Tatort

One of my favorite German-made TV shows is “Tatort”. In general, I am not a TV kind of person. Most of the time I would just prefer to read a book while my husband zaps through the channels. But Sunday nights at 8:15 (which is when prime-time shows come on here), you will often find me on the couch watching the familiar opening credits roll, which amazingly enough, have not changed since the show began on November 29, 1970. “Tatort” (English: crime scene) is a crime show with an interesting concept. The show is filmed in larger German cities and each city has its own set of criminal investigators. For instance, you know when you are watching the Ludwigshafen (my favorite because it is close to home — Mannheim) episodes because the detectives are Lena Odenthal and Mario Kopper. The Ludwigshafen episodes are always filmed by SWR (Südwestrundfunk), which makes them even more local. Austria and Switzerland also has have their own detectives and the episodes are filmed by local channels. READ MORE »