German Crime Dramas from Network Television to Netflix

Description

German Crime Dramas from Network Television to Netflix approaches German television crime dramas to uncover the intersections between the genre’s media-specific network and post-network formats and how these negotiate with and contribute to concepts of the regional, national, and global.
Part I concentrates on the ARD network’s long-running flagship series Tatort (Crime Scene 1970-). Because the domestically produced crime drama succeeded in interacting with and competing against dominant U.S. formats during 3 different mediascapes, it offers strategic lessons for post-network television. Situating 9 Tatort episodes in their televisual moment within the Sunday evening flow over 38 years and 3 different German regions reveals how producers, writers, directors, critics, and audiences interacted not only with the cultural socio-political context, but also responded to the challenges aesthetically, narratively, and media-reflexively.
Part II explores how post-2017 German crime dramas (Babylon Berlin, Dark, Perfume, and Dogs of Berlin) rework the genre’s formal and narrative conventions for global circulation on Netflix. Each chapter concentrates on the dynamic interplay between time-shifted viewing, transmedia storytelling, genre hybridity, and how these interact with projections of cultural specificity and continue or depart from established network practices. The results offer crucial information and inspiration for producers and executives, for creative teams, program directors, and television scholars.

Sunka Simon, PhD Johns Hopkins University, USA, M.A. Universität Hamburg, Germany. She is Professor of German, Film and Media Studies at Swarthmore College, USA.

AcknowledgementsIntroduction1. Screening Globally, Watching Locally
2. The Long Life of Crime – Lessons for Post-Network Television
3. Program Guide
Part One – Watching Tatort since 1970
Part Two – Watching German Crime Dramas on Netflix since 2017
Part I – Network Television1. History and Format of the Crime Series Tatort (Crime Scene) (ARD, 1970-)
o Innovating within the Tried and Trueo Intersections of National, Regional, and Local Viewingo Tatort-Tourismo “Close to Reality”2. Following the Flow – The National News, Regional Crimes, and Global Literacy
3. Tatort Hamburg (NDR)
o “Rechnen Sie mit dem Schlimmsten!” (Worst-Case Scenario, NDR, September 24, 1972)
o “Voll auf Hass” (Committed to Hate, NDR, November 8, 1987)
o “Auf der Sonnenseite” (On the Sunny-Side, NDR, October 26, 2008)
4. Tatort Berlin (SFB/RBB)
o “Keine Tricks, Herr Bülow” (No Tricks, Mr. Bülow, RBB/SFB, May 28, 1989)
o “Berlin, beste Lage” (Berlin, Top Location, RBB, January 10, 1993)
o “Eine ehrliche Haut” (An honest Skin/Man, RBB, January 4, 2004)
5. Tatort Leipzig/Dresden (NDR/MDR)
o “Taxi nach Leipzig” (Taxi to Leipzig, NDR, November 29, 1970)
o “Jetzt und Alles” (Now and Everything, MDR, July 31, 1994)
o “Todesstrafe” (Death Penalty, MDR, May 25, 2008)
6. Part One Conclusion
Part II – Netflix1. Introduction – Part Two
o Converging on Crimeo Netflix and the German Mediascapeo From Berlin Alexanderplatz (1980) to Babylon Berlin (Netflix/Sky/ARD, 2017-)o Fernsehfilm, Limited Series, and Period Dramao Unofficial U.S. Format Adaptations and Cultural Authenticityo Transnational Casting and Production Practices 2. Crime Time: Dark (Netflix 2017-2020)
o Dark Synopsiso Transmedia Familieso Time-Shifting as a Post-Network Formal and Narrative Deviceo Experimenting with Television – The Bunker/Children’s Roomo The Modular Architecture of Post-Network Crime Dramas3. Relational Memory: Perfume (Netflix 2018)
o Switching Channels – Domestic Rivals on Netflix
o ZDF Crime Series
o Perfume Synopsis
o Waxing Nostalgic – Perfume, Post-Memory, and Restorative Nostalgia
o Peripheral Adjacencies – Welcome to Fargo, Germany
o Relational Memory and Micro Flows in Transmedia Television
o Abandoned Futures and Ruined Pasts
4. Watching National Television on Netflix: Dogs of Berlin (Netflix 2018-)
o Dogs of Berlin Synopsis and Narration
o Dogs of Berlin – An Unofficial Tatort Adaptation on Netflix
o Reproducing the East as Homeland
o Violent Crime as Authentication Factor
o “Kaiserwarte” – Surveilling Bodies in Motion
o Transmedia Migration as White Male Privilege
o The Illusion of Liveness – Watching Soccer with Neo Nazis
5. Part Two Conclusion
BibliographyIndex

“German Crime Dramas is an important contribution to the burgeoning field of German media studies. With a special focus on questions of media convergence, Simon traces the transition from the network-based model epitomized by the long-lasting Tatort series to the transnational streaming models associated with recent successes such as Dark and Dogs of Berlin. Essential reading for anyone interested in contemporary media culture in a global context and the uniquely German love affair with crime fiction.” —Sabine Hake, Texas Chair of German Literature and Culture, The University of Texas at Austin, USA“Move over German film, German television has the global audience! In this study, Sunka Simon offers us insight into the German, European, and global media industry in its major transformations from the 1970s to the present. She explores how the successful appeal of streaming blockbuster series developed out of domestic television strategies. And, she offers excellent close readings of not only the long-running Tatort crime series but also some of Netflix’s biggest contemporary hits.” —Randall Halle, Klaus W. Jonas Professor of German Film and Cultural Studies, University of Pittsburgh, USA

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