Tatort

I am German and I love German filmmaking, they are able to produce great stuff but they can also produce a huge mess, and "Tatort" shows both sides of the coin.

There are great episodes especially the "Duisburg-Tatort" form the 1980s with Inspector Schimanski.

He was representing the typ of man who lived in the "Ruhrpott" at that time, he was harsh sometimes, drunk a lot and bad organized but he loved the work he was doing and he had great respect for the people who lived in the area because he was one of them.

I highly recommend the episode "Duisburg-Ruhrort" from the early 1980s, it's absolutely amazing, a masterpiece of German filmmaking!!!

So glory the past, so annoying is the present, all "Tatort" episodes no matter where they are if in southern or northern Germany, eastern or western, they have mixed up to a confusable, monotonous and discouraged mass.

I gave the show three stars because the old episodes are great and I hope that there will come better times, but today it is not worth more then 3/10.

Working my way through the Cologne series after watching the Kiel series on MHz. I especially like these series due to the pacing and stories. Moreover, I get a tour of different parts of Germany. If subtitles are not a drawback then I recommend Tatort. I kind of hope that MHz will show the really early ones from the 70s and 80s

Currently there are three seasons running on MHz identified as Tatort: Cologne (crime scene, Cologne) going from 1998 to 2007 that feature Inspectors Max Ballauf and Freddy Schenk (actors Klaus Behrendt and Dietmar Bar). The two actors work well together and it's interesting to see them adapt to new technology and changes in police procedure. Those changes aren't part of the stories but just note how quickly things change.

At times Max and Freddie's personal issues can surface in an episode to add to building of their characters, and at times as crucial story points. Max has even been known to sleep with a suspect. Several episodes deal with social problems and the stories can be very gritty and the conclusions quite depressing.

At times both my wife and I yell at the screen when obviously bad conclusions are reached by the inspectors but you do have to fill about 90 minutes per episode. At times the episodes seem more about commenting on social issues rather than being solid mystery stories. In spite of some of these commentaries, the two forge ahead but they seem to get to finding the perp more by dumb luck than solid detective work. But they do doggedly pursue their quarry and usually catch the suspect.

Like any series, there are good episodes and disappointing ones but Max and Freddy are worth a look.

"Tatort" (= Crime Scene) is one of the most popular detective series on German TV. Feature length (90 min) episodes air on roughly 30 Sundays of the year - following the evening news at 8:15 p.m.

The public network ARD that shows "Tatort" is organized federally, i.e. it consists of a dozen regional TV stations. Each regional station have their own police team depicted in their region. So, there is a Berlin team, a Hamburg team, and so on - each have their own episodes under the common label. Larger regional stations like WDR (Cologne) add 3 or 4 episodes each year, smaller ones like tiny Radio Bremen just 1.

The style and setting vary with the teams - that is part of the fun of the series. Episodes from Frankfurt have been rather vanguard in terms of cinematography and storytelling, while the Münster team is famed for their witty dialogues and comic effects.

The regional differences also lead to a competition for audiences and public attention. Viewers tend to choose what team episodes to watch - with consequences for audience ratings and public discussions about the poor scripts or the cheap productions that the Tatorte from some stations have been suffering recently.

The feature length and the producers' ambitions to show not only entertaining crime stories but also to present social issues like child abuse, integration of immigrants, or school violence lead to high public awareness for "Tatort". Episodes are regularly reviewed in quality newspapers like Frankfurter Allgemeine or Süddeutsche Zeitung.

My wife and I just completed watching all 34 episodes of "Tatort: Borowski", which is about a detective from Kiel, Germany. Pros: The lead detective (Inspector Borowski) is an excellent detective. The plots keep you guessing: you're never sure who did it. Cons: There are obvious holes in many of the plots. In some cases, the episode ends with no resolution of important issues raised in the plot. My wife and I are giving the series a 7.0: it's ok, but we are not recommending it (anything below 7.0, we normally don't watch).