BRING ON THE DANCING YELTSINS

Russian Public Television has cancelled "A Meeting With Alexander Solzhenitsyn," the Nobel Laureate's 15-minute, biweekly monologue. Solzhenitsyn's wife Natalia told reporters she believed he lost the show because of his harsh criticism of the post-Soviet government. The television network's explanation was part Kremlin, part Nielsen: "Solzhenitsyn's program does not satisfy the viewers any longer." TIME's James Carney says it's no surprise the revered writer of the "The Gulag Archipelago" has failed to hold Russia's attention with his dry, hectoring program. "Solzhenitsyn tends to be pedantic, a sort of self-appointed father to the nation. But one of the great things that has happened in Russia is that people aren't as concerned with politics as they used to be. And that's a good thing."