Russia's CTC to Produce TV Series 'Kitchen'

MOSCOW – The Russian TV channel CTC, run by the group CTC Media, is investing $8 million in a 40-episode TV series, Kukhnya (Kitchen), which is to be aired this fall as part of a scheme aimed at revamping the station’s programming.

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The comedy series began filming in early July and the production will continue through the end of the year, Eduard Iloyan, general producer of Yellow, Black and White, which produces the series for CTC, told The Hollywood Reporter.

According to Iloyan, the series is going to stand out among typical Russian TV series thanks to its production value and quality. "This is a unique thing, not something that is mass-produced," he added.

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The series is to be directed by Dmitry Dyachenko, known by the lower-budget comedies O Chem Govoryat Muzhchiny (What Men Talk About) and O Chem Yeshchyo Govoryat Muzhchiny (What Else Men Talk About), which did well at the box office.

Kitchen will target the 20-to-50 age group as part of the channel’s revamped programming, which will be introduced this fall.

"We are preparing for a series 'reload' of the channel," CTC’s general director Vyacheslav Murugov was quoted as saying in a report from RBK Daily. "To that end, we are preparing a huge number of new projects. Investment in content and creation of new projects is going up several times compared with the previous year. And I consider Kitchen to be the main project of this coming fall."

In 2011, the audience share of CTC, the flagship channel of CTC Media, saw a decline.