German Genius

Normally, I'm not a big fan of German TV, but this was really fun to watch. The idea felt original, although it was something of a remake and about a remake. I liked how the actors played with their own image and there were a lot of wry jokes in it. Ramadan was a great lead and played the jokes straight, and his son was amazing as well. The family story was a nice diversion from the behind the scenes storyline.

Some actors went a little over the top for my taste, but perhaps that was part of the humour as well.

I recommend this to anyone who likes meta jokes and satire about the Berlin (or Babelsberg) bubble.

Reading the bad comments, I can't agree more that any translated version of this series can't really work. I couldn't find any international dub online, so I guess it flopped - understandibly: You need to have heaps of German cultural background knowledge, as just know and recognise a lot (!) of meta humour, that'd easily escape an international audience. It's a very very German series - filled with particularily German cultural innuendo. I'd go so far to say as if you haven't seen the last 10 to 15 years of German television, you'll understand less than half of the jokes. There are a lot of rather famous German celebrities working and acting in this series, and they're doing a fine job actually. Most of the characters act naturally, some ,on purpose, exaggerate immensly in order to parody either themselves or certain tropes. Overall, it's not perfect, but it's good.

Fun. Smart. Self satirizing narrative appealed to me a lot similar to Kenya Barris' #blackAF. Image quality & chiaroscuro is appreciably higher than that.

Am wondering how much referential humor I'm missing with casting. Wiki bio for actor playing Marius intimates a little of what backstory I have no idea about.

Far & away the most aggravating element was elimination of German audio & all subtitles in 2nd episode. The nuances in delivery with original language are much more interesting and the pace of modern TV / cinema productions has become far too rapid not to use subtitles for full appreciation of script & dialogue.

Low key German audio was convincing in its delivery. Strident tone of English audio was jarring, punching the plot's conflicts harder which made acceptance of silly or subtle premises presented more difficult.

The biggest problem with this so called comedy is the fact, that it's just not funny. Kida Khodr Ramadan is a lot of things, but funny he is just not. He has one facial expression, no emotional range and absolutely no sense of timing. There are almost no funny moments in this comedy series. And when something funny seems to be happening, Ramadans stone face ruins the opportunity for a gag.

It's a shame to mention the legendary Extras all the time since this here has nothing in common with it. Not the perfectly timed jokes, not the functioning ensemble and especially not the main character which is carrying the whole show.

The so called stars appearing in each episode are not even close to the way the stars in extras played the fictional versions of themselves.

I think Ricky Gervais appearance in episode one pretty much sums up what is to come.

Too bad. What a waste of time and talent.

At the end of the day there is not much left of the original "extras" idea. However, watching film people being film people is quite entertaining and unmasking in a way. Good jokes and nice cast. Definitely much better than the usual stuff you'll find on German television. I'm wondering whether it's also funny for people who aren't involved in the film business.

Only watched the first two episodes so far and love Olli as Kaiser Wilhelm II. Kida is literally playing himself. I'm excited to watch the next episodes.

For some reason, sound and sync are pretty bad...not sure how this has happened.