Good Night, Little Ones!

Stepashka, Filya, and Khrusha

Spokoynoy nochi, malyshi! ("Template:Lang-ru", translated: "Good Night, Little Ones") is a Russian language children's television program, one of the longest-running in the history of the medium. Continuously aired since 1964 (premiered during the Soviet Era), it now airs on the Russia TV Channel.

In the Moscow area it runs weeknights from approximately 8:50 to 9 P.M., completing a 30-minute block that begins at 8:30 pm with local news and then local weather. Occasionally the timing is off by a minute or two, depending on when the series preceding the local newscast ends.

The program's presenters included Valentina Leontieva (in the 1960s and 1970s) and Tatiana Vedeneyeva (in the 1980s). Current presenters (as of 2006) include Anna Mikhalkova (Nikita Mikhalkov's daughter) and Oxana Fedorova.

Format

The format has remained relatively constant over the decades. The presenter (a recognisable news reader, actor, or public figure) is joined on-set by one or two puppet characters. The most regularly appearing puppets are Khryusha (a piglet - introduced on February 10, 1970), Stepashka (a hare, introduced in 1970), Philya (a dog, introduced in 1968), Karkusha (a crow, introduced in 1982) and Mishutka (a bear, introduced in 2002). The presenter engages the puppets in a short conversation or helps them to perform a quick activity such as cleaning up the puppets' toys, or learning a moral lesson.

After a minute or two the presenter introduces a short cartoon. The cartoon lasts about five minutes and was often taken from the Soyuzmultfilm stock. In early 2006, however, American Casper the Friendly Ghost cartoons were used on Fridays, and in 2007 and 2008, most nights featured an episode of Adventures of Luntik, a cartoon produced by Melnitsa Animation Studio. If the cartoon is in another language it is dubbed into Russian, although the original language may still be audible.

After the cartoon the presenter and puppets return for a few seconds to say "Spokoinoi nochi, malyshi", or a variant thereof, and wave goodnight. The lullaby "Sleep, tired toys" (Template:Lang-ru) opens and closes each segment, accompanied by elaborate clay animation. The lullaby itself was written by Arkadii Ostrovskii and Zoia Petrova, while the animation was done by Aleksandr Tatarskiy in 1981.

In the 1980s, Fred Rogers had made a guest appearance on the show with Daniel Striped Tiger, as shown on Mister Rogers' Neighborhood, during the weekly theme, "Nighttime". Tatiana Vedeneyeva, who was the presenter at the time, appeared on Rogers' show later in the week and brought Stepashka with her.