sister_luck | Television and soothing pictures.

Actually, that subject line is slightly misleading. The programme I watched last night wasn't soothing at all.

I don't watch much German television except for documentaries and newsy programmes. Occasionally I catch a German film shown on television but most of the time I miss the good films or they're being shown late at night. German television series, in general, just aren't very good. There are a couple of soaps, some of them daily, some of them in the telenovela format, and that sort of thing just doesn't interest me.
There are also several crime series of varying quality. Sometimes I'll watch a Tatort depending on who the investigators are.
Yesterday I tried something new after having heard good things about it. It's called Kriminaldauerdienst and it's even got a slightly misleading entry in the IMBD. It's modelled on The Shield right down to a similar office environment, but here it's the heating that needs fixing, not the toilets. Clearly, the writers have also watched The Wire, but it's not as ambitious.
So far I watched the first two episodes of the first season. Apparently I missed the pilot, but I've heard that's also available online on the channel's website. So far, I like it, even though the characters still seem more like types than proper people - the tough lesbian with relationship problems, the grizzled ex-alcoholic with parental guilt issues, the culturally confused Turkish German pretty boy and his love interest, the pretty single mother and the intense young investigator with daddy issues. The writers also crammed a bit too much plot in the episodes, though I might feel that way because I saw two eps back to back. Overall, I thought the writing and acting were a cut above the average and much better than on most conventional crime shows, whether German or American. I'll watch some more tonight, as the complete first season is shown this week to prepare for the start of the second season on May 2.

My cold is still annoying, but I'll spare you the details. The next few weeks are going to be interesting job-wise: lots of marking to do and some decision to be officially announced about who I'll work with after the summer break.

I promised soothing pictures.