German crime dramas from network television to Netflix

Sunka Simon received her PhD from Johns Hopkins, University, USA. She is Professor of German, Film and Media Studies at Swarthmore College, USA. Simon is the author of Mail-Orders. The Fiction of Letters in Postmodern Culture (2002) and co-author of Globally Networked Teaching in the Humanities (2015). Her articles and courses focus on German, European, and U.S. popular culture, specifically television, cinema, and popular music.

Acknowledgements

Introduction
1. Screening Globally, Watching Locally

2. The Long Life of Crime - Lessons for Post-Network Television

3. Program Guide
Part One – Watching Tatort since 1970
Part Two – Watching German Crime Dramas on Netflix since 2017

Part I – Network Television
1. History and Format of the Crime Series Tatort (Crime Scene) (ARD, 1970-)
o Innovating within the Tried and True
o Intersections of National, Regional, and Local Viewing
o Tatort-Tourism
o “Close to Reality”

2. Following the Flow - The National News, Regional Crimes, and Global Literacy

3. Tatort Hamburg (NDR)
o “Rechnen Sie mit dem Schlimmsten!” (Worst-Case Scenario, NDR, September 24, 1972)
o “Voll auf Hass” (Committed to Hate, NDR, November 8, 1987)
o “Auf der Sonnenseite” (On the Sunny-Side, NDR, October 26, 2008)

4. Tatort Berlin (SFB/RBB)
o “Keine Tricks, Herr Bülow” (No Tricks, Mr. Bülow, RBB/SFB, May 28, 1989)
o “Berlin, beste Lage” (Berlin, Top Location, RBB, January 10, 1993)
o “Eine ehrliche Haut” (An honest Skin/Man, RBB, January 4, 2004)

5. Tatort Leipzig/Dresden (NDR/MDR)
o “Taxi nach Leipzig” (Taxi to Leipzig, NDR, November 29, 1970)
o “Jetzt und Alles” (Now and Everything, MDR, July 31, 1994)
o “Todesstrafe” (Death Penalty, MDR, May 25, 2008)

6. Part One Conclusion

Part II - Netflix

1. Introduction – Part Two
o Converging on Crime
o Netflix and the German Mediascape
o From Berlin Alexanderplatz (1980) to Babylon Berlin (Netflix/Sky/ARD, 2017-)
o Fernsehfilm, Limited Series, and Period Drama
o Unofficial U.S. Format Adaptations and Cultural Authenticity
o Transnational Casting and Production Practices

2. Crime Time: Dark (Netflix 2017-2020)
o Dark Synopsis
o Transmedia Families
o Time-Shifting as a Post-Network Formal and Narrative Device
o Experimenting with Television – The Bunker/Children’s Room
o The Modular Architecture of Post-Network Crime Dramas

3. Relational Memory: Perfume (Netflix 2018)
o Switching Channels - Domestic Rivals on Netflix
o ZDF Crime Series
o Perfume Synopsis
o Waxing Nostalgic – Perfume, Post-Memory, and Restorative Nostalgia
o Peripheral Adjacencies – Welcome to Fargo, Germany
o Relational Memory and Micro Flows in Transmedia Television
o Abandoned Futures and Ruined Pasts

4. Watching National Television on Netflix: Dogs of Berlin (Netflix 2018-)
o Dogs of Berlin Synopsis and Narration
o Dogs of Berlin - An Unofficial Tatort Adaptation on Netflix
o Reproducing the East as Homeland
o Violent Crime as Authentication Factor
o “Kaiserwarte” – Surveilling Bodies in Motion
o Transmedia Migration as White Male Privilege
o The Illusion of Liveness - Watching Soccer with Neo Nazis

5. Part Two Conclusion

Bibliography
Index