The cast as of Season 14. L-R: Boczek, Mariolka, Ferdek, Halina, Waldek (in cowboy hat), Edzio, Paździochowa and Paździoch
Świat według Kiepskich (The World According to Kiepskis) is a Polish sitcom first shown in 1999 and going all the way till 2022. It started out as the Polish version of Married... with Children, which was known in Poland as Świat Według Bundych... but it eventually became its own Denser and Wackier thing.
The series focuses on the residents of the fictional townhouse at ul. Ćwiartkinote 3/4 in Wrocław. The head of the titular family, Ferdynand "Ferdek" Kiepski, is an unemployed Lazy Bum with an occasional get-rich-quick Zany Scheme. His wife, Halinka, is a hard-working nurse note , exasperated with her husband's laziness. Their son, Waldemar "Cycu" Kiepski is a dumb jock, and their boy-crazed daughter Mariolka rarely listen to them. Joining the cast were Ferdynand's mother-in-law, Rozalia, and a drop-in mailman Edzio. Ferdynand's main rival and frenemy is a small-time shady businessman Marian Paździoch, and the dim-witted Arnold Boczek serves as a third stooge.
The plots flip-flop between relatively down to earth and flights of fantasy - done on a budget, which is part of the charm.
Reccuring tropes in the sitcom:
- Affectionate Nickname: "Cycu" (boob) for Waldek.
- The Alcoholic: Ferdek. Once, out of morbid curiosity, Paździoch has calculated how much the alcohol drank by him costed, based on the pile of empty bottles in his basement. The result was more than 6 million new zlotys (around 1,5 - 2 million dollars).
- Americans Are Cowboys: Waldek returned from the United States dressed in a stereotypical cowboy attire.
- Aw, Look! They Really Do Love Each Other: Despite fighting with Ferdek non-stop and being disrespectful toward Halina as part of the basic comedic set-up, both Kiepscys show affection to each other, even when bickering at the same time.
- Awful Wedded Life: Both the Kiepskis and the Paździochs are far from a functional, loving couple. Once Waldek got married himself, the trope kicked in almost immediately.
- Bathos: Ferdek has a tendency to ramble about standards, patriotism, and other high concepts, which kinda falls flat on account of the character being a jobless alcoholic bum.
- Bland-Name Product: Mocny Full ("Strong Full") is Ferdek's favourite beer, and the TV set's brand is OKIL (the director's first name written in Sony's own font). The beer saw a short-lived unauthorized
defictionalization before the filmmakers demanded the brewery cease-and-desist. - The Bus Came Back: Waldek's actor, Bartosz Żukowski, quit the job in 2005, and the character has emigrated to the United States as a result. He returned in 2011 and the character was reintroduced then.
- Chummy Commies: One episode has Ded Moroz
end up in the Kiepski household. He's a literal-card-carrying Communist Party member with the spirit of communism in his sack, but ends up helping Ferdek with containing it when he accidentally releases it. And then they get drunk. - Consulting Mister Puppet: One episode has Paździoch wearing a sock puppet in such a manner. Things escalate to the point of Paździoch doning a suit and clown makeup and threatening to snap Mariolka's neck. According to his wife, the last time that happened he kidnapped a plane and got away with a million dollars of ransom.
- Creator Provincialism: The show is set in Wrocław, Poland, where the company responsible for it has its studios and headquarters. The first two seasons were shot in one of the townhouses in the city, before moving to a set constructed in the studio located in the suburbs.
- Dirty Communists: Paździoch is a rather shady character and it's been repeatedly said that he was working with the Polish communist regime. In particular, the nameplate on his front door reads "TW" (tajny współpracownik - Secret Police's informer and agent) in place of his and his wife's initials.
- Embarrassing Last Name: The titular family's name is an adjective meaning "bad, shoddy".
- "Flowers for Algernon" Syndrome: One episode, Bilans Kwartalny, focuses on Ferdek swearing off alcohol and resolving to turn his life around and find a job. The resolve naturally ends with just before the end credits.
- Hidden Heart of Gold: For all his greedy, short-sighted and lazy antics, Ferdek still displays countless moments of compassion and genuine care for his family and even neighbours.
- Insistent Terminology: The shared toilet on the corridor is a "private public toilet".
- Intrepid Fictioneer: An attempt to fix an old GDR TV set ends up giving Ferdek and Paździoch the ability to travel into TV programs. It breaks at the worst possible moment and Paździoch dies mauled by a lion.
- In-Universe Factoid Failure: One early episode had Ferdek confidently proclaim that the first and second name of [Adam Bernard] Mickiewicz - a Polish national poet, known by basically everyone in the audience - is Stanisław Ignacy.
- The Joy of X: The title's a snowclone, stemming from the Polish title of Married... with Children, Świat według Bundych.
- Last-Name Basis: Both Paździochs (Marian and Helena) and Boczek (Arnold) are very rarely referred to by their first name - in the former case, the only people addressing them by their first name are each other.
- Lazy Bum: Ferdek. His wife's Catchphrase is asking him if he went to the unemployment office, and his usual response is "There is no job for people with my education in this country."
- Long-Runners: After over 20 years on air (excluding a short pause in the 00s), the series ended production somewhere in 2021, airing the final, 577th episode in December 2021.
- Meaningful Name:
- The name Kiepski literally means "crummy", and the family consists mostly of Lower Class Louts.
- Arnold Boczek (Polish for "bacon") is both a Fat Slob and works in a butchery.
- The townhouse is located on ul. Ćwiartki. "Ćwiartka" is colloquially used to refer to 250 ml (quarter-litre) bottles of vodka, and half the cast are frequent drinkers or outright alcoholics.
- Malaproper: Lots. Most characters have no formal education and their language gets mangled as a result.
- Negative Continuity: Apart from issues directly related to the actors, there's very little that's not restored by the next episode. Usually the changes are rolled back by the end of the currently running one, but even the world itself ended at least four times.
- No Communities Were Harmed: Downplayed: the location of the townhouse is a fictional street (Ćwiartki 3/4) in a real district (Os. Kosmonautów, the common name for Gądów Mały) in a real city (Wrocław). One episode introduced a small train station, Wrocław Lisie Pole, with its name based on the real Wrocław Psie Pole station.
- No Ending: The series had many important actors pass away, one of them being Ryszard Kotys, who played Marian Paździoch, dying in 2021. With this reason, Polsat, the TV station hosting the series, decided to cancel it, while the last episode presented no climax, to dissatisfaction of the critics and the audience. The episode was a Halloween special, with Ferdek complaining about the imported holiday and then dining at the table in the spirit world.
- Sitcom Arch-Nemesis: Paździoch for Ferdek. Including a Running Gag of them going to the shared toilet in the same time.
- Stylistic Suck: The special effects are a mix of No Budget and this.
- This Loser Is You: In a similar vein to The Simpsons, the characters (Ferdek in particular) are caricatures of a "typical" working-class Polish household.
- Vodka Drunkenski: A large chunk of the cast gets drunk regularly, on either beer or vodka. It adds to the This Loser Is You factor.
