Löwenzahn
Löwenzahn (Dandelion) is a children's television series produced and aired by German public broadcaster ZDF on German television. Originally conceived and hosted by Peter Lustig, the first episode aired on January 7, 1979, then titled Pusteblume. The first episode of the retitled series Löwenzahn aired on March 24, 1981. After Lustig's health-related retirement (he died in February 2016), the show was taken over by actor Guido Hammesfahr (playing the new host Fritz Fuchs) in October 2006.
| Löwenzahn | |
|---|---|
| Presented by | Peter Lustig (1981 - 2005) Guido Hammesfahr (2006- ) |
| Country of origin | Germany |
| Original language | German |
| Release | |
| Original network | ZDF |
| Original release | March 24, 1981 |
Format
Each 30 minute episode is dedicated to a separate issue or theme and consists mainly of related short featurettes, which explain, explore and educate how things of everyday life and even complex systems work. It spans a wide variety of topics from technology and industry to something as mundane as how the postal service works.
Peter manages to arrange his big lot of furniture from the house around the confined space of the cabin and finds some creative use in order to use them. The wardrobe is being transformed into an outside toilet room including water flushing system and a glass cabinet is added to the cabin wall as a bay window. With a seating area that can be transformed into a bed by a pulley system and folding up furniture Peter manages to actually fit a sitting/dining area/bed, a small kitchen and a study area into the small cabin. The bath tub however was placed outside. On top of the cabin he created a terrace which can be reached by stairs entirely made of chairs. This is the location the show evolves around.
The city used as "Bärstadt" was actually Berlin (the animal in Berlin's coat of arms is the bear) and people who know Berlin have recognized the locations used around the city.
The series has not only attracted children of all ages, it also found a wide adult audience, who have watched the series as children themselves and kept loyal to the format. Peter Lustig stated this in an interview in 2004.
History
The series was originally called Pusteblume (Blowball) and was first broadcast on 7 January 1979. The episodes under the name of Pusteblume were shot in Munich and Bavaria, this is where the house stood where the character Peter Lustig "lived". But after the production company ran into some problems with the broadcasting company ZDF, the show was cancelled and restarted under a new name (the prior production company held the copyright of the name "Pusteblume" - thus the renaming. "Pusteblume" is actually the commonly used name of the Dandelion once it turns white and when the seeds can be blown away - so the new name "Löwenzahn" is still related to the old name).
In the series itself the move was explained as that the airport entry lane for incoming airplanes was right above the house where Peter lived and in a bid to escape the constant noise he wanted to move, it was explained in the first episode of "Löwenzahn". With the help of his cousin "Trude" he considers several means of housing until they pass by a building company and Peter finds interest in an old wooden building site cabin, which he gets. Trude offers him to use a lot of land she uses as allotment in the town she lives, "Bärstadt", for placing the cabin.
Most episodes of Löwenzahn are shot in Berlin, where Peter's building site wagon stands, but some episodes, depending on the subject of the episode, were also shot at different places, e.g. an airport-themed episode was shot at Hannover Airport, a ship-themed episode was mostly shot aboard the Finnjet, and a volcano-themed episode was even shot at Lanzarote.
In 2005 Peter Lustig retired from his role as the main host of the show due to health issues. He was replaced by Guido Hammesfahr, under whom the basic format of the show was kept: Fritz Fuchs, the character Hamesfahr plays, still lives in the old wagon, but a few new side characters were added. These include his dog Keks, his female friend Yasemin (Sanam Afrashteh) and the strict code enforcement officer Heinz Kluthe (Holger Handtke). Peter Lustig died in February 2016.
Since 1981, Helmut Krauss had played the role of the fuddy-duddy and clumsy, but good-hearted neighbour Hermann Paschulke, a role that was kept after the takeover by Hammesfahr until Krauss died in August 2019.
