We have linked to this before but it seemed appropriate to combine Very Much The Sort Of Thing We Like Week with the ongoing heatwave narrative, here’s an episode of Desert Forges in German, because there doesn’t seem to be any in English or French or Quebecois on Youtube. The British version rather famously and sarcastically said in quotes “bravely” replaced word riddles with algebra.
Still, we enjoyed it even if there are things we’d probably have done differently.
The Palace of the Forges built for this still stands in Jordan (it was re-used a few years ago for a kids show called Power Struggle) and was even briefly mentioned in a tourist guide I read recently. So.
Interesting news from Prosieben:
Stefan Raab will return. Instead of hosting something new, he will produce “Das Ding Des Jahres” (literally: The Thing of the Year) starting in January 2018 with a yet unknown host. Raab said he had this idea for several years and know who will host it, but that person doesn’t know it yet. It will pitch several inventions (just things you can actually feel and sell, no digital things or business models) with one or two things per show getting through to the final where you can win media volume worth 2,500,000€.
Aaand also Raab related: no more changing celebrities on Schlag den Star, but TV Chef Steffen Henssler as a new Raab. He just quit is hugely succesful cooking show on Vox for this and it will return to the classic Raab/Henssler vs. Civilian in 15 games live format. I think he is too vulgar to feel empathy with him and that this won’t work out, but we will see. They should probably just stop the show.
Other news: Prosieben will air Kiss Bang Love (which currently airs in the slot after Germany’s Next Topmodel) in primetime next year. They will also show Get The Fuck Out Of My House (100 people in a Golden Cage scenario trying to get the others to quit. Probably interesting, probably too mean-spirited to endure, but we will see).
Joko and Klaas last episode of their late night show aired yesterday, but they will hist other shows from now on: Apart from Die Beste Show Der Welt and Das Duell Um Die Welt, they will split up and host shows of their own.
Klaas will host a show about the upcoming elections and a weekly show they didn’t explain at all.
Joko will host Dabei Sein Ist Teuer (translating as Taking Part Is Expensive, it’s a pun on the Olympic Slogan in German), a spin-off of Die Beste Show Der Welt, where each contestant gets an amount of Money (e.g. 10,000€) and can only keep it, if they succeed in a challenge against a pro-athlete. E.g. win a 200m swim race against an Olympic gold medaillist. However they can buy expensive aids with the money they are given, e.g. a winter jacket for 2000€ the athlete has to wear during the race. It is the best of the format featured on that show yet.
And that’s all that is show related, I think.
They’re really going to have to squish up that font to make “Henssler” fit where previously they had “Raab” and “Star”…
Has he done SDS before? The name is vaguely familiar.
He *has*, although it was all the way back in July 2012. He won.
If you squint a bit (well a lot) he looks a little bit like Stefan Raab.
Expect a comedy forfeit for the person who accidentally calls the show the wrong name the most next episode, which will be Dan.
OH HELP.
I’d take issue with that… if you weren’t so right. Hmph.
#bbsdwhatever
For no particular reason I really hope they call it Schlag den Chef.
This would mean Beat the Boss though, surely? :-p
Not too sure what to think about this – I’m a fan of Grill den Hennsler and enjoy him on that show but not sure how well he will work on “schlag”. I don’t remember the Raab days, but have enjoyed watching the two different celebrities each time since getting into the show recently.
at long last, the full AUA! primetime special
promo
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Wi8COE-FiNo
part 1
http://www.dailymotion.com/video/x5pybhm_avanti-un-altro-08-giugno-2017-1-parte_tv
part 2
http://www.dailymotion.com/video/x5rak8g_avanti-un-altro-08-giugno-2017-2-parte_tv
end game
http://www.dailymotion.com/video/x5ralsp_avanti-un-altro-08-giugno-2017-3_tv
Thanks! I shall watch in due course.
And today RTL presented its line-up for the upcoming season. They mainly focus on fiction, but some shows have been announced as well:
Buschi vs. Köppen – sound like a Das Duell Um Die Welt clone but the two of them (it’s Frank Buschmann and Jan Köppen, the hosts of Ninja Warrior Germany) will be joined by other celebrities.
Kopfgeld (bounty) – Six contestants will have to make their way through a difficult route in the wilderness. Everyone who will make it will win money, but the weakest person is worth most. The maximum win is 100,001€ (so the strongest will probably be worth 1€ and the weakest 50,000€ I guess).
The others were presented with less details:
Im Spiegel der Anderen (In the mirror of the others) – celebrities have to guess what others think of them.
Showdown der weltbesten Magier – German magicians Ehrlich Brothers will try to trump the other with magicians they “found” around the globe.
Other shows that were confirmed before:
The Big Bounce – a trampoline show. No other details yet, could be a bit Can’t Touch This like going by the promos.
This Time Next Year – adapted from the UK
Zahltag – Ein Koffer voller Geld (Payday – a suitcase filled with money) – A poor family gets all their benefits for a year at once and try to get out of poverty by persuing their dreams with it (iirc)
The Wall – adapted from the US and filmed in France with Buschi
Keep It In The Family – the promos look exactly like the UK version, but with Daniel Hartwich. Looks fun and airs soon.
Ninja Warrior Germany – you know it.
Daytime formats being piloted:
Verkauf’s Zuhaus (sell it at home) – people who throw tupperware style parties compete against each other in a Come Dine With Me style
Die Spar-Königin (The Queen of Savings) – Women who take care of their families financial funds battle it out Come Dine With Me style. I can hardly imagine it!
That’s it. A lot announced, but hardly anything spectacularly special. I think Kopfgeld could be fun and it has a good social timing. But RTL tends to over-dramatise everything so this could take the fun out of it…
Zahltag sounds exactly like a documentary series Channel 5 did a while back.
Thursday night’s (long-awaited?) U.S. return of The Gong Show:
http://www.dailymotion.com/video/x5rrqcz_the-gong-show-s01e01_tv
Thanks for the link, I was looking out for one and hoping to get the chance to watch.
That was, oddly enough, strange. It was strange in, really, how little strangeness there was. Mike Myers’ character played it almost completely straight, to the point where the shtick was so light that you wonder why it was there at all. The acts went at a good fast pace and were the sort of thing that you might hope for in context, but the rest of the show was a little ponderous. The original was a fast show, edited to suit, and packed every minute full to the brim; by contrast, this had too little mucking about, other than the shaving cream singalong.
It’s not quite clear why this show was made in the first place, except possibly as Myers’ challenge to himself to amuse himself. Perhaps it’s unrealistic to expect the show to fully hit the ground running in episode one, but if you’re going to trade on wackiness and mild shock value, then blandness is a bad sort of problem to have. This leaves the show easy to forget, and it’s not at all clear why the show has any sort of place in the landscape. (And all male orchestra and judges? Really?)
Take more drugs, everybody, before you try again.