Ein Herz und eine Seele

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Ein Herz und eine Seele ("One Heart and One Soul") is a German sitcom that ran from 1973 until 1976. It was essentially a remake of the British sitcom Till Death Us Do Part and was written by Wolfgang Menge.

The show was extremely successful during its initial run and is still successful in reruns. Two episodes in particular, "Sylvesterpunsch" (about the family's New Year's Eve party) and "Rosenmontagszug" (set during the winter carnival season) have gained such popularity that they are now shown traditionally on German TV on New Year's Eve and the day before Mardi Gras, respectively.

The undisputed star of the show is "Ekel" Alfred Tetzlaff (Heinz Schubert), a reactionary patriarch who is constantly arguing with his wife Else (whom he calls "dusselige Kuh", literally "silly cow", which, ironically, the British equivalent to Alfred was not allowed to use—he had to refer to his wife as "silly moo"), his daughter Rita and his son-in-law Michael.

Ein Herz und eine Seele makes intensive use of references to German politics and social issues of the early and mid-1970s, when the country was still separated. The son-in-law's parents are from the German Democratic Republic, resulting in another funny episode, "Besuch aus der Ostzone" (Visit from the "eastern zone").

The show was originally broadcast in black and white and shown on the regional third channel of the North Rhine-Westphalia area, WDR. It moved to Germany's first channel, ARD, on New Year's Eve 1973 with the above-mentioned episode and from that date was produced in colour. Some of the colour episodes are actually remakes or reprises of older black-and-white episodes.

The first series is considered to consist of 20 episodes. For the second series, Elisabeth Wiedemann, extremely popular in her role as Else Tetzlaff, was replaced by Helga Feddersen and Michael, formerly played by Diether Krebs, was portrayed by Klaus Dahlen.

The audience clearly did not approve of these changes: after only four episodes of the second series, Ein Herz und eine Seele was cancelled. According to the BBC website, the series was not popular due to the reactionary politics of its lead character, which the BBC site claims were pro-Hitler. Yet the series was very popular with up to 15.7 million viewers. The series declined in the ratings due to the cast changes in the second series. In 2002, a survey showed the program was Germany's most popular sitcom of all time.

In 2004 the complete series was released to DVD and was a best seller.

[edit] Episodes

  • English translations in parenthesis

[edit] Series 1 (1973-1974)

  • 1. Das Hähnchen [January 15, 1973] - (The Chicken)
  • 2. Der Fernseher [January 29, 1973] - (The Television Set)
  • 3. Besuch aus der Ostzone [February 12, 1973] - (Visit From the East Zone)
  • 4. Die Beerdigung [February 26, 1973] - (The Funeral)
  • 5. Die Bombe [March 12, 1973] - (The Bomb)
  • 6. Hausverkauf [March 26, 1973] - (Real Estate Sale)
  • 7. Silberne Hochzeit [April 9, 1973] - (Silver Wedding Jubilee)
  • 8. Urlaubsvorbereitung [April 30, 1973] - (Holiday Preparations)
  • 9. Erntedankfest [October 1, 1973] - (Thanksgiving)
  • 10. Eine schwere Erkrankung [October 28, 1973] - (A Heavy Disease)
  • 11. Der Sittenstrolch [November 26, 1973] - (The Pervert)

From here on the show was filmed in color.

  • 12. Sylvesterpunsch [December 31, 1973] - (Silvester Glogg)
  • 13. Der Ofen ist aus [January 28, 1974] - (The Oven is Out)
  • 14. Rosenmontagszug [February 25, 1974] - (Mardi Gras Procession)
  • 15. Frühjahrsputz [March 18, 1974] - (The Spring-Cleaning)
  • 16. Selbstbedienung [April 13, 1974] - (Self-Service)
  • 17. Besuch aus der Ostzone (colour version) [June 17, 1974]
  • 18. Urlaubsvorbereitung (colour version) [July 15, 1974]
  • 19. Tapetenwechsel [August 12, 1974] - (Change of Scene)
  • 20. Der Staatsfeind [September 9, 1974] - (Public Enemy)
  • 21. Der Sittenstrolch (colour version) [November 4, 1974]

[edit] Series 2 (1976)

  • 22. Telefon! [May 31, 1976] - (Telephone!)
  • 23. Massage [July 5, 1976] - (Massage)
  • 24. Modell Tetzlaff [September 27, 1976] - (Model Tetzlaff)
  • 25. Schlusswort [November 22, 1976] - (Closing Words)

[edit] See also

[edit] External links

Languages