When in 2010 bTV set the beginning of the new wave of modern Bulgarian series with The Glass House, no one expected the local televisions and production houses to deliver so many titles in the following 7 years. The local fiction productions, though enjoying huge approval and resonance (despite comments regarding quality issues, for which the audience tends to be forgiving), are still the most expensive TV products on the local market and require a huge investment that is difficult to return. One reason is that in the Top 50 viewership charts for the past few years Bulgarian series rarely prevail over the Turkish titles, as well as the hit musical, reality and even culinary shows like MasterChef.
However, one Bulgarian series continues to hold a huge audience interest 7 years after its launch on air, and this is the comedy series Capital hillbillies. It is the second local series production of bTV, which premiered in the Spring of 2011. It is among the few Bulgarian titles of the station that has gained more viewers than the Turkish series and has repeatedly topped the Top 50 charts in previous years. Its 12th season began this month, and continues to enjoy tremendous interest and a fully positive response. Another advantage is that it can also be viewed free of charge on the btvplus.bg platform. In direct competition with Nova TV's new comedy series Cops From the Outskirts, Capital Hillbillies wins the battle for viewers every Friday at 9 pm.
Where is the key to the success of the "Hillbillies"? What keeps viewers in front of the screen for so long? Why is comedy a good investment? Should an ending be set and when?
Several generations of the best Bulgarian comedians
The good actors guarantee a stable interest in the series from their loving audience, but especially the successful execution of the director’s vision and ideas. Since its launch in 2011 Capital Hillbillies has gathered the best of the
Bulgarian comedians, who have gained the love of five generations of Bulgarians over the years. At the moment only on bTV air viewers have the chance to watch the great Stoyanka Mutafova - one of the last representatives of the golden generation of Bulgarian actors. Magnets for the viewers are also the outstanding talents Lubo Neykov, Hristo Garbov, Krystyu Lafazanov, who are established bTV celebrities for years already, and the younger talents such as Vasil Draganov, Sylvia Lulcheva, Ruslan Mainov, who rival them in talent and popularity.
The funny mirror of life
Capital Hillbillies managed to find the balance to be fun without annoying, to provoke without irritating and to ridicule without insulting. Thus, the series painlessly covers a whole range of topics and issues close to the life in our country – ridiculing the petty people, pitting the city and the village at odds, criticizing the government and the church, hating the successful, commenting on football, politics, pop music, and almost everything else with wannabe expertise.
In this contemporary tale of living in a pseudo-political environment, we find characters much similar to those of Aleko Konstantinov, Gogol, Dostoevski, Elin Pelin, and even Flaubert. At first sight, it's all a mix of incompatibilities, but it is actually the most realistic mirror of life around us, which makes everyone think, but with a big smile.
Many story lines
With the very first episode of season 12 the series began intensely, with unexpected revelations, several marriage proposals and a new social order. With each subsequent episode, events are becoming more intriguing, unpredictable and absurd. Even with its launch in 2011, Capital Hillbillies proved that it is much more than a saga of the life of two stubborn Bulgarian families. Plots revolve and build upon themes that show and analyze people's mentality during major public events such as parliamentary elections and vote-buying, the refugee crisis, privatization, the effects of the grey sector in the economy ...
We can't ignore the achievements of the strong scriptwriting team as well.
Guest Stars
A successful formula applied by all Bulgarian series is the use of guest stars. Capital Hillbillies have remarkable achievements in that regard. For the eighth year, the series has welcomed some of the greatest stars in sports, music and cinema.
The first love of Granny Mariyka (Stoyanka Mutafova) was the great Georgi Kaloyanchev, and her last love in the 12th season is Stefan Iliev. The football legend Hristo Stoichkov descended among the mere mortals like the Lord himself in the fifth season, and in the 10th season the emblematic Bulgarian actor Stefan Danailov was the Patriarch of the Bulgarian Orthodox Church. The audience saw the folk star Azis as a chef in prison, the producer Dimitar Kovatchev-Funky as a cellmate of Plamen Tsekov, the pop star Maria Ilieva as an opera singer, the rap singer 100 Kila as the student Tsanko, the loved actor Georgi Kadurin as the investigator Stefanov, the famous Bulgarian opera singer Orlin Goranov as the writer Venelin Draganov.
The "Hillbillies" also featured the volleyball star Lubo Ganev, the singers Desi Slava, Doni, the Riton duet, Toni Dimitrova and Preslava, the actor Daniel Tsochev, and the football player Blagoy Georgiev.
Source: Manager.bg
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