According to estimates by the TNS rating firm, almost a sixth of the nation's viewing public tuned in to "Russia. Total Eclipse" on average when it appeared around midnight five days last week.
The hour-long show, openly hyped as a "mockumentary" but closely resembling an investigative report, airs outlandish exposés such as a supposed U.S. plot to destroy Russian culture, ordinary household rugs with a mind-bending "matrix," and a baby fetus stem cell "injection of immortality."
The series was intended to make fun of such conspiracy theories, but with its host Loshak being commonly known as a credible reporter on the same network, the show itself has turned into a controversy.
