Horst_In_Translation Review of Blind Date

Blind Date (2001– )

Excellent spontaneous comedy series from Germany

[7/10 · 22 November 2017]

"Blind Date" is a German comedy series from 2001, so this one had its 15th anniversary already last year. Oh well, actually the very first episode was from 2001, but they made six episodes between 2001 and 2005 here. The longest episode, the first, runs for over 80 minutes, while the shortest, the last, only runs for half an hour. There are 2 people in the center of each episode and they are played each and every time by German actor-comedians Olli Dittrich and Anke Engelke (like them both, especially Dittrich since his RTL Samstag Nacht days already). The two create their own character in their mind without knowing what the other makes of their character and they have them meet as strangers in normal situations. The first episode is a blind date in a restaurant and apparently this one was successful enough to make further episodes inside a taxi, in an elevator, at school, in a train and finally in bed. The latter is one that is not a blind date anymore as it is between a married couple, so a bit of an epilogue if you want to call it like that. This is also why I think the serious is finished now, apart from the fact that it's been over a decade since the last episode of course. If they still decide to add another chapter, I will still watch it, but it seems Dittrich is still fully focused on Dittsche while Engelke has been a far more prolific film actress in recent years than focusing on comedy. A return to this project seems unlikely. But that's fine I guess. They gave us several intriguing stories here. My favorite is episode 2 and "Taxi nach Schweinau" really deserved all the awards attention it received. My second favorite is the episode in the train and I believe that these two are also the most known and rightfully so. There are many hilariously subtle moments in here, many of them resulting from the awkwardness of a first meeting. Dittrich and Engelke are doing a magnificent job here and this is a little series that really works out incredibly well and is criminally underseen, probably also because non-Germans have zero access to it because of lack of subtitles and distribution. Quite a shame actually, because it's a gem, six gems indeed. I normally don't review stuff that extends over the course of several years, half a decade in fact, but for this one here I am making an exception and I highly recommend checking it out.