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The Persuader
My personal blog, started in 2006. No paid or guest posts, no link sales.
Posts tagged ‘Action Concept’
10.04.2019
This is how big an Alarm fĂŒr Cobra 11: die Autobahnpolizei nerd I am.
Three years ago (April 7, 2016), we were introduced to Daniel Roesner as Paul Renner in âCobra, ĂŒbernehmen Sieâ. There is a flashback scene dated April 7, 1996 when Paul and Semir meet for the first time, with Paul as a child.



There are a few problems with the scene.
If it was April 1996, then it would have been around the events of âTod bei Tempo 100â, and Semir looked quite different:

His goatee only begins appearing in episode 33 (production order), âEin Leopard lĂ€uft Amokâ (October 1, 1998), and the BMW 3er with the registration NE-DR 8231 made its first appearance the episode before, âDie letzte Chanceâ (which was actually shown later, on October 8, 1998).
Also in âCobra, ĂŒbernehmen Sieâ, Semir is on the radio to Andrea, when Andrea was not working for PASt in 1996. She made her first appearance in âRache ist sĂŒĂâ (November 18, 1997).
I can understand star ErdoÄan Atalay being reluctant to shave his goatee for the flashback, but it would have thrilled fans if he called to base for Regina and not Andrea.
Tags: 1996, 2016, Action Concept, actors, Alarm fĂŒr Cobra 11: die Autobahnpolizei, BMW, celebrity, Germany, RTL, TV Posted in culture, interests, TV | 1 Comment »
29.03.2019

RTL
Above: From the first episode after the half-season break, ‘Endstation’. All three men have, at some point, played the sidekick on Alarm fĂŒr Cobra 11: die Autobahnpolizei: ErdoÄan Atalay, who was hired to play second banana in the third episode but has since become the star of the show; Rainer Strecker, the man whom Atalay replaced, here guesting and playing another role altogether; and Daniel Roesner, who is currently Atalay’s co-star in the series, and who also had played another role prior to this one.
One for the Alarm fĂŒr Cobra 11: die Autobahnpolizei fans. Our groupâthe largest on Facebook and, ironically, the one run mostly by non-Germansâsaw this question from Tim Gottschall:
Kann mir mal bitte jemand erklÀren warum es bei Cobra 11 schon 42 DVD Staffeln gibt aber jetzt im TV die 33 Staffel lÀuft? Also damit auch die neuen Folgen
This has always annoyed me. At Action Concept, this is still season 23.
This has been compounded by certain episodes from new seasons being mixed in as the existing season was airing (e.g. production seasons 6 to 12) and episodes being shown out of order.
According to production blocks (with overlaps explained above):
Season 1: episodes aired between March 12 and April 30, 1996 (episodes 1â9)
Season 2: March 11, 1997 to June 4, 1998 (episodes 10â31)
Season 3: October 1, 1998 to May 6, 1999 (episodes 32â47)
Season 4: December 16, 1999 to December 14, 2000 (episodes 48â63)
Season 5: April 5, 2001 to April 11, 2002 (episodes 64â80)
Season 6: April 18, 2002 to April 10, 2003 (episodes 81â97)
Season 7: September 11, 2003 to April 29, 2004 (episodes 98â110)
Season 8: March 25 to November 18, 2004 (episodes 111â25)
Season 9: February 10, 2005 to April 20, 2006 (episodes 126â41)
Season 10: April 27 to November 16, 2006 (episodes 142â57)
Season 11: March 22 to November 1, 2007 (episodes 158â68)
Season 12: September 20, 2007 to April 24, 2008 (episodes 169â79)
Season 13: September 4, 2008 to April 9, 2009 (episodes 180â94)
Season 14: September 3, 2009 to April 22, 2010 (episodes 195â209)
Season 15: September 2, 2010 to April 14, 2011 (episodes 210â22)
Season 16: September 15, 2011 to April 19, 2012 (episodes 223â38)
Season 17: September 6, 2012 to April 18, 2013 (episodes 239â53)
Season 18: October 24, 2013 to May 15, 2014 (episodes 254â67)
Season 19: October 9, 2014 to April 30, 2015 (episodes 268â82)
Season 20: September 10, 2015 to May 26, 2016 (episodes 283â98)
Season 21: September 1, 2016 to May 18, 2017 (episodes 299â317)
Season 22: September 14, 2017 to May 3, 2018 (episodes 318â36)
Season 23: September 13, 2018 to date (episode 337 to date)
However, according to how Cobra 11 aired, all but the (short) first block were shown with a break in betweenâpresumably due to labour laws there that required casts to have a break otherwise they would be overworked. So if you divide each of the seasons above into two, except for the first, then we are up to âseason 43â. This is the numbering the DVDs use. As to âseason 33â, I understand RTL used to follow the production numbering, but eventually diverged from it, so itâs a mixture of the âstudioâ numbering and the âbroken seasonâ numbering.
I realize no one outside the fan community for this show will really care, but as this is my personal and business blog, a wide variety of subjects is covered. And for those fans who may stumble across this, I hope the above helps settle some questions.
Tags: 2019, Action Concept, Alarm fĂŒr Cobra 11: die Autobahnpolizei, DVD, Germany, RTL, TV Posted in interests, marketing, TV | No Comments »
18.08.2015
 First publicity photograph of Daniel Roesner as Paul Renner, photographed by Frank Hempel/RTL.
Poor Vinzenz Kiefer. The co-star of Alarm fĂŒr Cobra 11: die Autobahnpolizei, which commemorates its 20th anniversary next year, will be written out of the show, and not by his choice.
Since the departure of Tom Beck as Ben JĂ€ger a few years ago, the producers of the long-running German action series decided to take a darker turn. Cobra 11 has always been able to reinvent itself with the times, hence the long run, and the light comedy that crept in to such awful episodes as âBabyalarmâ or the predictable âbad guys with automatic weaponsâ plots of âCodename Tigerâ (which even had a homage to Michael Bay) was deemed to be at odds with what viewers wanted. Out with Beck. In with Kiefer, a grittier looking young actor who had had a single guest outing in Cobra 11 some years earlier in another role, as a troubled young offender called Dennis Kortmann out to avenge the death of his younger brother.
The new character of Alex Brandt (incredibly close in name to Kommissar Rexâs Alex Brandtner, played by another short-lived Cobra 11 co-star, Gedeon Burkhard) seemed tailor-made for Kiefer, now 37, a deep, highly talented actor. Brandt had a back-story, caught amongst corrupt police officers which saw him go to prison, something that Cobra 11 producers tried to inject in the mid-2000s when Gedeon Burkhard replaced the ever-popular RĂ©nĂ© Steinke. The writers and story editors introduced story threads that spanned the whole season. It was all in keeping with the Zeitgeist, but, ratings dropped, despite a spectacular season finalĂ© inspired by Vantage Point but much more cleverly executed within the 45-minute running time. We finally saw some acting chops from the entire cast: star ErdoÄan Atalay got to exercise his not inconsiderable talent as family man and cop Semir Gerkhan, and there was even a hint of “will they or won’t they?” between Brandt and Katrin HeĂ’s Jenny Dornâwho had previously been in a relationship with Niels Kurvin’s Hartmut Freund character. Yet on occasion, Alarm fĂŒr Cobra 11 was even beaten by Germanyâs Next Top Model, a show which it usually trumped. And Kiefer is the fall guy.
Burkhard, too, presided over what was considered a darker, moodier season of Cobra 11 in 2007â8, yet ratings fell, and he was given the axe.
Itâs a given that the reinventions help the series, but the obsession with ratings has meant Cobra 11 returning to a level of humour and escapism each time the network, RTL, panics. In a Facebook poll this author set up with 786 respondents, fans regard Tom Beck as the best co-star (565 votes), with Kiefer a distant second (116). Old stars such as Steinke still hold up (67) despite their departure nearly a decade ago.
Why âpoor Vinzenz Kieferâ? Today, his successor, Daniel Roesner (top) was announced, which means Kiefer has to complete and, later, promote his work knowing that Alex Brandt may well be killed off (the fate of less popular co-stars) and that heâs on his way out. Alex Brandt may be the gloomy, moody DCI, but behind-the-scenes photos shared by Atalay and HeĂ show that there are plenty of hijinks, with everyone getting on well. HeĂ posted her sadness at the announcement her colleague would be given the boot on Instagram and Facebook, and Atalay ceased posting to his social media altogether (although whether that was the reason is unknown).
Roesner has the ingredients for the escapist audience: he excels in light comedy, he has a friendlier face, and he is already known to Cobra 11 audiences for playing Tacho, whom we first met in 2010 while at the police academy. His character, along with Axel Steinâs Turbo, was so popular that he was brought back for a second guest spot in 2011, and Action Concept, the makers of the series, attempted a TV pilot called Turbo und Tacho, where it is revealed that his full name is Andreas Tachinski.
Roesner wonât be playing Tachinski this time; instead, after a haircut and a new wardrobe, heâll be playing a cop called Paul Renner, and whether he designed Futura or not while working at the Bauhaus has not yet been explained. His presence will likely see a return to the escapist, self-contained scripts, with the characters turning more two-dimensional again.
Beckâs years proved that the show can rebound, but the past two with Kiefer gained him a loyal following, too. The core may well want escapism but Kiefer probably brought viewers who could leave; assuming they knew Cobra 11 had transformed to begin with. Do we want our TV heroes to be light while things are tough; or do we want them to reflect the hard times we have today? Whether RTL has calculated correctly or not will be seen when Roesnerâs episodes start with the 20th anniversary of the series; but it will be looking to reclaim the Thursday night prime-time slot more regularly than Cobra 11 has been doing in the last year. Expect huge promotions for the 20thâand to establish Roesner in the new role as RTL attempts to get its audience back.
This piece first appeared in Lucire Men.
Tags: 2015, 2016, Action Concept, actors, Alarm fĂŒr Cobra 11: die Autobahnpolizei, anniversary, behind the scenes, celebrity, culture, Germany, history, Lucire, media, RTL, social media, social networking, TV, Zeitgeist Posted in business, culture, internet, TV | No Comments »
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