Fans of legendary foreign series can revisit them in the programming of Czech TV stations. Nova Lady gradually repeats the stories of lifeguards from Coast Guard and Beverly Hills 90210. The Barrandov group has gratefully reached for the broadcasting rights to the Mexican telenovelas Esmeralda and Rosalinda. Seznam Television bought the rights to Crime Scene, The Professionals and Dempsey and Makepeace.
Royalty of the Red Swimsuit
The series Coast Guard has been airing on Nova Lady since January 6. Every night from 18.15 there are two episodes in a row. Reruns of Beverly Hills 90210 began on 17 January every weekday from 8.15pm, also two episodes each, including the pilot.
Both series have original dub tracks from the 1990s. The dub of the first season of Beverly Hills 90210 was produced by Czech Television, which aired it in 1993. The Czech dub of the subsequent series was commissioned by Nova Television.
The dubbing of Coast Guard was made for the first time for Nova during the Czech premiere in 1994. In the current rerun, it is put on a newer, widescreen distribution print, with the Czech episode titles inserted by subtitle and the dubbers' names no longer in the jingle. For at least some of the aired episodes, information about the production of the Czech version did not even appear as subtitles in the final station graphics.
Apart from the pilot, a total of eleven episodes of Coastwatch were made between 1989 and 2001. In promotional material for the renewed broadcast of the series, Nova Television stated that it would broadcast "all series". This would mean, however, that the final season would have its television premiere here, as it had not yet been broadcast according to archival programming plans. According to the available information, the Czech dubbing ends with the tenth season.
After its premiere on Nova, The Coastguard went on a journey through the programming schedules of other commercial TV channels. The rival Prima was happy to pick it up. When Nova decided to return Coast Guard to its Nova Cinema channel in 2010-2012, it was no longer complete reruns, but only selected seasons. Later, the rights were bought by Relax and then again by the Prima group for the women's channel Prima Love.
In the US domestic market, there was at first lukewarm interest in Coast Guard after the first season aired, and if it hadn't been for its great success in Europe, the producers would have snubbed it. From the third series onwards, Pamela Anderson joined the series and audience interest skyrocketed. In 1996, Coast Guard entered the Guinness Book of World Records as the most-watched series on the planet, with more than a billion viewers watching it worldwide each week. It was broadcast in more than 140 countries and territories.
A spin-off project, Baywatch Nights, tried to build on the success of the series in the mid-1990s, but the series failed and ended after two seasons. Although Nova Television also bought and aired it, it was shown only once. A rerun was shown on Prima from 1999-2001, but even there it gradually moved to a late-night slot.
This Is Youth
The 1990 series Beverly Hills 90210 defined, in a way, a genre aimed at young viewers. It differed in that, in addition to love and friendship, it also tackled difficult topics such as drugs, sex, racism, alcohol and bullying. It is said to have influenced an entire generation of viewers who emulated the dressing style and hairstyles of the main characters. The show's opening theme song remains one of the most famous TV tunes to this day.
Czech television viewers saw Beverly Hills 90210 with a three-year delay on ČT1 in August 1993. In September 1994 it was added to the programme by Nova. All the episodes were dubbed in Czech, the final episode was broadcast for the first time in 2004.
This series was also later repeated by Prima. Several series were broadcast by the now-defunct CBS Drama. It had its own dubbing done for them at the time, with all the characters spoken by several actors.
You can also watch Coast Guard and Beverly Hills 90210 on the streaming service Voyo. Three seasons of another 90s hit, Melrose Place, are already available on the same platform.
Detectives from Britain and Germany
TV Seznam also wants to attract memorable TV hits, as this strategy has paid off in the long term. Its selection of series tends to fall into the 1980s.
It has now reserved Wednesday prime time for German crime stories Crime Scene with Commissioner Schimanski. This character, played by the actor Götz Georg, traditionally spoke to Czech viewers in the voice of Alois Švehlik. Between 1981 and 1991, a total of 29 episodes (including two films for theatrical distribution) were produced by the West German WDR. Schimanski also appears in other series, and the Crime Scene series itself combines detective stories from various German cities.
On Saturday nights, TV List repeats the 1977-1983 British detective series The Professionals, using a dubbing by TV Nova produced in 1996 and 1999. Professionals was broadcast in this country before, but Czechoslovak Television presented and dubbed only selected episodes. You can currently catch the fourth series on TV List.
From mid-March, the pair of Dempsey and Makepeace will take the place of Bodie & Doyle. There were 31 episodes in three series between 1984 and 1986. Also in this case, you will hear the Czech version produced for TV Nova in 2002, which was used in subsequent reruns on various stations. Although Czechoslovak viewers could already watch the popular British detectives in the early 1990s, the dubbing was made in Bratislava.
From more recent dramatic productions, Seznam Television has chosen a crime series from the military environment, JAG, for its afternoon broadcast. Harmon Rabb and his colleagues from the military prosecutor's office investigate cases aboard ships, military submarines and aircraft. One of the episodic roles was played by former US President Bill Clinton. The reruns begin this week on Thursday. Ten series were made between 1995 and 2005, the Czech premiere was in 1997 and the last episode aired in March 2007. In addition to Nova, this series was also repeated by Prima and Relax.
"The pillar of our programme continues to be acquisition content, in which we have repeatedly invested significantly more money this year. Our goal is to strengthen the programming scheme with attractive content for viewers and thus increase the share of Television Seznam on the television market in the long term," commented the station's director Ivan Mikula on the programming strategy.
The Valley of Tears from Mexico
More than a quarter of a century ago, the Mexican telenovela Esmeralda captivated Nova TV viewers. In January 1999, it was promoted as "the first telenovela on our screen" and included in the afternoon programme. However, the 137-episode series about "a blind girl who sees with her heart" was gaining in popularity and was moved to a slot before the Television Newspaper. And when Vladimír Železný moved Nova to Barrandov Hill, Esmeralda even settled into the prime evening slot. The soap opera was watched by more than two million people, and its share of viewership at the time of broadcast reached a whopping eighty percent.
Esmeralda appeared on Relax a few years ago. Now this period phenomenon has returned to the fringe programme Kino Barrandov, where viewers can find it every weekday from 6 pm. From 7pm onwards, it follows "the story of a beautiful and kindly florist whose life is interrupted not only by her fatal love for a rich young man, but also by the tragic consequences of her mother's relationship from her youth". It is, of course, another telenovela, again Mexican: it is called Rosalinda.
Source: lupa.cz
