Popetown

Television series
German title	Popetown
Original title	Popetown
Country of production	United Kingdom
original language	English
year	2003
length	24 minutes
Episodes	10
genre	Animation / satire
music	Julian Maurice Moore
First broadcast	June 8, 2005 ( New Zealand ) on C4
German-language ; first broadcast	May 3, 2006 on MTV
occupation
	Bob Mortimer - father Nicholas ; Ruby Wax - The Pope ; Morwenna Banks - Sister Marie ; Jerry Hall - Sister Penelope ; Matt Lucas - First Cardinal ; Kevin Eldon - Second Cardinal ; Simon Greenall - Third Cardinal ; Ben Miller - priest ;

Popetown is a controversial cartoon - television series in 2003. It deals with the life of the fictional priest Father Nicholas , who in "Popetown" - a satire on the Vatican - lives and works.

action

The ten episodes are about the fictional experiences of a Father Nicholas in the Vatican State : The cartoon series satirizes a "crazy", infantile Pope and three corrupt cardinals who sell orphans into slavery, among other things.

Charisma

The series was originally commissioned by the BBC ; However, after protests by the Catholic Church, the broadcaster decided to drop the project. The BBC said the series was highly offensive to religious sentiments. The producers continued to work and Popetown was finally - accompanied by calls for a boycott by the Catholic Church - first broadcast on June 8, 2005 on New Zealand TV station C4.

In German-speaking countries, the first broadcast took place on May 3, 2006 - embedded in an MTV News Mag Special - on MTV .

Odds

555,000 Germans watched the first episode of the controversial cartoon series , which represented a market share of 1.4 percent. With 290,000 viewers between 14 and 49 years of age, the market share in the group of television viewers was 2.4 percent. The value is about three times as high as the German MTV average. With the second episode, the station only reached 0.9 percent in the advertising-relevant target group.

Public discussion in Germany

The publisher of the Christian newspaper VERS1, Birgit Kelle , called for a boycott of MTV's advertising partners and started a protest action in which over 50,000 people and organizations took part. In an open letter, Kelle MTV managing director Catherine Mühlemann asked the question: “Would you also broadcast 'Mohammed Town'?” And further: “No Christian will smash your studio window when it is broadcast, after all, Christianity is a religion of peace. But we deserve no less respect than other religions. ” Ultimately, the churches, politicians and the Central Council of Jews also joined the protest. Since the protest of the church could not move MTV to discontinue the satire, the Fulda Bishop Heinz Josef Algermissen appealed to the station's advertisers: “ Those companies that support MTV financially are badly advised, if they allow it, to continue to sponsor the denigration of the Christian faith to be considered ”.

MTV program director Elmar Giglinger told Focus magazine that the program will be broadcast as planned from May 3rd, literally: “ Ultimately, we in Germany are in the fortunate position of living and working in a country where opinion , Freedom of the press and freedom of the arts allow us to also have controversial formats in our program. “He also justified the broadcast by saying that the media control committee for voluntary self-regulation television had given a previously submitted episode a release for the daily program and said:“ There can be no question of blasphemy . “The criticism of the series, according to Giglinger in an interview with the FAZ , is mainly based on the advertising campaign. When everyone has watched the series, there would be no more discussion of blasphemy or a ban on the series. Would remain the question of whether it is " great satire " or " adolescent [n] Humor IN QUESTION". The broadcaster is happy to face this discussion.

The chairman of the Young Liberals , Johannes Vogel , criticized the calls for boycotts: “ I think it would be advisable to only form a judgment when you know what you are talking about. […] It is noteworthy that right now some people are shouting loudly and calling for a ban, as religious feelings could be hurt. Just a few weeks ago, everyone involved rightly referred to the freedom of the press when it came to the Mohammed cartoons . "

The federal chairman of the Junge Union , Philipp Missfelder , criticized the broadcast of Popetown: “ With this program, the Christian faith is exposed to ridicule. The fact that this, of all things, is being done by a youth broadcaster that believes it advocates tolerance and communal cooperation is a particular cause for concern. The music broadcaster MTV is not doing justice to its great responsibility for its mostly younger viewers. The fundamental right to freedom of expression is not a license, but requires all the more judgment and respect when exercising it. "

Jürgen Kaube criticizes in the FAZ - in addition to the series itself - the interference of politics in the broadcast discussion. In a secularized state it is " a private matter for Catholics ... to revolt about" Popetown ". "When politicians take sides in the exercise of their public office, it is like the" unfree conditions for which we currently use the name of fundamentalism. "Kaube sees the arguments of politics based on a" felt by some [n] duty to keep pace with the world religious indignation standards "set by the Mohammed caricatures .

The Archdiocese of Munich and Freising took legal action against the broadcast. It saw the offense of insulting religious communities as fulfilled. MTV did not comply with a request to submit a declaration of discontinuance . On May 3, 2006, the Munich Regional Court rejected a request for an interim injunction because the judges believed that the broadcast did not threaten public peace. According to the judges, the series is " too stupid " for that. Joachim Herrmann , Bavarian leader of the CSU has provided also a criminal complaint against MTV at the Berlin prosecutor's office, the CSU - chairman Edmund Stoiber also urged to tighten up criminal law for insulting religious feelings.

The first episode was broadcast as part of an “MTV News Mag Special” discussion round with representatives from the church, media, culture and politics in the studio. The viewers were able to take part in the discussion online and by phone. The station MTV achieved 6.4 percent in the target group of 14 to 29 year olds, the best rate in its history to date. So far, this quota has only been exceeded by a "Drawn Together" marathon on March 31, 2007.