And it’s similar when I turn on the TV in a hotel or guesthouse. Very often I come across the same programs that are broadcast here in the Czech Republic. After all, even Czech Television, until recently a successful producer of original domestic work, takes over so many foreign series and licenses that it is becoming really unbearable and the question is forced whether its name is appropriate.
For example, I was quite surprised that a widely watched (and, in my opinion, rather overrated) series Sense of tumor it is filmed exactly according to the foreign model, the Belgian “Gevoel voor tuumor”. In order to attract as many viewers as possible, the creators mixed the theme of a serious illness with sex, infidelity, the final “milkman” and similar guaranteed draws. I was still waiting for a crime plot to appear, so that the Czech viewers, who are obsessed with crime films, would find their way. I do not doubt that this series may have given some people the courage to fight cancer, but others, as I read in various discussions, were scared to death by the drastic scenes depicting the difficult course of chemotherapy and came to the opinion that they would rather do something so terrible they did not advance.
According to the foreign muster, the award-winning French series from the casting agency “Dix pour cent”, the new TV series Prima is also filmed Call my agent. It, like other successful hits, spreads like an avalanche through Netflix to many countries, where all TV fans watch the same thing. It seems unbelievable to me, precisely because it was created in a completely different environment than ours. Prima, on the other hand, deserves credit for boldly embarking on political satire and in the miniseries, unlike public television Seven steps to power its authors were inspired by one of the biggest political scandals of our time.
It may surprise many that even the endless Nova television series Street not “invented” by Czech screenwriters and producers, but it is very strikingly similar to the German soap opera Lindenstrasse (Linden Street). This was broadcast by the German station Erste from 1985 to 2020, i.e. an incredible thirty-five years, and fortunately it came to the conclusion that what is too much is too much, so it stopped it. The German one also has in common with the Czech Ulica the fact that while it faced overwhelming criticism, the audience fell in love with it. But Linden Street is not original either, to a large extent it was, for example, copied from the famous British series “Coronation Street”, also depicting the life of neighbors living in the same place.
In addition, all TV stations are infested with foreign entertainment formats in which there is dancing, singing, baking, arguing, etc. I was completely disgusted when I saw how they look the same everywhere and how similarly awkward their actors behave in them according to strict licensing rules. Just recall the current controversial show The whole country is burning. The Czech version is indistinguishable from the British “The Great British Bake Off”, everything takes place in a large garden tent, in a kitschy kitchen in pastel colors. And above all, in it, the performers perform as monkeys, trained for global circus performances.
While the braver individuals who have already left this “sweetest show” do not hide the fact that they were left against their will (for example, the famous confectioner Mirka van Gils), some contestants admit how mentally exhausting it is, despite the comfort served to the audience. Michal Kučera, for example, described the stress, nervousness and enormous pressure to which the contestants are subjected as suffering. In addition, he revealed in the Czech TV magazine “Home Alone” that what the audience sees on the screens cannot be compared to what happens during filming. Many said they couldn’t even sleep after the twelve-hour marathon, and some were even glad to get out as soon as possible.
Not to mention that the audience is in the case The whole country is burning victims of another mystification. They watch the competition at a time when its winner has been known for more than six months and according to strict rules they have to keep secret who won it.
Sources: Czech Television, TV Prima, TV Nova, Wikipedia
