ABSTRACT
As the book reaches its final chapter, the synonymy of length and persua-
siveness on TV needs once more to be addressed after Ae`roport. How long
can TV series continue in their considerations of ostensible reality and be
convincingly real? Is there a maximum limit? One joke concerning the
detective series Kamenskaia, examined in this chapter, certainly suggested as
much; the actor Sergei Garmash, having learned that Kamenskaia would
‘‘enjoy’’ a fifth series, begged to be shot dead in the fourth. Elena Iakovleva,
who plays the eponymous heroine, was scared of being left with minor actors if Garmash left, and so she threw herself in front of the bullet.1
