5 September (5 September 2014) – 28 November 2014 (28 November 2014)
Neviditelní (English: The Invisibles) is a Czech adventure comedy television series produced by Czech Television, which premiered on ČT1 from September 5, 2014, to November 28, 2014. It was written and directed by Radek Bajgar while company Logline Production produced the series. Jiří Bartoška, Jiří Langmajer, Ivana Chýlková, Luděk Sobota and others play the main roles in the series about vodník's.
13 episodes were produced.
Plot
The series is about water people - vodníks, who differ from others by having a certain amount of aquagen, which makes them able to live underwater. However their species is slowly disappearing from the world. They try to save themselves and not to reveal themselves to "dry" people. However, there are also so-called "wolves" who are vodníks who do not know that they are water people. One example is lobbyist Ivan Laušman who finds out he is vodník after he tries to commit suicide by drowning. Other vodníks, however, are concerned that the monitored lobbyist might cause their existence to be revealed.
Czech Television approved the production of the series in autumn 2012.[1][2] Michal Reitler served as creative producer.[3] Series was co-produced by Logline Production company.[4]
Program director Milan Fridrich stated in April 2014 that the series should be a reinforcement of the comedy genre in the Czech Television program, alongside crime, retro and historical series.[5] The finished series was presented at the Karlovy Vary International Film Festival in July of the same year.[6]
Press conference for the series took place on 24 July 2014 with the participation of the main stars of the series.
Reception
MF DNES critic Mirka Spáčilová called the series, judging by the first episode, "the biggest disappointment of the autumn season". She criticized it as a poorly handled period satire, with shallow humor and "stilted, contrived, unnatural" acting, albeit with lighter moments.[7] According to TV screenwriter Jan Žáček, who evaluated the series based on the watched episode 7 and, like Spáčilová, compared it to the unattainable film model How to Drown Dr. Mracek, the Lawyer (1974), a satire on contemporary Czech conditions as well as humor, remained "invisible because it is toothless and unaddressed". He rated some of the acting as replays due to poor direction.[8] On the contrary, Eva Zajíčková from Právo highlighted the efforts of the creators and Czech Television to "ventilate the domestic atmosphere, which has been dominated by stale relationship series and popular jokes for years, with smarter humor". In her opinion, the Invisibles were "funnier than any television competition at the moment", although she acknowledged that the series "would have benefited from a stronger dramaturgical intervention" and the debut screenwriter and director Radek Bajgar was helped by "support in excellent actors".[9]
