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Nightmare Stage


Nightmare Stage by Željko Malnar (original title in English, later also in Croatian Noćna mora Željka Malnara) was a late night talk show hosted by maverick traveler and author Željko Malnar. It was broadcast live on Croatian TV station OTV from October 3, 1992 to 2005, then picked up by Z1 from 2005 until the show's end on June 26, 2010.

The contact anti-show pushed the boundaries of Croatian television programming. Its air time varied during its run, starting at 10:00 p.m. or midnight on Saturday night, with a flexible ending time, typically between 6:00 and 8:00 a.m. The host threw all tact and taste through the window, taking rough manners from the street to the screen without either diluting them with etiquette or stylizing them for theatrical effect. He regularly asked his guests uncomfortable and aggressive questions in order to expose their flaws, often escalating to flat-out insults which the guests frequently reciprocated. The show also had elements of a freak show, recurrently featuring fringe-of-society characters of picturesque mental makeups (nicknamed Cezar, Tarzan, Jaran, Braco, Emir, Remzo, Laki, Ševa, Ivek, Darijan, Darkec, Stankec, Hasan, Gibo from Kutina...) picked up from the streets of Peščenica, Malnar's Zagreb neighborhood. Malnar has ostensibly proclaimed Peščenica an independent republic with him acting as the president and the cast as his cabinet.

The show occasionally ended with Malnar's angry message to viewers/caller "Jadnici, ugasite televizor i idite spavati! Idiote, zar nemaš pametnijeg posla, nego gledati televiziju u tri ujutro! Hajde, laku noć! Što je, bijedniče, nemaš novaca za biti vani, nego moraš mene gledati na svome malom crnobijelom televizoru?" (You miserable folk, turn off the TV and go to sleep! You idiot, don't you have a better thing to do at 3AM than watch TV? Come on, good night! What's up, you wretch, have no money to go out on a Saturday night so you must watch me on your pathetic little black-and-white TV?)


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