"Babylon Berlin"

Over the next year, you will likely hear about this new German dramatic series....entitled: "Babylon Berlin".

It's designed as a 16 episode series....running 45 minutes each.  It's an odd cooperative effort....a commercial studio (Beta Film), Sky TV (the distribution arm), and ARD (Public TV in Germany).

They are going to use Berlin in the 1920s era as the base point for a fictional story being laid out.  Berlin of course, provides the vast and historic landscape.

The deal here provides Sky the chance to distribute and allow viewers to see it....via their data-streaming service.  A year from the day that this starts on Sky.....ARD (public TV) would be given the series and run it for Germans.  In some ways, Sky hopes that the series will draw more Germans to join their service.  The cost involved (40 million) makes this a unique series, and everyone needs to make some profit off the series.

The story?  Well....naturally....since it is ARD....it has to revolve around cops. 

This is all set against the period of the Weimar Republic....the war has ended and things are in an organized chaotic mess.

A German cop is directed to report to Berlin, to investigate a blackmail case.  The series revolves around this cop and his associate....meeting up with political intrigue, drugs (yes even in 1920), art, culture, weird characters, kinky lusty stuff, and radicals.

A big draw?  There's differeing opinions.  Historical fiction shows have been popular over the last couple of years in Germany.  Youth audiences?  No....not so much in popularity. 

I think the key thing to take out of this is that it's the start of relationships between ARD and ZDF (pubic TV in Germany) with the data-streaming crowd.  More cases like this will occur, if this proves successful.