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| Hyvät herrat | |
|---|---|
| Finnish | Hyvät herrat |
| Genre |
|
| Created by | Jarmo Porola |
| Starring |
|
| Theme music composer | Jussi Haime |
| Country of origin | Finland |
| Original language | Finnish |
| No. of seasons | 7 |
| No. of episodes | 207[1] |
| Production | |
| Running time | 58 minutes |
| Production company | VipVision |
| Original release | |
| Network | Kolmoskanava, later MTV3 |
| Release | 15 January 1990 – 21 May 1996 |
Hyvät herrat (Good Gentlemen) is a Finnish political satire series produced between 1990 and 1996. The series was shown in 1990–1992 on Kolmoskanava and in 1993–1996 on MTV3. Aarno Laitinen was the screenwriter of the series, with his assistant mainly Lasse Lehtinen under the pseudonyms Saara Lenso, Serita Numintio and Sole Sarana.[1] For a few years, together with Laitinen and Lehtinen, Yleisradio's political editor Jarkko Juselius wrote the series.[2] The director of the series was Pertti Melasniemi and the producer was Jarmo Porola. A total of 207 episodes were made in the series. In 1999, the 15-part continuation series Herrat nauraa was completed, which was a continuation of the original series.
Overview
The main characters of the series are business advisor Johannes Paukku (Matti Tuominen), a sausage manufacturer who got rich with "Paukku's Run" and his son-in-law Raimo "Tollo" Koskivuo (Eero Melasniemi), a social democratic politician, whom Yleni promoted from MP to party secretary and minister during the series. In each episode, Paukku and Tollo organised a sauna evening and invited a political guest or other well-known public figure, with whom they tried to talk into favouring their own political projects, along with saunas, sowing and drinking. Sales advisor Paukku's role model was reportedly business leader and business organisation influencer Heikki Tavela.[3]
In order to get up-to-date political remarks, the week's episode was filmed in 1990 on Mondays and the program came out on TV the evening of the same day, which was why they read the same day's afternoon newspapers. From the spring of 1991, the day of recording was moved to Tuesday, until the end of the series. This gave the staff one day more time to make the series. The filming location for the series was the Park Hotel Käpylä in Käpylä, Helsinki, which has been operating under the name Finlandia Park Hotel Helsinki since February 2017.[4][5][6]
The screenwriter Lasse Lehtinen has recalled that several well-known male actors were considered for the role of sales advisor Paukku, starting with Lasse Pöysti and Pentti Siimes. The requirement was that the actor to be chosen was absolutely sober. For this reason, according to Lehtinen, the task turned out to be difficult, because almost all the male actors who were free at the time had an alcohol problem. Director Pertti Melasniemi demanded and got Matti Tuominen as sales advisor Paukku.[2] Lasse Lehtinen has considered Tuominen's choice to be successful, as he skillfully embraced the role of Paukku. When Tuominen was chosen, he was still relatively unknown to the general public, although he already had a long career as a theatre actor behind him. Tuominen's son, actor Sakari Tuominen, has said that in his private life, his father was more or less the complete opposite of Paukku, shy and modest in nature and rather a sidekick than the center of the group.[7]
The characters of Hyvät herrat were well-characterised and its humour was often snarky. Sales advisor Paukku was a chauvinistic and whiny industrialist, Tollo, on the other hand, a sleazy political gambler. With the help of the characters, the "good brother network" of politics was caricatured, where decisions are plotted in cabinets and sauna evenings "behind the people's backs". In addition, Paukku and Tollo indulged in high life, drinking, and occasional side-jumping (the business advisor lived in Barcelona, and Mrs. Koskivuoka never appeared in the series either). In the episodes of the first year, the sauna guests' backs were washed by the sower Armi (Eila Pehkonen). The actor Pehkonen died in September 1991, and until the end of the program's life, she was replaced by Tyyne Hurskainen (Anja Pohjola), who commented on politics from her own perspective of a "revolutionary front-line". During the series, the sauna group was served "turpentine" by several waiters, first Pia (Sarina Röhr), then Timo (Mikko Roiha), whom Paukku called Håkan, and finally Dr. Samuel Livingstone Matabele (Billy Carson). Paukku treated the waiter characters with open disdain, which was meant to reflect prejudices against women, sexual minorities, immigrants and animal activists. However, according to the director Melasniemi, Paukku was always the one who misbehaved, got picked on and was laughed at in the end.[8]
Guests
In each episode of the series, a Finnish politician or other public figure appeared as himself. Although Paukku and Tollo could put their guests behind their backs and in front of them cheaply, there were always enough guests for the show, because they got media publicity and the opportunity to present their own thoughts on a popular television show. This is how real politics and the satire of the screenwriters were mixed in Hyvät herrat. Paukku's sauna was visited by the highest leadership of the kingdom, including ministers. According to Lasse Lehtinen, who wrote the program, the politicians actually competed to be included in the program, and only a few, such as Paavo Väyrynen, refused the invitation.[7]
The Prime Minister Esko Aho participated in the making of the series and appeared in the filming, but at the last drop he refused to air the episode. The Russian diplomat Viktor Vladimirov, on the other hand, had promised to join Hyvät herrat, but cancelled his arrival a day before filming. Vladimirov was replaced at short notice by writer and politician Jörn Donner.[2]
President of Finland Mauno Koivisto was supposed to join an episode of Hyvät herrat to play volleyball with Tollo for the Sikariporras team. The day before the shooting, there were government negotiations, and in order to mix fact and fiction, Pertti Melasniemi sent Tollo with the film crew to the location to comment on the government negotiations. When the afternoon papers reported the next day that Tollo participated in the formation of the government, the Office of the President of Finland was informed that the president wanted to transfer his participation to Hyvät herrat. Melasniemi interpreted that Koivisto would never be seen in the series.[2]
According to Tapani Ruokanen, the author of President Martti Ahtisaari's biography, in 1992 and 1993 Hyvät herrat helped pave the way for Ahtisaari to become the President of the Republic. Ahtisaari's name as a possible future presidential candidate came up in an episode of Hyvät herrat that was shown at the beginning of September 1992. A couple of weeks later, Aarno Laitinen wrote a column in Iltalehti with the title "Could it be Martti Ahtisaari?" Lasse Lehtinen was on bad terms with SDP's long-term chairman and four-time prime minister, Kalevi Sorsa, and wanted to prevent Sorsa from becoming a presidential candidate. The later chairman of the SDP, Eero Heinäluoma, said in Ahtisaari's biography: "The essential thing was that Lasse Lehtinen, a propagandist who was even more skilled than Göbbels, set out to push Ahtisaari for the presidency, systematically and using the entire media. He influenced through his fellow journalists in all media”.[9]
Partial list of guests
- Sauli Niinistö[10]
- Tarja Halonen[10]
- Martti Ahtisaari[2]
- Elisabeth Rehn[11]
- Matti Vanhanen[10]
- Juha "Junnu" Vainio[2]
- Ben Zyskowicz[12]
- Jörn Donner[2]
- Ilkka Kanerva[12]
- Pirkko K. Koskinen[2]
- Sanelma Vuorre[2]
- Tuovi Allén[2]
- Hannele Luukkainen[2]
- Kerttu Törnqvist[2]
- Leif Salmén[2]
- Leena Harkimo[2]
- Eero Paloheimo[2]
- Riitta Suominen[2]
- Ruben Stiller[2]
Impact
Hyvät herrat was a popular show throughout its lifetime: for example, the episode broadcast on 6 April 1993 drew 1.4 million viewers.[13] The series made its main star, the sales advisor Paukku, a cult figure, and this echoed in almost every episode from the cry "Personnel, turpentine!" (Henkilökunta, tärpättiä!) came the flying phrase. At the same time, the visit of high-ranking politicians in the program, which often cultivates dark humor, also aroused indignation. In the mid-1990s, the current affairs program Mediapeli, shown on MTV3, organized a studio discussion and a viewer survey on the topic "Is it appropriate for ministers to visit the Hyvät herrat show?". The illustration used was the post-May Day episode of Hyvät herrat, where Paukku and Tollo wake up from a drinking hole wearing May Day masks.
| Season 1 | |||
|---|---|---|---|
| Number | Name | Guest(s) | Airdate |
| 1 | Raha saa palkkansa | Jukka Keitele | 15 January 1990 |
| 2 | Tittelit pois | Riitta Suominen | 22 January 1990 |
| 3 | Oma koti turhan kallis | Arja Alho | 29 January 1990 |
| 4 | Kolmossivun tyttö | Heikki Tavela | 5 February 1990 |
| 5 | Kallis kansliapäällikkö | Bror Wahlroos | 12 February 1990 |
| 6 | Kirje rajan takaa | Leif Salmén | 19 February 1990 |
| 7 | Paukku ja Leppänen | Urpo Leppänen | 26 February 1990 |
| 8 | Karjala takaisin! | Johannes Virolainen | 5 March 1990 |
| 9 | 12 March 1990 | ||
| 10 | Oma pää ja pääoma | Esko Seppänen | 19 March 1990 |
| 11 | Muistamaton neuvos | Lasse Lehtinen | 26 March 1990 |
| 12 | Paljon onnea vaan | Juha Vainio | 2 April 1990 |
| 13 | 9 April 1990 | ||
| 14 | 23 April 1990 | ||
| 15 | Mustaa valkoisella | 7 May 1990 | |
| Season 2 | |||
|---|---|---|---|
| Number | Name | Guest(s) | Airdate |
| 16 | Turun muikku | Ari Valjakka | 15 October 1990 |
| 17 | Nautaa rajalle | Pekka Ruotsalainen | 22 October 1990 |
| 18 | Erja Tikka | 29 October 1990 | |
| 19 | Kumin käryä | 5 November 1990 | |
| 20 | Pekka Vennamo | 12 November 1990 | |
| 21 | Pappia kyydissä | Heikki Riihijärvi | 19 November 1990 |
| 22 | Melkein ministeri | Pekka Kivelä | 26 November 1990 |
| 23 | 3 December 1990 | ||
| 24 | 10 December 1990 | ||
| 25 | Paukkuryssiä | Rita Tainola | 17 December 1990 |
| 26 | 29 January 1991 | ||
| 27 | 5 February 1991 | ||
| 28 | Rauha ja solidaarisuus | Jukka Kuikka | 12 February 1991 |
| 29 | 19 February 1991 | ||
| 30 | Matti Louekoski | 26 February 1991 | |
| 31 | 5 March 1991 | ||
| 32 | 12 March 1991 | ||
| 33 | 19 March 1991 | ||
| 34 | 26 March 1991 | ||
| 35 | Makkaraesirippu | Ben Zyskowicz | 9 April 1991 |
| 36 | Mooses ja Demostenes | Arto Tuominen | 16 April 1991 |
| 37 | Paukku ja pamppu | Sulo Aittoniemi | 23 April 1991 |
| 38 | Makkarapankki | Ulf Sundqvist | 30 April 1991 |
| 39 | Pallo hallussa | Anssi Rauramo | 7 May 1991 |
| Season 3 | |||
|---|---|---|---|
| Number | Name | Guest(s) | Airdate |
| 40 | Ann yks silakk | Elisabeth Rehn | 1 October 1991 |
| 41 | 8 October 1991 | ||
| 42 | 15 October 1991 | ||
| 43 | 22 October 1991 | ||
| 44 | 29 October 1991 | ||
| 45 | 5 November 1991 | ||
| 46 | 12 November 1991 | ||
| 47 | Ei tippapullo tapa | Ilkka Kanerva | 19 November 1991 |
| 48 | Taistojen teillä | Matti Viialainen | 26 November 1991 |
| 49 | Kauhea Kankkunen | Juha Kankkunen | 3 December 1991 |
| 50 | Dynamiittia!! | Eero Paloheimo | 10 December 1991 |
| 51 | En etsi valtaa | Kirsti Paakkanen | 17 December 1991 |
| 52 | Kuollut kukko | Jörn Donner | 4 January 1992 |
| 53 | Poliisin tuttu | 11 February 1992 | |
| 54 | Innostunut sonni | 18 February 1992 | |
| 55 | Varkauspäivä | Hannele Luukkanen | 25 February 1992 |
| 56 | Lakkokenraalit | Risto Kuisma | 3 March 1992 |
| 57 | Tiede ja kunnia | Eino Tunkelo | 10 March 1992 |
| 58 | Valoa kansalle | Pentti Sierilä | 17 March 1992 |
| 59 | Peräänanattomat | 24 March 1992 | |
| 60 | Sairas kansa | 31 March 1992 | |
| 61 | Pekkaspäivä | Tarja Tenkula | 7 April 1992 |
| 62 | On sovittu | 14 April 1992 | |
| 63 | Tuhlaajapojat | Raimo Ilaskivi | 28 April 1992 |
| 64 | Jokeri hihassa | Teemu Selänne Hjallis Harkimo |
5 May 1992 |
| 65 | Valkoinen metsästäjä | Peter Fryckman | 12 May 1992 |
| 66 | Tasavallan miehet | Arvo Salo | 19 May 1992 |
| 67 | Hullujen huone | Claes Andersson | 26 May 1992 |