First Issue (Season 1)

First Issue (Pervyy nomer, 2024) is a Russian drama you can watch online on iFILM. Konstantin Inozemtsev used to be a celebrated writer. These days he keeps up the lavish lifestyle on borrowed money, and the debts are catching up fast.

Then an odd lifeline shows up: someone hands Kostya a dying glossy magazine to run. He has one month to put out the first issue under a new title, win back the woman he calls the love of his life, and prove to everyone who wrote him off that he still has something left. Yevgeny Tsyganov plays him as a charming wreck who half-believes his own comeback. The cast around him includes Nadezhda Mikhalkova, Pavel Derevyanko and Ravshana Kurkova.

Directed by Klim Kozinsky, the series follows a man chasing a late second chance without softening how unlikable he can be. It's also a quiet eulogy for print glossies as the whole industry fades out. Good pick if you like sharp character dramas about middle-aged men who refuse to fold. Stream First Issue (2024) online on iFILM.