Selo gori,češ a baba se češlja (English: The village is burning, and the grandmother is combing her hair) is a Serbian television series, which first aired in 2007.
The show quickly gained national fame with episodes in its third season averaging approximately 2.9 million viewers.
The show was aired ont the serbian state owned TV and radio broadcasting channel RTS1.
Although the end of the series was announced in the closing credits of the episode #89, 12 additional episodes were filmed in 2016, and aired on RTS1 in 2016.
Overview
Premise
The show revolves around the character of Radašin. The entire story is based around his recount of the time when he lived in the village and how he spent his time with his fellow countrymen and women. He recounts his life to his family. Most of the show revolves around Radašin’s family but also around his friends, who are the main characters of the show: Dragojlo, Đota, Milo and sin Dragan.
Plot points
The series is based in a small fictional village near the region of the muncipality of Trstenik, where South and West Morava rivers form the Great Morava river. The show is essentially a comedy but it displays a deep emotional connection between family, tradition and the land. The village life is at the heart of the show, often displaying how life is changing in Serbian villages and how these rural communities are quickly disappearing due to the exodus of young people from the country to the city.
The show emphasises that the village is the heart of Serbian culture and pride, a place where humanity has outlasted many challenges. The show further emphasises the finest qualities of the Serbian people such as honesty and kindness and aims to break down the tarnished stereotypical view of Serbian people crafted during the 1990s.
The show also briefly touches on various problems, which senior citizens and Serbian society as a whole were facing throughout the 2000s, such as the remaining societal transition from socialism to democratic capitalism and how some people are unable to cope with the breakup of Yugoslavia, whilst still often referencing their past, how older people deal with their health and often neglect it, how many young people mistreat their older relatives and flee from their own country into the diaspora to search for a better life, whilst the local economy and the country as a whole is falling apart and how corruption is a major problem in state institutions, such as the police. The show also touches on the question on how to deal with the loss of relatives and friends, which is due to them either passing away or fleeing into the diaspora to search for a better life and it briefly mentions the still unresolved ethnic tensions in Bosnia as a result of the breakup of Yugoslavia.
Breast cancer awareness
The show was largely praised for its breast cancer awareness campaign. During season three, one of the main characters of the show, Radojka, is diagnosed with breast cancer. The storyline was based around the director's own experience with breast cancer when his wife was diagnosed. The breast cancer storyline led to an extreme increase in the number of breast cancer screenings in regional parts of Serbia. Shortly after the storyline, a mobile mammography van was deployed to various villages across the country so women could be screened.
Production
The first season of "Selo gori, a baba se češlja" began airing on March 10, 2007 on RTS1. The first season had only 4 episodes which were immensely popular mostly due to the famous cast which took part in the series. The first episode was watched by 2.1 million people, an extremely high figure for a debuting show. However, by the time series 2 began airing (on January 19, 2008), the show recorded massive viewer ratings. The second season contained a total of 25 episodes. The much anticipated third season of the show was aired from December 2008 to a massive television audience. The second episode of the third season was watched by over 3 million people making it one of the most watched programmes ever broadcast in Serbia. Ratings somewhat declined by the end of the third season (mostly due to the beginning of summer when television ratings generally fall) but they still remained strong with average viewing of 2.9 million people, which is extremely high for Serbian television.
