Hacker Cinema
Scene of the Crime
Tatort
1970 · TV series · 57 seasons
Tatort is a long-running German/Austrian/Swiss crime television series set in various parts of these countries. The show is broadcast on the channels of ARD in Germany, ORF in Austria and SF1 in Switzerland.
5 positive1 negative4 neutralfrom 10 commenters
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10 comments on Hacker News
There was an episode of the German Krimi series Tatort yesterday that had a plot that centered around Havana Syndrome.
I've noticed that many decent German TV productions (I'm talking about somewhat positive outliers here, like the best few Tatort episodes in a year) get scores of 6 to 7 on IMDB - especially the ones that are only shown in Germany. So, the Netherlands and Germany are pretty similar about that.
(All non-amazon links will probably require a German IP / VPN - you may find those shows on other streaming platforms, too)
Stromberg - German adaptation of The Office, but Bernd Stromberg (aka Micheal Scott / David Brent) is a bit of an asshole this time and it's not a paper company, but an insurance company.
https://www.amazon.de/Stromberg-Staffel-2/dp/B00ERLPUNA
Tatort - mostly serious show about police solving murders, produced by all of the local public broadcasters, e.g. there are Tatorts from Cologne, Münster, Munich, each using the regional dialect. "Polizeiruf 110" is the version of the ex-GDR, it works the same way. The Münster-Tatort is quite funny:
https://www.daserste.de/unterhaltung/krimi/tatort/index.html
Tatortreiniger - a show about a crime scene cleaner in weird situations. If you know "The Cleaner" from the BBC: This is the original show it's based upon. The main character uses a northern german / Hamburg dialect.
https://www.ardmediathek.de/serie/der-tatortreiniger/staffel-1/Y3JpZDovL25kci5kZS8xNTE2/1
Hubert und Staller - show about incompetent bavarian rural police solving murders, heavy focus on comedy, bavarian dialect. The first few seasons are quite funny, the later ones are meh.
https://www.daserste.de/unterhaltung/serie/hubert-und-staller/index.html
Unsere Mütter, unsere Väter - "Generation War" outside of Germany, mini-series about a group of friends and their roles in WW2. Not a light topic, of course.
https://www.amazon.de/gp/video/detail/amzn1.dv.gti.9aab6ee1-f4cc-9f1e-db0c-c960648781df
Yeah, German TV in general is just pathetically bad, however the documentaries produced by NDR ("die nordreportage") and some others of the "Dritte"/"Spartensender" [0] are really quite good most of the time. Interesting topics, rarely any fluff or artificial tension, almost no overly dramatic music just for the sake of it, just all around well produced programmes. An interesting programme from one of the "Dritte" called WDR was e.g. "Feuer & Flamme".
On the topic of "Krimis" (crime drama type shows) however I have to agree with the other commenters that it's just formulaic trash. "Tatort" for example is by many regarded as a good or even excellent show, from when I tried watching it a few times over the years, it was often just the "moral education packaged in flat drama" with a very see-through "current issues" topic selection. Just pathetic.
Don't get me wrong, I also rewatched some less recent American crime dramas like NCIS etc. and especially in one episode of NCIS LA (really lame spin-off IMO) it was very much "How dare you be a hacker and government whistleblower, don't you know how that hurts Our Troops(tm)?" with the black bald guy saying that to and then assaulting that suspect. YAY, moral panic!
[0]: for foreigners, these are the state-run/-sponsored TV channels for different large parts of Germany, like NDR for the northern part etc. Basically smaller regional parts of the ARD/ZDF.
Is there an Austrian version of Tatort? I've only seen episodes/teams based in German cities.
If you speak German then maybe yes. They do have good documentaries and the "Tatort"series has a cult like following. More importantly I would claim that they are relatively neutral with regards to political topics.
I get it, but does it matter for me as a viewer? Judging from your name, I guess that you know the following things, but I will argue the point for other readers:
ARD (the channel) has by far the biggest market share of all the channels in its union. As a viewer, I do not care whether the administration of those individual channels (in Germany called "third channels") is sitting in the same office or not. They are producing the same program.
For exmaple there is a popular crime show (Tatort), which episodes are produced by different members of ARD, so they take place in different parts of Germany. It is still fundamentally the same show, much like crime shows in the US with a city attached to their name.
Anecdotally, the slogan of ARD is "Wir sind eins" (we are one), hinting that they are the first program, but also want to be seen as one program.
What is specific about ARD is, that it's divisions are organized geographically at the top. But then again, BBC also has regional channels. So my argument is: It does not really matter for the viewer. Except when he is paying, then ARD is clearly worse.
Native German speaker here. Other recommendations (I learned English this way):
- Watch movies / TV series with (German) subtitles. Recommendations: Dubbed stuff that is easy to digest like e.g. Crime Stuff / Big Bang Theory.
- Or more advanced, German productions: Dark on Netflix; Babylon Berlin; Bad Banks; Stromberg (The Office clone); Tatortreiniger; Tatort.
- Read books like that you might know in your native language: the Little Prince, Harry Potter.
Tatort (German for "the scene of the crime") is particularly interesting in that each one of ARD's regional broadcasters contributes some number of episodes to the pool. Considering that Germany is a very regional country, it's a good way to get a survey of accents and local word usage.
I think its interesting to compare how law enforcement movies differ in various countries:
- French is imho the most realistic: Police is corrupt and lazy, and they solve crime because they participate in crime.
- Western Germany (Tatort): The police is your friend and helper. Police officers are always acting correct, and they solve crimes mostly because the criminal does an error.
- Eastern Germany (Polizeiruf): The police is a working class hero, but most crimes are solved by denunciation. It was fairly common in communist German Polizeiruf that mothers and wifes denunciate their own child or man.
imho, TV is a propaganda machine, invented in WW2. Watching TV, should only be done in a reflecting context, regardless if you watch a Nazi movie like Jud-Suess, or an US crime movie.