I tend to view a forum or two each week while watching German TV. So this is a layout of how these work.
There are three categories of forums....public TV (ARD/ZDF), subnetwork (the BR, HR, SWR, etc crowd), and the commercial networks (RTL, SAT1, Pro7, etc).
Most forum programs come on between 9 PM and 11 PM. If you asked me on viewership....it differs. Most people in the age group of 18 to 35....don't view it unless the topic is directly affecting their lives. If you have a university degree....it's higher odds that you will view, but the topic and guests typically matter. Most run between 60 and 70 minutes.
So at the public TV level....your options? Sunday nights (9:45 PM, ARD) Anne Will Show is probably the 'king' of the week. She'll moderate, and have five guests (usually journalists, medical folks, an politicians). The only knock I'd have with this show is that she might stack the deck on some topic and have only one person talking the 'pro-position' (rare but it happens).
Another highlight show is Hart Aber Fair (Hard But Fair). Monday nights at 9:15 PM. Guests here go from one extreme to another. They might even invite comedians, businessmen, or regular people.
The sub-networks tend to have 'friendly' forums where it's writers, entertainers, singers, etc. Typically, you can flip over and see the offerings at 10 PM on Fridays, and a 2-hour show will follow (NDR, HR, SWR, etc).
With these offerings....it's not so political in nature....guests are drinking wine, and it's not going to be one single topic for the evening.
The sub-networks might also lead into election hype, by having forums as a state election approaches.
Then, you have the commercial offerings. These are mostly single topic, and it's a rare thing (maybe once a month) that they offer some show like this.
An example here would be the economic woes and how the common working man survives. There will be a lot of video shot....examples given....and regular people interviewed in the middle of the show. Working-class Germans tend to watch the shows and I'd argue that these 'hit the spot'.
My six observations?
1. If you knew little about an approaching problem....the forums deliver the knowledge you need. The problem is....they dump 50-odd facts in an hour (beating a 'dead-horse'). This is why most people lose interest in the first quarter of a show.
If you can sort through the 'dead-horse' chatter.....most of the time, you come down to three or four facts that really matter, and can then judge or get a feeling for the topic.
2. Prior to the war and Covid...there tended to be differing topics each week. You might even have one forum attached to 'stupid teenagers in Germany'. But since the spring of 2020....it's been tough. I would imagine with the Anne Will Show....they've probably done 75-percent of the shows on Covid or the war. Frankly, some Germans are fed up to the point of the two topics, and don't want any more discussions.
3. Occasionally, they will discover some brilliant guest and you might have a broader view of a situation. But the opposite can also occur....where you bring a person who is more of a 'dimwit' and just there to hype their agenda.
4. The commercial network forums probably draw more from the working-class than the public TV forums. But these are geared toward problems that regular people face.
5. I tend to support the idea of a forum-type show....although I'd make the statement....you might have too many forum shows going on. Most Germans would say they prefer the options, and most might admit they watch they watch an average of one or two shows per week....also admitting that they might fall asleep midway in each show.
6. Some political figures will burn 'bridges' in their public forum appearances....demonstrating their incompetence, and stalling their career. Some will go the opposite way and open up favorable opinion of their position and 'style'. Bavaria's Soder (Premier-President) went through a build-up, and then hit some peak to fall from grace.
That's my humble view.
No comments:
Post a Comment