Munich: my own private Tatort

If you find yourself sitting in awkward silence with a German, try breaking the ice by asking him about ‘Tatort.’  The mere mention of the show makes 9 out of 10 Germans’ eyes light up as their tongues trip over their lips in a rush to push out the words to describe how they have been watching it since before they were born and they never do anything else on a Sunday night ever.

From discussions such as these I had gleaned that ‘Tatort’ is a detective series kind of like ‘Law and Order.’ It has been on since the dawn of time (1970). Each episode takes place in one of a handful of cities, each city having its own recurring cast of local detectives. Germans will be happy to tell you which cities produce the best episodes, and some even schedule their TV viewing in advance based on the location of the episode on any particular Sunday evening. This show is loved.

So when we received a note in our mailbox explaining that they would be filming an episode of ‘Tatort’ Munich on the street in front of our building, we immediately understood the importance of the occasion. » Read the full post

Tags: German culture, Germany, media, Munich, news, television

Laughing out loud for fake news

After weeks of religiously checking The Daily Show’s website, I was able to score tickets for one of the days I was in New York.

The email from the show recommended arriving between 3:30 and 4:00. I got there around 3:45, and there was already quite a long line. A little after 4:30, they came down the line and checked names off of a list. The last 20 or so people in line were told that they had been standing next to a smelly dumpster in vain, as alas there were no more tickets left (they overbook to ensure that all the seats will be full). The rest of us slowly made our way in through security and were seated by around 5:30 or so.

The studio looked smaller in person than I expected, and there were only about 150 audience seats (which meant everyone had a good view). A third-rate comedian came out to warm up the crowd and make us do a lot of loud clapping and cheering. It was our duty as the studio audience to laugh often and loud during the taping, he told us. And then, before we knew it, Jon Stewart was there in the flesh, looking as devastatingly handsome as ever. He took a couple audience questions, made a few jokes, and then got down to business.

The taping went by quickly, and Jon didn’t miss a beat. No retakes, no extra material, nothing. It probably helped that the guest, Tim Russert from Meet the Press, was also a seasoned TV professional.

Overall it was a fun experience, except for the waiting part. You’d think there’d be a better way to get a studio audience that didn’t involve making people stand in line for two hours. What do they do when it’s raining?

Tags: Jon Stewart, New York, television, The Daily Show, USA

Eurovision mania

It’s like the World Cup, except that it involves only Europe (and Israel and a bunch of former Soviet Republic) and instead of a soccer team, each country fields a singer or a band. And the winner is determined by voting. And there’s no off sides.

The Eurovision Song Contest was ABBA’s big international break, as well as Celine Dion’s (she sang and won for Switzerland in 1988. Don’t ask me what she has to do with Switzerland). I learned to appreciate the fun of watching this event when I lived in Germany, where a group of my friends would get together to watch, critique the bands (and the dancers’ butts), and vote multiple times for our favorite asses acts. There was also a lot of Rotkäppchen drinking involved.

Last night we invited a few friends over, blended up several batches of margaritas (thanks to Ali’s tedious but successful search for bagged ice), and gathered around the TV for a fabulous evening of good old-fashioned Euro pop. Twenty-four acts banged out their performances, and then the home audience was given a few minutes to call in our votes. This was then followed, as always, by the tedious reporting of results live from each country (although we were told that this was nothing compared to the tedium from back in the day, when results were called in over a crackly phone line and repeated in a ridiculous number of languages).

The highlights this year included the German country-western entry called Texas Lightning and the rubber-mask-wearing Finish metal band Lordi (who became the evening’s surprise winners). But the song I annoyingly can’t get out of my head this morning is the sing-songy and repetitive ‘We are the winners of Eurovision’ performed by the Lithuanian group. Damn you, LT United!

Tags: Europe, Eurovision, television

And I thought the opening ceremonies were surreal….

Olympic grinch

The closing Olympic ceremonies had us wondering what drugs we had been slipped. I was cool with the giant pizza dough, and the three dancing decks of playing cards, and the Fellini-esque acrobats, and the skaters with the flaming helmets. YMCA? Why not. Ladies with villages on their skirts? Fabulous idea.

Olympic pizza dough

And I loved the flying snowboarder. And even though I was hoping for Eros Ramazzotti, I accepted Andrea Bocelli. And when the Canadians went with Avril Levine, I accepted that, too.

Olympic human playing cards

Halfway through the closing ceremony, the actors got bored and amused themselves with a rousing game of ‘Where’s Waldo?’.

The highlight, where they set a flying snowboarder on fire

But Ricky Martin? Ummm…..

Ricky is just as surprised as we are to see himself performing.

The Olympics have officially freaked me out. Almost right up until the end, they had me missing Italy. But now I’m just afraid.

Tags: Italy, news, Olympics, television