Deutsches Fernsehen (German Television) - Teil 1

While I still put some of my more complicated ideas in place, I think I can write about some simpler things about Germany. Just because I consider this country already my new home and things here seem familiar, this blog is still called "Vitor in Germany" and most of the german way of life is still interesting to most people who don't live here.

Recently I had to write a text for my German Course about "which activities do the germans spend most time with during their lives". Not surprinsingly, most of the time they spend sleeping. What was surprising, however, was to see that they spend more lifetime watching television than working. Therefore I believe that talking about the television is a good way to outline some important cultural characteristics of the country. I would often complain about the influence of television over the brazilians, but it's clear that although the television in Brazil plays a much stronger role in social and political organization, most developed countries in the world are also very dependant on this Apparat.

For starters, let me say that if you own a TV or a Radio in Germany, you are supposed to pay a monthly fee for the right to receive the transmission. If you own a TV, with or without Radio, you must pay 17 Euros per month. However, the quality of the television here is very impressive. Although I hate the fact that absolutely EVERY show is synchronized in German, I must admit that they do a pretty good job and there are some actor voices that I even like more in German than in English already (the "brazilian Homer Simpson phenomenon"). There are so many open channels here that TV Guides are very popular. Besides the general interest channels, they have one that broadcasts only documentaries (called "Phoenix"), the global "Arte" channel that covers artistic expression of all sorts, a german version of the Comedy Central, obviously a local version of MTV and most places can also receive CNN, BBC and TV5 (from France). Here in Mannheim they also have a turkish-oriented television (Mannheim is densely populated with turks).

To understand the culture here, though, the best channels to watch are the general interest ones. Germans like comedy shows and stand-up comedy. I can't tell exactly how good they are, because they are very hard to understand; but they are very often on television. Germans also have some soap operas, and they are also cheesy like the brazilian ones. However they don't sound like that because nothing is really cheesy when spoken in German. Based on the little I watched so far, they are more liberal (gay kisses and such are very common even at 6pm), less concerned about creating "evil" and "good" characters and not nearly as popular as they are in Brazil. Germans prefer popular TV series, especially the detective series like CSI and Monk. They have some local series in the same style, such as "Komissar Rex", that is worldwide famous, with the Dog that helps a policeman to solve crimes.

Continues...