Back in 1980....a TV character for West German criminal series on ARD was created. The series would start in 1981, and would revolve around police-commissar 'Horst Schimanski' (to be played by Gotz George).
There are 29 episodes and two TV movies with Schimanski.
My description of the character and series?
Schimanski is a womanizer....hard-drinker....very blunt....typically in trouble with superiors....likely to use blunt force on disagreeable bad guys....eats currywurst daily....used the German phrase for $hit at least ten times in each episode....and always got the bad guy (or gal) in the end.
Yeah, he's an asshole. Yeah, he drinks too much. Yeah, in the real police world (even 1980s)....he would have been fired after a year of misbehavior.
Older Germans like Schimanski. He's a symbol of the 1980s West Germany. If you asked any German under the age of 30....probably more than 95-percent have never watched a single episode of Schimanski.
So, this topic has come up....within WDR (sub-network for the NW of Germany), and they've decided to have the episodes run. After some review....they put a 'warning' up prior to each showing.
Warning? Well....they hint that the language and script may be a trigger event. A German TV series from 40 years ago.....causing trigger-events? Yeah.
I paused over this news item. I've watched around a dozen of the Schimanski episodes. The episodes were never that creative...they mostly focused on the Schimanski behavior and bad-boy details. In the end, Schimanski would always find the criminal and wrap up the case.
This WDR attempt to 'warn'? In a way, I think they want a discussion point with the public, and figure this would open up dialog. But, adding to this.....WDR (along with BR, SWR, RBB....all the sub-networks)....it's just not that popular with the general public. You can ask a hundred 20 to 30 year old Germans if they ever watch WDR, and I would imagine 95-percent would say no. Even for my household.....my wife might click over there for just three or four shows a year. (Yeah, she'll probably watch all of the Schimanski plays).
So if you really wanted to get a taste of 1980s West Germany.....browse the WDR schedule and watch a Schimanski episode.
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