The Interceptors (History of Margovya)

''This article is about the 1969 TV series. For its 2008 spin-off, see. For the 2007 science fiction series, see .''

The Interceptors is a 1969 TV series created by and was popular during the 1970's and 1980's. After Dimakulanov resigned from the series, it was continued by, and later,. It starred a wide variety of actors and actresses during its twenty-eight-year run, the final lineup being, , , , , , , , and. Some of its remarkable actors from the earlier seasons include, , , , , , , and. The series premiered on April 26, 1969, and spanned a total of seven hundred fifty episodes over twenty-seven seasons, until it got cancelled on August 27, 1997 due to its steadily declining ratings, airing its final episode on December 19, 1997. The series follows the story of a group of police officers in the Arbatskaya City Police District called the Task Force Interceptors who faces different kinds of challenges from time to time.

Although the show ended because of steadily decreasing ratings, it is still known for being one of the best shows Margovya has ever had, and was received by critics very well. On 2000, three years after the show ended,  was released in theaters nationwide, garnered a box office total of about 979 million margots, and spawning four sequels, which were released on, , and , respectively, after which a  to the series was developed by  and began broadcast on 2008. Aside from this, another feature film is about to be broadcast in April 2014 to celebrate the franchise's 45th anniversary, and a seventh one, intended for the celebration of the franchise's golden anniversary, is currently under pre-development and is expected to be released on 2019.

Season 1: Introduction (1969-1970)
25-year-old Yefrem Zhazhunev (Vasily Borisov) has just finished his degree in criminology and wants to apply for a job as a police officer in Arbatskaya City Police District. After facing a series of challenges, problems, and humiliation, Yefrem was finally accepted in this extraordinary police crew, being given the nickname "The Brain" because of his good logical and critical thinking. He then stays in the team and face different challenges and go on exciting adventures with the group, some of which include shutting down an illegal boxing match, delivering a lot of mail letters, beating up a large population of criminals, being intercepted by another police group, holding an audition for the role of being the Interceptor's girlfriend, and being trapped in their own headquarters with nothing to eat for at least 24 hours.

Season 2: Hello, Technology (1970-1971)
The second season focuses mostly on the technological benefits and advantages of the crew having technologist Dzherik Aldovich (Boris Antayov) in the crew, such as finding thieves more easily, video taping suspecting and controversial conversations and dialogues, and solving the hardest crossword puzzle a publisher can put into today's papers. However, there are some situations that technology just cannot avoid or prevent, some of them include an encounter with the NYPD, a bed expert who wants to take Amanda's place in the crew, mechanical problems, which technology has just made worse, rumors, hi-tech scams, Amanda riding on a wrecking ball naked, and the brawn's death. However, this journey will take the Task Force Interceptors to a whole new level: going through a long line of operations.

Season 3: A Long Line of Operations (1971-1972)
For this season, the Task Force Interceptors will be assigned temporarily in a secret agent headquarters in Ikulsk, where they take charge of twenty-seven operations while the Ikulsk police department takes time to hire a new set of secret agents following the deaths of nine of their agents in a massive rampage in Acapulco, Mexico. However, since the crew is missing two members, they hold auditions for the Brawn and the Queen of the Bed, and out of about sixty-eight police officers who auditioned, only two people were taken in: Kiril Kamchatsky (Aleksei Queruv), Azamat's brother, as the new Brawn, and Vasilisa Yorutova (Lyudmila Petrova), a former stripper with zero background in criminology or law enforcement, as the new Queen of the Bed. This season would really take the crew's experience to a whole new level as they take on very exciting challenges, one of which is the great race bust, wherein the team split up to bust a massive street race of about seventy-three racers that ran from Las Vegas, Nevada, USA to Yobatav, Arbatskaya, Margovya. After completing all twenty-seven operations by the time the Ikulsk City Police District Secret Agent Department has returned, the crew was awarded m 75,000 and was able to improve and enhance their own headquarters in Arbatskaya City.

Cast
Main Article: 

Main Cast
This is the complete summary of all actors and actresses who played a main role in the series.

Recurring Cast

 * as Lev Aldovich (1969-1971; 1974-1979)
 * as Ruslan Gramopov (1969, 1977-1986)
 * as Lev Zhazhunev (1969-1988)
 * as Martina Zhazhuneva (1969-1971; 1991-1997)
 * as Borislava Rafukova (1970-1972; 1976-1997)
 * as Mark Lumanov (1975-1985)
 * as Ravil Kladovich (1979, 1981-1983)
 * as Rostislava Ruslanova (1980-1992; 1996-1997)

Episodes
Main Article: 

Development and Pre-broadcast (1966-1969)
Since its foundation in 1959, Margovyan National Broadcasting Network has been putting TV series in demand, as to not bore viewers in doing news reports during its entire twenty-one-hour daily operation. Even with three TV series and one game show on the run during that time, the network still demanded more TV shows to make it attract more viewers. On July 27, 1966, Iosef Dimakulanov, an actor who wanted to try his hand on producing and running TV shows, came up with a "mediocre plan" on a new TV series, which was supposed to be a musical TV series, entitled "The Singers". Initially, the network critics refused to review Dimakulanov's plan, as they were pissed off by Dimakulanov's description of his plan. However, Dimakulanov accidentally left his plan in the critic room once and one of the critics read it, and declared the plan would make "the best TV series Margovya has ever seen".

On April 27, 1967, MNBN ordered Dimakulanov to revise his TV series, as Margovya-rama announced that a musical TV series, Band Mates, which is of almost the exact same concept as The Singers, is currently under production. Four months later, Dimakulanov came up with another plan, which has also the same concept as his old plan, however, the genre is changed from musical to police procedural and comedy. On September 19, 1967, MNBN officially picked up the series, which was re-entitled The Interceptors, for a production season of twenty-six episodes.

On October 25, 1967, Dimakulanov and the staff for The Interceptors started holding auditions for the roles of the main characters. The first role taken was that of the Interceptor, with Dimakulanov having a hard time choosing between, and. Dimakulanov decided to cast Del Quiev as a recurring character, and later on Malenkov decided to give Ribabov the role, not knowing that he would later inherit the role and carry it for a long time. and were taken in next, although initially, Maryanov was the Brawn, while Shevchenko was the Speed. However, Shevchenko confessed about his lack of skills in driving, so Dimakulanov switched his role with Maryanov's.

The role of the Brain was taken in next, with two candidates being and. However, Dimakulanov later decided to give Borisov the role, and cast Urov as a guest star in one of the episodes of the first season. The last role to be taken in was the Mouth (the Queen of the Bed was not in the original plan), with three candidates being, and. However, when the idea of having a "bed expert" in the crew came to Dimakulanov, he immediately gave the role of the Mouth to Irina Balkonovich, while the remaining two candidates were transferred to the new role. However, Dimakulanov later decided to give Bulshitova the new role, which he chose to name "Queen of the Bed", while Elemat would be casted later on as a special guest in one of the episodes of the second season.

On March 23, 1968, about two weeks after the casting has concluded, the filming for the episodes of The Interceptors has began. About five to seven days is taken to film an individual episode, while about eleven to fifteen days is taken to film a two-part special, and on October 19, 1968, the filming for the twenty-six episodes of the first season has concluded, and promotions were made. On December 30, 1968, the official trailer for the series was launched, and the series' actors started promoting the show in several programs. On January 12, 1969, MNBN picked up Saturday, 6 to 6:45 PM as the show's official schedule, and April 26 as its official premiere. During the press conference regarding the new series on February 20, 1969, Dimakulanov told everyone that The Interceptors would be a great milestone in Margovyan television history, and this was supported by most of the critics who saw the series' first episode prior to its original release. On April 26, 1969, The Interceptors officially made its debut in Margovyan television.

First Three Seasons and Early Success (1969-1972)
Initially, The Interceptors was only approved for a full-season run. However, with the 1.016-million view count on the first episode, and the gradual increase in viewership ratings in the succeeding episodes, MNBN has approved the series for a second season composed of another twenty-six episodes. After the success of the second season in 1971, The Interceptors was approved for a three-season run, in which a season may contain 20-35 episodes. In 1971, Dimakulanov changed the theme of the third season, and entitled it "The Interceptors: A Long Line of Operations", in which every episode in the season has the name "Operation" at the beginning of the title. The third season's featured three-part special, "Operation: The Great Race Bust", was well-received by viewers that the ratings has skyrocketed.

Aside from the viewers, the critics were also impressed by the TV performance of The Interceptors, as well as the performance of its actors. TV Condemnation Org., Margovya's most prestigious TV critic organization, gave The Interceptors a general rating of 9.803 for the first three seasons. The Interceptors was also considered one of the best TV shows worldwide according to the 1965-1971 TV shows survey.

Ribabov's Death and Dimakulanov's Departure (1972-1974)
On August 18, 1972, the whole of Margovya and some parts of the world was shocked upon hearing the news regarding the death of, one of Margovya's most famous actors and the series' current "Interceptor". Ribabov's death has mostly hurt the production of the Interceptors, as the cast has only filmed half of the fourth season by the time of his death, although the first few episodes have already aired. Because of this, production of the fourth season was halted, and because the season was already approved for twenty-seven episodes, it was placed under indefinite hiatus, until in March 2, 1973, another actor, Vladimir Malenkov, has offered to take Ribabov's place as the Interceptor. He was immediately accepted into the show, and filming for the rest of Season 4 began March 6, 1973, and as soon as the first episode is done, it was immediately aired. Dimakulanov's enthusiasm in filming was notably decreasing, until eventually, his lack of enthusiasm was seen in the release of the next episodes, causing it to lose viewers at an unexpectedly accelerated rate. Dimakulanov has even permitted airing two to three individual episodes at once, causing the show to lose more viewers. Eventually, at the last episode of the fourth season, the number of viewers are lower than the first episodes' ratings.

On June 3, 1973, one day after the last episode of the fourth season was released, MNBN officially cancelled The Interceptors. However, most of the show's cast petitioned airing the show for another season. According to lead actor Vasily Borisov, "the death of an actor is not enough reason to end such an amazing story. Marvik would never want to see the Interceptors crash and fall apart because of him. His death may have been the most tragic part of our lives, but believe me, if ever he's alive right now, he would rather see everyone continuing their lives as if nothing happened. So I suggest we continue the show and let Marvik serve as our inspiration". Because of this, MNBN has considered renewing The Interceptors for a fifth season. However, Iosef Dimakulanov, who was apparently hurt very bad by the death of one of his favorite actors, signed his resignation papers on June 6, 1973, telling everyone that he will be leaving for the sake of the show. Since then, the show's rights have been available for any producer who wants to take over and rebuild the show. However, after a month, no one bought the rights to the Interceptors, until MNBN was forced to cancel the show on July 14, 1973, until, Marvik Ribabov's closest friend, has bought the rights to the series. He was immediately signed in as the show's new executive producer, and MNBN has approved the show for a fifth season.

After Markovsky took over, he began a re-casting session for the cast of the new Interceptors. However, since all of the current actors are still great at acting, they were all retained in their respective roles, except for, who accepted his candidacy for Vice President in the 1974 elections. Because of this, a casting session was began for the role of the new Technologist. Two actors were competing for the role, and. Later on, MArkovsky would decide to cast Baychenko as a recurring character and let Kiskov take the spot. Filming for the fifth season began on September 12, 1973, and with Markovsky as the new Executive Producer, it only took about four to six days to film an individual episode and seven to eleven days to film a two-part special. Filming ended on January 27, 1974, and the show was immeidately promoted. On February 15, 1974, the trailer for the fifth season of The Interceptors, now marketed as "The New Interceptors", was released, and actors started promoting the show in several programs. Because the Saturday 6-6:45 schedule was closed on October 1973 to give way to new shows, MNBN reopened the show's old schedule to give way for the new season's impending release. On April 6, 1974, The Interceptors made its return on national television.

The New Interceptors (1974-1977)
As expected by almost every member of the Intereptors family, the series started from scratch, earning a small amount of viewers during its first episode of renovation, and because of the thought of having this kind of reception, Markovsky wisely decided not to film any two-part specials for the whole twenty-nine-episode run of this season. However, the succeeding episodes did a slow-but-sure rating increase, enough for MNBN to approve the show for a sixth season.

The "New Interceptors" is still composed of 20-35 episodes, but this time, a story is never completed in one individual episode, nor in a two-part or three-part special; a story arc consisting of six to eleven episodes (two-part specials count as two episodes) is injected in every season, meaning that a season may contain three to four story arcs, depending on the length and theme of the story arc. This new development caused the ratings of the show to increase with each following season, an dfinally, when Season 7 ended in 1976, MNBN has approved The Interceptors for a seven-season run, meaning that the show is approved for until 1983. Upon beginning Season 8, Markovsky decided to add the latest and eventually last character addition to the series: the "Spy" or the officer who will stealthily observe criminals and eventually catch them on act. Markovsky promoted Season 8 of The Interceptors as "The Interceptors: Unstoppable" for its steadily increasing viewership ratings. MNBN picked January 1, 1977 as the start of the eighth season, promoting it with a "start the new year right" advertisement, saying "Start your 1977 right with The Interceptors!", causing it to increase publicity and eventually, The Interceptors are starting to be broadcast outside Margovya.

The Interceptors: The Golden Age (1977-1993)
On the broadcast of the first episode of the eighth season of The Interceptors, the show received a viewership rating of a whopping 4.670 million viewers, and it has steadily increased by the succeeding episodes and seasons, until Markovsky declared the year 1979 as the beginning of the series' "golden age", as the show has reached 10 million viewers by May of the aforementioned year. In 1981, MNBN cut the seven-year-contract with The Interceptors, and instead replaced it with an indefinite-time contract, meaning that the show can be extended for as long as they want, until its ratings drop for a certain reason or circumstance.

The series' rise in popularity was truly unstoppable, and the arrival of stars such as, , , and  gave the show a larger boost. This trend continued until the 1990's, when less popular and less appealing stars were introduced to the series. However, the show kept its standing above the 15-million mark until Season 23 ended in 1993.

Markovsky's Departure and Emergence of Controversies (1993-1994)
On March 21, 1993, following Vice President 's successful impeachment, Markovsky was unexpectedly elected as the new Vice President of the country, winning in the special Vice President conclave with a surprising 209 votes out of 258 voters, which included the Senate, the House of Representatives, the House of Justices, and the House of Ministers. As a result, Markovsky had to resign as the executive producer of 19 TV shows in three TV networks, including Svolochy Showdown, Cars of Margovya, The Next Big Thing, and The Interceptors. According to Markovsky, turning over The Interceptors, the TV show that he handled the longest, was his most difficult decision. However, his duty as Vice President has fully affected his performance as executive producer of the show, so he decided to leave the show, and, if possible, return after his term as Vice President.

On March 28, 1993, Markovsky officially signed his resignation to the show, and personally recommended as the new executive producer of the series. However,, aspiring producer and son of Iosef Dimakulanov, attempted to buy the rights of the show for an undisclosed but huge amount of money. This negotiation was turned into an auction when Pankavuranov offered a larger amount for the rights to the show. The auction was finally cut out when Dimakulanov's offer of m 4.375 billion was leaked on national television. Dimakulanov was signed in as the show's new executive producer, and filming for the show's twenty-fourth season was eventually started.

Although viewership ratings of the show was not as high as it was during Markovsky's time, it was still received well by critics, who gave the show a respectable 8.675 at the end of its twenty-fourth season. However, on April 19, 1994, a week shy to the franchise's silver anniversary celebration,, one of the series' highlight actresses, much to the surprise of almost all viewers, was fired by Dimakulanov, and on April 22, only three days after the controversial exit of Shchpalova, , another highlight actor in the series, voluntarily left the show, according to him, for "political reasons", although most of his co-actors and other personalities outside of Margovya did not buy this, given the fact that Umalin was one of Shchpalova's closest friends. On an exclusive interview with MNBN on May 5, 1994, Shchpalova narrated her argument with Dimakulanov the day before she got fired.

Soundtracks
Even though The Interceptors is not a musical, the series still spawned multiple soundtracks during its entire three-decade run, however, unlike musical-genre TV series like Band Mates (1968-1987) and The Next Big Thing (1977-1994), which spawned at least fifteen soundtracks each, The Interceptors only produced five official soundtracks, which were released in 1971, 1975, 1983, 1992 and 1996, respectively. Most of the songs in these soundtracks were played during selected scenes of some episodes, or were inspired by the show itself. Most of the songs were sung by actors and actresses who played a main role in the show, even though the producers still import songs from other artists. Here are the respective track listing of all the soundtracks in the show:

The Interceptors OST (1971)
A Side:  "Intercept Me" (Vasily Borisov) - 03:45 "Take Me to a Journey" (Gleb Maryanov ft. Svetlana Elemat) - 04:12 "Are You the One?" (The Margovyan Oldies) - 04:03 "Queen of the Bed" (Susana Bulshitova) - 04:02 "Make Me Laugh" (Genrikh Antonov) - 03:49 

B Side:  "Intercept Me" (Vasily Borisov, Acoustic Version) - 03:40 "Life and Death" (Yegor del Quiev) - 03:44 "Queen of the Bed" (Susana Bulshitova, Acoustic) - 03:58 "Rock n' Roll" (Marvik Ribabov ft. Genrikh Antonov and Yulian Markovsky) - 04:50 

The Interceptors' Second OST (1975)
 Motion Picture (Vladimir Malenkov) - 03:53 Rock This Town (The Margovyan Oldies) - 03:38</li> When I'm Mad (Susana Bulshitova) - 04:06</li> Prove It (Yegor del Quiev) - 03:40</li> Meant to Be (Lyudmila Petrova) - 04:04</li> Stay on the Bed (Lyudmila Petrova ft. Yekaterina Fedorova) - 04:03 Born to be Trashed (Stinky Rock) - 04:30</li> Boogie Caritas (Susana Bulshitova) - 06:48</li> Farewell (The Interceptors Cast) - 04:43</li> </ol>

The Interceptors OST: Third Strike (1983)
 Take Me Home (Yekaterina Fedorova) - 04:40 Ram Me Off the Road (Yegor del Quiev ft. Genrikh Masonovsky and Gleb Maryanov) - 03:49 Gimme Gimme (Your Money) (Yegor del Quiev) - 04:17 Intercept Me (Vladimir Malenkov) - 04:14 Rated Zero (The Margovyan Oldies) - 04:28 To My Ex (Konrad Kortesov) - 03:50 Shut Your Mouth (Darya Isarmova) - 04:05 <li>Your Junk is Ours (Baba Filitov ft. Genrikh Antonov, Yulian Markovsky and Anton Kumlidov) - 04:52 <li>I Spy on You (Susana Bulshitova ft. Lyudmila Petrova) - 04:31 <li> - 04:11 <li> (Journey, cover by Vasily Borisov and Irina Balkonovich) - 04:27 </ol>