In over 40 years there have only been four moderators. It was Wieland Backes for the longest time: from 1998 to 2019. What does Backes see as the secret of success? “TV shows with an unmistakable character are long-lived,” says the 76-year-old. “It probably has a special appeal that there is a mysterious descendant of a famous ancestor who has to be guessed.” A relaxed studio team probably also triggered “lively attractions” in many viewers, he says. “Humor also played a role, protecting us from degenerating into a dry educational event.”
Backes accompanied more than 400 descendants of famous people through the show. “In the very first show, Fidel Castro’s daughter sat across from me. For many years after the revolution, she preferred to live in enemy America than in poor Cuba.” Shortly thereafter, Soviet leader Nikita Khrushchev was to be guessed. “When I met his son in the hotel elevator on the morning of the recording, I was scared to death,” Backes recalls. “I thought I was looking at the Kremlin ruler himself – the resemblance was so striking.”
Backes looks at the end of the series with a mixture of understanding and skepticism. “I understand that our committed doers and hierarchs want to make our station fit for the future. They have their sights set on a young audience that they believe they can bind to us with completely different formats and broadcasting strategies.” But if “one of the most successful formats of SWR television” is discontinued, it could happen that you lose older people without attracting younger ones. “There are many reasons not to sacrifice quality unnecessarily with such a track record of decades.”
