The TV gods are wavering
Posted: Wed Feb 05, 2025 5:40 am
Gottschalk, Schmidt, Kerner, Pocher: four of the biggest TV stars on German television have had a brutal fall and been scrapped in recent months. This collective failure leads to interesting insights into how the most important medium works - or doesn't work. Firstly: whether a show is successful or not depends on many more factors than even the best experts usually assume. Otherwise, "Gottschalk Live" would have been launched by the ARD powers and the production company Grundy Light, not without a concept, but with tremendous fanfare. Secondly: it is not enough to land the country's biggest entertainer for a lot of money, as many TV bosses believe.
On the contrary, it is an extremely dangerous south korea rcs data undertaking to put a TV icon in an environment that viewers are unfamiliar with. But if the broadcast slot, broadcast concept and broadcaster are changed at the same time - as was the case with Gottschalk - you are taking so many risks that everything really has to be right for it to work. And that is hardly ever the case. Thirdly, even if you change channels alone and keep the same concept, it can backfire, as the example of Johannes B.
Kerner, who was the face of ZDF for many years, shows. When he moved to Sat.1 for a lot of money, only a few of his viewers followed him. So a theoretical win-win situation became a practical lose-lose calamity. And Kerner, who easily hosted 200 shows a year at ZDF, now has no real prospects. He cannot return to ZDF because his departure was not entirely quiet.
On the contrary, it is an extremely dangerous south korea rcs data undertaking to put a TV icon in an environment that viewers are unfamiliar with. But if the broadcast slot, broadcast concept and broadcaster are changed at the same time - as was the case with Gottschalk - you are taking so many risks that everything really has to be right for it to work. And that is hardly ever the case. Thirdly, even if you change channels alone and keep the same concept, it can backfire, as the example of Johannes B.
Kerner, who was the face of ZDF for many years, shows. When he moved to Sat.1 for a lot of money, only a few of his viewers followed him. So a theoretical win-win situation became a practical lose-lose calamity. And Kerner, who easily hosted 200 shows a year at ZDF, now has no real prospects. He cannot return to ZDF because his departure was not entirely quiet.