Street sweeper

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Since the early years, the name of the street sweeper has been used to describe German television programs with very high ratings , which ensured that the streets were practically deserted, meaning that they looked empty. Many street sweepers have cult status today .

Origin of the term

At the end of the 1950s, the WDR decided to implement this format on television due to the great success of the multi-part Paul Temple radio plays by Francis Durbridge . In addition to the two multi-part film adaptations of So Far the Feet and On the Green Beach of the Spree by Fritz Umgelter , multi-part crime films were to be produced, which, like the radio plays, were based on scripts by the British crime writer Durbridge. Thus, first in 1959, Der Andere, and in 1960 Es ist gehts , were created, which have already enjoyed considerable success with German television audiences.

In January 1962, the third Durbridge six-part Das Halstuch ran across the screens and sparked unprecedented enthusiasm in all walks of life. The image of streets swept completely empty on broadcast dates of the Durbridge series then finally gave rise to the term "street sweeper". The cause was on the one hand the immense popularity of the series and on the other hand the fact that at that time there were no devices for recording television programs for private use. Theaters, cinemas, adult education centers and other public institutions remained practically empty on the six evenings on the broadcast, and election campaign events of the political parties also found no interest. Even the night shifts in many factories had to be canceled. Taxi drivers stopped working for the time it was broadcast. Even the parliamentarians in the Kiel state parliament cut their speeches in order to be able to sit in front of the television in good time. Those who did not have a television at the time would visit neighbors, friends or relatives equipped with the equipment or go to a pub with a television set. The people involved in the production did not expect such a success either. This can be seen from the fact that six actors rejected the lead role of inspector Harry Yates in this multi-part. Heinz Drache , who finally took on the role, became a movie and television star overnight .

The average visual participation was 89%. A year later, the rate for the last part of the Tim Frazer series was 93%. The Durbridge multi-part series were able to maintain the high ratings in the years to come, so that the term “street sweeper” was used for all films in this series.

Extension of the term to other television events

The term soon found general use for films with very high ratings, such as the three-part crime thriller Babeck ( ZDF 1968) with an audience participation of almost 70%. Also television series such as Stahlnetz , Die Firma Hesselbach , the SF series Raumpatrouille , the multi-part Die Gentlemen ask for the cashier , the television series Belphégor or the secret of the Louvre , which was also considered a street sweeper in France, or the early broadcasts from the Hamburg Ohnsorg Theater and the Millowitsch Theater in Cologne were often referred to as such, as well as on Saturday evening shows such as One Will Win or Churning Out , as well as the international game show Spiel ohne Grenzen .

Occasionally the term was used in later decades, for example for Die Schwarzwaldklinik in the 1980s. The heyday of the street sweepers, however, was in the 1960s, when on the one hand television was already widespread as a medium, but on the other hand, due to the small number of channels, the competition between the individual programs was not yet so pronounced. Particularly with the introduction of private television in the 1980s, the offer grew considerably and viewers were now more distributed among the individual channels. Real street sweepers are therefore rarely found today, as individual programs usually do not achieve such high ratings as around the 1960s, which u. a. due to the changed viewing habits of television viewers, the possibility of recording programs, and the large variety of programs.

An exception nowadays are important international football matches in the context of European and football world championships , which is why the term street sweeper is sometimes also used for such television programs.

Similar terms

  • Blockbusters . A term that refers to commercially very successful cinema films that attract a large number of visitors to the cinemas.

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