TV annual review – bizarre bloodsuckers and boring legends

When the world is teetering towards the abyss, television is either escape or confrontation, relevant or escapist and rarely both. In 2023, this was particularly the case with mystery, coming-of-age, empowerment or fake documentaries. And 2024? Likewise with mystery, coming-of-age, empowerment or fake documentaries, but plus vampires who replace zombies as TV biters, although they don’t bite nearly as much as empowered women. This is shown by the eleven most notable television events (both positive and negative).

Platz 11:
»Ripley«, Netflix

A tried and tested means of escapist aesthetics in the era of color films was black and white. Author and director Steven Zaillian recently brought Patricia Highsmith’s “The Talented Mr. Ripley” to series format in various shades of gray, and lo and behold: Andrew Scott as the murderous con man Thomas Ripley is such enchanting escape entertainment that the world around it comes to a standstill for eight episodes comes.

Platz 10:
»Becoming Karl Lagerfeld«, Disney+

Anyone who wants to subordinate narrative drama to form will hardly find better material than haute couture. Three series have therefore been dedicated to fashion designers. In addition to Dior’s “The New Look” and “Cristóbal Balenciaga” there is also Karl Lagerfeld, whom Daniel Brühl plays as a profile neurotic genius with a grandeur as if it were created by the master himself.

Platz 9:
Carsten Sostmeier, ARD

“Dancingly light, like the play of light from a candle, which moves elegantly back and forth in a gentle breeze,” is how ARD reporter Carsten Sostmeier commented not on a poetry competition, but on the Olympic dressage in Paris – and the sport’s graceful moments of perhaps last carefree summer games.

Platz 8:
»Maxton Hall«, Prime Video

“Dark”, “Barbarians”, “Dear Child”, “The Empress”: series “Made in Germany” are also in demand globally, but are overshadowed by “Maxton Hall” – a spiritually simple, physically juicy new adult film , which breaks Amazon’s click records. At least thanks to such successes abroad, German actors like Damian Hardung no longer have to wear Nazi uniforms all the time.

Platz 7:
»Shōgun«, Disney+

When Richard Chamberlain’s Captain Blackthorne sailed to Japan on ZDF in 1600 in 1982, it was a complete mystery. Nothing has changed 42 or 424 years later. However, Rachel Kondo’s series remake of “Shōgun” shows how great the fascination is with Far Eastern advanced culture – a visually stunning masterpiece that quite rightly won 18 Emmys.

Platz 6:
Stefan Raab, RTL+

When Stefan Raab took a beating against Regina Halmich in mid-September, it was unclear whether that was just a foretaste of further, much harder beating. The second comeback, “You won’t win a million here”, was consistently criticized and rated and shows impressively: Legend does not protect against boredom. Age even less so.

When the world is teetering towards the abyss, television is either escape or confrontation.

Platz 5:
“The Upir,” Joyn

For years, screens were full of zombies, giving the apocalypse a tattered face. In 2024 they were displaced by vampires, who were mostly hot like in the ZDF theater “Love Sucks”. But sometimes there are also bizarre losers like “The Upir” with Rocko Schamoni and Fahri Yardim as bloodsuckers who break every film rule, but that’s exactly why they shine.

Platz 4:
“Time Crime”, RTL+

No format shows how sad Paramount’s withdrawal from German fiction is more than “Zeit Crime”. Four directors filmed episodes of the successful podcast. And Helene Hegemann’s milieu study of youth violence alone would have been worth any television award. Together they provide proof: crime fiction works without clichés.

Platz 3:
“Black Fruits”, ARD media library

Marginalized people are slowly becoming visible even when, like Lamin Leroy Gibba, they are repeatedly discriminated against. To do this, the gay person of color had to produce his coming-of-age series himself. That’s also why his “Black Fruits” can be full of abysses – and yet incredibly loving, lovable series characters.

Platz 2:
“Appropriately Angry”, RTL+

What does a woman do with perpetrators in a society that outlaws but does not punish sexual abuse? Marie Bloching’s chambermaid Amelie takes bloody vigilante justice thanks to magical powers. This not only puts her “appropriately angry” in line with female self-empowerment such as “Sexually Available” (ARD), but is also uproariously funny despite all the brutality.

Platz 1:
“The Doubts”, ARD media library

Jewish life is usually only told in two ways: without the Holocaust at all (“everything on sugar”) or absolutely with it (everything else). David Hadda’s portrait of the fictional Frankfurt delicatessen family “The Zweiflers” manages to reconcile historical exceptionalism and current everyday life in such a way that it became the funniest, most serious, deepest, lightest series of 2024.