Crisis over drama is a question of deficits.

German commercial network Sat.1's TV Movie production Die Hitzewelle (Heat Wave) was declared a success after it aired this past February and garnered a 17.3 percent viewing market share in the so-called "relevant target group." In Germany, popular U.S. TV series such as Hause and CSI: Miami aired at the same time on competing networks, but had no chance of catching up in the ratings race.

This is a rare picture--not only for Sat.1--especially in light of the competition between domestic German TV series with product originating in the U.S. Only TV Movies like Heat Wave and more expensive so-called "event" productions are able to move the preference bar up to score with German TV audiences.

Overall, German domestic TV series are faced with hard times these days. This debate has heated up recently, since commercial network RTL, the most watched channel in Germany, pulled part two of newly launched crime format Die Anwalte (The Lawyers) from the program schedule because the first part did not attract enough audience attention. German producers and directors, led by director Dieter Wedel, protested, claiming that channels like RTL are not giving domestic product enough time to develop their standing with their audience. "Good and innovative TV series need time to build up a relationship with their target group," Wedel said in an interview. Instead, the networks are opting for more cheaply produced game and casting shows that still draw their audiences easily. RTL, for instance, scores top ratings with the German adaptations of Who Wants To Be a Millionaire, hosted by popular presenter Gunther Jauch, and Pap Idol.

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However, Roger Schawinski, former managing director of Sat.1, draws a different picture. Last year, he published Die TV-Falle (The TV Trap), a critical book based on his experiences managing the ProSiebenSat.1 Media Group. He is considered a German TV expert who knows the market inside and out. Currently, he is launching a new radio channel in his home country of Switzerland. "After the new generation of TV series produced in the U.S. with almost big screen budgets, German TV series do not have a chance anymore. Those budgets can no longer be recouped in the domestic market," he stated.

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During his Sat.1 period, Schawinski said he witnessed the start of the downfall of the German TV series genre with the channel's production of Blackout, which told the dark story of two dissimilar police officers. Loved by critics and pushed into the market with a large marketing budget, the series never found its audience. From that Schawinski draws the conclusion that certain topics don't work anymore. The network concluded that the failure of Blackout was more a matter of placing it at the wrong time in the schedule rather than general disinterest. However, since then most newly launched German TV series have struggled. Post Mortem, a German RTL series based on the forensics hype created in the U.S., recently launched season two, and has very slowly built up its audience. Still, it's not doing all that well, averaging a viewing share between 13 or 14 percent in its target group. Also, the first episode of public broadcaster ARD's newly launched crime format Mord mit Aussicht (Murder With a View) performed well below expectations. Despite this, the new season of GSG9 (or Special Unit), based on the German anti-terrorist force of the same name, had a fairly promising launch on Sat.1.

"Germany has to stop simply copying successful story and format ideas from the U.S. and develop its own ideas," said an international audiovisual production consultant who asked not to be named. She also contradicted the opinion that Germany couldn't generate competitive budgets for the international market. "Of course these high budgets cannot be recouped in Germany. However, such a change in the perspective is difficult to accomplish in the traditional German business structure, where the rights of a domestically produced TV show are completely owned by the TV network," she analyzed, before adding that in the world of big "event" TV movie productions, the perspective has already changed. For instance, ProSiebenSat.1 Media's international sales branch, SevenOne International, is co-producing and pre-selling productions like its two-pat event movie Treasure Island, which has a reported budget of about eight million euro. This type of thing is also possible for TV series, said the consultant.

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"Most of our 'event' movies are internationally co-financed. This works because the productions work very well and are very expensive," said SevenOne's Jens Richter. He also stated that the demand for German TV series is big. "When the new Sat.1 telenovela In Liebe Lena (Lena With Love) was announced, we had requests for it a day later. We are watched very closely from abroad," he said, before adding, "They do have scouts here in Germany."

Irina Ignatiew of Telepool, which has some ARD and RTL output in its library, stated that she'd seen a tremendous interest in German TV series, especially in other European countries. "The new season of the long-running RTL action series Cobra 11 is selling very well in Spain, France and Italy," she said. Also, interest in the above-mentioned series The Lawyers was big prior to the German launch. "There was some disappointment that there will be only eight episodes available," she said. "The small number of episodes is the only obstacle for selling the series abroad."

Richter concurred. "There are series that didn't work in Germany but do in other markets. We've seen the same phenomenon with some U.S. series," he said, adding, "We can sell German series very well. The question now is how future formats will do with German audiences and if there will be enough new product to be sold." While Richter was worried, Ignatiew was optimistic about the future: "It's a phase we are in. Eventually the situation will change again and the German audience will favor homemade product."