Cora’s TV Adventure – Take Two

Before we get to the main event, I was at the Yesterday, Today & Tomorrow blog of the Seattle Worldcon again, this time talking about the 1960 East German science fiction film Der schweigende Stern a.k.a. The Silent Star.

Back in January, I wrote about how I appeared in a segment on viewers’ opinions on NDR TV.

Well, guess what? This Saturday, I was on TV again. And this time around, it even has something to do with science fiction and the Hugos.

The story started last Friday, when I got a phone call from Désirée Bertram, a journalist working for buten un binnen. For those who don’t know (which is most likely everybody who’s not from Bremen and surroundings) buten un binnen is the regional news program of Radio Bremen TV, it has been broadcast daily on weekdays (and later on Saturdays) since 1980. The title is Low German for “without and within” and is taken from  the motto inscribed above the doorway of the Schütting, seat of the Bremen chamber of commerce, in gilded letters: “Buten un binnen – wagen un winnen” (Without and within – to dare and to win). BTW, I love that it rhymes in both English and Low German.

Back in 1980 – and I’m pretty sure I watched the first episode as a young kid – buten un binnen felt fresh and modern compared to the deadly dull evening news programs featuring serious looking older men (and very rarely women – since women were considered too emotional to read the news) in suits and ties who announced very serious news in very serious tones. buten un binnen was different. The anchors were fairly young, they wore sweaters and no ties and impressive facial hair (it was the early 1980s), they were less reverent than the staid elderly gentlemen of the mainstream news programs, asked hard questions and even made jokes on occasion. Nowadays, this sort of style is common for news programs, but back in 1980, it was something genuinely new and different. As a result, buten un binnen became hugely popular and remains so to this day. When the public TV channel ARD tried to banish all of its regional programming from its nation-wide channel (where the two hours from six to eight PM were once reserved for regional programming) to the less popular regional third programs, buten un binnen managed to avoid this fate for a while, since it was by far the most popular regional news program in Germany and the one that people were actually watching.  Though nowadays, buten un binnen is broadcast on the regional channel Radio Bremen TV.

As for why a journalist from buten un binnen called me, well, she’d read the article about my Hugo nomination in the Weser-Kurier and wanted to interview me. Now I always sent out my press releases about my Hugo nominations to all the local media, including Radio Bremen. However, I never got a response from them. When I won in 2022, I even adressed the e-mail directly to one of their radio journalists, who was a classmate of mine at university, though I still had to send it via their central contact address. No response. And now they suddenly contact me out of the blue in response to a newspaper interview about me.

I had a nice chat with Désirée Bertram and explained what the Hugos are, what Galactic Journey is, what we do and so on. She also asked me if they could interview me at home, how the conditions are, if there’s enough space to fit in a TV team and their equipment and so on. I said, “No problem, you can film me at home, there’s enough space and since I’m self-employed, I’m also flexible with regards to time.”

Initially they planned to shoot the interview on Tuesday, which gave me three and a half days to get the house in order – and luckily, the house was more orderly than it had been in January. Though the garden was not in great shape. The front lawn needed mowing and there were other issues like dead plants as well.

Now I dislike gardening work. I find it deeply unpleasant and so I’ve hired my neighbour Vladimir, who has a gardening and house repair business, to do the garden for me. Which normally isn’t a problem, except that the time frame was a little tight. So I asked Vladimir, “Could you maybe mow my lawn and clean up the garden by Monday, because buten un binnen wants to interview me on Tuesday?”

Indeed, Vladimir and his two helpers did mow my lawn and got rid of the dead plants for me on Monday – only to be promptly interrupted by a gust of rain. I also bought some strawflowers and lavender plants at the DIY store and planted them in a planter that was filled with mostly dead heather and weeds. At any rate, my garden looks much more presentable now, though in the end you can see very little of it in the TV report.

In the end, the buten un binnen TV team shot the interview on Wednesday rather than Tuesday, which gave me one additional day to clean up the house and reorganise my Masters of the Universe collection to show them off a little better.

The TV team showed up on Wednesday at noon in a van emblazoned with “Radio Bremen”, so all the neighbours could see what’s going on. And believe me, they were curious, because everything out of the ordinary gets noticed in this neighbourhood.

Inside the van, there were three people: Désirée Bertram, the journalist who’d contacted me, as well as a camera operator (his name is Lür Wagenheim according to the credits at the end of the TV report) and a sound technician. They lugged a lot of equipment into the house. Home cameras have gotten much smaller since my days with the public access channel Bremer Umland, but professional TV cameras are as big and heavy as they ever were.

This time around, I did not have a microphone clipped to my collar with a wire running under my shirt. I was glad about that, because it’s summer and I’m not wearing a lot under my t-shirt, so the wire would have been on my bare skin.

The house was inspected and the two Hugo trophies and my Masters of the Universe collection were duly admired. “I had no idea there were so many of those figures,” someone – I think the sound guy – said, “I always thought there were only four or five or so.” I replied, “Oh, there were a lot more than that [there were 72 figures in the vintage Masters of the Universe line, not including vehicles, playsets and mounts like Battle Cat or Panthor], only that they weren’t all available at the same time and some were never sold in Germany at all.”

As for filming, I pointed out that the dining room/hall was probably the best place to film, but we could also use the living room (actually a misnomer, since the room is only used on Christmas and sometimes for visitors), except that one of the automatic blinds is broken and permanently down and will likely remain so, since Dad couldn’t locate the problem and if he couldn’t find it, no one else stands a chance. The living room also needs redecorating, because I want to get rid of my parents’ outdated decor. “You can also film me in my office,” I said, “But it’s not very exciting – just an attic room.” – “Can we film you working somewhere else?” – “I can unplug the laptop, no problem,” I said.

So in the end, the dining room/hall it was. I unplugged the laptop, took it downstairs and started it up. “Do you have some research materials we can show?” Désirée Bertram asked. I replied, “You’re lucky, cause my parents’ collection of Das Jahr im Bild [The Year in Pictures, a kind of almanac] is right here on the shelf and I can pull out the 1970 edition. Though I hope it doesn’t cause everything else to come crashing down.”

As a matter of fact, I’m currently in the process of reorganising the bookshelves in the dining room/hall area, cause they are full of my parents’ books – lots of coffee table type books about ships and motorbikes and WWII, chronicles of the companies where my parents worked that no one really cares about as well as a shelf worth of Marie Louise Fischer novels – which aren’t necessarily topics that excite me very much. I’m not going to get rid of them altogether – not even the Marie Louise Fischer novels, because maybe I want to write something about her work – but I don’t want them clogging up prime real estate in the house. Some of the books have already been relocated to the basement, though others are still there. And those Das Jahr im Bild books really are useful for research.

So I pulled Das Jahr im Bild 1970 from the shelf – and no, nothing came crashing down, though I wondered why on Earth we own a book listing all the churches in Bremen? – and put it quite prominently on the table. Then I typed random stream of consciousness stuff, opened Galactic Journey and scrolled through one of my articles and flipped through the pages, while I was being filmed from all angles.

One funny moment was, when the pewter mugs and decorative plates in the shelf behind me were scrutinised, whether there’s anything political or potentially problematic visible. “Welll, unless the city of Hamelin or the propeller manufacturer Voith are considered problematic now, it should be fine.” The decorative pewter mugs, plates, spoons, etc.. also belonged to my parents and will probably be removed eventually – because they’re not to my taste at all – though so far I haven’t been able to bring myself to get rid of them.

I was asked a few questions and occasionally had to repeat an answer for another take. I was also handed some sheets of white cardstock and a marker and asked to write the date 1969 onto the cardstock. The first time I did it, I was asked to do it again and turn the marker, so you can’t make out the very prominent manufacturer’s name. Radio Bremen is a public TV channel and have to be wary of anything that might be considered product placement, cause that would be illegal advertising. And yes, there have been scandals involving product placement and illegal advertising in German public TV going back to the 1980s, though none of them ever involved Radio Bremen. The most infamous case is probably the very prominent appearance of Paroli cough lozenges in the Schimanski Tatort episodes “Zahn um Zahn” (Tooth for a Tooth) and “Freunde” (Friends), which allegedly were only greenlit, because the then head of the public TV station WDR claimed to have no idea that Paroli was a real brand.

I was also asked to take the Hugo from the shelf, put it on the table and admire it. Later, I was also asked if I could hold the trophy, while answering a few questions. “Not for very long,” I said, “It weighs four and a half kilos and is very heavy.”

After those shots had been finished, the TV team because to assemble a green screen in my dining rooms. Basically, it’s is a metal frame covered with green cloth. The thing was huge and pretty much divided the entire dining room. Squeezing past it wasn’t easy, squeezing past it while carrying a Hugo trophy was even more of a challenge. They also had problems with light shining through the green cloth from behind. Internal lights could be switched off, but sunshine streaming in through the garden door was a problem. “I can lower the automatic shutters, if you like,” I said. “Oh, that would be wonderful.” Of course, the switch to operate the automatic shutter was on the other side of the dining room table, so I had to squeeze past the green screen again to reach it.

I also asked if the fact that the print on my t-shirt – which is reproduction of the cover of the 1966 edition of Foundation – is green was a problem.  “That shouldn’t be a problem,” I was told, “We can exclude it from the process.”

I was then asked to stand or sit in front of the green screen, answer more questions and write “1969” onto the white cardstock again. I was also asked to look around and follow an imaginary object with my eyes. The Hugo was also filmed against the green screen.

Of course, I know what a green screen is and how it works. I’ve known that since I was a kid and eagerly watched “making of” documentaries about science fiction movies. However, this was my first experience with an actual green screen. Coincidentally, it was also the first time working with a green screen for journalist Désirée Bertram.

Now Radio Bremen has always had cutting edge TV technology and they have been using early versions of the green screen process since the 1960s, mostly to insert animated backgrounds into the famous Beat-Club/Musikladen music program. And nowadays, they use the tech for news programs, to make me appear in front of footage of the first Moon landing.

After the filming at my home was done, the TV team also wanted to film me outside. Now buten un binnen is a regional TV program for Bremen and surroundings, so of course they wanted a local hook. And the one they chose was the crash of Lufthansa flight 005 while landing at Bremen airport on January 28, 1966.  I wrote about this crash for Galactic Journey and incorporated eyewitness statements, including that of my Dad who chanced to drive past the crash site very shortly after it had happened. The article is here BTW and I’m very proud of it, because it took a lot of research.

Nowadays, there are two memorial steles commemorating the victims in a park near the crash site. The first stele was donated by the Italian National Olympic Committee and is dedicated to the seven members of the Italian national swim team as well as their coach and a TV reporter who died in the crash. That stele was erected in 1967 shortly after the crash, though it has been moved since then, when the runway of Bremen airport was extended in the early 1980s. The second stele, which lists the names of all 46 victims, was only erected in 2019 and no, I have no idea why it took them so long to honour all 46 people who died in what is still the worst plane crash ever at Bremen airport. Though Bremen has a thing for putting memorials decades later. The memorial stele for the three victims of the Gladbeck hostage drama (most of which did not actually take place in Gladbeck, but in Bremen), 15-year-old Emanuele De Giorgi, 19-year-old Silke Bischoff (who went to my school) and 31-year-old police officer Ingo Hagen, was not set up until 2019, thirty-one years after it happened, either.

So the TV team loaded everything back into their van and also filmed me going out and into the house. When I opened the door, I nearly stumbled over a stack of packages that had been delivered. I actually did see the mail person, but he never rang the doorbell. The packages actually contained things ordered weeks apart, because two shipments had been delayed due to holidays, one arrived unexpectedly fast and Mattel Creations packages arrive whenever they please anyway.

They also asked me if I could drive to the memorial for the victims of Lufthansa flight 005 in my own car, because they still had more filming to do in the city center afterwards. “No problem,” I said.

Just before we drove off, my neighbour Franziska chanced to come by with her two young kids whom she’d picked up at the kindergarten. The two kids cheerily greeted the TV team and me. Of course, a TV van is not nearly as exciting as heavy machinery, but still exciting enough for little kids.

We then drove to the park with the two memorial steles for the victims of flight 005. I drove ahead, since I know the way better, and the TV van followed. I drove onto a parking lot by the park, which is used by dog walkers and the like, again followed by the TV van.Of course, it had to start to rain the moment I stepped out of the car.

The two memorial steles are quite close to the parking lot, located amidst a copse of oak trees. Thankfully, the grass had been mowed, so we didn’t have to wade through tall grass to get there. I told the TV team that I had actually taken a photo of the stele with the names of all the victims and googled every single one to see what I could find out about them. “This was the pilot,” I said, pointing at the name, “This was the co-pilot. This was a flight attendant. Here’s the actress Ada Tschechowa.”

I was filmed walking along a small path in the park, planes roaring overhead and traffic rushing by on Kladdinger Straße (which was particularly busy that day due to two traffic jams on Autobahn A1 and Bundesstraße B75). I was also filmed at the memorial, looking at the inscription and writing the year 1966 onto the white cardstock, while insects were buzzing all around me. “I’m not sure if they’re attracted to the scent of the marker or my deodoriser or my shampoo,” I said. The TV team assured me that insects wouldn’t be visible on the screen and they aren’t.

After the shooting at the memorial for the victims of Lufthansa flight 005, the TV team and I parted ways. The TV team returned to the city center for some more filming, while I wondered what to do now. I was hungry, because the TV team arrived at twelve o’clock and I didn’t want to have lunch before to avoid unpleasant smells or bowel movements. However, it was after two PM by now and too late for lunch, at least lunch outside the home. So I decided to have an ice cream instead and stopped by the ice cream parlour Il Sole in Brinkum on my way home. I had a martini sundae and then continued homewards.

I’d been told that the TV report would air in the Saturday edition of buten un binnen, unless something urgent came up. However, there were no urgent news and so the report actually did air on Saturday. You can watch it – and read the related text – here. And here is the full buten un binnen episode. My segment starts at the 19:24 minute mark

I think it’s a lovely piece and it’s always interesting to see how much work (roughly two and a half hours of filming plus post-production) goes into such a very short report.

Of course, I watched buten un binnen live on Saturday evening and then had dinner. When I checked my e-mail afterwards, I already had two acquaintances e-mail me to let me know that they had seen me on buten un binnen. I suspect I’ll get more of this in the next few days, because – as I said – almost everybody watches buten un binnen. I’ve also noticed an uptick in people visiting my blog, though I don’t know if Galactic Journey has a similar uptick.

ETA: Gideon has since confirmed that Galactic Journey receive an influx of visitors from Germany following the buten un binnen report as well.

And that was my second TV appearance in 2025.