"Pearls from the Bosporus
Satis Shroff
October 17, 2008
What happens when a TV moderator organises a show and prizes are awarded to Veronica Ferres 43 (best actress), Misel Maticevic 38 (best actor), ´Contergan´ (best film) and the best show ´Germany sucht den Superstar?´ An award show is in itself a comedy and slapstick affair but Thomas Gottschalk made a mistake this time. You can´t award stars and starlets, pruducers and directors in the same way you that you award a literary heavy-weight like Marcel Reich-Ranicki 88, the Literary Pope of the German speaking world. The octogenarian refused the prize for his well-known ´Das Literarische Quartett.´ Reich-Ranicki went on record as saying: "I´ve seen so much stupidity this evening and I don´t believe that I belong to them," thereby distancing himself from the jolly superficial crowd at the TV show. Gottschalk couldn´t believe his ears but was his old self, as usual, imitating Reich-Ranicki and trying hard not to lose his face, and making attempts to repair the damage to his show. Serious German literature and frivolous entertainment are indeed strange bedfellows."
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