German Television is Hilarious

Everyone has seen Sabado Gigante, right? Quality television programming transcends language. There is a German version of this called Fernsehgarten, an hours-long Sunday morning variety show. It’s no CBS Sunday Morning, but as far as entertainment goes, it’ll do.

In addition to this competitive game of suck-and-blow, there was a man who walked in a spinning wheel for 24 hours and a man trying to break a record for crushing the greatest number of unopened aluminum beer cans with his bare hands in 1 minute. It’s kind of awesome.

In addition to this, there are a number of American shows which have been translated into German.  Some of them are staples like The Simpsons, How I Met Your Mother, and The Big Bang Theory. There are also some classic cartoons like Gummy Bears which come on every day. I am trying to get Annika into some legit animation so she has something besides the computer generated Micky Maus Wunderhaus and the like. There is a German version of The Bachelor, to which I am very much looking forward.  Also, Germans love Scrubs...and Highway to Heaven.

The news has its share of amusing qualities as well. Any kind of bad story, be it about the financial crises in Greece/Spain or a company going out of business, has a graphic with a cartoon vulture.

There are also lead stories about it being almost too late to plant your garden this year and Robert De Niro getting an honorary doctorate from Bates College. A doctoral degree here is a very big deal. I wonder if they know the one De Niro got is devoid of any real value.

In not-hilarious but super-awesome television programming news is sports. At any time of day one can watch some kind of sport that gets minimal coverage in the US. Last week, for example, there was judo, swimming, soccer (obvs), cycling, and tennis. As much as I don’t care about the NBA or baseball until after the All Star break, this is refreshing.

Also, there’s this:

Euro 2012 Autoball Championship

In case you're wondering, Italy beat Germany in the final game. Hopefully this is a precursor to success for Gli Azzurri in the other Euro 2012.

One may be questioning why, when I’m living in a new awesome city, is there so much television watching going on? Well, judgy-pants (admit it, you judged a little), the only way we can get deliveries is if we’re home since we live in an apartment, and everything we have been ordering is semi-essential, so I can’t venture out too much if I know there is a delivery coming that day. Neil is taking a prep class for the language test he has to pass before he can apply to the FU (Freie Universität Berlin) every morning , so that means I await things like patio furniture, darkening drapes for Annika’s room, and our new cell phones. People have said that they’ve learned English by watching television, so I’m trying to soak up as much as I can until I get into a formal language class after Neil takes his test in 2 weeks. 

Now, if you’ll excuse me, there’s an early-round French Open match I need to get back to.