Markus Lanz, Andrea Kiewel and Joko Winterscheidt received the television award – and the returned Hape Kerkeling received a whole revue. German television in Cologne honored its outstanding protagonists of the past year with a large gala. The German TV Prize celebrated its comeback as a TV show on Thursday evening and many celebrities saw a reunion on the red carpet after a long Corona break.
Markus Lanz prevailed with his ZDF talk show named after him in the “Best Information” category, which was remarkable. There he competed against the two classic political magazines “Frontal” (ZDF) and “Panorama” (ARD / NDR). The 52-year-old said that it was actually very simple: in his program, he often had to deal with people who had the right answer to every question. “Our job is basically to find the right question for every answer.” The talker got emotional at the end of his acceptance speech. “I know that there is an elderly lady sitting in the South Tyrolean mountains at the age of 87, who had a tough time in life and to whom I owe a great deal,” said Lanz. “Mom: This is for you.”
Joko Winterscheidt could also consider himself one of the big winners of the evening. He not only triumphed with his quiz show “Who is stealing the show from me?” (ProSieben) in the entertainment shows division, but with his partner Klaas Heufer-Umlauf also won an award for “Joko & Klaas – Live: Care is # Not Self-evident” (ProSieben).
At the end of March, the two moderators got their station to show the everyday life of a nurse over several hours in real time. Since the two moderators did not attend the gala, they had two nurses involved accept the award. Nurse Alexander Jorde persuaded the guests not to forget him and his colleagues: “Good care and a good health system are one thing above all else: not a matter of course.” There was a lot of applause for that.
Andrea Kiewel received the award for the best individual moderation in entertainment for the “ZDF television garden”. In the information category, Anja Reschke won for “Panorama” (ARD / NDR). Best actress was Petra Schmidt-Schaller, best actor Sascha Alexander Geršak. Both were featured in the multi-part series “Die Toten von Marnow” (ARD). At Geršak, his performance in “Polizeiruf 110: The Condemned” (ARD) was also included in the decision.
Best drama series was “Para – Wir sind King” (TNT), best multi-part series was “Oktoberfest 1900” (ARD). Before the award ceremony, both productions were considered favorites of the evening because of their large number of nominations, but not every nomination turned into a prize. There was a little surprise at the comedy and late night shows. In the end, there was “Friday Night Jews” (WDR) with Daniel Donskoy in front – and left the established satirical forces Carolin Kebekus (“Die Carolin Kebekus Show”, ARD) and Jan Böhmermann (“ZDF Magazin Royale”, ZDF) behind.
The German Television Prize has been awarded for outstanding television performance since 1999. It is donated by RTL, ZDF, Sat1, ARD and Deutsche Telekom. This year RTL was in charge of the project. The broadcaster staged the award ceremony as a large open-air gala at the Tanzbrunnen in Cologne, an area on the Rhine with a view of the cathedral. In contrast to issues from previous years, there was also a broadcast during prime time on television. Moderator Barbara Schöneberger announced: “The television award in prime time is the biggest comeback after Abba and Olaf Scholz.”
Entertainer Hape Kerkeling received the honorary award for his life’s work. The stages of his career were re-enacted in a small review. The moderator and author (“I’ll be gone”) thanked the jury, his fans and the LGBTQ community, who have supported him for many decades.