Tikhomirov, a well-meaning but hapless apparatchik in grips of mid-life crisis is appointed to run Russia's Ministry of Long-term planning - a small, underfunded, understaffed and generally ignored state agency.

[11] Due to high level of political censorship on Russian broadcast TV Tsekalo was unable to find a network willing to commission the show,[12][10] but  the emergence of streaming services eventually allowed him to sidestep the obstacle.

[20] Mikhail Trofimenkov of Kommersant called it “the one comedy to capture and preserve the spirit of ‘era of stability’ (an ironic Russian moniker for Putin's years in power)[21]”.

[24] Ogoniok’s Andrey Archangelsky called out show’s writing team for “falling too much in love with their own characters, effectively becoming their hostages” and eventually “drifting away from the subjects of big politics, greed and power-lust towards much safer and well-trodden melodramatic story[25]”.

[28] According to the BBC investigation[29] the show was deemed ‘politically problematic’ because of episodes depicting a fictional secession of Saratov Oblast from the Russian Federation and satirising a real-life criminal case against the former Khabarovsk Krai Governor Sergei Furgal.

[30] KinoPoisk CEO and show’s executive producer Olga Filipuk later denied censorship claims citing “boring aspects of repertoire planning, nothing as dramatic as being banned or unbanned”[31] as a sole reason for Season 2 being delayed.