The grand prize

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Television series
Original title The grand prize
Country of production Federal Republic of Germany
original language German
Year (s) 1974-1993, 2002-2003
Broadcasting
cycle
per month
genre Quiz show
music Title melody composed by Jean Thomé
Moderation
First broadcast September 5, 1974 on ZDF

The Grand Prix (other spellings: THE GREAT PRICE or the great price ) was a game show of ZDF . The show was hosted by Wim Thoelke 219 times from 1974 to 1992 . The move from Thursday to Saturday, combined with the change of presenter, then led to rapidly declining audience numbers and to the discontinuation of the series within a year. A new edition in 2002 and 2003 went largely unnoticed.

Moderation

The Grand Prix was moderated by:

Moderator consequences from to Broadcast day Start of transmission Closing date Note
Wim Thoelke 219 09/05/1974 12/10/1992 Thursdays 19:30 o'clock 8:50 pm *
Wolfgang Lippert 1 04/04/1991 Thursday 19:30 o'clock 8:50 pm **
Hans-Joachim Kulenkampff 6th 01/09/1993 06/05/1993 Saturdays 7:25 pm 9:00 p.m.
Carolin Reiber 6th 07/10/1993 12/11/1993 Saturdays 7:25 pm 9:00 p.m.
Marco Schreyl 01/31/2002 05/22/2003 Thursdays ***

* after the end of each show, the short program Die große Hilfe - Eine Bilanz der Aktion Sorgekind was broadcast from 8:50 pm to 9:00 pm
** only one episode - replacement for Wim Thoelke
*** the episode scheduled for March 20, 2003 fell because of the Iraq war from

Transition from three times nine

The Grand Prix seamlessly followed the hugely popular Thursday night entertainment show Three Times Nine and was an equally big hit. The differences to its predecessor were there: Three times nine took a summer break and therefore only appeared eight times a year. The Grand Prix , however, ran all year round, making it twelve episodes. Nevertheless, The Grand Prize could be produced much cheaper: While Drei times Nine went from city to city as a traveling show and was broadcast from large halls, The Grand Prize was produced exclusively in a studio run by Berliner Union-Film . The multi-vision wall belonging to the broadcast could not be dismantled and consequently could not be transported to another city. Instead of the previously colorful mix of show and quiz , the focus was now on the quiz. Together with the abandonment of the orchestra and television ballet, all the changes resulted in low production costs of around DM 250,000 per episode.

The Grand Prix was recorded for a long time , only from the 150th edition on February 17, 1987 was it a live broadcast.

Team (era Thoelke)

Employee

The team originally included Beate Hopf as assistant, Sigrid Müller as recorder, Marianne Prill to operate the multivision wall, Janina Kühnl, Sylvia Bretschneider and the ZDF notary Dr. Eberhard glasses as referee.

Beate Hopf was announced in the first issue as a student of theater studies. She was followed by Karoline Reinhardt in the 1980s. The referee Dr. Eberhard Glasses found the audience to be overly strict. He even did not allow a correct answer once in the decisive third round because the candidate had previously given a wrong answer, although he had corrected himself on the spot. In 1984, he was replaced by the Berlin lawyer and notary Nils Clemm.

Director

The director was Georg Martin Lange .

Candidates

For each broadcast, three candidates were selected who applied in a specialty they had chosen but were not allowed to be professionally connected to. Immediately after applying, Sigrid Müller asked them 70 questions on the phone, 80% of which had to be answered correctly in order to be shortlisted - this was to avoid embarrassing themselves in the second round of the quiz. Later, an appointment was made with the candidate for a telephone examination with questions from his area of ​​expertise. Once you were accepted as a candidate after visiting the studio in Berlin together with around two dozen other selected candidate candidates, it could take a few months or years before you were invited to the show. It also happened that the invitation was not received. An expert was invited to each candidate, for example professors in the relevant subject. One of the most frequently appearing experts was Professor Hans-Otto Hügel from the “young, dynamic University of Hildesheim” (Thoelke).

On the subject of Coco Chanel came Karl Lagerfeld . On the subject of Ephraim Kishon , Ephraim Kishon himself, who happened to be in Germany at the Frankfurt Book Fair, came up as an expert.

There were four candidates for the episodes with Carolin Reiber, three of which took part in the second round.

Organizational matters

To record the broadcast, which took place two days later (e.g. 1985) one day before the broadcast, the candidates and their respective experts were accommodated in different hotels in the center of Berlin (West) in order to avoid any breaches or even the rumors about avoiding such.

Sometimes a substitute candidate was available at the time the program was recorded in the event that a candidate who had been placed fails prematurely. His expert was also present in the studio. But that was not the case in every program.

The fee for each candidate was e.g. B. 1985 DM 250 per episode, with which he was also insured against accidents in the studio, plus travel expenses.

Procedure (first studio decoration, up to issue 149)

First round of quiz

In the first round, the candidates came one after the other to be interviewed. To do this, they stood next to Wim Thoelke, who read them five questions on their subject, each of which was worth 200 marks. Often the candidates were able to answer all the questions and thus advance to the next round with DM 1000 of share capital. The master's question was introduced in the 1980s: it had to be named in advance and then brought in 400 marks.

Before the first round, Thoelke only introduced his assistant in order to get the show at the same pace as with Drei mal Neun with an immediate start .

Second round of quiz

First, Thoelke presented the rest of the team, connected with the topics of the second round. The columns of the multi-vision wall were each headed with a topic. It could be Austria, Habsburg or ships, for example. Always included: A to Z. The fields in one line all had the same number, namely 20, 40, 60, 80 and 100 from top to bottom. Only one field in the middle was instead provided with a question mark. Each field represented a question. The candidates sat in futuristic-looking plexiglass spheres.

The candidate with the most points chose the first question. For example, one heard: “A to Z 100 please!”. Then came the question. Originally, only the player making the selection was allowed to answer, but this did not prove to be the case, so indicator lights were built into the balls. If the player could not answer, he lost the amount and the question was released again. If the answer was correct, he was allowed to select the next field.

The questions mainly followed the humanistic ideal of education. Topics such as history and geography came up frequently and with difficult questions, natural sciences and, above all, technology played only a subordinate role, whereby the few questions were easy to answer.

Among the questions there were some particular ones:

joker

The Joker gave the candidate 100 marks, and a dozing Wum appeared on the field .

Risk question

The risk question triggered a darkening of the studio, whereby a large picture was put together on the Multivision, with the words "Risk" in different sizes. Then Thoelke gave the scores, which also appeared on the screen, and asked about the use. The candidate had to wager part of their balance and then answer a question within thirty seconds.

Lucky question

The lucky question brought 500 marks, which is why a clover leaf with a 500 in the middle appeared on the field to a melody. The question could not be passed on and there was no money to be lost on it.

Fritze Swift

When asked, Wolfgang Gruner appeared in the studio as Berlin taxi driver Fritze Flink . He told an incident at high speed, which with the words ... and now ick ask you ... resulted in a question to the three candidates.

Gruner appeared on the show over a hundred times, hurrying over from a performance by the cabaret group Die Stachelschweine , to whose ensemble he was a member.

?

The "?" Field had to be selected last. This was followed by a more elaborate performance on stage (such as a singing contribution by an invited artist), followed by the last question of the round, or vice versa. 1978 Grand Prix while The Teens announced.

Third round of quizzes

The candidate with the lowest score came first. He was allowed to choose his three-part question (originally it was only a one-part question) on his subject from three envelopes and had to answer it within sixty seconds. Then his expert rated it as right or wrong, in the first case the score doubled, otherwise it fell in favor of the problem child action. The one with the highest profit was allowed to come back as champion in the next show. After there was no winner in the first episode and Rudi Carrell spoke of the new program 3 times 0 on Saturday after the broadcast in his show Amlauf Band , the profit from the first round could be kept in any case.

Prize amounts

The profits looked modest by today's standards, 10,000 marks required a courageous approach, that is, a high level of commitment to the risk issues and immediate switching on of the indicator light. The champions usually changed after two or three episodes; Heinrich Trapp , for example, was the big exception in 1977 with his six appearances on the subject of athletics at the Olympic Games .

Elements of the show

Candidate balls

During the first round, the candidates were led to special seating immediately after their questioning. They were futuristic-looking spheres that consisted of an orange-colored lower part and the front part of which could be opened for climbing. The upper part consisted of a fixed glass dome at the back, over which another dome lay. Thoelke's employees turned this for the third round over the entire front part so that the candidate sat completely locked. There was a light in the sphere to answer questions from the second round, as well as a monitor.

Multivision wall

In the center of the show was a multi-vision wall: slide projectors illuminated matt screens arranged in five rows of six columns from behind. So that the pictures came into their own, the entire stage design was kept very dark. At the beginning, the individual fields showed the amount that was available for the relevant question, after selecting a picture for the relevant question. In between, the wall also showed a large picture, for example with the words "Risk" for the risk question. Some questions were also asked with a film, in which case the director faded in the film.

Wum and Wendelin

After the second round it was loud "Thööölke" in the studio and the most expensive part of the show, but also its climax, began: Wim Thoelke met the cartoon character Wum , invented by Loriot , as it was already known from Drei Mal Neun . Later on, the elephant Wendelin and the occasional extraterrestrial " Blue Klaus " were added as sidekicks .

Action problem child

Change from three times nine

Like Drei times Neun , Der große Preis also supported the problem child campaign . Now you could no longer choose an amount to be transferred, but buy tickets ... at all banks, savings banks and post offices ; initially only for each broadcast, later also an annual ticket. If the income had already risen several times from the initial broadcast of the forget-me-not lottery to three times nine , there was now another huge boom.

Drawing of the winners

There was still a drawing on the show that was still directed by Walter Spahrbier . Wim Thoelke introduced him after the first round of quizzes. Then followed a film in which Spahrbier started the wheel of fortune and this then determined the winning numbers. Then came a guest of honor who - without being in the picture - reached into a lottery drum in the form of an upright Plexiglas cube with eye protection goggles in front of his eyes, which contained tickets with the end number determined by the wheel of fortune. In the course of the program, his assistant appeared regularly next to Thoelke with a clipboard, and both read with an introduction like ... and 100,000 marks have won ... the winners - provided they succeeded in deciphering the script. In later broadcasts, Spahrbier always wore a historical postal uniform, which he also presented if there was enough time.

Records

As in the previous program, there were again long-play records, of which part of the proceeds went to the campaign, mostly DM 2.50 at a low sales price of DM 12.50. However, this no longer had the same meaning as it used to be, as music no longer appeared as an independent program item in the program.

Changed schedule (second studio decoration, from issue 150)

Elements of the show

Multivision wall

After the now decrepit technology caused problems, a wall based on monitors and no longer on slide projectors was used from 1987. It shone more powerfully and allowed for a new set, now in bright colors.

Candidate places

Although the candidate balls were a distinguishing feature of the show, they were abandoned. Now there was furniture without Plexiglas, as it could be found in a similar form in other shows.

First round of quiz

The first round of the quiz did not differ in the rules of the game, only slightly in the form. The candidate no longer stood in front of a microphone stand, but was equipped with his own wireless microphone. Thoelke no longer read the questions from a folder, but recited them by heart, which seemed less distant from the candidate. And the multi-vision wall came into play in the first round. She supported some questions with moving images.

Since no assistant had to bring a question folder, she no longer appeared in the first round. Instead, Thoelke welcomed the referee, who was given a more important position than before and was addressed more often. In addition to the assistant, he was the only team member in the studio; the multivision wall was operated from the control room, and there was no longer a clerk. The experts have not yet appeared, while they have already been presented with the associated candidates in the first round.

Drawing the lucky number

Between the first and second round there was a music contribution, followed by the introduction of the assistant and a note that the ZDF would send a list of books on the topics of the three candidates on request. Then, as usual, the lottery tickets were drawn.

Second round of quiz

The second round brought some changes. All of the questions were more or less related to a geographic region mentioned earlier. The question fields on the wall were only marked with a letter that had to be named. In 20 questions, some letters of the alphabet were left out, but the question mark was still there. In contrast to earlier, not all questions were asked, but the round was broken off at a certain point in time with the fast guessing round. This had become necessary because with the new decoration, The Grand Prize was now broadcast live, but it was still not allowed to exceed it. There were usually about three questions left.

Risk question, luck question and joker

Risk and luck questions as well as the joker worked unchanged, there was only no studio darkening for the risk question.

opinion

The opinion poll was new. The candidate had to estimate whether the majority answered yes or no to a question.

Fast guess round

Similar to the risk question, lettering on the monitor wall also initiated the quick guessing session. With this round the second quiz round ended. Thoelke positioned himself closer to the candidates and asked nine questions about the events of the past four weeks. A random number generator selected each candidate three times, who had to answer the question immediately. For the correct answer there was 200 DM, a wrong answer had no consequences.

Third round of quizzes

The third quiz round ran according to unchanged rules, but a candidate was only allowed to take part three times and no longer as often as he wanted. However, the candidates no longer sat shielded from the outside world by Plexiglas, but rather normally in their furniture. The expert has now been introduced by Thoelke, Thoelke no longer speaking to them about the subject when time was of the essence. At the end there was a suitcase with specialist literature, as usual.

success

Visual participation

The viewing participation of the show was initially up to 61% higher than that of the other entertainment programs popular at the time, such as Dalli Dalli . It was not until the 1980s that the audience rate fell continuously, from 41% in 1983 to 23% in 1991. However, competition from commercial broadcasters intensified during these years, so the figures mentioned must be put into perspective.

Lottery revenue

Lottery revenues remained high throughout the term with Wim Thoelke. In 1991 they reached a record value of 218 million DM and thus a monthly average of 18.2 million DM, which seemed sensational for a program that has been running for 17 years.

License

Rischia tutto

Only at the end of the era did Wim Thoelke notice that the ZDF transferred 11,000 DM to a woman in Starnberg to a Swiss numbered account for each issue of The Grand Prize . Thoelke did not find a contract in the production documents, however, and he was unable to find out details of the agreement.

The woman pretended to represent the interests of the Italian Mike Bongiorno , from whom Rischia tutto (Italian for "risk everything") came, which is also known as who? ran very successfully with Mäni Weber in Switzerland . However, the similarities between the ZDF show and Rischia tutto were limited to the multivision wall; the rules of the game in the original were too closely aligned with Mediterranean culture and have been extensively changed.

Change of moderator

When Thoelke announced his departure, he was surprised that no licensor contacted him. He was familiar with the fact that licensors have an interest in successfully continuing a series and therefore discuss changes in order to reject them if necessary.

Repetitions

The repetition of the first issue as part of "Classic TV entertainment" at 3sat in September 1994 resulted in 5,000 DM license claims that a lawyer placed on behalf of the lady from Starnberg. However, this was too much for the editor Gerd Hillen, after which no further editions followed.

Succession

Thoelke's ideas

Wim Thoelke had long ago decided to quit as a showmaster at the age of 65 (see Wim Thoelke ) and announced this in good time so that the show and the problem child campaign could continue seamlessly. In a small group he suggested two suitable colleagues and offered six months of free advice, but fell on deaf ears with both entertainment director Wolfgang Neumann and artistic director Dieter Stolte . Thoelke described Neumann as a blind man among the blind , who was able to unfold his personal talent uncontrollably when it came to the question of succession , to make a flop out of almost everything he touched . In doing so, he remained incorrigible and refused any collegial advice . He says about the artistic director:

Dieter Stolte is a good media politician. In my opinion, however, he lacks the finger to manage a multicultural company in our difficult times. This requires an honest willingness to work in a team, the ability to sincerely recognize the achievements of others, and a certain size. Ethics cannot be replaced by vanity.

In Thoelke's eyes there should be someone young enough to take over the next ten years and someone who could obey the rules of the game, which required some memory. Wolfgang Lippert once took over an episode when Thoelke had to recover from his heart operation, and clearly showed with a few mistakes that The Grand Prix made some demands on the presentation. Frank Elstner , who is currently very popular, would have been willing to take over the moderation. He later showed up with the moderation of Jeopardy! how well he could handle quiz shows. In addition to Elstner and Lippert, Sabine Sauer was also in the public discussion.

Hans-Joachim Kulenkampff

The head of entertainment, however, had a different plan: he hired Hans-Joachim Kulenkampff , who was six years older than him, for 60,000 DM per issue, although Wim Thoelke only got half of it. And the ZDF spent exorbitant sums of money on a new decoration, although so far even the smallest expenditure required a convincing justification. Since Kulenkampff had the leading role in the eight-part television series Die Große Freiheit for RTL , the Grand Prize should now take place in Hamburg. They not only commissioned a stage design, but also a complete studio facility including the auditorium with the seats. Since the Hamburg studios were overcrowded, the entire facility was transported to Berlin and adapted to the smaller dimensions of the studio there. The previous decoration remained untouched in the warehouse. Then everything was transported back to Hamburg and rebuilt to its original state, since the shipment finally came from there.

From the outset, it was undisputed among experts that Kulenkampff had other skills than those required by this type of quiz show. It was not for him to be brief and subordinate to the rules of the game. So that the big price could take place at all under these circumstances, the broadcast date was moved to Saturday. Here you could make the usual pulling over from Kulenkampff possible, while entertainment shows had to end on time during the week. The transmission time was extended by 15 minutes. This extension took the tension off the show because The Grand Prize was neither invented nor suitable for Saturday evening . At this broadcast date the viewer always expected a more elaborate show; In addition, private television was just trying to gain a foothold and was also keeping an eye on the prestige object Saturday evening show. Everything together led to low audience numbers, whereupon Kulenkampff gave up after five editions.

Carolin Reiber

Kulenkampff was followed by Carolin Reiber , who had no experience with quiz programs. It was best known for the presentation of folk music programs and was therefore not very popular with young audiences, which The Great Price would have preferred to improve its audience rating. She presented six programs until the ZDF stopped the show in late 1993.

Follow-up broadcasts

All follow-up programs, which also had the aim of promoting the problem child campaign , failed due to audience acceptance. The shows included the Goldmillion and The Grand Prix with a modified concept, presented by Marco Schreyl in 2002 and 2003.

literature

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. District Administrator and Quiz King invites you to your 60th birthday
  2. a b Stars, Colleagues and Crooks, Chapter 22: Lack of Competence