"Adieu, Herr Böck" is the pilot episode from the German comedy series "Der Untermieter", which is also known as "Die Nervensäge" with the latter being more of an insult and the former being more of a neutral term. The title may sound like a goodbye, but it was really just the beginning. Season one included 13 episodes and a second season followed with the same number of episodes. The duration of this one here is under 25 minutes, a running time that is not super common anymore. I quite enjoyed this episode. The comedy was almost completely dialogue-driven and even when there are rare moments when it is more about the actions, like what the protagonist and the church guy do close to the end, it is also fueled by what they are saying or the noise they are making. The lead actor here is of course Didi Hallervorden who is known to everybody in Germany and who will turn 90 next year and is still super active with stage performances in my city, performs almost daily. Looking forward to seeing him live for the first time. High time. But if we go back to this series/episode, it can be said that this came out in the mid-1980s, so Hallervorden was 50 here. Ironically, the year 1985 was also the year in which he got divorced from the woman who is playing the female lead here, Rotraud Schindler, so she may very well know already at that point what it feels like to be annoyed by Hallervorden. Or Willi Böck. Does not happen too often that spouses create a show together around the time their marriage is over. Also on board is Nathalie Hallervorden here, who plays her mother's character's daughter. In contrast to her mother, she was not a prolific actress though and pursued other paths. I guess Johannes Hallervorden is Didi's most known acting offspring. I cannot really say much about the other cast members from this first episode here, except that sadly most of them are no longer with us. They also only play minor roles and are no regulars. The director was Ralf Gregan, who has been retired for a long time, but is still with us the day I am writing this review and even slightly older than Hallervorden himself now. If we look at some of the other stuff he worked on, I guess it is safe to say that this show or pilot episode is among the better, if not best, he has come up with during his career. The English-sounding names of the writers show us that this series is based on a British original.
The dialogues of this episode here were pretty fast and still rarely felt written. All three key players do a decent job. It was also interesting to get an insight into the money situation back then, when mothers still worried about the question if it was their daughter who made the call or the one she is on the phone with. Or also when 10 bucks, still D-Mark back then, were a lot of money and nothing to easily give out. Nathalie Hallervorden was btw. Slightly older than her character, but they tried their best with clothes and stuff that it does not feel obvious. What one-liners and jokes you will find most funny will of course come down to your personal taste. I thought it was funny when the protagonist asked the daughter to iron his clothes for ten bucks (and wash them!) and then afterwards he asked her mother if she could give him ten bucks. Of course, he also needs the money for the furniture guys from her and money for pretty much everything else. Oh well. As a person from Berlin myself, it was of course entertaining how Berlin was included here in this episode on one occasion, but it was not the Berlin I know. Okay, mentioning the state were his mother resided felt maybe a tad written there, but the char of Hallervorden's delivery definitely made up for it. I smiled a lot watching this under half an hour and even laughed two or three times. Unfortunately, the level goes slightly down with most of the following episodes, but it stays still very watchable and entertaining. Just not as top-notch as this opening episode.
I think I have only seen season one so far, but I will definitely get to season two at some point as well. I also liked the music here, the intro is pretty cool (also the video) and catchy. And Hallervorden playing a really famous tune on the piano after minute 16 was also nice to listen to. Okay that is it then. I could probably mention at least another ten moments during which the dialogues were funny, but I will just include one more, namely when it is about food and drink and the mother asks Didi ironically if he also wants some more posher food (seafood a.o.) and he says sure why not. Or when he has the audacity to tell the two women to leave his room when he was not even accepted as the one renting the place. Speaking of which, some woke warriors today may see this episode as harassment (also his written words about her) when a man just won't leave a female's apartment despite being asked to do so multiple times. Oh what times we are living in now! Luckily, nobody in the 1980s thought so and so this could get made and released shortly after I was born. You understood I like it. In other words: This is a show you wanna give a chance and an opening you don't want to miss out on, even if finding subtitles could get a bit difficult. I recommend the series and highly recommend the pilot episode. Big thumbs-up!
The dialogues of this episode here were pretty fast and still rarely felt written. All three key players do a decent job. It was also interesting to get an insight into the money situation back then, when mothers still worried about the question if it was their daughter who made the call or the one she is on the phone with. Or also when 10 bucks, still D-Mark back then, were a lot of money and nothing to easily give out. Nathalie Hallervorden was btw. Slightly older than her character, but they tried their best with clothes and stuff that it does not feel obvious. What one-liners and jokes you will find most funny will of course come down to your personal taste. I thought it was funny when the protagonist asked the daughter to iron his clothes for ten bucks (and wash them!) and then afterwards he asked her mother if she could give him ten bucks. Of course, he also needs the money for the furniture guys from her and money for pretty much everything else. Oh well. As a person from Berlin myself, it was of course entertaining how Berlin was included here in this episode on one occasion, but it was not the Berlin I know. Okay, mentioning the state were his mother resided felt maybe a tad written there, but the char of Hallervorden's delivery definitely made up for it. I smiled a lot watching this under half an hour and even laughed two or three times. Unfortunately, the level goes slightly down with most of the following episodes, but it stays still very watchable and entertaining. Just not as top-notch as this opening episode.
I think I have only seen season one so far, but I will definitely get to season two at some point as well. I also liked the music here, the intro is pretty cool (also the video) and catchy. And Hallervorden playing a really famous tune on the piano after minute 16 was also nice to listen to. Okay that is it then. I could probably mention at least another ten moments during which the dialogues were funny, but I will just include one more, namely when it is about food and drink and the mother asks Didi ironically if he also wants some more posher food (seafood a.o.) and he says sure why not. Or when he has the audacity to tell the two women to leave his room when he was not even accepted as the one renting the place. Speaking of which, some woke warriors today may see this episode as harassment (also his written words about her) when a man just won't leave a female's apartment despite being asked to do so multiple times. Oh what times we are living in now! Luckily, nobody in the 1980s thought so and so this could get made and released shortly after I was born. You understood I like it. In other words: This is a show you wanna give a chance and an opening you don't want to miss out on, even if finding subtitles could get a bit difficult. I recommend the series and highly recommend the pilot episode. Big thumbs-up!