Die Sendung mit der Maus
| Die Sendung mit der Maus | |
|---|---|
 |
|
| Genre | Children's television |
| Created by | Dieter Saldecki Gert Kaspar Müntefering Armin Maiwald |
| Presented by |
Armin Maiwald Christoph Biemann Ralph Caspers |
| Theme music composer | Hans Posegga |
| Country of origin | Germany |
| Original language(s) | German |
| No. of seasons | 13 |
| No. of episodes | 520 |
| Production | |
| Running time | 30 min. |
| Production company(s) | WDR, RBB, SR, SWR |
| Release | |
| Original network | Das Erste |
| Original release | 7 March 1971 – present |
| External links | |
| Website | |
Die Sendung mit der Maus (The Show with the Mouse) is a highly acclaimed children's series on German television that has been called "the school of the nation". The show first aired on 7 March 1971. Originally called Lach- und Sachgeschichten für Fernsehanfänger ("Laughing and Learning Stories for Television Beginners), it was controversial because German law prohibited television for children under six years of age. The program was initially condemned by teachers and childcare professionals as bad for children's development, but is now hailed for its ability to convey information to children. The show has received over 75 awards. The first doctoral dissertation on the program was written in 1991. On 7 March 1999 the program's Internet site was launched and received 2,400 e-mails and 4 million hits on the first day.
Aimed at young children, the program has a magazine format, with several segments, some humorous, others educational presented in a simple, straightforward manner. Many of the show's early viewers are now adults whose children are forming the second generation of viewers. It is not uncommon for children to watch the program with their parents or for children to stop watching around the age of 10 or 12 and then come back at the age of 18. The German newspaper Welt am Sonntag found that although the target age was from about four to eight, the average age of viewers was 39.
Each show consists of several segments, the Lachgeschichten purely to amuse, and the Sachgeschichten ("non-fiction stories"), short educational features on a variety of topics, such as what must be done before a plane can take off or how holes get into Swiss cheese or the stripes into toothpaste. These are punctuated by a short cartoon with the mouse, often with one or more of its friends.
The show starts with its theme music, unchanged since 1971 and recognised throughout the German population. The introduction consists of a few bars of the theme and a German voice-over describing the topics in that week's show. The voice-over is then repeated in a foreign language. Initially, Turkish, Spanish and Italian were used, in order to include the children of foreign guest workers, but now, other languages are used as well. The foreign language changes every week. After the theme music ends, the foreign language is identified.
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Wikipedia