Documentary tells the story of the cult channel

30 years of VIVA - Documentary tells the story of the cult channel

No other German channel embodied the lifestyle of the 90s like the music channel VIVA, which was discontinued in 2018. And no other channel made so many TV talents who still shape the German television landscape today. In the ARD documentary "Die VIVA-Story - zu geil für diese Welt!", these talents come together once again to tell the story of this extraordinary TV experiment from their perspective.

Former VIVA stars Nils Bokelberg (47), Markus Kavka (56) and Collien Ulmen-Fernandes (42) will each host an episode. In addition, an almost endless series of other VIVA veterans have their say, including well-known names such as Matthias Opdenhövel (53), Mola Adebisi (50), Oliver Pocher (45), Klaas Heufer-Umlauf (40) and Gülcan Kamps (41).

Other colleagues such as Stefan Raab (57), Heike Makatsch (52) and Niels Ruf (50) do not contribute any anecdotes of their own, but are also honored in detail in the mass of filmic finds recovered from the archives. In addition to Dieter Gorny (70), the managing director of VIVA at the time, the program directors and editorial managers of the time also contribute revealing insider knowledge.

Chaos and imperfection as trademarks

The documentary offers particularly interesting behind-the-scenes insights into the history of the station, which is famous for its colorful anarchism. Although chaos and imperfection were part of the concept from the very beginning, they were also largely the result of the fact that the station and its individual formats had to be created at lightning speed in order to fill the broadcasting license with programming and life.

In his remarks, former VIVA boss Gorny makes it clear why the time was definitely ripe for a new music and youth channel at the beginning of the nineties: MTV's triumphant advance had swept away the last music program for young people on public television, "Formel Eins", and the first German music channel attempt, "Musicbox", had also disappeared from the scene without a sound. This loss also deprived the German music industry of an important promotional platform for its artists.

A challenge to the music TV giant MTV

In order to close this gap and declare war on the overpowering monopolist MTV, a limited liability company consisting of former "Musicbox" editors joined forces with decision-makers and financial backers from various major labels such as Warner Music, EMI and Polygram. Legend has it that the name VIVA originated as an acronym for "Videoverwertungsanstalt" - after all, the main aim of the various formats was to get music videos into the rotation via the presenters acting as "VJs" and to promote the label artists.

However, VIVA was not only created as a competitor, but also as an alternative to the US giant MTV. Communication with the audience was intended to be less adult and more detached, which is why very young representatives of the target group were specifically chosen for the presenter castings that took place just two months before the start of broadcasting. The first members of the VIVA family included the then seventeen-year-old student Nils Bokelberg and his equally young and completely inexperienced colleagues Heike Makatsch and Mola Adebisi.

The station as a "cool family" and mouthpiece for young people

Marcus Wolter (55), the media manager responsible for finding the presenters at the time, describes the casting concept in the ARD documentary as follows: "We had defined each role model a little bit, somewhere between a cool shared flat, a cool family and a soap." The aim was to give the viewers the feeling of being part of this cool family too.

Heike Makatsch opened the very first show on December 1, 1993 with the words: "We are VIVA. And we are more than just a TV station. Because we are your mouthpiece and your friend. And from today, we'll stay together forever. Okay?" As the further success story of the brand new channel for music-loving German youth would show, the concept of focusing on approachability instead of professionalism was a complete success.

Until the end of the millennium, VIVA remained a permanent fixture in the German media landscape and sent its presenters around the world with almost unlimited budgets to conduct chaotic interviews with the superstars of the music scene at the time. Following the first wave of success, the VIVA makers founded another channel in 1995, VIVA Zwei, which was aimed at an older audience and provided background information and music videos on alternative rock bands rather than "hits and fun".

Unglamorous decline from the turn of the millennium

Shortly after the turn of the millennium, VIVA had passed its zenith. In 2004, the channel was taken over by the American media group Viacom, which also owned its major competitor MTV. Until its sad end in 2018, the channel became increasingly insignificant, mainly due to the triumph of the internet.

Most recently, VIVA shared the broadcasting slot with the comedy channel Comedy Central and, as former presenter Klaas Heufer-Umlauf put it, was just "like a corpse in the corner". In the last show on December 31, 2018, the remaining few presenters finally said "Auf Vivasehen" to an audience that had long since disappeared and ended with the first video that was shown on the screen when the show started in 1993: "Zu geil für diese Welt" by the Fantastischen Vier.

All three parts of "Die VIVA-Story - zu geil für diese Welt!" will be available in the ARD Mediathek and on ardkultur.de from December 1, 2023. The documentary can be seen on TV on January 6, 2024 at 9:45 pm on WDR and on January 16, 2023 at 10:25 pm on 3sat.