Popular American TV Series in German
As we pointed out in Hollywood Movie Titles in German and our Filmtitel-Lexikon, it can be interesting and instructive to learn the German names of popular American movies and TV shows.
The German (and Austrian and Swiss) private and public television networks, as in many countries around the globe, buy the same TV shows that Americans (and Britons) like to watch. Shows like C.S.I. and The Simpsons are just as popular in Berlin as they are in Boston. In some cases, German viewers have an advantage that American viewers don't have: the choice of watching a show in dubbed German or in the original language.
As with movies, when Hollywood's TV products are made ready for German-speaking audiences they get dubbed into German and usually (but not always) get a German title or tagline. Although many American TV imports keep their original names (Desperate Housewives, Lost, and Gilmore Girls) or are only changed slightly (Dr. House and O.C., California), others get a new German title or a German tagline.
Alias, ABC's spy thriller that originally borrowed many elements from the German movie Run Lola Run, is known in Germany as Alias - Die Agentin ("Alias - the (female) Agent"). The Simpsons are known in Germany as Die Simpsons. Although we mention such shows in our TV Titles Glossary, it's really more fun to try to match up the German titles with the original English if they are actually different. After you've reviewed the glossary you can have some fun by trying our German TV Titles Quiz.
Try this one for starters. A very popular American crime series is known in German as "Kein Opfer ist je vergessen." If you can translate that into English, you may be able to guess the U.S. title. But even if you know that the English is "no victim is ever forgotten," you may have a hard time coming up with the original American title for this TV show. (You can find the correct answer at the bottom of this page.)
Here are a few more TV show examples.
Charmed
Zauberhafte Hexen ("Enchanted witches")
C.S.I.
Den Tätern auf der Spur ("Tracking down the perps")
Numb3rs
Die Logik des Verbrechens ("The logic of crime")
The Unit
Eine Frage der Ehre ("A question of honor")
Without a Trace
Spurlos verschwunden ("Disappeared without a trace")
Some shows may not translate well into German culture. A good example is The Office. Instead of just dubbing the original version, the German version is a remake called "Stromberg" that uses German actors and incorporates German business practices and culture in a way that a dubbed version of the original could not. This is also true of most quiz shows. Millionaire became the German production "Wer wird Millionär?" (See our article about the Wer wird Millionär? show and its vocabulary). Of course, the originals of both The Office and Millionaire were British productions. Both the American and German productions are copies of the British originals. On the other hand, Ugly Betty began life as a soap opera in Spanish ("Yo soy Betty, la fea"). Its German title is "Verliebt in Berlin," which has the dual meaning of either "In Love in Berlin" or "In Love with Berlin," but doesn't even contain the word "ugly" or "Betty."
You'll find many more TV show titles on the next page in our "Titles Glossary."
NEXT > TV Titles Glossary
QUIZ > German TV Titles Quiz
The answer to our title question:
"Kein Opfer ist je vergessen" = Cold Case