The Best of Scheibenwischer (3 DVDs)

Content: When it comes to cabaret and satire on German television, there is probably only one show that can be considered absolutely trend-setting: Dieter Hildebrandt's "Scheibenwischer". From 1980 to 2003, the popular cabaret artist stood in front of the camera for the show, which continued to be produced without its creator until 2009. Ruthlessly frank, bitter and sharp-tongued Hildebrandt has made the audience laugh and politicians sweat for 145 episodes.

Now eight of the best episodes from the years 1980 - 1999 have been released on three DVDs in a box. Of course, the legendary episode 34 from 1985, in which Hildebrandt and Co. let off steam about Chernobyl and its consequences, should not be missing. The song about the "radiated grandfather" performed by Lisa Fitz was too much for those responsible for the programme at BR, so that the Bavarian Broadcasting Corporation unceremoniously pulled out of the broadcast and only showed a black picture to the audience in the Free State. An unimagined wave of protest and a rapid rise in popularity of the show was the result.

Supported by cabaret colleagues such as Gerhard Polt, Gisela Schneeberger, Werner Schneyder, Konstantin Wecker, Jochen Busse, Hanns Dieter Hüsch, Bruno Jonas, Matthias Beltz, Richard Rogler or Reiner Kröhnert feels Dieter Hildebrandt in the best of "Scheibenwischer" the politics on the tooth, deals with the 94 state elections in Bavaria, Helmut Kohl again and again, the Rhine-Main-Danube Canal, folk music and much more.

Although many of the topics have long since been caught up with time and not every viewer is likely to remember what Hildebrandt and his cohorts make their biting jokes about here, the show itself has lost little of its impact. This collection is undoubtedly a piece of TV history and therefore belongs in every good DVD collection!

Picture + Sound: In the picture, the age of the broadcasts is sometimes very clear. Blurring, quite a few small smudges, double contours and a noticeable coarseness are sometimes more, sometimes less noticeable. However, such weaknesses here do not weigh as heavily as that would be the case, for example, in a film or a series.

The sound is, what is not otherwise to be expected for a TV show of this format, decent and very front mixed. But that is quite enough here!

Extras: On each disc there are memories of Dieter Hildebrandt to the individual episodes. Hildebrandt gives here between 4 and 8minütige anecdotes to background of the episodes and their guests to the best, which is sometimes very interesting and especially very nostalgic. In addition, on the second disc is the 45-minute portrait "Solo für einen Moralisten", which takes a very nice and comprehensive look at the life and work of Dieter Hildebrandt. However, with this extra on the DVD provided to us, a slight asynchrony between picture and sound could be detected, but this does not change anything in the quality of the content.

Conclusion: With "Das Beste aus Scheibenwischer" a piece of German television history appears on DVD. Even if some content is outdated, the joke is still red-hot and biting as ever. Thanks to good technical realization and worth seeing extras a must for all who appreciate political satire at its best.

An article by Frankfurt-Tipp