Viewers have gone completely crazy for HBO’s recent, harrowing limited series, “Chernobyl.” Our own review, calling the series one of the best of the year, was criticized on social media for not saying “Chernobyl” is one of the “best series ever.” Its popularity has reached historic levels, as the HBO drama is now the #1 ranked series of all time on IMDB, beating out shows like HBO’s own “Band of Brothers,” “Planet Earth” (and its sequel), “Breaking Bad,” and “The Wire.”
But there is one group that is very displeased with “Chernobyl” — the Russian government.
READ MORE: ‘Chernobyl’ Avoids A Genre Meltdown & Is One Of The Year’s Best Series [Review]
According to a new report from The Moscow Times, the folks in power in Russia are none too pleased that HBO was not only able to release a series about the real-life disaster before they could, but also because those people find the critically-acclaimed show to be full of lies.
“If Anglo-Saxons film something about Russians, it definitely will not correspond to the truth,” columnist Anatoly Vasserman said. The outlet describes Vasserman as “Ultra pro-Soviet.”
The report claims that Russian newspaper, Argumenty i Fakty, which is described as “popular among the elderly,” called HBO’s series “a caricature and not the truth.”
READ MORE: ‘Chernobyl’: Director Johan Renck Talks About His Harrowing HBO Mini-Series [Interview]
So, what is Russia going to do about this? Apparently, the government is so upset that they’re beaten to the punch by HBO that the Russian channel, NTV, says that it’s going to begin production on its own series about the Chernobyl disaster. However, unlike the HBO series, the story of the Russian show will feature a plot that says a CIA agent was sent to Chernobyl to sabotage the plant. You know, the actual truth. Not the crap that HBO fed the world.
No word on when NTV will release its own “Chernobyl” series, but until then, feel free to enjoy the critically-acclaimed HBO series, which is purported, if you believe Russia, to be completely full of lies and is nothing but trash. Tons of other people are doing it.