The question sounds like an exciting topic for a talk show: Should the alarm bells be ringing for “Caren Miosga”? After the broadcast on the evening of the European elections on June 9, there will be a break until August 25. And perhaps people will think about what needs to be changed.
Strong start
The talk show by the former “Tagesthemen” presenter started on January 24th with lots of cheers, great expectations and a very respectable rating, with 4.4 million viewers tuning in. Miosga had announced longer individual discussions, less confrontation, more information about how politics works. Revolution instead of business as usual.
The premiere with CDU leader Friedrich Merz passed the initial test. In the subsequent broadcasts, top politicians were guests in the Berlin studio: Annalena Baerbock and Robert Habeck (The Greens), Markus Söder (CSU), Christian Lindner (FDP), Lars Klingbeil (SPD), Ukrainian President Volodymyr Selenskyj, AfD Federal Chairman Tino Chrupalla. On April 14, the gallery was interrupted for the quickly introduced topic “Iran attacks Israel – is the situation in the Middle East escalating?”
The lowest point in the reach was reached: 2.34 million viewers. “Caren Miosga” had slipped well below the average of “Anne Will”, this talk show was tuned in by just under three million people in the final year. “Caren Miosga” did not reach this value again until the summer break.
Good manners, bad odds
2.34 million is almost half the audience from the launch date in January 2024. The placement on Sunday at 9:45 p.m. is still very good. The “Tatort” at 8:15 p.m. brings together an audience of millions, from which “Sabine Christiansen”, “Günther Jauch” and “Anne Will” have all benefited – and “Caren Miosga” should benefit in the same way.
It is obvious that the concept of this political personality show only works roughly. Doesn’t it fit much better into Phoenix’s program, where an informed audience can be won over for further information about politician Y or politician X? The talk show with the highest audience share on German television needs a level of suspense, excitement and attractiveness like the preceding “Tatort”. It is not about murder or manslaughter, but rather explosiveness and enthusiasm.
© NDR/Thomas Ernst
“Caren Miosga” radiates a dignified boredom. The talk shows are moderate and the manners are good. The 60 minutes of talk on Das Erste increasingly seem like a moratorium on everyday politics, which does not know this dignity, solidity and integrity. To put it more bluntly: the arsonists do not show up at the studio in Berlin-Adlershof.
The spiciness after the chat
Of course, anything can still happen. There are three state elections in the east in the fall. According to forecasts, the AfD is ahead in Thuringia and tied with the CDU in Saxony, and whether a government can be formed in Brandenburg without and against the right-wing extremists will only become clear after election day on September 22nd. And a new Bundestag will be elected in 2025. That will be a lot of fuel for the talk show. “Caren Miosga” will have to take a lot of credit.
The following paradox is remarkable: At the end of April, the television magazine “Hörzu” published a survey on the topic “Who makes the best TV talk show?” Caren Miosga was at the top of the ranking. 70 percent of Germans gave her a rating of “very good” or “good”. She was followed by Sandra Maischberger with 60 percent, Markus Lanz with 58 percent, Maybrit Illner with 52 percent and Louis Klamroth at the bottom with 26 percent.
In a direct comparison with Maischberger (85 percent), Germans find Miosga (88 percent) more competent, more likeable (87 to 81 percent) and more assertive (76 to 73 percent).
Talk show host Caren Miosga is getting top marks from the audience. The mystery remains why Miosga is unable to convert this recognition into reach. Perhaps it is not the moderator’s fault, but the concept of the talk show. Politicians sit in the front row in the Berlin studio, they are treated kindly, questioned kindly, after the first round (of chatting) experts and journalists join in to add the edge that Miosga was previously unwilling to muster. If it comes too late, the audience punishes it.
Is that interesting, is this mixture of personality and debate of such substance that millions want to tune in? It has been said and is said again and again that Germans do not like conflict, especially not in politics or in the parties. But if that is not true, as the never-ending culture clash in social media suggests, then Miosga’s smoochy talk is on the wrong track. In the other direction awaits: more conflict, more fighting, more tension. But also more ratings,