History Series / ServantOfThePeople

In addition to running on television, the series was also released on Website/YouTube. You can view it [[https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCWxnrOznpSgCIK6SyzDgirQ here]] in Russian [[BilingualDialogue and]] Ukrainian, with some episodes subtitled in English (the subtitles are in the process of being written). There is also a more multilingual YouTube channel for the series [[https://youtube.com/@servantofthepeopleseries?si=zisCpzaGrFXfzihw here]]. It can also be streamed on Creator/{{Netflix}}.

In addition to running on television, the series was also released on Website/YouTube. You can view it [[https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCWxnrOznpSgCIK6SyzDgirQ here]] in Russian [[BilingualDialogue and]] Ukrainian, with some episodes subtitled in English (the subtitles are in the process of being written). It can also be streamed on Creator/{{Netflix}}.

* BrokenAesop: One of Vasiliy's biggest goal is the fight against corruption. Meanwhile, early on he appoints his closest friends (and ex-wife) as ministers. While the series presents this as assembling a team of highly moral TrueCompanions, in reality this amounts to cronyism, which in fact ''is'' a form of corruption.
** Downplayed - Vasiliy DID attempt to hold formal recruitments for all of these positions, but could not find any good candidates. The ones he did recruit before calling on his friends were revealed to be Yuriy's (and by extension the oligarchs') cronies in the end.
** A similar situation happens in Season 2, where Vasiliy engages in conspiracy by [[spoiler: faking Yuriy's death, prematurely ending his sentence, and granting him immunity via a fake identity]] to combat the oligarchs.

''Servant of the People'' (''Слуга народа'' in Russian, ''Слуга народу'' in Ukrainian, also often translated as ''The Servant of the Nation'') is a 2015 Ukrainian sitcom about a simple history teacher who becomes the president of [[UsefulNotes/{{Ukraine}} Ukraine]].

The series was produced by the studio Kvartal 95 and premiered in November 2015. After airing daily, the first season ended in December, and got a very positive reception. Over the season, the series evolved from a sitcom featuring just Vasiliy in a FishOutOfWater-type situation (and his family as [[ComicRelief comic reliefs]]) to a WorkCom with an EnsembleCast.

** [spoiler: He arguably already went through this turn in the course of the movie / mid-Season 2. From this point on, Chuiko mostly aligned with Goloborodko and his ideals, even ruining Dmitry Surikov's plan of defacing Goloborodko by actually praising him throughout the Dialog.]]

** Yuriy Ivanovich counts to an extent, as well. Despite his corruption and allegiance to the oligarchs, he takes his post as Prime Minister seriously and genuinely tries to assist Vasiliy whenever his own interests are not in danger. Although Yuriy's role painted him as the final antagonist of season 1, he actually spent most of the series as an ally of Goloborodko, rather than an enemy. In return, Vasiliy keeps his promises to Yuriy and considers him "tolerable". Vasiliy also reinstated Yuriy as his political advisor following his re-election in season 3, although whether Yuriy is once again Prime Minister at this point is a little unclear.

* StupidStatementDanceMix: In Season 2, a rapper makes a DissTrack video incorporating several clips of Vasiliy speaking, most notably his "go to hell" line from the previous episode.

* ChronicBackstabbingDisorder: [[spoiler: Prime Minister Dmitry Surikov]], to the point that Andrei Nemchuk, of all people, decides to provide Vasiliy dirt on [[spoiler:Surikov]] out of sheer hatred.

* DemotedToExtra: In season two, Minister of Defense Ivan Skorik and Head of Tax Service Mikhail Sanin recede into the background. Vasiliy's family as well, with only his father appearing fairly often, his sister only appearing in several episodes, his mother only appearing once, and his niece [[SequelNonEntity completely gone]] (she returns for a minute in the third season).

* EnemyCivilWar: Mamatov and Roizman wage war by crippling the other's companies with the former even ordering a hit on the latter. However, the show doesn't explain [[PlotHole how the two got into the same room without going at each other's throats later in the episode.]]

* TheFaceless: Two of the three oligarchs, Andrei Nemchuk and Mikhail Roizman, are this during most of the first season, up until the episode where they stop sending in their people and contact Vasiliy themselves. The third one, Rustem Mamatov, remains this until season 2.

* GambitPileup: Nemchuk and [[spoiler: the WildCard Surikov]] in the season 2 finale - when the latter starts to threaten [[spoiler: Vasiliy]]'s lead in the presidential race by [[spoiler: receiving the IMF loan that Vasiliy previously rejected,]] Nemchuk [[spoiler: leaks his conversation with Surikov where the latter openly reveals IMF's secret conditions and offers of concessions to the oligarch. Surikov then avoids the debate by making Yuriy Chuiko (much to the host's shock) fill in for him and paint Vasiliy's actions in TheMovie in a bad light. Chuiko, however, decides to backpedal after a commercial break and also after Vasiliy walks out of the stage. Yuriy's maneuver apparently fails to stop Surikov's momentum as the incumbent prime minister (fraudulently) wins the election.]]
* GlobalIgnorance: PlayedForLaughs in Mukhin's plots. In his second episode, Foreign Minister Mukhin couldn't point out where {{UsefulNotes/Uganda}} is.

* PoliticallyIncorrectHero: Foreign Minister Serhiy Mukhin - his first press conference consists of him mentioning [[{{NationalStereotypes/Africa}} that all Africans are black]] and asking the press if the word "negroes" (a term he repeatedly used) is offensive. Apparently, a joke he cracked afterwards was so offensive the news anchor outright mentioned that [[NoodleIncident it couldn't be aired on TV.]]

* PragmaticVillainy: In the seventh episode of the second season, the oligarchs pull off [[spoiler: a last-minute broadcast of a sex tape between the Greek foreign minister Otas Karagunis and IMF head Helga Rasmussen, causing the latter to reverse her initial decision to give an IMF loan to Greece.]] This directly leads to TheMovie's plot.

* BadGuysPlayPool: In the montage of [[spoiler:the fake Goloborodko]] being friendly with oligarch Nemchuk, they play pool together.

* ChronicBackstabbingDisorder: [[spoiler: Prime Minister Dmitry Surikov, to the point that Andrei Nemchuk, of all people, decides to provide Vasiliy dirt on Surikov out of sheer hatred.]]

** The oligarchs themselves, later relegated to TheHeavy when [[spoiler:Dmitriy Surikov, the new prime minister and Olga's paramore]] takes the spotlight, in season 2.

* DemocracyIsFlawed: Entire series played on the idea of idealistic Vassily against the politics of his country in his tenure as a president. Many of his benign actions were challenged due to the opinions of the citizens, political administration, international community, and his own family.

* EvilChancellor: While more smug and selfish than outright evil, Yuriy Chuiko, the prime minister is definitely not on Vasiliy's side. Played straight later on [[spoiler:when he is revealed to be in bed with the three oligarchs. His successor in season 2 turns out to be even worse.]]
* EvilCripple: One of three BigBad oligarchs is sometimes wheelchairbound.

* OurPresidentsAreDifferent: Vasiliy is an idealistic, devoted and honest president, who lives with his parents, rides a bicycle to work (when he doesn't take a bus) and overall thinks and acts as a regular person. He does have some trouble with many aspects of high-powered politics, but that is more due to his [[FishOutOfWater complete lack of relevant experience]] than anything else.

* ScrewTheMoneyIHaveRules: Despite obviously being able to enrich himself (as seen in RealLife, unfortunately) , Vasiliy insists on being honest at work and living a modest lifestyle, and does not accept bribes. This also applies to the members of his team.

* SuspiciouslySimilarSubstitute: During the events of the movie and the corresponding arc of season 2, the oligarch Mikhail Roizman is replaced by his brother, as he has business to attend in London. If not for two casually delivered lines (one about leaving for London and his brother taking over his business for the time being, and another one about being back and asking what he missed), a casual viewer could easily think Roizman had been [[TheOtherDarrin temporarily recast]]. It doesn't help that the two brothers are never seen together[[spoiler:, and after Mikhail Roizman is arrested, his brother also vanishes.]]

* RuleOfThree: In the plotline covered by the movie, Vasily and Yuriy make three attempts to divide & conquer the oligarchs. The first two attempts go awry, when Vasily goes off-plan. The third time, in Odessa, he sticks to the plan and is successful.

A real-life political party entitled "Servant of the People" was officially registered in Ukraine by Kvartal 95 on 31 March 2018, with Zelenskyy as a member of the party. Having no prior political experience apart from playing a politician on television, Zelenskyy ran in the 2019 Ukrainian presidential election and was elected President of Ukraine by a landslide on 21 April 2019, in a surprising case of LifeImitatesArt.