TV REVIEW: "RUSSIA IN CRISIS"

 Having recently wrapped Race Against Time, a disappointingly predictable one-week miniseries about a doomed mini-submarine looking for the Titanic (what, again?), MSNBC appeared to be attempting a new edge-of-your-seat drama, only with greater stakes than the survival of rich people who should have known better.

Yet another program with a hackneyed title, Russia in Crisis initially      promised to be nothing more than just another melodrama going back to the Red Scare movies of the 1950s. The twist -- admittedly interesting one -- concerns the attempted coup by the leader of a ragtag bunch of soldiers-for-hire made up by and large of ex-convicts, criminals, and all-around losers. Think of it as The Dirty Dozen with a side of borscht. 

So far, so khoroshly, as the comrades would say. A genuine tension was building
as the revolutionaries (or is it anti-revolutionaries?) approached Moscow with the support of most of the civilians they encountered, including the citizens of the city they commandeered. Just don't ask what the name of the city was -- even if I could remember it, I couldn't spell it. However, it probably ended in "itsky" or "blitsky". 

Unfortunately, that was when most viewers probably went splitsky -- and not even because the idea of innocent people taking joyful selfies of their conqueror strains credulity. Just as the mercenaries were within a samovar's distance from Moscow, a hastily-arranged peace deal was put into place by a friend of the Russian president. Before you could say "I have a friend in Minsk", the drama was over barely after it had begun. If you needed proof that the writers strike is taking its toll on storytelling, there it was. 

Truth be told, Russia in Crisis appeared to be thrown together without much
thought. A news anchor  promised that anyone who claimed to know how the events would play out "is a liar", only to spend the rest of the afternoon interviewing "experts" doing just that. Nor could anyone get on the same page regarding the pronunciation of the mercenaries. Was it "WAG-ner" or "VAHG-ner"? 

The creators of Russia in Crisis seemed to sense the disappointing finale. In a desperate attempt to gin up audience interest, they introduced a spinoff involving a former American president with an authoritarian complex promising to run for office again. As with both Russia in Crisis and even Race Against Time with its delusional captain and his billionaire friends, there are no real heroes to root for. America in Crisis, anyone?

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