Svensson, Svensson is a Swedish sitcom. It has also been made into a feature film and a play. Two seasons consisting of 12 episodes each were broadcast in the autumn of 1994 and the autumn of 1996. They have since been repeated numerous times. The series was revived for a third season in 2007, and a fourth in 2008. Svensson, Svensson is one of the most successful sitcoms in Swedish television history. During the second season, each episode gathered more than 2.5 million viewers, in a country which at the time had a population of around 8.8 million people. The most watched episode was broadcast on 17 November 1996 and gathered 3,395,000 viewers. The series centres on the Svensson family who lives in the Vivalla area of Örebro. The family consists of the father Gustav who works as mailman, the mother Lena who works at a bank, their teenage daughter Lina and their son Max. For the revival, Gustav has had to retire from his work at the post office, while Lena works for the local government. Max now works at the bank and Lina has married the conductor John who brought his daughter Greta into the family. The Svensson surname is one of the most common names in Sweden. It is often used to represent something average, which is illustrated by the wordmedelsvensson, used about the "average Swede". Svensson corresponds to Smith in Anglo-Saxon countries.
Characters
;Gustav Svensson Gustav's main interests are ball games and cartoons, especially The Smurfs and Scooby-Doo. He is a very conservative Social Democrat and he looks upon every change in his life with lots of suspicion. His biggest idol is Björn Borg, who signed the pair of underpants which hangs on the wall in Gustav and Lena's bedroom. His most precious possession is a Volvo 242, his only benefit after 20 years as a mailman. In 1987, he was elected The Mailman of the Year... or at least he joined the dinner party. Gustav is very confused by the choices of occupation that his children Lina and Max make, but he soon learns that it's great to have a son working at the bank. Gustav's favourite foods are lasagna and pizza, especially Hawaii, Capricciosa and Calzone. Allan plays Gustav in all four seasons of the show. ;Lena Svensson The wife of Gustav and the mother of Max and Lina. Lena is a calm woman who is more open for changes than Gustav. ;Max Svensson The son of Gustav and Lena and the brother of Lina. In the first two seasons of the show, Max was a very cynical and sarcastic boy, which changed as the series progressed into a third and fourth season, due to becoming a grown-up. Despite Gustav hoping that he'd grow up to become a mailman, Max studied economics in college for a few years and got a job at the bank - a late teenage revolt according to Gustav. ;Lina Svensson The daughter of Gustav and Lena and the sister of Max. In the first two seasons, she was a typical teenager, who loved horses but later grew interested in boys, something that Gustav can't understand hence tries to prevent her from seeing boys. In the latter two seasons, she works as a veterinary surgeon and shares her home with her fiancé John and his daughter Greta. They have bought the house Lena and Gustav used to live in, causing Gustav to buy the house across the street. At the end of season 3, Lena gets pregnant, something that Gustav does not get happy for. In the very last episode, she gives birth to a boy named Sixten. Lina is played by Chelsie Bell Dickson in the first two seasons and the movie, and in the last two seasons, she is played by Claudia Galli. ;John Franzén The fiancé of Lina and the father of Greta. He tries to befriend Gustav, although he has a hard time getting used to John. Gustav is constantly bothered by the thought of Lina marrying John, who has "the most dumbest occupation in the world" - conducting. ;Greta Franzén The daughter of John. She gets along well with Gustav, because they share thoughts and they are both very fond of watching cartoons. ;Ebba The girlfriend of Max. She does not get much on-screen time. She only appeared in two episodes of season three, and six episodes of season four. Gustav gets along better with Ebba than with John. Sara The closest female friend of Lena, and is by occupation a hair-dresser. Somewhat air-headed, and very interested in attractive single men. Gustav, on the other hand, treats her in a somewhat snide and condescending manner. He nevertheless makes it clear, when she moves out, that he actually is going to miss her.
