Corona crisis: cancellations and postponements of TV shows

The Corona crisis continues to shake up the TV program: As ProSieben announced last Sunday, the successful celebrity talent show "The Masked Singer" has to pause until April 14th. From then on, the show, which previously took place due to Corona without a live audience, will be broadcast again in the familiar weekly rhythm. The reason for the pause of the second season: "Two corona diseases in the team" would have forced the broadcaster because "the safety and well-being of the crew and the artists under the masks had top priority". This Tuesday (March 31), the broadcaster will instead show the first show of the first season. Many other TV shows have had to respond to the corona pandemic.

These shows are canceled

Some TV stations had to cancel their shows entirely. The ZDF "TV Garden" has completely canceled its three planned show specials on Fuerteventura. Moderator Andrea Kiewel (54) would have actually welcomed her guests to the Spanish island from March 24th to 26th. Due to the current logistical difficulties, the realization of such a foreign production is not possible, said the station. If the corona situation has calmed down by then, the regular "TV garden" season 2020 should begin on May 10, 2020.

RTL has to cancel a special premiere without replacement: The live event "Die Passion" planned for Easter does not take place. A city order prohibits i.a. "Events and gatherings of more than 15 people in public spaces," said RTL. "DSDS" winner Alexander Klaws (36) should have slipped into the role of Jesus live on April 8, 2020 in Burgplatz in Essen. Other stars such as Laith Al-Deen (48) or Mark Keller (54) should "bring German history to life with over 2000 years of history". Thomas Gottschalk (69) was intended to be the narrator of the passion story.

Another popular TV event was canceled: This year's Eurovision Song Contest (ESC) was originally scheduled to take place on May 12, 14 and 16, 2020 in Rotterdam, the Netherlands. It was "impossible" to bring the live event on stage as planned, the European Broadcasting Union said on March 18 on Twitter. It is still unclear whether the ESC 2021 will take place in Rotterdam. Eleven countries have already announced that they will stick to their interpreters from this year for the upcoming competition.

These shows have been postponed

The last edition of the television and film award Golden Camera is also affected: The show planned for March 21, 2020 has been postponed due to a possible threat from the virus. The new date is November 12th. The award ceremony will be broadcast live on ZDF under the moderation of show master Thomas Gottschalk (69). This year's award of the Grimme Prize on March 27 has also been postponed, the TV Prize will instead be awarded on August 21, 2020.

Schlager fans have to wait even longer for the "Schlagerlovestory – The totally in love spring show": The show from Halle (Saale) with Florian Silbereisen (38) was actually planned for March 14 and will only be staged on June 6 go. As a result of the postponement, the publication of Silbereisen's duet album with Thomas Anders (57) was also postponed, which should have appeared a day before the "Schlagerlovestory" and should be celebrated at the show with a performance by the two. The new official release date of "Das Album" is now June 5th.

These shows have taken action

Other shows stick to the schedule, but have taken safety precautions to reduce the risk of infection: The RTL shows "Let's Dance" and "Deutschland sucht den Superstar" take place without a live audience and with applause "from the can". In addition, the candidates and the jury must keep their distance, the celebrity dance show "Let's Dance" does without group dances and the casting show "DSDS" shows the participants without dancers. The ProSieben productions "Joko & Klaas against ProSieben", "Who sleeps, loses!" and "Late Night Berlin" came or come without an audience.

Likewise, the SWR production "Do you understand fun?" run without on-site viewers – on the one hand with the live anniversary broadcast "40 Years 'Do you understand fun?' – The big birthday show "on April 4, on the other hand with the recording of a regular edition on April 1, 2020 (scheduled broadcast date: July 11, 2020).