies from usa on your tv back then like blade runner or scarface?

  • @RSEFX
    @RSEFX Рік тому

    Very very interesting. Thank you.

  • @xuanzhang112
    @xuanzhang112 3 роки тому

    hello,very glad to know a such great channel about soviet union on youtube. actually I am chinese we had pretty same stactic screen on the tv years ago. now its gone and is replaced by tones of commericals. I never been told it was original from your home county ,thanks for letting me know.

  • @jean-francoislabelle6489
    @jean-francoislabelle6489 4 роки тому +6

    That commercial commentary is priceless. I grew on them all my life and I can understand your emotion. The only thing I can say is welcome to Capitalism!

  • @dangerouslytalented
    @dangerouslytalented 5 років тому +3

    They actually broadcast Vremya in Australia, on our multicultural channel (which has all the foreign news programs from around the planet)

  • @amc401nash6
    @amc401nash6 4 роки тому

    Great channel, very educational.

  • @Xenotypal
    @Xenotypal 6 років тому +1

    cool channel man, really enjoying it.

  • @rollmeister
    @rollmeister 5 років тому +5

    I was just waiting for him to admit Soviet TV was boring. Gave me a hearty chuckle.

  • @dukemorran1
    @dukemorran1 5 років тому +7

    Astonishing how communist tv was very very similar to our greek pasok national tv . We also had 3 channels and one for the parliament , although two of them ended their programs at 5 o clock . We had more entertainment programs though and a few foreign shows ( mostly old 1950's 60's and 70's shows from usa ) . Smurfs were huge for kids and the first mature animated shows were shown in 9 o clock in the evening ( thundercats and robotech being the very first ) . At regular intervals they played karagiozis though ( a huge cultural figure for older greeks and turks ) theater of shadows . So we kids had something to watch at least . Off course private channels were banned until 1990 because the state thought they would bring low quality programs . Today state channels have 0,5-2 percent of the general public and are largely seen as a propaganda tool for the state . One key difference however with your tv is that we also showed every sunday church services . We also had maya the bee from east germany and lolek and bolek because pasok was a socialist anti capitalist party .

    • @becconvideo
      @becconvideo 3 роки тому +1

      Maya is a West Bee

    • @frejafan
      @frejafan 3 роки тому +2

      TV program was actually much better than the trash we watch today. I remember we were excited when private tv channels started but nowadays most people remember the old state tv was much better quality than today's private trash tv

  • @goodparley19
    @goodparley19 4 роки тому +1

    great work very informative

  • @oak_meadow9533
    @oak_meadow9533 3 роки тому +1

    I grew up during the Cold War, I was in high school during the early 70s, and we understood they were tensions between the US and the USSR. But all the students felt like we are just people, and the Soviets are made up of people also, and nobody wants to see the end of the world. So we had faith in the Russian people that they were basically good and wanted peace, because we two were good and we wanted peace. When Gorbachev came to power and the Soviet union decided they would just shut down it was like in a strange way the answer to the worlds problems. Oh my friends and I were concerned but what about the people in the Soviet union, how are they, are they all right? We were concerned but then we understood that some type of capitalism was replacing be communism and even though capitalism is not perfect it is just one way of doing things. And I am right up prayed that the people of the USSR would come out of it alive and well and feeling good. I really love your channel and I congratulate you on this wonderful idea it is beautiful that you want to show how close our two countries really were. Anyway God bless and may he keep you in the warmth of his heart.