Tuesday, November 03, 2009

30 Rock Gets Zero Share In German Debut


30 Rock made its national debut in Germany Sunday night and no one watched it. According to ratings reports released today, less than 5,000 people across the entire country watched the show which gave it a zero share. That has to be embarrassing. An entire country and no one wants to watch your show.

Ich weiß nicht, warum die Sender in Deutschland glaubte man möchte eine Sendung über sehr stereotyp nordamerikanischen Dinge zu sehen. Klar, hat es Tina Fey in ihn, aber sie kennen sie nicht. Die einzige Person, die sich für Deutschland wird wahrscheinlich wissen, ist, Alec Baldwin. Nun, wenn das Unternehmen wirklich will, um Leute zu beobachten, was sie tun müssen, ist die Hoff mieten, um in jeder Folge mit einem Lied oder etwas Witziges aus seinem Leben zu führen. Die Menschen werden in der Hoff Melodie und dann für die wunderbare Comic-Stylings von Liz Lemon und ihrer Bande von Schriftstellern stay tuned. Statt Werbung kann der Hoff take off Kleidungsstücke zu halten Zuschauer interessiert und am Ende kann er seine berühmte Hoff Tanz Strippen zu tun, während seine Peitsche und tuckern ein deutsches Bier.

31 comments:

.robert said...

The firefox babelfish plug-in is great, but not perfect.

I do not know why the station believed in Germany they would wear wigs on very stereotypical North American affairs. Sure, Tina Fey has it in him, but she did not know it. The only person who is in Germany is likely to know is, Alec Baldwin Well, if the company really wants to watch people what they need to do is hire the Hoff to lead in every episode with a song or something witty out of his life. People are in the melody and then hope for the wonderful comic stylings of Liz Lemon and her gang of writers stay tuned. Instead of advertising, the Hoff can take off clothes to keep viewers interested, and in the end he can do his famous dance Hoff stripping, while his whip and a German beer chug.

Rolf said...

Lemme tell you something about Germany. The stereotype, that the Hoff is big in Beer-Country is as un-true as is the fact, that Hulu is available in Germany.

The TV Station just missed the fact, that they have to advertise for a new show, no matter how long and how successful it's running in the USA.

Another disadvantage for 30 Rocks in Germany is the synchronisazion with german speakers. A lot of the humor gets lost in translation.

Please, leave the Hoff out of it, willya?

mooshki said...

Rolf, any time is a good time to make fun of the Hoff. :)

Caroline said...

Their loss. 30 Rock is one of the most smartly-written shows on the air.

.robert said...

Caroline, as far as American humor goes. Just watch some Japanese shows to see how humor often does not translate.

empyrios said...

I think it's really ignorant that the North American entertainment industry seems to have this blatant presumption that other countries will embrace the same things we have when it comes to tv and movies.

i think it's fairly obvious when you travel that sense of humour greatly varies from country to country- even from Canada to the U.S.

plus, most of what we churn out here really is a pile of steaming crap.

look at all the vampire shit lately. I love that kind of stuff, but IMO "Let The Right One In" (Låt den rätte komma in) was by far THE BEST product of that genre to ever be produced.

a little Swedish project blew all previous attempts out of the water. awesome.

Mistik said...

What network was it on? If it's available on a widely available net like RTL, then yeah, it would have some viewership. But a lot of American programming is only available on pay channels that are not as widely available or subscribed to... at least when I lived there.

mooshki said...

Mistik, it aired on a brand new station that only 40% of the country even gets.

Sue Ellen Mishkey said...

I agree with empyrios, sometimes humor is not interchangable between countries. Take the Office for example. They had to "Americanize" it in order for it to translate to their target audience, and they didn't even have to change the language like they did in this situation.

Berlin Brunching said...

Du bist aber lustig!

Unknown said...

Good job on that German!

yellow said...

It was on ZDF, that when is not showing 30 Rock has an average of 100000 viewers. Embarrassing that on a network with such low expectations that 30 Rock could even do worse than that.

Specially when it was was picked up as the flagship for the re-branding of that network, in a hope to double their average viewership, and get a younger demographic.

I guess that the Germans just prefer a genuine piece of crap, like the Hoff, over a pretentious piece of crap.

Unknown said...

Enty, Ihre Deutsch ist aber sehr gut!

Ainm Sloinne said...

I will definitely agree that humour changes from country to country. I'm Irish and often don't understand American humour - although I absolutely love 30 Rock. I don't understand the German sense of humour at all so it's interesting how what's funny to one person can elude someone else.

It's a pity that the show did so badly. Tina Fey is my heroine (but I don't want to inject her or anything). 30 Rock is one of the best comedy shows I've seen in years.

Angela said...

Nein, es war nicht eine ZDF Sendung aber eine ZDF Digitale Sendung, die nur am Kabeln und ADSL existiert. Ich bin kurios über wieviel Leute "Arrested Development" in seinem eigenem Zeit sahen.

Yes, it's true: the Hoff is as famous in Germany as Jerry Lewis is in France. It's just an American joke.

And yes, it's true, dubbing can be awful. The French voices for both Alec Baldwin and Will Arnett are generic guys. So, when there's one of their hushed dialog matches, there's strictly nothing to laugh about. Add to this the fact that "30 Rock" humor is quite a New York thing and that can explain most of the flop.

By the way...
"Friends" were a hit almost everywhere in Europe. Comparatively, "Seinfeld" was a flop. It was broadcast around the time of the later seasons and promoted as the current American craze. But only pay TV (the French equivalent of HBO) would carry such edgy stuff.

And, while I'm at it... "30 Rock" hasn't been as funny as it was for a year approximately. Too many celebrities that add nothing to the show (exception: Jon Hamm), writing less tight than before, too much Kenneth, and storylines that go nowhere.

karen said...

Oh, Enty! You really had to disappoint me again, didn't you? What the fuck are you talking about? You really think us Germans are a bunch of stupid fucks, right? Why don't you stick your Hoff far up your fat and most likely very hairy ass, will ya?
And your German was total crap!

Btw, I happen to know Tina Fey but why do you assume that we have to know and be interested in every fucking American actor/actress you have?

God, you really are an arrogant American asshole. I bet that you are one of those guys who thinks that your nation is the navel of the world, right?

@O: Du bist entweder ein Analphabet oder kannst nicht ein Wort Deutsch.

cibele said...

I don't watch it 30 rock either. So what? There are a lot of good shows out there, you don't watch the obligation to watch them all.

janele said...

Mina just proved a point that humor is not translatable, at least Enty's humor didn't go over very well with her.

Das ist schade.

Pookie said...

meh. the germans aren't missing much. (not even the jerky ones who are full of hate and name call and give their people a bad name).

schneefloeckli said...

I will start watching these shows and support the networks as soon as they offer the option to switch to the original language like the Swiss networks do. The dubbed versions are unwatchable!

karen said...

Oh, Pookie. Pull your head out of Enty's ass for once. He's the one who gives his 'people' a bad name.
Do you really want to tell me how I'm supposed to feel if Enty is offending me and my whole country all the time by making us look like complete idiots who listen to and worship that loser Hasselhoff 24/7?

@Janele: Ich finde es auch schade, dass Enty, der doch immer so unglaublich viel Wert auf Menschlichkeit und Respekt anderen Leuten gegenüber legt, immer wieder ganz Deutschland beleidigt indem er uns als saudummes Volk hinstellt, dass von früh bis spät David Hasselhoff hört. Wahrscheinlich denkt der Idiot auch noch, dass wir alle Dirndl und Lederhosen tragend, Bier saufend und jodelnd durch die Straßen hüpfen.
Das hat nichts mit Humor zu tun, das ist faschistisch!
Er versucht nicht nur hier auf total peinliche Art und Weise Michael K und seinen Humor zu kopieren. Nur würde sich sogar dieser solche faschistischen Sprüche verkneifen oder es zumindest so geschickt formulieren, dass man auch darüber lachen kann.
Für mich ist dieser Blog mit diesem Beitrag erledigt.
So eine Scheiße unterstütze ich nicht mit meinen Hits.

Auf Nimmer-Wiedersehen!

Angela said...

Mina: one word to remain humble. Volksmusik.

Say what you want about American country music but they got Hank Williams, Merle Haggard, Willie Nelson, Johnny Cash or Emmylou Harris. Germans got Heino.

ET's policy has never been to be objective. That's a site you go to get innuendos and rumors on American celebrities, not a balanced perspective about everything in the world. The feature on 30 Rock tells actually more about what he thinks of 30 Rock than Germany. Germany in the piece is like the broken German spoken by Tina Fey in 30 Rock: not to be taken seriously.

At least, he didn't mention the war.

empyrios said...

Mina, am i wrong or did you just make reference to yodeling and fascism almost in the same sentence?

if so, that's all kinds of awesome.

lol

Rolf said...

ZDF was able to crash "The Sopranos" for the german market so I'm not surprised it's them who're effin' it up for 30 Rocks also.

@Mina: Please filter your thoughts before you're typing them.

@schneefloeckli: I support your position on dubbing. I just HATE it. Since I'm living in Switzerland too I can benefit from Swiss TV and dual-sound the same as you do. *happy-dance*

Melanie said...

Wow, a whole country being made to look like idiots based on an assumption? What a new, novel concept! I don't think any American could ever relate to that!

bionic bunny! said...

oh, come on!!
enty makes fun of trailer trash (hillbillies, ya'll) hollywood, people all over equally. my southern roots run very deep, but i don't get all uppity when he starts that!
lighten up!
hey, i keep trying with 30 rock, it's not my cup of tea.
i tried desperately with the office, because i love steve carrell. but i found myself embarrassed trying to watch an episode w/ mr. buns on the plane. it was just too stupid. maybe it was because i watched some of the original, and appreciate english humor (the canadians tickle me, too). compared to the crap SNL puts out anymore, give me kids in the hall, monty python, ANY day!
yeah, i think dubbing probably has something to do with foreign stuff.
but i grew up watching japanese soaps, UNDUBBED, and still get a kick out of them, and i don't understand a fluffing word!!

Linnea said...

30 rock isnt much of a hit in Sweden, either - but I absolutely love it!

Winston Ono said...

Mina, how do you know Tina Fey?

winy said...

The ZDF did not air it on their main TV channel but at a "sub-channel" that just went on air a few days before they showed 30 Rock.
So to watch it, you had to find/programme the new station first, which is kind of complicated (at least at our TV). Obviously not many people were interested to go through all the trouble for a show that got barely advertised at all. (Sorry for my english)

Ryan said...

You didn't throw me off. I was an exchange student in high school. My German still works perfectly.

Ryan said...

Let me give this translation a shot.... we're get it back into idiomatic english rather than relying on Babelfish...

"I don't know why the Network in Germany believes people would want to see a show about very stereotypical north american things. Sure, it has Tina Fey in it, but they don't know her. The only peron Germans would possibly know is Alec Baldwin.

Now, if they relly want to get people's attention, this is what they must do. They have to hire The Hoff and in every episode have him sing or take something funny from his life.

The people would tune in for the Hoff's Melodies and stay tuned for the comic stylings of Liz Lemon and her band of Writers.

Throughout the show the Hoff can take off articles of clothing to keep the viewers interested, and at the end he can do his Famous Hoff Striptease while drinking a famous German beer."

Fairly Close I Think.

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