Harald Schmidt (TV series)

Harald Schmidt
Created by	Harald Schmidt
Presented by	Harald Schmidt
Starring	Harald Schmidt, Manuel Andrack, Katrin Bauerfeind, Oliver Pocher, Ralf Kabelka
Composer(s)	Helmut Zerlett
Country of origin	Germany
Production
Location(s)	Cologne
Running time	44 minutes
Release
Original network	ARD
Original release	2004 – 2007

Harald Schmidt is a late night television show which was broadcast on ARD and hosted by Harald Schmidt from 23 December 2004 until 14 June 2007. It returned at 17 September 2009 after the show Schmidt & Pocher with Harald Schmidt and Oliver Pocher ended earlier that year.

Harald Schmidt followed Die Harald Schmidt Show (The Harald Schmidt Show) on the German TV channel Sat. 1. The latter ended on 23 December 2003 after Schmidt, at short notice, did not renew his contract. ARD immediately showed interest in getting Schmidt back onto ARD, where he had originally begun his career. According to the German newspaper Der Tagesspiegel, Schmidt was in contact with NDR director Jobst Plog after he had backed out of Sat. 1. Nevertheless, they did not start seriously negotiating the contract until the Harald Schmidt Show follow-up Anke Late Night, broadcast by Sat. 1, was dropped. Jobst Plog said that initially the contract with Harald Schmidt (at a cost of €9.7 million per year) would run until July 2006. There are about €150,000 available for each show. Sources in the TV industry estimate the production costs alone to be about €30,000 per show. ARD announced that they planned to finance Harald Schmidt by cutting the amount that they spent on television rights for football matches. By no longer broadcasting UEFA Cup matches, ARD would have the money which it needs to finance Harald Schmidt.

The pilot episode aired in December 2004, broadcast exactly one year after Sat. 1 televised the last episode of The Harald Schmidt Show. On January 19, 2005, the first regular show followed. The program was initially aired around 11 pm on Wednesdays and Thursdays by Das Erste, one of Germany’s public broadcast stations. One Thursday a month the show did not run, replaced with the cabaret program Scheibenwischer. Early in 2007 the broadcasting time changed to 10.45 pm. The show was repeated by all regional broadcast stations of Das Erste the same night or during the following weekend.

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