Tuesday, July 16, 2013

German TV and the Summer Period

One of those odd things that  you begin to notice after a year or two in Germany and viewing German TV.....is that the summer period gets to being pretty slow.  From mid-June onto early August....almost all of the German networks go into summer mode.  This means a lot of reruns, interviews with political figures on vacation, and old movies from the 1960s and 1970s.

Quality-wise, it goes down a step or two....but it's explained by the lower number of people as viewers.  People have outdoor activities throughout the summer, and take extended vacations.

The positive side of this deal?  Well....you start to notice that Channel One and Two purchase up Italian, Danish, and Norwegian TV shows/movies.  Some of the better police movies end up coming out of this period.  Then you have the oddball reality TV shows.....like the cooking promi-type shows that pop up.

How many fewer viewers are there?  I've never seen any statistical comparison on this.  It might be ten percent less.....it might be fifty percent less.

The curious episodes that come out of this is the political interviews.  All the top parties are on holiday and you end up with balcony-like settings where some party chief talks for 45 minutes and says mostly nothing of significance.  A week later, another interview of similar value.  It's hard to say if any Germans ever watch these political interviews.  With the election in full-bloom this year.....it might be worth it.

You can also expect shows like Navy CIS to show three to four times a day on some channels.  Maybe some Germans are addicted to the show, but I kind of doubt it.

So it's best to act like a German.....enjoy what short summer you can get.....and dump the TV for a few weeks.  Just my humble advice.

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