Interny

Interny (Interns, Russian: Интерны) is a Russian medical sitcom produced by NTV-Kino and aired in Russia on TNT channel since March 29, 2010.

The sitcom revolves around the lives of four young inexperienced medical interns, who constantly get into stupid situations, their mentor Andrey Bykov, and the hospital's often dysfunctional staff.

Regular Characters

• Andrey Yevgenyevich Bykov (portrayed by Ivan Okhlobystin), the sarcastic and often downright rude head of the therapy department. He was assigned four interns in the first episode, and has since subjected them to many degrading tasks, as well as leaving them on call at night. He is best friends with Kupitman, whom he also frequently insults and has a sexual relationship with Kisegach, especially when the two of them drink together. Bykov is very intelligent, and always comes up with the diagnosis prior to the interns - sometimes, without even examining the patient. He has a dry sense of humour, and often pranks Kupitman, the interns and Kisegach. Even though he often says that he hates being in charge of the interns, when asked to fire one he couldn't pick one, claiming that they're all "equally bad". At the beginning of the first season, it was mentioned multiple times that he's a recovering alcoholic, but he has since been seen drinking suggesting that this storyline has been dropped. His relationship with Kisegach has caused problems between him and Romanenko. It has been implied that he is divorced, and became a workaholic to deal with the pain. Bykov is very fond of video games, which is often used for comic effect.
• Semyon Lobanov (Aleksandr Ilyin Jr.), one of the interns, Lobanov has plenty of practical experience (having worked in an ambulance and serving in the army) but lacks vital theoretical knowledge, often finding medical jargon confusing and being unable to diagnose even simple diseases. However, he is very useful in emergencies. He is physically big, and often intimidates people (most often his fellow intern Levin). He is often violent, having no qualms about hurting people, particularly those who annoy him. Lobanov often tries to make some money on the side, indulging in somewhat illegal or morally ambiguous activities. At the start of the show, he was the only married intern, and his wife, Olga, was a lawyer (in one episode, it was mentioned that she graduated cum laude). The two of them had trouble conceiving a child, and it was revealed that Lobanov's slow-moving sperm was to blame for this. Lobanov's reluctance to quit smoking or drinking led to a rift between him and his wife, and the two filed for divorce in Season 3.
• Boris Arkadyevich Levin (Dmitriy Sharakois), another intern, Levin graduated from university cum laude and believes that he is by far the most intelligent and medically gifted of the interns. He also considers himself Bykov's favourite. He is socially inept, and has trouble making his opinion heard. He is bullied by both Romanenko and Lobanov. He lost his virginity to, and entered a long-term relationship with the Head Nurse, Lyubov Scriabina. She is older (and more sexually experienced) than him, and it was once mentioned that his mother is older than his father, suggesting he is drawn to women similar to his mother. Levin is physically scrawny and wears thick glasses. He would like to one day win the Nobel Prize. He left the show during the third season to pursue an internship at the Princeton-Plainsboro Clinic in America (this is an homage to the show House M.D.)
• Gleb Romanenko (Ilya Glinnikov), Kisegach's son from a previous marriage. He has no desire to be a doctor, but succumbed to pressure from his mother, who financially supports him and with whom he lives. He partied a lot in med school and thus has a lot of knowledge regarding clubs and drugs. He had many one night stands, and had a reputation as a womanizer. He is by far the worst doctor of the four interns. He is crafty and witty, but mostly uses his connections to get by. Since the beginning of the show, Romanenko showed interest in Chernous, and the two finally embarked on a relationship. However, they have since broken up. In Season 3, Romanenko starts dating Bykov's daughter, initially to get back at Bykov for sleeping with Kisegach, but it is implied that the two have genuine affection for each other. Romanenko has this most antagonistic relationship with Bykov, mostly because of the older man's sexual relations with his mother.
• Varvara Nikolayevna Chernous (Kristina Asmus), the only female intern, she is frequently subjected to derogatory statements about her gender. She is very honest and emotionally open, and has very high ethical ideals, often objecting to the boys' pranks or morally ambiguous behaviour. She is uncomfortable being sexualised, and at the start of the show had very limited sexual experience (her relationship with Romanenko changed this, to a degree and she became a lot more open to sexual experiences). It was revealed that in med school she tried to commit suicide after the guy she'd lost her virginity dumped her. Chernous was raised by a single mother and told that a woman doesn't need a man to get by. Although she initially rejected Romanenko's advances due to his reputation, the two eventually embarked on a relationship, which has since ended, in part due to Chernous developing a crush on Bykov. Chernous is smart and compassionate, and thus is a fairly good doctor, but her overemotional reactions sometimes get her into trouble.
• Phil Richards (Odin Lund Biron), an intern from the United States who came to Russia to exchange instead of Boris Levin. Fluent in Russian because of his Russian mother. Sometimes too opinionated.
• Ivan Natanovich Kupitman (Vadim Demchog). In charge of the Department of Venereology, Kupitman is highly intelligent and a valued friend of Bykov. He is crafty and manipulative, and like Bykov, indulges in pranks. He has been married three times, but is currently single. Kupitman is an alcoholic and he has a cupboard full of expensive cognac in his office (from grateful patients and fellow staff members). In one episode, it is revealed that Kupitman cannot drink vodka, since it causes him to become dysfunctional. He is considered an expert on male/female relationships by the other staff, who often go to him for help with their relationship. Normally, his advice is not particularly helpful, or backfires.
• Lyubov Mikhaylovna Scryabina (Svetlana Permyakova), the Head Nurse. She is practical and usually level-headed (although she is very superstitious). She is very self-conscious of her age and the fact that she's overweight. She and Kupitman are "frienemies". Although they are usually friends, they often hate each other during the course of the episode but resolve it before the next episode. It has been implied that there is sexual tension between them. Lyuba is good friends with Chernous, and has a mutual respect with Lobanov (the two of them periodically indulge in get-rich schemes, and a fortuneteller once foretold her that he is the man she is destined to marry, although this was later revealed to be a lie the woman concocted to get rid of Lyubov's constant chatter). Everyone in the hospital respects, and even somewhat fears her. During the first season, she claimed Levin's virginity whilst he got drunk for the first time, the two then began a long-term relationship, which ended when Levin left to go to an internship in America. Lyuba is very gossipy and talkative, and is considered the channel for all the hospital's dirty secrets. It was revealed that when she was younger, she was in love with Bykov, but he publicly humiliated her by reading out her anonymous love letter to the entire hospital staff.
• Anastasiya Konstantinovna Kisegach (Svetlana Kamynina), the attractive, divorced hospital administrator. She is exceptionally smart and manipulative, and is one of the only women who has Bykov's respect. She is the mother of Gleb Romanenko, but is divorced from his father. She and Bykov have indulged in a somewhat sexual relationship since med school, and whenever the two drink together they end up having sex, after which she normally exclaims, "Bykov, this was the last time!" The two pursued a relationship after Kisegach accepted that she felt jealous when Bykov flirted with other women. Their relationship briefly ended after Romanenko discovered about it, but has since secretly resumed. It has been implied that Romanenko suspects their reconciliation, especially after he discovered Bykov's watch in the apartment he shares with his mother, but his relationship with Bykov's daughter has led him to accept the relationship, to a degree.

Recurring Characters

• Olga Lobanova (Tatyana Lyannik), Semyon Lobanov's ex-wife. The show frequently contrasted her intelligence and beauty with Lobanov's oafishness, although the two seemed to be happy together. They divorced in Season 3, after Lobanov refused to quit drinking and smoking in order to conceive a child. Although there was initially hope for reconciliation, once Olga discovered Lobanov lied to her about getting amnesia and being unable to recall their separation (in actuality, he had broken his leg) she demanded that he never attempt to contact her again.
• Galina (Yelena Surkova), one of the nurses in Bykov's department. She has been seen in multiple episodes, and, following Lobanov's divorce, had a one night stand with him. This plot line has not been developed further.
• Vera (Tatyana Mukhina), Kisegach's personal secretary. In one episode, Kisegach believed that Vera and Bykov had sexual relations, which led to Kisegach demanding an exclusive relationship with Bykov, even after it was proven false.
• Hospital attendants (Maxim Artamonov, Mikhail Pavlik), the two have been recurring characters since the first episode, and in Season 3, one was revealed to be named Pyetka. A recurring gag in the show is their involvement when it comes to catching mentally disturbed patients - they once accidentally caught Levin instead of a mentally ill patient who believed that he was Vladimir Putin. They seem to lack intelligence, but make up for it in brute strength.
• Alisa Bykova (Mariya Pirogova), Bykov's daughter from a failed relationship. She is first introduced in Season 3. It is revealed that she previously lived in St. Petersburg with her mother, but decide to come to Moscow in order to become a doctor and move in with her father. She shares many of Bykov's personality traits such as his sarcasm, sense of humor, stubbornness and, surprisingly, his knack for medicine. She is fond of clubbing, drinking and smoking and has had many sexual partners. In one episode, it is revealed that she favours creative men, which creates tension between her and Romanenko. She started dating Romanenko in the second episode in which she appeared and the two seem to have a surprisingly balanced relationship.

Comparison and similar shows

Similarities have been noted between Interny and American shows, for example House M.D. and Scrubs.^[1] Although the show is officially original, the parallels are undeniable. Like Scrubs, the show is centered on the lives of interns having to put up with an unreasonable (yet talented) boss. Also, the show has used "daydream" scenarios that echoed J.D's daydreams. Bykov's derogatory comments towards Chernous also echoed Cox's nicknaming Elliot "Dr Barbie". Like Elliot, Chernous revealed that she previously tried to commit suicide. She is also good friends with Lybov Mihaylovna the Head Nurse, like Carla Espinosa was friends with Elliot. Also, Scrubs saw the Head Nurse enter a relationship with one of the interns (Turk) and similarly, Lybov starts dating Levin.

House and Bykov similarly share traits, and parallels between the Huddy relationship and Bykov's relationship with Kisegach are easy to see. Chernous echoes early Cameron, especially with her reluctance to enter relationships and her moral high-ground. Both entered relationships with the less talented sons of renown doctors, after much pursuit on the part of the men (Cameron dated, and eventually married and divorced, Chase, whilst Chernous had a failed relationship with Romanenko). Moreover, Chernous also developed a crush on Bykov which echoed an early House plotline which involved Cameron being in love with her boss. Interny has referenced these similarities with a tongue-in-cheek attitude, which include a House spoof episode that centred around Bykov trying to get his interns to diagnose a "difficult case" in House's typical style, and many of House's favourite diagnoses were rattled off. This episode also used the House catchphrase "Everybody Lies" repeatedly, for comic effect and involved Bykov spraining his ankle and walking around with a cane. Interny also paid homage to House by naming Princeton-Plainsboro Teaching Hospital as the clinic Levin intends to do an internship.

References

External links

• Interny at the Internet Movie Database