2023-12-15 13:16:06
2023 was a plague year for the series. The end of the years-long boom seems to be in sight, which culminated in the announcement by Sky (“Babylon Berlin”) that it would stop its production in Germany. Still, there were a lot of great series. We tried to select the best ten. The settings are space, the German middle class, a scary house and the Reeperbahn. But it all starts on the football field.
„Beckham“ (Netflix)
The young David Beckham
Quelle: Courtesy of Netflix
You think you know something and of course you know nothing. That’s what happened to me with the “Netflix” series about David Beckham, who I previously only vaguely knew as a footballer and Victoria’s husband. Now I know better: With Beckham, the footballer was born as a pop brand. The concentrated hatred of an entire football nation was unleashed on him after he received a red card in the game against Argentina. For months he was booed in stadiums and received death threats. An experience, as the documentary series impressively recounts, that still haunts him today. After “Beckham” we not only know more about an amazingly strong-willed man, but also about the zeitgeist of the 90s and the England of that time. Lena Karger
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“Luden” (Amazon Prime)
The beautiful Klaus in “Luden”
What: Amazon Studios
A warning in advance to all nostalgics who are homesick for the eighties because the world was still so beautiful and cozy back then. She wasn’t. And “Luden”, perhaps the best and definitely the dirtiest German one Amazonseries demonstrates this. And how the crime came across the Reeperbahn. And Klaus Barkowsky, the “beautiful Klaus”, the “Lamborghini Klaus” was able to become the uncrowned king of the sluts at the beginning of the eighties, before the drugs and the international mafia and AIDS. If you want, you can also read the legend of Klaus as a metaphor. Ultimately, the company of the later artist, who died this year, was a sex start-up based on the exploitation of women who had been made dependent under false pretenses, and Klaus was, so to speak, an ideal CEO in his merciless, mercilessly charming lack of character. Elmar Krekeler
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„Sex Education“ (Netflix)
Ncuti Gatwa in the fourth season of “Sex Education”
What: Samuel Taylor/Netflix
In the final season of “Sex Education” everything is suddenly different: the teenagers around the amateur sex therapist Otis Milburn end up in a new college, a politically over-correct limbo. Here everyone and everything is super diverse, negative feelings and words are banned. This pushes Otis and his friends to their limits. In addition to dick pics and prostate stimulation, there is a lot of drama, so the lustful joke is unfortunately somewhat lost at the end. But even that can be forgiven. “Sex Education” remains an epochal event in series history, with great actors and fantastic equipment. Jakob Hayner
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„Ahsoka“ (Disney+)
Rosario Dawson als Ahsoka Tano
Source: Lucasfilm Ltd.
No, “Ahsoka” doesn’t come close to the epochal series “Andor,” which also thrilled “Star Wars” skeptics in 2022. It is even the opposite pole: While “Andor” was an emancipation of magic and power, “Ahsoka” delves deeply into the mystical side of the franchise. “Star Wars” was rarely more fairytale-like; there are witches and conjuring spells. In the mouths of gigantic space whales, secret tracks can be traveled from galaxy to galaxy. You have to get involved in that and also do some follow-up work, because without knowing the most important episodes of the “Clone Wars” and “Rebels”, you miss big and highly emotional “Star Wars” moments. Peter Huth
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Star-Wars-Serie „Ahsoka“
“The Fall of the House of Usher” (Netflix)
Carla Gugino as Verna in “The Fall of the House of Usher”
Source: EIKE SCHROTER/NETFLIX
Looks like horror is slowly giving way to fantasy – which is great for Mike Flanagan. To culminate his Netflix horror show, which began with “The Haunting of Hill House,” his “Downfall of the House of Usher” premiered this fall, and Master Flanagan has packed almost all of Edgar Allen Poe into the total of eight episodes. Including the framework and backstory, it’s pretty well done, and as a Poe potpourri it’s also educational and funny. If 2023 had been a good year for series, “Usher” would probably not have made it onto this list. But 2023 was, hand on heart, rather mediocre. Wieland Freund
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“Fall of the House of Usher”
„Slow Horses“ (Apple+)
Gary Oldman in „Slow Horses“
What: Apple TV+
The man farts, burps, stinks and drinks. He’s not nice either. But brilliant, even when insulting. He once told the people he was the boss of that they were as useful as a paper condom. Rightly so, because they work, if you want to call it that, in the department of MI 5 to which the biggest failures have been deported. “Slow Horses” is a secret agent series that you can’t believe: grindy, misanthropic, without any glamour. And incredibly funny, extremely exciting and fantastically written. Gary Oldman, who previously played Mr. Smiley in a John Le Carré film adaptation, is clearly enjoying the role of a lifetime. Peter Praschl
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Missed highlights of 2022
„The Last of Us“ (Sky/Wow)
Scene from “The Last of Us”
Quelle: Home Box Office, Inc.
The year was still young when the supposedly counted HBO achieved this feat: filming a video game classic without alienating either its fans or the masses of series watchers who – to put it mildly – are otherwise not the most die-hard fans of serialized video games. But “The Last of Us” was successful with both – and not for nothing. Instead of shooting their way through a final world devastated by a fungal pandemic, Pedro Pascal and Bella Ramsey acted their way to the finish line – and then there was this sensational third episode, which was possibly the best episode of 2023: Suddenly “The Last of Us” takes a turn into the side street of a gay love story that tells the whole end of the world from a keyhole perspective. Wieland friend
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“37 Seconds” (ARD media library)
Carsten (Jens Albinus) and Clara (Emily Cox) in the series “37 Seconds”
Quelle: ARD Degeto/Odeon Fiction GmbH/Barbara Bauriedl
You shouldn’t be put off by the first scene in which you see a man’s naked butt. Otherwise you will miss one of the most original, precise and exciting explorations of sexual transgressions of today. Who do you stick with – your best friend who was raped or your own father, whom she accuses of this crime? And how can it be that the perpetrator and the victim both report almost identically what happened in the 37 seconds – but come to different judgments about it? Questions like these allow you to follow, spellbound, how a psychogram of power and misunderstanding unfolds from the garden party to the court case. Marie Luise Goldman
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„Hijack“ (Apple+)
Mohamed Elsandel in „Hijack“
What: Aidan Monaghan/Apple TV+
Sam Nelson, specialist in difficult negotiations, flies back to London from his assignment in Dubai. But then the plane is hijacked by a rather unscrupulous gang who have no problems killing hostages. The events continue to escalate in this seven-part real-time series, with constantly new twists, surprises and villains. “Hijack” is a virtuoso (and repeatedly crazy) demonstration of creating tension: every time you think things can’t get any worse, of course it gets much worse, until the plane ends up flying very low over London and runs out of fuel. Peter Praschl
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„A Thin Line“ (Paramount)
The twin sisters and hackers Anna (Saskia Rosendahl) and Benni (Hanna Hilsdorf)
Quelle: picture alliance/dpa/Paramount+
German series on Amazon, Netflix & Co. like to keep the present, i.e. the real one, away like the devil does with holy water. It’s dark and romantic, mystical and somehow German. A huge number of staff cross paths in endless side and sub-stories. “A Thin Line,” the first Paramount series. The story of the twins Anna and Benni is told. They had one heart and one soul. With what happens next, “A Thin Line” traces the front line of one of the central contemporary debates. And a generation that feels like it is the last. Where are the limits of commitment, where does activism turn into terrorism. Dirty, direct and unadorned. Elmar Krekeler
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Paramount-Serie „A Thin Line“
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