Contents and Forms of German TV Drama: Aesthetic and Narrative Styles and Criticisms

This chapter explores how the television professionals discussed the state of German television fiction, including its contents and forms. The chapter first describes how the TV creators, on the basis of their estimations of quality TV, critically dealt with current television fiction from Germany. The comparison with production from other countries also played a role. The chapter’s second part looks more closely at the practitioners’ criticism of contemporary quality drama projects from Germany. Finally, the third part shows how the producers dealt with German television history in this engagement with quality TV fiction. Their statements not only revealed the impression of a “golden age” in the recent past, with very different and increased distribution and licencing opportunities; they also reflected on the numerous reasons why quality drama faced difficult conditions in gaining ground in German television. Here, the chapter indicates how production cultures historically evolved within institutions.