I know people are watching the World Cup soccer, but the German series I really want to see again is Alarm für Cobra 11: die Autobahnpolizei. Since you have to pay to get your car recycled in Europe, why not trash them in massive stunt scenes first?
   The cop show has run for over 10 years. Anglo audiences might see parallels with CHiPs in the highway pile-ups, although the Germans do them with more spectacle. The buddy formula between the two leads seems modelled more on Lethal Weapon than The Professionals, but it works with a German accent.
   My question is: why don’t we see these shows on Anglo–American television any more? They made them so well, once upon a time. The British always lament the demise of their one-hour cop actioners, and any revival is seized upon by fans who want the new series to be the next Professionals or Paradise Club. Instead, they churn out dramas and soaps, with no need to make storylines self-contained, and trot it all out as “character development”.
   I don’t want character development. I want mindless escapism.
   And then, in America, it’s all reality TV. Or sports. As long as no one has to build a set or write a decent script. Goodbye The Pretender, Mr & Mrs Smith, and all the shows I was getting into during the 1990s. No wonder audiences are no longer united as they once were by TV programmes: you can’t blame all of that on market segmentation.
   Meanwhile, the Germans are listening to their viewers. RTL’s cop show delivers plot holes, sure—but at least the stunts are astonishingly mad and the production company has made so much money it has built its own 1·1 km autobahn for the next season of Cobra 11. The viewers want it.
   The space in which British and American television—and even New Zealand television—reside is only comfortable because no one has dubbed some of these European shows into English. I can’t wait for my next trip back to Europe, to get those tired-out days and watch the type of show that the British and Americans once did so well—which are all now oh-so-retro and available on DVD as part of history.
   Where, may I ask, do the production companies and networks expect future custom for such DVDs to come from, if they do not create true, loyal, long-term audiences today? Wouldn’t we just retreat to other media? I wouldn’t buy a DVD of any of today’s reality TV shows, but I will order a Cobra 11, even if my German is limited to booking hotel rooms and buying stamps.
   It’s a reminder to look at first principles in any industry, and think about whether what we are doing in marketing and management truly fulfils them.
   (Exception to prove the rule: I am sucked into Lost. Some of these Yanks still understand good TV.) Posted by Jack Yan, 13:14  permalink

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