Mitten im 8en (or Mitten im Achten, abbreviated MiA) was an Austrian TV soap/comedy series produced by the
ORF
ORF or Orf may refer to:
* Norfolk International Airport, IATA airport code ORF
* Observer Research Foundation, an Indian research institute
* One Race Films, a film production company founded by Vin Diesel
* Open reading frame, a portion of the ...
which ran from 10 May to 29 June 2007. The title translates to "In the Middle of the 8th" (district), referring to Vienna's
Josefstadt
Josefstadt (; Central Bavarian: ''Josefstod'') is the eighth district of Vienna (german: 8. Bezirk, Josefstadt). It is near the center of Vienna and was established as a district in 1850, but borders changed later. Josefstadt is a heavily po ...
.
Repeatedly announced to be a core feature of the retuned programming by ORF's new management, the show received extremely bad ratings and devastating criticism from the start, and was thus cancelled in the middle of its first season.
Setup
MiA was set to air at 7:30 pm on weekdays on
ORF1
ORF 1 (''ORF eins'') is an Austrian public television channel owned by ORF. It was the first television channel in Austria, started in 1955.
ORF 1 is one of four public TV channels in Austria. It is funded by a mixture of advertising revenue an ...
, replacing the main evening newscast (''
Zeit im Bild
''Zeit im Bild (ZiB)'' is the name for the television news broadcasts of ORF, running since December 1955.
History
The first ''Zeit im Bild'' was broadcast on December 5, 1955; two editions were broadcast that day, at 5pm and 7:30pm. The form ...
''), which until then was broadcast on both ORF TV channels simultaneously.
The plot revolved around a family, a neighbouring flat share, and a bar in Vienna. It showed a demagogic mix of stereotypical, one-dimensional characters, often drawing humour from their incompatibility, and mocking cliches rather than providing real identification figures.
The underlying concept was of
John de Mol's, and was known to have failed before in the Netherlands. For Austria it was redone to combine Viennese humour and language style with slapstick and sketch-like comedy as well as dramatic elements and focus on character relationships.
Production
Aware of losing many, especially younger viewers to German private stations' daily soaps in that timeslot, ORF wanted to offer a light
dramedy
Comedy drama, also known by the portmanteau ''dramedy'', is a genre of dramatic works that combines elements of comedy and drama. The modern, scripted-television examples tend to have more humorous bits than simple comic relief seen in a typical ...
-like series with a distinct Austrian note. They also wished to respond to calls for a domestic production, as opposed to the policy of buying in German-dubbed U.S. sitcoms only.
MiA was shot entirely in studios on the outskirts of Vienna and supplemented with a handful of outside establishing shots from the "real" 8th district.
Among the actors were
kabarettist
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Words and phrases
Germanic words and phrases
Words and phrases by language
la:Categoria:Verba Theodisca ...
s Gerold Rudle, Angelika Niedetzky and Christoph Fälbl as well as the comedian and TV show host Max Schmiedl. Most of the younger roles were played by actors at the beginning of their careers. Due to ORF's lack of authors and directors sufficiently experienced in the genre, early production heavily relied on the assistance of German personnel, who were planned to be gradually replaced by Austrians as the show went on.
Journalists reported that test screenings had featured a laugh track, anyway this was removed in the final version and replaced by sound bits.
Reception
The show is widely considered a total failure, with reactions being tentative at best. Critics stated MiA was stuck between the genres of soap opera and sitcom; its screenplays were said to be too shallow to work as comedy *or* drama. Almost every other part of the production was subject to scathing criticism as well, including acting, directing and inaccuracy in depicting Austrian (youth) culture.
MiA reheated the debate on public broadcasting's obligation toand definition ofquality programming, as well as its balance between
license fees and commercial revenues. Namely the show was accused of excessive
product placement. MiA was also heavily advertised outside the ORF programmes, including posters, lottery games, ads in papers, magazines, online and even on beer coasters.
Viewers' interest started out way below expectations and kept shrinking throughout the whole season. Producers reacted by having parts of the upcoming episodes rewritten to be less campy, but negative reception from the media and the public continued. Being a public foundation, ORF is supervised by various boards representing the viewers as well as the parliamentary constellation, most of which also supported the strong criticism of MiA.
By the end of June 2007 MiA was eventually cancelled, closing with a hastily written ending that skipped two years in the plot and gave away the outcome to some major storylines. After that, the rotation of
Malcolm in the Middle was resumed as a replacement.
Cast
References
*
*
{{DEFAULTSORT:Mitten Im 8en
Austrian television soap operas
Austrian comedy television series
2007 Austrian television series debuts
2007 Austrian television series endings
Josefstadt
2000s Austrian television series
German-language television shows
2000s television soap operas
ORF (broadcaster) original programming