We are emperors
| Television series | |
|---|---|
| Original title | We are emperors |
| Country of production | Austria |
| original language | German |
| Year (s) | Audiences: 2007– New Year's Eve Special : since 2007 Special editions: 2010– Kaiser Deluxe. December 2015 The Seyffenstein Chronicles: 2016 |
| Production company |
Gebhardt Productions |
| length | 50 minutes |
| Episodes | 49 in 4 seasons |
| genre | Satire , talk show |
| Theme music | International with changed text |
| idea | Ully Aris, Wilfried Reichel |
| First broadcast | May 3, 2007 on ORF 1 |
| occupation | |
| |
Wir sind Kaiser was a satirical talk show on ORF that was broadcast on Thursday night between 2007 and 2010 . The program could also be seen in Germany and Switzerland via 3sat . Measured in terms of market share, it was ORF 1's most successful in-house production broadcast weekly between 2007 and 2010. Since the end of 2010, new special episodes have been broadcast every quarter.
In December 2019, the ORF announced that the format should expire with two carnival audiences on February 7 and 14, 2020. Due to the COVID-19 pandemic , two video audiences were shown on April 17 and 24, 2020 under the title Eine Krone gegen Corona - Das Kaiser-Spezial .
The broadcast
concept
Robert Palfrader played Robert Heinrich I, the caricature of an Austrian emperor , speaking in the pluralis majestatis and by and with others in the third person singular ("He go there ..."; "What is she doing there?"). After the disappointing achievements of Austrian politics, it is supposed to bring back the splendor of monarchist times to the country . He is supported by his chief chamberlain Seyffenstein ( Rudi Roubinek - he is with Klaus Oppitz and lead author of the program) and the servant Vormärz ( FM4 presenter Rudi Schöller Bacher ). A second servant named Biedermeier ( Florian Perger ) also appears in the later broadcasts . Furthermore, there is the eye candy ( Karin Chvatal ), the emperor's playmate. Both servants as well as the eye candy hardly have a say in the broadcast. The programs were recorded in front of an audience in the large ballroom in the House of Industry on Schwarzenbergplatz in Vienna .
content
At the opening of the public, 40-minute audience of the emperor, the "imperial hymn" was played to the tune of the International . The text says:
“Oh, see children laughing happily, flowers bloom so beautifully.
Everyone enjoys his life as long as he has not seen.
Gone are the dark cold days when we were alone in the world.
Like a father with his little children who holds us in his arms.
Our dear Robert Heinrich, we thank you very much.
You are the content of our life, master and servant kneel before you.
Our dear Robert Heinrich, we thank you very much.
We have an emperor, we will never feel bad again! "
Then Seyffenstein read the mail to the emperor. These were usually petitions from national and international personalities to the emperor. Afterwards, His Majesty received guests - mostly Austrian celebrities and politicians, sometimes also Germans - sovereignly solving political conflicts and showing recordings from his everyday life as a beloved head of state . Most of the time his deeds are only fake and in reality they are carried out by his subject Vormärz . Robert Heinrich I often appears very worried about his country during the broadcast. However, he often treated his guests in a provocative and sometimes strange way.
In addition, mostly Austropop artists appeared in the program for musical entertainment (e.g. second wife , Excuse Me Moses ).
A running gag was the weekly appearance of Richard Lugner , who appeared in a different disguise or pretended to be someone else and asked for an audience with the Kaiser, but never got it. It was not until January 3, 2008 that he was allowed to enter the audience room and talk to the emperor. Another running gag are the guests' gifts to his majesty, which are mostly snow globes with penguins , which the emperor regularly gives in advance for special storage. The farewell to a guest is often done with the words: “He / she can withdraw, but he / she also has to be a little good!” The so-called snail greeting , which the emperor gives to female guests, is also recurring deliberately exaggerated staged with suggestive looks and gestures: the slight bending of the upper limbs of the extended index and middle fingers, which symbolizes the bowing antennae of a snail.
Beginning and end of the series
As we learned in various episodes, Robert Heinrich became “Emperor of Austria by the grace of God” in order to save the country. In addition, a recording was shown that shows how “in a small town near the city of Vienna”, a drunk Robert Heinrich goes to the pub, where he complains about the political situation in the country. The names of the characters are ironically alluded to, so Robert Heinrich shows the landlord a bar of soap, which he calls a "soap stone". A glow falls from the sky and the narrator's voice speaks to Robert Heinrich:
“Robert Heinrich, you have been chosen to lead this country out of its misery. [...] From today you are Robert Heinrich I. "
Thereupon Robert Heinrich wears the imperial uniform, the landlord becomes Obersthofmeister Seyffenstein and the waiter goes to Vormärz .
The emperor's last audience for the time being took place on March 11, 2010. It was shown how Robert Heinrich I “God's grace” was withdrawn again and he came back to the inn. When Seyffenstein accuses the former monarch of having wasted all the cars and money with the "women stories", Robert Heinrich shouts , "Who would have done it differently ?!" public life and decides not to allow any further audiences. When Seyffenstein wants to turn Richard Lugner down again at the end of this episode, Robert Heinrich I says he will take care of it himself and he leaves the hall. Lugner then comes in in the imperial uniform.
Charisma
The first broadcast of the first episode ran on May 3, 2007 on ORF 1. Then the program went into the summer break in favor of the broadcast of Die liebe Familie and Dorfers Donnerstalk . The first season ran from October 2007 to January 17, 2008, followed by another break.
The broadcast of the second season began on September 4, 2008 and ended on January 8, 2009. It comprised 13 episodes including the Silverster Special. Another eight episodes were broadcast in spring 2009.
The third season followed from September 24, 2009 to March 11.
The fourth season began on January 29, 2016 on ORF 1. The German YouTuber Nilam Farooq could also be seen .
Special consequences
As part of the entertainment program at the turn of the year, ORF has shown specials from the program on December 31 (three programs) and January 1 (one program) since 2007. Between 8.15 p.m. and 12.00 a.m., 15-minute sequences of the New Year's Eve ball for the emperor were shown after each broadcast. At the turn of the year 2018/19, there was no further broadcast on New Year's Eve for the first time.
On Austria's national holiday , October 26th, 2010, ORF broadcast a special episode of Wir sind Kaiser under the title Ein Fest für Österreich . Six months after Robert Heinrich I withdrew into private life, the figure appeared again in public for the first time in search of her First Knight. Austrians were asked to apply via video, and three candidates were selected for the show from among hundreds of applicants according to the broadcaster. The former professional athletes Toni Polster , Andreas Goldberger and Hans Knauß supported them in the show, which was designed as a tournament . For each task, a well-known song was appropriately rewritten and performed by the Vienna Boys' Choir , while the singer Saint Lu supported the choir when the emperor moved in and out. Among the numerous guests were Ottfried Fischer , Karl Merkatz , Michaela Dorfmeister , Eva Glawischnig and Richard Lugner, who again embodied himself .
On April 9, 2011, the special episode Tour d'Autriche was shown on ORF 1 , in which Robert Heinrich I visited all of his nine federal states and reported on his experiences in a special audience. In 2011, three more specials are to follow: On June 2, a program entitled Last Chance for Germany , a new edition of the “Ritterspiele” in autumn and the New Year's Eve program.
On the national holiday 2011, October 26, 2011, there was another special episode of the series with the title "Thanksgiving". This ran on ORF 1 at 8:15 p.m. Guests were u. a. Heino , Herbert Haupt , Barbara Schett , Ute Bock and the former Tyrolean governor, Herwig van Staa .
Kaiser Deluxe
A compilation of previous imperial audiences was shown in four episodes under the name “Kaiser Deluxe”. They ran on 3sat in December 2015.
The Seyffenstein Chronicles
Since the beginning of 2016, excerpts from previous programs from Wir sind Kaiser have been shown in one cut and commented on by Emperor Robert Heinrich I and Seyffenstein. The episodes are currently running on ORF one in the Friday evening program.
The emperor's courier
In 2018 the Kaiser formed the framework for a nine-part documentary series about the Austrian federal states by Hanno Settele . The emperor wants to sell a federal state due to lack of money and sends Settele as a courier to the individual countries to evaluate their value.
Reception and reviews
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The show ran successfully with top ratings of up to 28% market share and is therefore one of the most successful programs since the program reform in 2007. The last episode of the first season on January 17, 2008 reached 462,000 viewers (24% market share). The December 4th, 2008 edition achieved record ratings with 603,000 viewers (27% market share). The highest market share was achieved on September 24, 2009 with 30%.
“Right at the beginning, Mr. Lugner appeared briefly, which at home is not a good omen for the quality of a program. But you can also be mistaken: 'Wir sind Kaiser' (ORF 1) could easily keep up with Dorfer's 'Donnerstalk'. Basic idea: Austria again has an emperor (Robert Palfrader) who speaks arrogantly, nasalizing, and grants audiences. One of his official acts was that he demoted the ORF general because he broadcasts his program so irregularly ('The Wrabetz should do the moonboots by Hansi Hinterseer'). "
"Everything is just a media gag, a quota-bringing idea of the public service broadcasting. However, there are two clear arguments against this: First: Public broadcasting has never had an idea that would bring a quota. And secondly: Otto von Habsburg, head of the old ruling family and more or less the owner of the trademark rights to k + k, did nothing to the contrary, the thousand-year-old corporate identity was seamlessly transferred to the new emperor Robert Heinrich. (Incidentally, Robert and Heinrich are Otto's fourth and ninth names respectively). He probably made himself a present for his 95th birthday on November 20th and simply adopted the young man from television. - Someone had to make a sacrifice for a Felix Austria! "
“The penguin snow globe and the Internationale as the imperial anthem were still original in episode 1, from episode 2 it was sucked off. The celebrity audience is still the most bearable - this time with the heavily pregnant Barbara Karlich and Christoph Matznetter with KHG swim shorts (in hand). Only real monarchists are actually more stupid than 'We are emperors'. "
“The 'Kaiser' held court again and delivered a delicacy of political satire on Thursday evening on ORF: His Highness granted the subject HC Strache an audience - who came (apparently none of his advisors had advised him against), bowed politely and hardly brought a few laughs something out. 'His Highness' Robert Palfrader dissected the otherwise eloquent FPÖ boss and his weaknesses with razor-sharp humor - elegantly without exposing him to the point that Strache would have completely lost face. "
Awards
- 2008: “Best program idea” for Wir sind Kaiser at the Romy Awards 2008 to Robert Palfrader, Rudolf Roubinek, Sandra Winkler, Ully Aris and Wilfried Reichel
- 2017: Audience Award of the Austrian Cabaret Award
- 2019: “Best program idea” for Der Kurier des Kaisers at the Romy Awards 2019
Trivia
- In autumn 2007 Robert Palfrader made a guest appearance as Emperor Robert Heinrich I on the late night show Willkommen Österreich .
- Furthermore, in his role on December 30, 2007, he moderated the annual sports review of the program Sport am Sonntag .
- On February 2, 2008, Palfrader was Emperor Robert Heinrich I participant in the Austrian celebrity millionaire show .
- In the current show action, the southern Burgenland is referred to as Styrian Congo and the federal state of Carinthia as Northern Slovenia . The latter is an allusion to the street sign dispute in Carinthia. In one broadcast, the emperor also “confused” the guest Alfons Haider with both the then Carinthian governor Jörg Haider and the composer Joseph Haydn .
- On October 26, 2012, Seyffenstein succeeded Sido as a juror on the television show “Die Große Chance” after he had to leave the ORF due to a fight with Dominic Heinzl . In the following week, Sido came back to ORF surprisingly, so Seyffenstein had to give up his juror position again.
DVD publications
So far published by Wiener Verlag Hoanzl :
- The first season on August 29, 2008
- The second season on March 6, 2009
- The third season on September 25, 2009
- The overall box for seasons 1–3 on November 20, 2009
- The fourth season on April 9, 2010
Web links
- Wir sind Kaiser in the Internet Movie Database (English)
- Critical appreciation of the concept
- Gebhardt Productions - production company
Individual evidence
- ↑ a b oe24.at - Majesty gives New Year's Eve audience , accessed on December 19, 2010
- ↑ a b We are Kaiser Deluxe in four episodes
- ↑ a b 2011 the "Kaiser" goes off on the Germans from December 28, 2010 on oe24.at - accessed on April 11, 2011
- ↑ "We are emperors" ends, Your Highness continues. In: Kurier.at . December 21, 2019, accessed January 22, 2020 .
- ^ Mariella Moshammer: Does the Kaiser take a few years' vacation? In: Upper Austrian Volksblatt . January 21, 2020, accessed January 22, 2020 .
- ↑ Last audience on Friday: "We are emperors" ends after 14 years. In: derstandard.at . February 13, 2020, accessed March 7, 2020 .
- ^ "A crown against Corona - Das Kaiser-Spezial" in ORF 1. ots.at, March 31, 2020, accessed on April 2, 2020 (press release).
- ↑ We are emperors , diepresse.com, November 28, 2008
- ↑ Courier : The Emperor's Last Audience ( Memento of March 13, 2010 in the Internet Archive )
- ↑ http://kurier.at/tv/detail.php?aID=GDM70351612&sTitle=Wir are emperors
- ↑ A festival for Austria on orf.at ( Memento of the original from March 4, 2016 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice.
- ↑ We are Kaiser Special 1
- ↑ We are Kaiser Special 2
- ↑ tvthek.orf.at: “We are emperors”, Thanksgiving. ( Memento from July 1, 2011 in the Internet Archive )
- ^ First harbingers of the ORF-one reform , the press on September 10, 2018
- ↑ Upper Austrian News of October 13, 2007: We are Emperors ( Memento of February 28, 2008 in the Internet Archive )
- ↑ wienerlloyd.com - November 2007: We are (again) emperors ... ( Memento from April 9, 2011 in the Internet Archive )
- ↑ We are Kasperl , Oliver Pink in: Die Presse , November 9, 2007
- ↑ TV review: Strache's kneeling before the 'Kaiser' , Isabella Wallnöfer in: Die Presse, January 15, 2010
- ↑ Austrian Cabaret Prize: “We are Kaiser” receives audience award . OTS notification dated November 21, 2017, accessed November 21, 2017.
- ^ Kurier : "The Emperor's Courier" gets to know ROMY, April 5, 2019
