Good Night, Little Ones!

Spokoinoi Nochi, Malyshi ("Спокойной ночи, малыши!", in English, roughly: "Good Night, Kids") 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 pm to 9 o'clock, 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 serial 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 is usually taken from the Soyuzmultfilm stock. If the cartoon is in another language (in early 2006, for instance, American "Casper the Friendly Ghost" cartoons were used on Fridays) the cartoon is crudely overdubbed into Russian (the other language may still be heard).

After the cartoon the presenter and puppets return for a few seconds to say "Spokoinoi Nochi, Malyshi", or a variant thereof, and wave goodnight. Lullaby music opens and closes each segment, accompanied by elaborate clay animation.