In Italy we have a very long running TV programme called "Chi l'ha visto?" (Who has seen him?).

It's a TV programme aimed at showing missing people and asking viewers to report sights of them. They have found many people this way, some other times got live calls from said missing person asking to be left alone, or they have solved murder cases.

While I don't argue that they have a public service purpose and they do good, I find the idea of a person purposefully watching it rather morbid and sad (the programme has stable above average viewership for its slot, prime time on Wednesday, on the third channel of the Public TV Network RAI).


10 comments

  1. Our most beloved TV character is a depressed piece of bread that lives between burning trashcans and has existential thoughts about life.

    His name is Bernd das Brot (Bernd the Bread)

  2. Probably one of the weirdest for outsiders would be “Bernd das Brot” in Germany.

    A talking, depressed bread has become cult. Every night one can see him on the public kids channel KiKa when there is no program broadcasted. He has episodes up to about 20-30min looping all throughout the night.

  4. Most danes do not find it wierd, but we had a childrens program, where a group of naked adult women/men, with very different body types, would stand completely naked in a classroom full of kids, while answering all their questions about the human body.

    It was very body positive, and intended to teach the children that we’re all different, that the human body isn’t something to be ashamed of, and that its totally ok to be curious. 🤗

    Oh yeah. We also have John Dillermand. A kids show about a dude with an enormous penis, which he has complete control of like a tentacle. The mega penis often gets John into trouble, but he always ends up using his special powers for good and save the day. đź’Ş

  5. Soupy Norman was aired in Ireland in 2007. Don’t think it was too popular at the time but there’s lots of clips of it online.

    It’s a re-dubbing of a Polish tv show called Pierwsza miłość but the dubbing is in a Cork accent and the dialogue is completely different to what is in the original Polish version. The Irish version is a comedy and follows the life of a dysfunctional Irish family.

  6. Not my country but in UK there’s Naked Attraction: a dating show where the prospective dates are in a covered glass test tube and the person choosing first can only see their privates. No underwear.

    And there’s Married at First Sight. Slightly less weird but still crazy as they get total strangers married. Most fail as far as I have seen that show.

  7. Not Estonian but before anybody mentions “Naked attraction” is pretty interesting (UK original i believe). I’ve seen British, Danish, Italian, Finnish and German versions from Estonian TV.

  8. It isn’t running anymore, but the Late, Late breakfast show (1982-1986) had a segment called ‘Give it a whirl’, where the public could perform dangerous stunts, sadly, 1 person died as a result, ending the show for good.

  9. We have this show where people who commit crimes go. They are allowed to stand there and talk and talk and sometimes even laugh at people who demand to know why they are committing crimes and why they don’t stop.

    At the end of the show, they can just go home as if everything is normal.

    Anyway it’s called OrszággyűlĂ©si KözvetĂ­tĂ©s and it broadcasts all sessions of the parliament live.

  10. We have something extremely similar to what you just described in Greece, “Fos Sto Tunnel” (“Light At The End Of The Tunnel”) hosted by journalist Angeliki Nikolouli that has been going strong since 1995. I just saw in Wikipedia that the two shows have actually collaborated in the past and it has even been inducted in the Guinness Book of Records.

    It’s pretty much how you describe it: she has a panel of guests that are usually the missing person’s close circle as well as some experts. Viewers are encouraged to report clues or sightings, and the staff of the show make or accept calls that help with the investigation. The show can be overly dramatic at times to the point of being meme material, but it is also highly regarded because it has solved a lot of high-profile cases. It can definitely feel creepy but it used to be kind of a guilty pleasure — I know it’s not right, but Nikolouli does a great job balancing dramatic tension for viewership with actual investigative results.

    Other than that, we had a show called “Paratragouda” (direct translation would be something like “side song”, actual meaning is “weird stuff”). The show would invite what I can only describe as eccentric people in a sham talent show and give them a ‘chance’ to become famous. As you can guess, most of those people suffered from mental health issues, and the whole premise of the show was to ridicule them. It was truly vomit-inducing and of bad taste in everything from production values to the actual subject matter — yet it was insanely popular.

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