So, today we’re having a bit of light-hearted fun for you. I guess a lot of you saw the new Netflix show Emily in Paris that comes from the maker of the iconic Sex And The City series from the early 2000s. The new show turned out quite a success, but it’s also quite divisive. No matter if you like Emily or hate her – the show certainly gave us something to talk about.
While the Americans certainly did a great job in glossing over Paris to be the picture-perfect city they imagine the French capitol to be – I did wonder how the show would have looked like if it had taken place in Berlin instead. What if Emily had gone to Berlin, with a little studio apartment in Neukölln. Just imagine! So, inspired by a couple of memes I already saw online I created my own whacky version of Emily in Berlin.
Read on…
by Frank | TV
Cheeky, charming and full on 2000s – the German cult series “Berlin, Berlin” returns to our screens! Who knows and loved it? The high school graduate Lolle and her clumsy life and love adventures. For some, the opening credits of the 2000 cult series alone will awaken childhood memories: the wild tracking shots throughout Berlin, the cheesy but awfully catchy soundtrack and the well captured big city feeling. Between 2002 and 2005, the series was shown on the public broadcaster ARD and thrilled an audience of millions for over 4 seasons.
Read on…
by Franziska | Movies, TV
Since Dark, the German TV show productions of Netflix have unfortunately not really been my cup of tea. This changes with the new mini-series Unorthodox created by Anna Winger and Alexa Karolinski and directed by the wonderful Maria Schrader (also known as an actress from Deutschland 83/86 and the film classic Aimée & Jaguar). I just finished the entire 4 episodes in one evening and really warmly recommend it to everyone, especially since it does a good job at making Berlin look incredible.
The show is based on the autobiographical book by Deborah Feldmans by the same name and tells the story of 19-year-old Esty who grows up in the ultra-orthodox Hasidic Jewish community of Brooklyn – or as another Jewish character from the show describes it: the “lunatic fringe”. During her arranged marriage Esty realizes that she can’t imagine living her life under such strict rules, so she escapes to Berlin where she gets drawn into the scene of young aspiring musicians of the Berlin Philharmonic. Both timelines, her final year in Brooklyn and her first days in Berlin, are told in parallel which creates an impressive contrast between the strict community and the liberal life in Berlin.
Read on…
by Frank | TV
We haven’t done a new “Serie/ous Addiction” post in a while mostly due to the fact that we’ve covered the new Berlin-related TV shows either individually – like Babylon Berlin or 4 Blocks – or paired with movies – such as this massive listing. But a recent new Netflix show has spiked my desire again to write about addictive shows and paired with the occurrence of Halloween I thought it would make a lot of sense to write up a new round of recommendation with the theme of horror.
Scary and suspenseful shows have always fascinated me (with The X Files being my first favorite show as a teenager) but to be honest, it’s rare that this genre creates something truly original or surprisingly frightening. But for some reason, this year (possibly inspired by the horrific politics in the world) saw the release of quite a lot really good horror shows. And maybe you haven’t heard of some of them, so here are my recommendations.
Read on…
by Frank | TV
