Learn Hardcore Russian: Вчера я смотрел первую серию нового сериала и тоже сделал запись о ней. - Yesterday I watched the first episode of a new series and also made a note about it.

смотрел – imperfective: focuses on the process (“was watching / watched” as an activity).
посмотрел – perfective: focuses on the result / completion (“watched (and finished)”).

In this sentence, Вчера я смотрел первую серию..., the speaker emphasizes the activity of watching yesterday, not so much the fact of completing it.

If you say:

Вчера я посмотрел первую серию...

it sounds more like: “Yesterday I (successfully, completely) watched the first episode...”, highlighting that you finished it.

Both can be correct; it’s a nuance of what you want to emphasize.

Why does первую серию end with -ую and -ю? What case is this?

Первая серия (dictionary form) is:

первая – feminine, nominative
серия – feminine, nominative

In the sentence, they are the direct object of смотрел, so they must be in the accusative singular:

первая → первую
серия → серию

Feminine nouns ending in -я / -ия in the nominative usually change to -ю / -ию in the accusative:

серия → серию
Россия → Россию
компания → компанию

And feminine adjectives (like первая) change -ая → -ую:

первая → первую
новая → новую

Why is нового сериала in the genitive case? Could we use новый сериал?

Нового сериала is genitive singular (masculine):

новый сериал (nom.) → нового сериала (gen.)

Here, первая серия нового сериала literally means “the first episode of the new series”.
Russian often uses genitive to show this “of X” relationship.

You cannot say:

✗ первую серию новый сериал

That would sound like two separate noun phrases stuck together, not “episode of a series”.

So:

серия чего? – нового сериала (genitive)

What’s the difference between серия and сериал in Russian?

сериал = “TV series / show” as a whole (like Breaking Bad, Friends).
серия = “episode” of the series.

So:

новый сериал – a new TV show
первая серия нового сериала – the first episode of that show

This is why both appear together in the sentence.

Why do we say сделал запись, not сделал записку or just записал?

Three different words/phrases:

запись – “a record / recording / note / entry” (a neutral noun for something written or recorded)
записка – usually a small note to someone (a short message: “a note on the fridge”)
записать – verb: “to write down / to record”

Сделал запись literally: “made a note/record (about it)”. This is a common collocation: сделать запись (о чём‑то).

Alternatives:

тоже сделал запись о ней – “also made a note about it” (as in the sentence)
тоже сделал записку – would sound like “also wrote a (little) note”, usually addressed to someone
и тоже записал о ней – unnatural; usually you say записал что‑то о ней or записал свои мысли о ней

So сделать запись is the most natural in this context of making some kind of note/entry about the episode.

What does о ней refer to, and why ней instead of её?

О ней means “about her / about it” and refers back to первую серию (feminine noun), so grammatically it’s “about her” (about the episode).

Why ней?

After the preposition о (“about”), the pronoun она (“she/it” feminine) takes the prepositional case form о ней.
её is the genitive or accusative form (“her / of her / her [object]”), not used after о.

Forms of она:

Nom.: она
Gen./Acc.: её
Dat.: ей
Instr.: ею / ей
Prep. (after о): о ней

So you must say запись о ней, not ✗запись о её.

Why is the preposition о used in запись о ней? Could we say запись про неё?

О + prepositional case is the standard preposition for “about” in more neutral / formal language:

запись о ней – “a note/entry about it/her”

Про + accusative is more colloquial:

запись про неё – also “a note about it/her”, but more conversational.

Both are understandable.

In written or more formal speech, о ней sounds more natural. In casual speech, про неё is very common.

Why is it я смотрел, not я смотрела or я смотрели?

In the past tense, Russian verbs agree with gender and number of the subject:

masculine singular: смотрел
feminine singular: смотрела
neuter singular: смотрело
plural: смотрели

The sentence uses смотрел, which implies the speaker is male. If the speaker were:

female: Вчера я смотрела первую серию...
a group: Вчера мы смотрели первую серию...

There is no ending like English “-ed”; instead, the participle-like past form -л / -ла / -ло / -ли carries gender/number information.

Can the word order change? For example, can I say Я вчера смотрел первую серию... or Смотрел я вчера...?

Yes, Russian word order is flexible. All of these are grammatically correct:

Вчера я смотрел первую серию... – neutral; slight focus on “yesterday”.
Я вчера смотрел первую серию... – also neutral; very common.
Я смотрел вчера первую серию... – acceptable; sometimes feels like stressing смотрел, with вчера as an afterthought.
Смотрел я вчера первую серию... – more expressive / narrative; can sound like storytelling or emphasis on the verb.

Meaning does not fundamentally change; it’s more about rhythm and emphasis. For learners, Вчера я… or Я вчера… are the safest defaults.

What is the function of тоже here, and where can it be placed in the sentence?

Тоже means “also / too”, expressing addition: besides watching, the speaker also made a note.

In …и тоже сделал запись о ней, the тоже modifies сделал: “and (I) also made a note”.

Common positions:

и тоже сделал запись о ней – “and I also made a note about it” (default)
и сделал тоже запись о ней – possible, with a bit more stress on сделал тоже (“also made” as opposed to someone else’s action)
и сделал запись тоже о ней – sounds unnatural or at least odd.

You usually place тоже before the word/phrase it logically modifies, often after the subject:

Я тоже сделал запись о ней.
Вчера я тоже смотрел первую серию.

Why are there two different past forms смотрел and сделал? Are they both past tense?

Yes, both forms are past tense, but they differ in aspect:

смотрел – imperfective past of смотреть
Focus: the process / activity of watching.
сделал – perfective past of делать → сделать
Focus: the completed action of making the note.

So the sentence structure is:
“Yesterday I was watching the first episode of the new series and also (successfully) made a note about it.”

It’s very common in Russian to have an imperfective verb for the background action and a perfective verb for a secondary, completed action in the same sentence.

Could we say первый эпизод нового сериала instead of первую серию нового сериала?

Yes, эпизод (“episode”) is understood and used, especially under English influence:

первую серию нового сериала – the most natural, native phrasing.
первый эпизод нового сериала – correct, slightly more bookish / “foreign-sounding”, but common in modern speech, especially among younger speakers or in media.

So both are acceptable. Серия is the default traditional word for a TV episode.

How would the sentence change if the speaker were female?

Only the past tense verb forms need to show feminine gender:

Вчера я смотрела первую серию нового сериала и тоже сделала запись о ней.

Changes:

смотрел → смотрела
сделал → сделала

Everything else remains the same.

How would you say “I was watching” vs. “I watched” in Russian in this context?

Russian doesn’t distinguish “was watching” vs. “watched” by tense; it uses aspect:

I was watching the first episode yesterday.
→ Вчера я смотрел первую серию. (imperfective; process)
I watched the first episode yesterday.
→ Вчера я посмотрел первую серию. (perfective; completed)

In the original sentence:

Вчера я смотрел первую серию... can be understood as “Yesterday I was watching / (I) watched the first episode...”
If you really want to stress completion, you could say:
Вчера я посмотрел первую серию нового сериала и тоже сделал запись о ней.