Konstantinou kai Elenis

Could be my favorite Greek show ever! I love it so much, I have watched it over & over again, and haven't been bored once! Such a rare thing nowadays!

This over all is a perfect sitcom in my opinion, it was revolutionary and set the stage for a whole generation of greek tv. This series is about breaking the stereotypes in greek culture switching the gender roles with the female character (Eleni) being a leader and dominant with more a masculine personality, meanwhile konstantinos the male character is more shy, quiet and vulnerable which are considered female traits.

When this series came out it was the late 90s which in greece this was one of the first series in media to do something like this. This series changed greek tv for ever and was the blue print for every greek sitcom in the 2000s and to this day there's not one sitcom in greece that compares to this one. Everything about this is perfect and it still holds up to modern times. Personally when watching it a lot of times i forget when it was made.

The series has become a cult for the Greek audience of all ages. The main reason is not only its success when was first broadcasted (1998-2000), but also its very successful reruns. In Greece is very usual to rerun some series during the summer months, that is considered a dead season by the TV channels. However, with "Constantinou kai Elenis" the things were different: The reruns proved more successful than the original airing!! By now the series is considered as some-kind of summer tradition and many fans watch and re-watch the episodes every summer. The punch-lines of the leading character, Constantinos, are still used in Greek jargon.

The screenplay is about a classic "polar opposite characters have to live together" situation. The uncle of Constantinos, an over-conservative university professor, dies leaving behind two an-dated wills. The one of those testaments leaves his house to his nephew, the other giving it to Eleni, an open-minded foulmouthed waitress - that happened to be the daughter of the said uncle's beloved gardener. Since there is no-way to prove which testament was written last (and thus is the legitimate) the two characters, that loath each other, have to share the house until the situation is cleared out. To make things worse, their circles of friends and relatives clash and add to the already explosive situation.

According to the actress that portrays Eleni (Eleni Rantou), a very important reason for the everlasting success of the series is that the entire cast were in very happy periods of their lives while the series was being shoot (e.g. Eleni Rantou had just given birth to a baby girl and she and her husband were never happier). In that manner, all the actors and the production team became quick friends and were having a blast during shootings. So, some of that fan they were having was transferred to the screen. Also, Mrs Rantou indicated that nobody really believed that the series was going to be a smash-hit, so they decided to have a good time, at least - and their stress-free performances made it a success!

A some-how negative impact of the series seems to be its "type-cast": Despite all members of the cast having made many other works ever since (many of them very successful), the people STILL identifies them with the same characters. Mrs. Rantou even said that for a time she was thinking to ask the channel to stop the summer reruns...

Ok....I will never understand why they cancelled this superb greek series only after two seasons. personally I was never a fan of greek series especially the comedy genre was never my forte and although i'm a greek I was hooked with very few greek series in last like....50 years. I prefer much more non greek series but this series is the exception to the rule. I was so hooked with this 1998 series that I can only think of 2-3 more greek series that I loved as much but those were from a different genre and they were old from the 70s. I dunno how they managed such chemistry between the lead actors but they were all great in their roles and not only the two main lead actors but also the rest of the main supportive actors. another great plus this series had is the fantastic scenario which was clever and the reason for this series much success. also romas performed his best in this role. he did a good job in other projects too BUT the role which defined his career is the role he played in this series. it's so shame that we never get another season even after so many years. we could have a revival season like they did with kafe tis xaras. let's hope at some point they will give us more of this cause we need a little laugh in our lives now a days.

This is so much more than just the typical sitcom series : A comedy about the continuous battle between the old and the new ideas.

Apart from the lack of any character development through the series, which is typical for this kind of comedy, this series makes some powerful statements about today's Greece, using a very smart sense of humor : On one hand the old ideas and tradition, represented by Konstadinos, the professor and Matina, next door neighbor, versus the new way of living in todays Greece, represented by Helen, the waitress and Manthos, the spoiled son of a wealthy entrepreneur.

The lesson to be learned is that the different issues that arise, will sometimes be solved easier with traditional methods, some other times with unconventional ideas, but most of the times it takes a combination of both to make things work.

The end of the series, the rule of opposites attraction, is the natural happy end that every viewer was hoping for from the first episode.