Fajront Republika


Fajront Republika was a Serbian talk show / sketch show that aired weekly on 1Prva from December 2008 until June 2011.
Hosted by Zoran Kesić, the programme blended classic talk show elements such as show-business guests promoting their activity and musical performances with sketch comedy that included characters developed and played by Kesić. Its guests were drawn from the public sphere in Serbia and the rest of the Balkans. The show's name translates to "Closing time Republic" and it premiered on Sunday, 21 December 2008 at 11pm. It has since then been moved to Thursdays at 9pm, and then back to Sundays at 11pm in early November 2009.
Starting in fall 2012, a year after getting cancelled, a live version of the show, this time named Fajront Republika 3D, had been performed with bi-weekly frequency at a Belgrade theater.

History

After the quickly canceled Marko Živić Show and Oralno doba, Fajront Republika was Fox televizija's third attempt in less than 2 years to come up with a long term locally produced entertainment talk-show programme. Unlike its previous two tries that aired nightly, Fajront Republika was broadcast weekly, probably due to specific editing requirements. Shot on a set that resembles a kafana with a bar and a stage, the programme was also geared towards a younger audience much more so than a fore mentioned shows.
The host, Zoran Kesić, was somewhat already known due to his earlier television shows Dezinformator and Klub zatvorenog tipa that aired locally in Belgrade on local station TV Metropolis, while Fajront Republika became his first shot on the national Serbia-wide television. In addition to Kesić, some of the hosting duties were handled by sidekicks Igor Bugarski and Aleksandar Todorović Bekan. Another important member of the team was Balša Bošković who handled the editing.
Fajront Republika quickly managed to build an audience due to the host's irreverent style and jovial personality. Additionally, it gained a sizable following on Facebook as well as through Kesić's side promotional activities such as making a literal music video from Madonna's "Like a Prayer" and posting it on YouTube in November 2009 — the video quickly went viral, reaching 1 million views in less than a month before being taken down due to copyright infringement issues.
Towards the end of the second season in May 2010, the show created a bit of a stir in Serbian media by announcing that it is going off the air, and airing the farewell episode. This was followed by the network's official announcement that it's just changing hosts and original host's outraged reaction at this turn of events. For a single episode the show was in fact hosted by Žarko Stepanov. Eventually, it was revealed the whole thing was a media stunt created by Kesić and he returned as host for the following episode.
Fajront Republika's ratings reportedly deteriorated during the third season after the May 2010 launch and quick success of Veče sa Ivanom Ivanovićem, another entertainment weekly talk show on Prva's schedule. In July and August 2011 as Fajront Republika wrapped up its third season, rumors appeared in Serbian print media that the show will not be back in September for the fourth season. The rumours were substantiated when the show was not announced at Prva's fall schedule presentation on 31 August 2011.
In fall 2012, Fajront Republika was partially revived in the form of a bi-weekly event called Fajront Republika 3D held in Kolosej movie theater in Belgrade. The first show was performed on 13 September 2012. In its live theatrical form, the show took on a more variety format. By November it started featuring prominent guests such as Anica Dobra and stand-up comic Neša Bridžis.

Guests

The show usually had a single main guest throughout its run:

Season 1