Stagnation and Experimentation in the Russian Era of Television : introduction
Not a Mirror but a Magnifying Glass : Soviet Television Enthusiasm
"Programmnaia Politika" : Audience Research and the Creation of the Channel 1 Schedule
From Cafe to Contest : New Year's Variety Shows and the Soviet Festive System
"Time" and the Problem of Boredom
"Spiritual Coauthorship" : "Seventeen Moments of Spring" and the Soviet TV Miniseries
"KVN is an Honest Game" : Game Shows and the Problem of Authority
A Dress Rehearsal for Life : "Artloto" and "What? Where? When?"
The Origins of Central Television's Perestroika : epilogue

In the first full-length study of Soviet Central Television to draw extensively on archival sources, interviews, and television recordings, Evans challenges the idea that Soviet mass culture in the Brezhnev era was dull and formulaic. Tracing the emergence of play, conflict, and competition on Soviet news programs, serial films, and variety and game shows, Evans shows that Soviet Central Television's most popular shows were experimental and creative, laying the groundwork for Mikhail Gorbachev's reforms and the post-Soviet media system. Christine E. Evans is assistant professor of history at the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee