News, background, audience questions and a bit of comedy: The new “Tagesschau” competition “RTL Direkt” wants to do a lot in 20 minutes without a commercial break, thus keeping the anchorman busy.
Berlin – Jan Hofer made his first appearance as an anchorman on RTL. “Good evening. Here is the first edition of “RTL Direkt”, the new news format on RTL, ”the 69-year-old greeted his audience on Monday evening.
The former “Tagesschau” head spokesman wore a dark suit, but no tie. When he said goodbye to ARD in December, he had symbolically taken off the tie in front of almost 15 million viewers.
In the first edition, the Green Chancellor candidate Annalena Baerbock was a guest. Hofer looked routine and affectionate, but also asked the politician unpleasant questions several times: for example about weaknesses in her election campaign, about ambitions in the direction of red-red-green or whether the disaster in Kabul would have to result in a resignation.
The audience was at least solid at the beginning. 1.87 million (9.1 percent) tuned in from 10:15 p.m. For comparison: The ARD “Tagesthemen” saw 2.06 million (11.6 percent) from 10.30pm.
The new format runs Mondays to Thursdays in the competition on the “topics of the day” in the first. The 20-minute program without commercial breaks includes a message block and an in-depth discussion. For the debut, a practical test was shown which additional costs a more environmentally friendly life means for a German family with three children. Then a satirical contribution by the comedian Abdelkarim on the subject of the election campaign concluded the program. “We have decided to always let the audience go into the evening with a small smile,” the host explained this concept.
With so many components in a 20-minute broadcast, Hofer sometimes seemed pressed for time. At the very end he asked Baerbock: “Be honest, (…) have you sometimes lost your smile on this election campaign?” But the important thing is that laughter always comes back. “
The politician continued mischievously: “If you dare to go to” Let’s Dance “, then I also believe that we can trust this country to do everything to renew itself in the future.” The anchorman had this year on RTL Participated in dance show.
Hofer said goodbye to the audience with the sentence: “Have a nice evening, see you tomorrow, and we’ll all make the best of it.” Dpa
