TV award: Duel between Böhmermann and “Let’s Dance” at the television award

ZDF versus RTL, satire versus samba: This year’s German Television Awards will see a duel between presenter Jan Böhmermann and the RTL dance show “Let’s Dance”. This is evident from the list of nominations that the jury published on Thursday. Both Böhmermann’s ZDF show “Lass dichüberwachung!” and the RTL ratings hit with dancing celebrities have received three nominations in the entertainment category – and in the same categories. Both formats can therefore hope for awards for “Best Entertainment Show”, “Best Direction Entertainment” and “Best Entertainment Production”.

“Let’s Dance” is one of the most established brands on German television and has a considerable fan base. There is also great continuity among the show’s jury – Motsi Mabuse, Jorge González and Joachim Llambi have been judging the dance performances for more than ten years. The 17th season aired in 2024, hosted by Victoria Swarovski and Daniel Hartwich.

“Let yourself be monitored!” is a relatively new concept. The principle: people believe that they can attend an edition of Böhmermann’s satirical show “ZDF Magazin Royale” in a Cologne TV studio – but then everything turns out completely differently. Weeks before, the editorial team searched for traces of their guests on the Internet. Now the results are presented in the studio in an entertaining – and sometimes painful – way.

Joko, Klaas and the ProSieben program

There are other prominent names among the nominees. In the category “Best Moderation/Individual Achievement in Entertainment”, for example, the two entertainers Joko Winterscheidt and Klaas Heufer-Umlauf are in the running. They were nominated for “24 Hours with Joko & Klaas”. The two of them took over ProSieben’s program for an entire day. Among other things, they showed a new primetime show, but also a herd of antelopes at a watering hole in the Namibian desert.

When it comes to fictional productions, the ARD drama series “Die Zweiflers” is a big favorite. The tragic-humorous mini-series revolves around a Jewish family with a delicatessen and restaurant in Frankfurt. Viewers can expect a lot, as Yiddish and English are spoken alongside German. Frankfurt sometimes seems cooler than New York City. In April, the production won the award for “Best Series” of the year in Cannes (at the International Series Festival).

If you go by the number of nominations, “Die Zweiflers” is followed by the series “Deutsches Haus” (Disney+) with four nominations. “Push” (ZDFneo) and the comedy series “Legend of Wacken” (RTL+) received three nominations.

Will Damian Hardung win a television award?

Among the actors, rising star Damian Hardung is one of those in the running for an award. In the Prime Video series “Maxton Hall – The World Between Us” he plays the rich fashion snob James Beaufort. He is competing with Marc Hosemann, for example, who plays an eccentric branch manager in the comedy series “The Discounters” (also Prime Video).

Among the actresses, Sunnyi Melles was nominated for “Die Zweiflers” and Katja Riemann for “RESET – Wie weit wollen du gehen?” (ZDF).

“This year we have seen a peak in programming,” said jury chairman Wolf Bauer in a statement. “The increased competition among providers – from linear classic broadcasters to aggregators and streaming platforms – has led to an expanded variety of program creations with significantly increased production volumes and a high willingness to innovate.”

The “heute journal” is nominated with a special edition

In the information programs, there is a competition between the ARD talk shows “Hart aber fair” and “Maischberger” and the “heute journal” (ZDF) from November 9, 2023. The jury specifically praised this edition for its handling of the video footage of the Hamas attacks provided by the Israeli government.

For individual achievements, Ina Ruck was nominated for her reporting from Russia (ARD), Steffen Schwarzkopf for “In the Power of Hamas – The Gaza Hostage Drama” and “WELT TV Special: 2 Years of the Ukraine War – Live from Kiev” (WELT TV) and presenter Esther Sedlaczek for the “Sportschau UEFA EURO 2024”.

Sedlaczek will therefore have a dual role at the 2024 television awards. On September 24, she will also host the first of two awards shows (“Night of the Creatives”). Her colleague Barbara Schöneberger will take over the second show, a major TV gala, on September 25. The awards will be presented in Cologne.

The German Television Award is sponsored by ARD, RTL, Sat.1, ZDF and Deutsche Telekom. The streaming providers Disney+, Netflix and Prime Video are partners. This year, WDR has taken the lead on behalf of ARD. It is an anniversary year: the award was first presented in 1999, 25 years ago.