Dr. Gregory House, the unconventional and misanthropic doctor from U.S. TV series House, played by Hugh Laurie, tops a Russian poll of people’s ideal bosses among fictional film and TV characters.
In a survey conducted by local recruitment and research company Superjob.ru, respondents were asked the open-ended question “Which well-known film or TV character would you like to have as your job supervisor?”
With no characters offered to respondents to choose from, Russians mentioned a total of 31 fictional characters in the survey, many with small percentages. With 6 percent of 1,000 responses, Dr. House won the poll. When House was aired in Russia several years ago, the series and its main character were hugely popular.
Even government officials praised House’s efficiency. Leonid Pechatnikov, Moscow’s deputy mayor in charge of social development issues, mentioned him as an example for the city’s doctors, saying on a local radio station that the likes of House “don’t lose a single minute” treating their patients. As a result, Laurie became a major star and played sold-out shows as a singer in Moscow in 2013. However, he later upset his Russian fans when he called for boycotting Russian goods to protest against local anti-gay laws.
In a further sign of the popularity of foreign characters in Russia, House was followed by Sherlock Holmes in the survey with 4 percent of the vote. No specific film or television series about the famous detective was mentioned. Apart from the recent TV series Sherlock starring Benedict Cumberbatch, a local version of the famous detective’s adventures made in the late 1970s and early 1980s is very popular in Russia.
The third and fourth places, respectively, were taken by police investigator Gleb Zheglov from the local miniseries Mesto vstrechi izmenit nelzya (Can’t Change the Meeting Place) and Max Otto Stirlitz, a Russian spy in WWII Nazi Germany in the Russian TV series Semnadtsat mgnoveniy vesny (Seventeen Moments of Spring).
Dr. Andrei Bykov from the local medical sitcom Interns came in as No. 5. Among other top vote-getters were Iron Man Tony Stark, made popular worldwide in recent years by Robert Downey Jr., Batman, and Game of Thrones’ Jon Snow, portrayed by Kit Harington.
Miranda Priestly from The Devil Wears Prada was mentioned by a high proportion of female respondents but mostly ignored by men, according to the poll.
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