Jamie McDine's Englishman's guide to what makes Germany different
Part C: TV - German style
Die Glotzkiste - The Gogglebox!
You will be glad to hear that German television isn’t so strictly regulated as its British counterparts in terms of a watershed. What does that mean? Well, you are likely to see naked women in the early evening news. Features such as “Die Fotos deines Lebens” (The photos of your life) where girls are asked to pose strategically across a selection of fruit whilst a photographer takes glamour pics are as vital here as any other news.
TV Total
If you have a good understanding of German you would probably enjoy comedian and presenter Stefan Raab’s “TV Total”, which usually features interviews with international film and music stars.
 |
| Who said the mullet was out? |
Wetten das?
Do you long for the days of Matthew Kelly and “You Bet” to return to the TV? Well in Germany the longest running weekend entertainment show is “Wetten dass..?” which features the most ridiculous of bets. If the celebrity guest guesses the outcome wrong they are then forced into a forfeit - pure class.
Presenter Thomas Gottschalk (right) proves that the mullet can still be a cool haircut in Germany too!
DSF for wall-to-wall sport
There is always plenty of sport on the TV, with Eurosport and DSF almost entirely dedicated to sport (and sexy sport clips for all those late night viewers!)
Most places will have cable or satellite tv with a wide range of channels for you to choose from, but for German channels Pro7, Sat1, RTL and ARD will have content most people will be used to or hoping for.
World Cup on TV
The 2 main national channels, ARD and ZDF, will show most of the games, while Germany's equivalent of Sky, Premiere TV, will be showing the lot! So finding a handy bar with Premiere TV will be a must!
Go to next part
