“Zervakis & Opdenhövel. Live” and more
Farewell to TV shows 2023
Linda Zervakis and Matthias Opdenhövel worked with a lot of enthusiasm on their live show on ProSieben. But after two years, the station pulled the plug in December.
© ProSieben/Benedikt Müller
Viewers had to say goodbye to programs again in 2023. Including some veterans, but also TV experiments.
Thomas Gottschalk (73) celebrated the farewell of the year on German television with his last “Wetten,dass..?” moderation on November 25th. Whether and how it is with the legendary It is not yet clear whether the ZDF Saturday evening show will continue. However, some other programs were finally discontinued in 2023.
“I have a big name”
The advice show “I have a big name” existed since April 1977 and ended on February 12, 2023. Presenter Julia Westlake (52) led through the 747th and final edition of the longest-running advice show on German TV on SWR television, which had been part of the program for almost 46 years.
“People today”
An era ended on September 29th: after 26 years, the last issue of the tabloid magazine “People Today” flickered across the screens on ZDF. From 1997, Nina Ruge (67) reported as the main presenter, followed in 2007 by Karen Webb (52). At the beginning of 2023 it was announced that the celebrity show would be discontinued. When asked by spot on news, Anne Gellinek, head of the main news department, said: “With ‘People Today’, ZDF is parting ways with a successful format that has grown close to our hearts.” She further explains: “We are giving up the show in order to be able to explore new avenues with the editorial team. The people reporting will continue to be found on ZDF – in the extended ‘Hello Germany’ program as well as on the network, on ZDF -Media library and other new distribution channels.”
“Full house”
In February, Sat.1 started the afternoon live program “Volles Haus” and wanted to revolutionize the afternoon program. The new show with Jasmin Wagner (43) and Jochen Schropp (45) as presenters from the very beginning was heavily advertised, and the station also announced that it wanted to have “long breath” for the show. But the format fell short of the high ratings hopes from the start, and so Sat.1 pulled the ripcord again after just a few months. The last issue ran on October 13th. Sat.1 editor-in-chief Juliane Eßling said in a statement: “It is always difficult to end a program that many colleagues have worked on with great passion. I would like to thank our presenters and the editorial teams at the station and with our production company Redseven and with everyone else who collectively tried everything to make ‘Full House!’ to make a success.” However, that didn’t work. Instead, the station relied on documentary soaps in the afternoon.
“Explosive Weekend”
RTL discontinued the weekend edition of the tabloid magazine “Explosiv” after around three decades. The last issue ran on December 16th. The reason for the exit was that the ratings were too poor. “Since the performance of ‘Explosiv Weekend’ unfortunately fell short of our expectations, we have decided with a heavy heart to discontinue the weekend edition of the magazine,” said the co-managing director of RTL News, Martin Gradl, to the industry service “DWDL”. “Together with the team, in the future we will concentrate entirely on the core brand ‘Explosiv’ and the development of strong stories for the editions from Monday to Friday at 6 p.m.”
“Zervakis & Opdenhövel”
Since September 2021, Linda Zervakis (48) and Matthias Opdenhövel (53) have been running their infotainment format “Zervakis & Opdenhövel. Live” every week. Since the ratings fell short of expectations, the show was removed from Monday primetime after just two months and moved to Wednesdays at 9:15 p.m. Further slimming measures followed: From March 2022, the original 120 minutes of broadcasting time was reduced to 75 minutes, and in October 2022 it was even reduced to just 45 minutes. In November 2023, ProSieben announced the final end of the once hotly advertised format. The 77th and final edition was announced for December 20th. ProSieben boss Hannes Hiller described this as a “painful decision” in a statement.
“Cologne 50667”
In November there was another shock for soap fans: RTLzwei will end the series “Köln 50667” after more than ten years. It was announced on Instagram: “Production of our long-standing daily soap is being discontinued. We are extremely sad about this news, but we can give you a little consolation at this point.” New episodes would still be produced, so the format will not end until 2024. The final episode is expected to air in early summer.
“Anne Will”
Anne Will (57) has been leading her political talk show on Erste since September 2007. On December 3, 2023, the presenter said goodbye to the most-watched talk show in German-speaking countries – after 553 editions in 16 years and more than 1,300 discussion guests. Her successor next year will be Caren Miosga (54), who presented the “Tagesthemen” for 16 years.