Interns (TV series)


Interns is a Russian television medical sitcom produced by NTV-Kino, which aired on the TNT Russia channel from March 29, 2010 to February 25, 2016.

Premise

The sitcom follows a group of people working at a hospital. The group includes four young inexperienced medical interns, who constantly get into troublesome situations, their mentor Andrey Bykov, and the hospital's staff.

Series overview

Characters

Similarities have been noted between Interny and American shows, for example House M.D. and Scrubs. Although the show is officially original, the parallels are undeniable. Like Scrubs, the show is centered on the lives of interns having to put up with an unreasonable boss. Also, the show has used "daydream" scenarios that echoed J.D's daydreams. Bykov's derogatory comments towards Chernous also echoed Cox's nicknaming Elliot "Dr Barbie". Like Elliot, Chernous revealed that she previously tried to commit suicide. She is also good friends with Lybov Mihaylovna, the Head Nurse, like Carla Espinosa was friends with Elliot. Also, Scrubs saw the Head Nurse enter a relationship with one of the interns and similarly, Lybov started dating Levin.
House and Bykov similarly share traits, and parallels between the Huddy relationship and Bykov's relationship with Kisegach are easy to see. Chernous echoes early Cameron, especially with her reluctance to enter relationships and her moral high-ground. Both entered relationships with the less talented sons of renowned doctors, after much pursuit on the part of the men. Moreover, Chernous also developed a crush on Bykov which echoed an early House plotline which involved Cameron being in love with her boss. Interny has referenced these similarities with a tongue-in-cheek attitude, which include a House spoof episode that centred on Bykov trying to get his interns to diagnose a "difficult case" in House's typical style, and many of House's favourite diagnoses were rattled off. This episode also used the House catchphrase "Everybody Lies" repeatedly, for comic effect. It involved Bykov spraining his ankle and walking around with a cane. Bykov also tells a tale about him being a model for House because some American producer was much impressed with him while getting in the hospital several years before. Interny also paid homage to House by naming Princeton-Plainsboro Teaching Hospital as the clinic where Levin intends to do an internship.

The prohibition on display and distribution in Ukraine

On December 9, 2014 the State Agency of Ukraine for Cinema banned showing and distributing the series Interns in Ukraine, along with another 70 films and TV shows featuring Ivan Okhlobystin. According to the department, the ban is related to anti-Ukrainian chauvinist actions of Okhlobystin, and violation of the ban on entry to Ukraine. Shortly before the activists, including members of "Boycott Russian Films", protested about the ban.