Game without limits
| Television broadcast | |
|---|---|
| Original title | Game without limits |
| Country of production | Germany and other European countries |
| Year (s) | 1965-1999 |
| Production company |
ORTF , RAI , NPO ( NCRV ), TSI , BBC , ARD ( WDR ), RTB , BRT and others |
| length | 90 minutes |
| genre | Game show |
| Moderation |
|
| First broadcast | May 26, 1965 on German television |
Game Without Borders was a popular game show in the 1960s and 1970s and, alongside the Grand Prix Eurovision de la Chanson, was the only recurring cross-language entertainment program (internationally under the title Jeux Sans Frontières , Games without frontiers , Giochi senza frontiere , Spel zonder grenzen or It's A Knockout ). In this broadcast, broadcast live in Germany by Westdeutscher Rundfunk , selected cities and their teams competed against each other in a national comparison and then in an international comparison in various, also sportingly challenging games of skill.
Each participating country organized a competition each year, which was then broadcast directly on television (also in numerous other countries). Alternating venues were cities with an arena or theater-like setting outdoors. The events mostly took place on a Wednesday evening in the summer months. At the end of the season there was a final of the best teams. Germany won it six times, Portugal followed with five wins.
history
Original shipment
The idea arose in France, where the game was initially played on a national level under the name Intervilles . The competition turned into a street sweeper on television . Four nations took part in the first international broadcast on May 26, 1965. Games without Frontiers was organized by the Italian state broadcaster RAI . The show was internationally called Jeux Sans Frontières or It's A Knockout . The WDR and thus Germany dropped out of the event in 1980. In 1982 the last broadcast of the first edition ran. Six years later, Jeux Sans Frontières was "revived". In 1999 it was finally withdrawn from the European Broadcasting Union (EBU) after 30 broadcasts due to austerity measures .
The EBU announced in summer 2006 that Jeux sans frontières would be broadcast again from summer 2007. Eight countries would take part, but Germany would not return to this European event. In May 2007, however, the EBU announced that there would be no return of Jeux sans frontières in 2007 for financial reasons .
In Germany, the first broadcast was moderated by Arnim Dahl . Camillo Felgen initially only worked as an interpreter, but then moderated as the main presenter 125 programs from 1965 to 1973 with Frank Elstner as co-presenter. Further moderators until 1980 were among others Manfred Erdenberger and Heribert Faßbender . Hans Ebersberger and Gerd Siepe , who were also responsible for the announcement of the stopped times and the scores, were the referees of the national preliminary rounds .
In Switzerland, until the end of 1982 , Games without Borders was broadcast directly by all three national TV chains; the German-language edition, which was also repeated on Saturday afternoon, was commented on by the popular Jan Hiermeyer for the French-speaking region of French-speaking Switzerland for almost twenty years ( Télévision Suisse Romande ) was Georges Kleinmann , and Ezio Guidi worked for Italian-speaking Switzerland ( Radiotelevisione svizzera di lingua italiana ) .
Games without borders was not broadcast in Austria and was therefore little known.
Referees for the international editions of the original series up to and including 1982 were the two former Swiss ice hockey referees Guido Pancaldi and Gennaro Olivieri.
Follow-up shipments (Germany)
In 1989 there was a short-lived new edition that was moderated by Michael Schanze , but could not build on the success of the original. The referees included a. the speed skater Erhard Keller and the soccer Bundesliga referee Walter Eschweiler . After only four broadcasts in Bad Salzuflen (against Ankum ), Münsing (against Recklinghausen ), Leer (against Remscheid ) and the final in Xanten , the format was discontinued.
In a similar form, the game came to life again in the first ARD program in 2003 (even if only nationally), broadcast from the Europapark Rust . Germany Champions was held a second time in 2004 as a competition between the 16 German federal states with prominent participants. Moderators were Gerd Rubenbauer , Sabrina Staubitz and Alexander Mazza . As of 2005, no further programs were broadcast.
Gameplay
In the first national stage, eight national city teams (each with 25 participants and three reserve players) competed against each other in four competitions, which were broadcast on Saturday afternoons, in order to qualify internationally. The games were a mixture of athletic and skill challenges. For example, the participants had to bring objects - often containers in which water was transported - over (using soft soap ) slippery, sometimes moving surfaces to a target point, whereby members of the opposing team mostly tried to prevent them. There were two points for each game won; Each team could place a joker in advance for a game, which earned four points if they won. The last game was counted twice in terms of points. The winning national team then qualified for an international comparison.
The second, now international final round took place on Wednesday evenings alternately in the countries participating in the competition (in addition to Germany, these were regularly Belgium, Great Britain, France, Italy, the Netherlands, Switzerland, and later Portugal and Yugoslavia). These competitions were also broadcast live as part of Eurovision .
The national teams that achieved the best result in the second round of the international eliminations were then allowed to travel to an international final (final).
Attendees
Between 1965 and 1999, 20 countries participated in 30 editions of Jeux-Sans-Frontières (if one considers Wales , although part of the United Kingdom , the Czech Republic as a former part of Czechoslovakia and Slovenia as a former part of Yugoslavia ):
| country | Years of participation | expenditure | Victories |
|---|---|---|---|
 Italy
|
1965-1982, 1988-1999 | 30th | 4th |
 France
|
1965-1998, 1970-1982, 1988-1992, 1997-1999 | 25th | 3 |
 Switzerland
|
1967-1982, 1992-1999 | 24 | 2 |
 Belgium
|
1965-1982, 1988-1989 | 20th | 2 |
 Germany
|
1965-1980 | 16 | 6th |
 United Kingdom
|
1967–1982 (1991–1994: Wales only ) | 16 | 4th |
 Portugal
|
1979-1982, 1988-1998 | 15th | 5 |
 Netherlands
|
1970-1997, 1997-1998 | 10 | 0 |
 Greece
|
1993-1999 | 7th | 0 |
 Hungary
|
1993-1999 | 7th | 3 |
.svg){kind=small} Yugoslavia
|
1978-1982, 1990 | 6th | 0 |
 Spain
|
1988, 1990-1992 | 4th | 1 |
 Wales
|
1991-1994 | 4th | 0 |
 Slovenia
|
1994, 1996–1997, 1999 (earlier than Yugoslavia ) | 4th | 0 |
 San Marino
|
1989-1991 | 3 | 0 |
 Czech Republic
|
1993-1995 | 3 | 2 |
 Malta
|
1994-1995 | 2 | 0 |
 Liechtenstein
|
1976 | 1 (one broadcast) | 0 |
 Czechoslovakia
|
1992 | 1 | 1 |
 Tunisia
|
1992 | 1 | 0 |
reception
In 1980 Peter Gabriel had his biggest solo hit to date with Games Without Frontiers , a song that alludes to the show several times in the title and lyrics. In addition to the English version, Peter Gabriel also produced a German version.
Joachim Fuchsberger resulted in Anne Will the game categories on psychological therapies to relax a "troubled nation" of postwar Germany back. Lutz Dammbeck takes up the statement in his essay film Overgames , published in 2015, and classifies the game without borders in a tradition of re - education measures .
Web links
- Games without borders at Fernsehserien.de
- European petition for the return of Games without Frontiers
- Internet broadcast RetroTV u. a. for the series Spiel ohne Grenzen , with excerpts and background information
Individual evidence
- ↑ Obituary for Gennaro Olivieri (French)
- ↑ Games without Frontiers ( Memento from April 20, 2010 in the Internet Archive )