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“TV Total” Is Back — And The New Presenter Has A Problem Without Stephen Raab
“TV Total” Without Stephen Raab – Could That Work?
© Malte Osowski / Sven Simon / Picture Alliance
ProSieben brings its best horse out of the stable before: “TV Total” is back. Stephen Raab still has his fingers in the game. Nevertheless, the experiment will fail. A Comment.
“TV Total”‘s new moderator Sebastian Puffpuff introduced himself to his new audience on Monday in a remarkably self-deprecating way. “Who are you?” He asked in a video that ProSieben spread on Twitter. to nobody. But from Horst. Horst, whose sentence was one of Stephen Raab’s running gags over the years.
Puffpuff’s welcome joke has arrived. And it certainly spoke to people who turned on the television once for “TV Total” and then four times a week. And of course you can count on Puffp to host entertainment shows on prime time. The 45-year-old, who will premiere on Wednesday at 8:15 pm, is a prolific entertainer and has a remarkably accurate humour.
But the problem is this: Puffpuff is not Stephen Raab. And that’s exactly what will almost certainly doom the 45-year-old. As unfair as it can be. Because Raab was much more than a successful moderator – and so could not be easily replaced.
Stephen Raab Pushes the Limits of What Can Be Said on “TV Total”
And not because Raab pulled funny scenes from other TV shows via Coco that aired after broadcast. That would still work today, because the stations still show enough crap to make a joke. However, the fact that Raab went on to become Germany’s biggest TV star cannot be copied: he pushed the limits of what could be said, in his “Rabigrammen”, insulting celebrities. He made possible things that were previously unimaginable – for example by mixing the Eurovision Song Contest first with Gildo Horn and later with “Wadde Had Dud Da”. He brought world stars to his show and showed them from a side not seen before – not to forget how Raab created storms of excitement with Will Smith. In short: Raab invented viral content even before viral content existed.
Raab shaped an entire TV generation with his humour, his shows and his actions. He discussed in the living room between the parents and their teen whether what he was doing there was even allowed to be done on television. He set new standards without losing his stubbornness. This is the reason why viewers still reminisce about the past and watch their clips on YouTube. Raab was bigger than his own show.
“TV Total”: Stefan Raab Completely Disappeared From View
It is for this reason that Raab’s departure was a masterpiece. He disappeared without reappearing – which keeps the memories of his genius alive to this day. But now “TV Total” is coming back. With the anticipation of old-fashioned fans coming in, that can only end up disappointed. The only hope there can be for the ProSieben experiment is that Raab, as a producer, is the brains behind the show. And of course Raab still knows how to make good television.
The return of “TV Total” will only be successful if the show reinvents itself and appeals to younger viewers who dare to come to the show with an open mind and who don’t want Stephen Raab back in the end – who , by the way, would not be a good idea. If it succeeds, then from ProSieben’s point of view, at least the chances may be a fit.
Earlier fans might not have been excited about the new version. But that won’t be Sebastian Puffpuff’s problem.
