A selection of programs from the "Big Six" TV channels for Independence Day.

This year, entertainment will be the main focus in prime time on the major channels. Concerts will be shown on "Ukraine", "1+1", "Inter". ICTV is preparing special editions of "Diesel Show", the New Channel is preparing a movie screening, and STB is preparing marathons of series and its own projects. The premiere of the film "Dedicated" will be aired. From Ukrainian cinema, the channels will also show "Wild Field", "The Stolen Princess", "The Stronghold".

"Ukraine": shows, concerts and heroes of "Today"

The "Ukraine" channel will celebrate Independence Day in the format of show-concerts and news inclusions. The channel offered a very similar television menu last year on August 24th.

In the morning, a special edition of the morning project will be aired. Hosts Grigory German, Maria Melnik, Liliya Rebryk and Anatoliy Anatolich will travel around Ukraine to tell and show the amazing corners of our homeland. The issue will also announce previously unknown facts about Ukrainian cities, stories that the country is proud of, and interviews with stars.

On August 24th, the "Today" news studio will be located at the foot of the "Motherland" monument. From there at 9:30 am, the morning broadcast will be started by Marina Kuhar and Vitaly Shkolny, at 3 pm they will be replaced by Anna Panova and Maxim Sikora, and the final edition at 7 pm will be hosted by Olena Kot and Igor Pupkov. Traditionally, on Independence Day, the "Today" news will be marked with its own award "Heroes. Today" for Ukrainians whose actions have impressed with their self-sacrifice and courage.

At 2:10 pm, the channel will show the premiere of the series "Unforgettable" (produced by Filmstream and Vileton Films), which is about the story of two girls who, having fallen in love with the same man, turned from close friends into sworn enemies.

In the evening prime time, the channel will first show the show "Happy Birthday, Ukraine!" at 8 pm. According to the channel, this is a video journey through the country, with Ukrainian artists as guides: Sergey Babkin, Verka Serduchka, Vera Brezhneva and Monatik, NK, Pavel Zibrov, Oleg Vynnik, Tina Karol, Michelle Andrade, Alexander Ponomarev, Melovin, Max Barskikh, Olya Polyakova, Tayanna, Dzidzio, the bands "Time and Glass", Mozgi and Kadnay. The director of the concert is Olena Kolyadenko.

After its completion at 10 pm, the concert "Musical Platform. Ukrainian song. Lviv 2020" will be aired. The channel's press service announced that it was filmed at the Lviv National Opera, but due to quarantine, the filming took place without an audience. The event was attended by Zlata Ognevich, Irina Fedyshyn, Arsen Mirzoian, Gena Viter, Tayanna, Artem Pivovarov, Ivan Navi, Myata, Jerry Heil, the band "Bez obmezhen" and others.

And to complete the evening at 11 pm, the festive concert "Independence Day with Okean Elzy" will begin. "It will be held in the format of gratitude to the real heroes of today — military personnel, doctors, veterans, firefighters, volunteers, who every day prove with their deeds what love for their country means. Given the quarantine restrictions, there will be a limited number of spectators present during the performance. They will be invited guests — military personnel, doctors, veterans, firefighters, volunteers," — reads the announcement.

ICTV: "Diesel Show" and festive "Facts"

ICTV will spend Independence Day under the sign of "Diesel Studio". In the morning, the channel will show the sketch show "On Three", and then a special edition of "Diesel Show: Independence Day". It will be broadcast from 11:40 am to 2:30 pm with a break for news. After its completion, the channel will air the feature films "The Tourist" and "Mr. & Mrs. Smith".

The channel also announces a festive edition of "Facts". It will feature two special reports dedicated to Independence Day. In addition to the chronology of the festivities, there will be analytical stories with reflections and summaries of the events of the year.

And the evening will be completed by films with eloquent titles: "Independence Day" and "Independence Day 2: Resurgence". These are American science fiction films about aliens. Because of their titles, these films quite often appear in the grids of Ukrainian channels on August 24th.

"1+1": New studio, "Dedicated", concert in the style of "Secular Life"

"1+1" has also decided to celebrate the anniversary of Independence Day with special editions of the morning show and news, the premiere of Ukrainian cinema and a concert.

On August 24th, the broadcast of "Breakfast with 1+1" will be dedicated to people of various professions who are heroes in their fields — "brave, faithful, enthusiastic, fearless doctors, military personnel, journalists, bakers, salespeople, couriers, pharmacists and others". All four hosts — Yegor Gordeyev, Nelya Shovkoplyas, Ruslan Senichkin and Lyudmila Barbir will be working in the studio. In addition, the audience will be treated to live performances by popular artists, cooking Ukrainian dishes with Yevgeny Klopotenko, and an open lesson in Ukrainian language with Alexander Avramenko.

During the evening news bulletin at 7:30 pm, "TSN" will present viewers with a new state-of-the-art studio and conduct its first broadcast from it, dedicated to Independence Day. And throughout the day, "TSN" will have live broadcasts from different cities, where correspondents will talk about the peculiarities of celebrating Independence Day in different parts of Ukraine.

At 8:30 pm, "1+1" will air a festive edition of "Secular Life" with Kateryna Osadcha, dedicated to the 15th anniversary of the program. The musical show was filmed at the Grishko National Botanical Garden. It will feature Tina Karol, Natalya Mogilevskaya, Oleg Vynnik, MONATIK, Irina Bilyk, Olya Polyakova, NK, Mozgi, "Time and Glass", Verka Serduchka and many others.

And after the concert, at 11:10 pm, the channel will show the television premiere of the feature film "Dedicated", created based on the novel "Felix Austria" by Sophia Andrukhоvich. In 2014, the work was recognized as the BBC Book of the Year. The plot of the film unfolds in the second half of the 19th century in Stanislaviv (now Ivano-Frankivsk). Doctor Anger loses his wife in a fire, but manages to save two girls — his own daughter Adele and the daughter of domestic servants Stefanіya. The man raises the girls together, and they become inseparable.

Last year, "1+1" celebrated Independence Day with the premiere of "Evening Quarter". The channel also broadcasted the Dignity March from Khreshchatyk and Dmytro Komarov's special project "World Inside Out".

New Channel: Cinema Day with Ukrainian accents

The New Channel will spend Independence Day in the tradition of weekend programming. In the morning, until 1 pm, there will be programs of its own production ("Var'yaty" and Improv LiveShow). And then the cinema will begin. First, a few parts of "Men in Black", and then Ukrainian projects.

So at 5 pm, "The Stolen Princess" will be aired. This is a story based on the fairy tale by Russian poet Alexander Pushkin, "Ruslan and Lyudmila". The film tells about the wandering artist Ruslan, who saves the princess Mila, kidnapped by the evil sorcerer Chornomor. The New Channel first showed the film in 2018. Recall that this animated film broke the box office record for Ukrainian films. During its first weekend of release in Ukraine, the film grossed almost 21.5 million hryvnias. Internationally, the film grossed almost 5 million dollars.

After "The Stolen Princess", the channel will show another Ukrainian film "The Stronghold". The fantasy film is based on the novel of the same name by Volodymyr Rutkivsky. It tells about the modern schoolboy Vitya, who through a mysterious time portal travels to the past — a thousand years ago. The New Channel also showed this film for the first time in 2018, and then broadcasted the mini-series of the same name.

Last year, the New Channel also showed a number of films on August 24th. Among them was the premiere of the Ukrainian action film "Let's Dance!"

STB: From culinary show to series

The new season and premieres will begin on the channel on August 29th. And on Independence Day, the channel decided to show its proven shows and series.

Thus, from 11:50 am to 3:20 pm, the channel will show a repeat of the eighth season of "MasterChef", followed by a few episodes of "Emergency Room" from 2014. And after the news and the program "One for All" in the evening prime time, the channel will show a repeat of the series "Everyone Has Their Own Deception" (produced by Ivory films), which premiered in April of this year. According to the plot, a gynecologist who cannot have children due to a serious illness, unexpectedly learns of her husband's death.

"Inter" with concerts at heart

The "Inter" channel remains true to itself and concerts. If last year the channel showed repeats of concerts filmed in 2016 and 2018, this year it has prepared a premiere.

"With Ukraine in Heart" will be aired at 1:30 pm. This concert was held this year as part of the International Festival of Arts "Slavonic Bazaar in Vitebsk". It features Taisiya Povaliy, Tina Karol, Irina Bilyk, Mykola Gnatyuk, Gena Viter, the groups "Tik", Kazka, the quartet "Hetman", the musical project Liuku, and also the virtuoso — the dancing violin Kadi. The channel also announces duets of Ukrainian and Belarusian artists. So, Tina Karol will perform the Belarusian song "Rodny berazhok" with Inna Afanasyeva. And the vocal quartet "Hetman" will sing "Perezivimemo" with the soloist of the "Syabry" ensemble Anatoly Yarmolenko.

After its completion, the channel will show Soviet classics ("Gentlemen of Fortune") and its usual weekday programs. Thus, from 6 pm to 10 pm, the talk shows "It Concerns Everyone", "Details" and " Rechdok" will be aired. And finally, at 10:05 pm, the channel will show Taisiya Povaliy's solo concert "Ukraine. Voice. Soul". The singer will perform her hits and Ukrainian folk songs — "Cheremshyna", "Nese Galya vodu", "Lebedi materinstva".

Public Broadcaster: Flag, "Isolation" and "Wild Field"

The morning of Independence Day on "UA: First" will begin with an Interfaith Prayer for Ukraine, which will be held at St. Sophia's Cathedral in Kyiv. Further on the channel's grid are the usual projects. However, at 4 pm, the film "My Flag" will be aired, the premiere of which the channel will show the day before, on August 23rd. The authors of the film will tell the stories of three residents of Donbas, who during the occupation of the region in 2014 remained loyal to Ukraine and the national flag.

In prime time, at 8 pm, the channel will repeat the documentary film "Isolation Concentration Camp" by journalist Sergey Ivanov. The film tells about the "Isolation" art space in Donetsk, which was turned into a prison by militants with torture and forced labor.

And at the end of the day, at 11 pm, Yaroslav Lodygin's film "Wild Field" will be aired, which is based on Serhiy Zhadan's novel "Voroshilovgrad". According to the plot, the main character Herman is forced to return to his native Donbas to deal with his brother's gas station, who suddenly left. There he meets real and fictional characters, childhood friends and the local mafia, who are trying to take his business away. Unexpectedly for himself, Herman realizes that he is not only defending the gas station, but also his past, his future and his home.

March of Defenders: Exclusive of "Espresso"?

As for, perhaps, the main solemn event of the day — the March of Defenders in Kyiv — its broadcast is currently announced by the "Espresso" TV channel and Channel 4. The very existence of the march was announced on the websites of Channel 5, Channel 24, Pryamy and "112". If you try to find the word "march" on the ZIK website — the latest news will be the dominance of Russian weapons over American ones. The latest message on the same request on the "New Channel" — "The brakes failed on the minibus on which Lesya Nikityuk is traveling". It is worth noting that most channels have not yet published their full television programs for August 24th. So it is possible that the March of Defenders will be broadcast by more media.