The head of the first reality TV family has died

He was the head of the first German family to gain notoriety through reality television. Fred Fussbroich died early Tuesday morning (October 18) at the age of 81 after a long illness. The man from Cologne is said to have suffered from diabetes and a lung disease, followed two years ago by an infection with the corona virus. The “Express” first reported on the death of the cult figure, meanwhile his son Frank Fussbroich has confirmed the news: his Facebook profile picture is whitewashed.

A normal family

Together with their mother Annem(ar)ie Fussbroich, Fred and Frank were part of the first German reality soap “Die Fussbroichs”. Her TV career began in 1979. At that time, the “WDR” director Ute Diehl was looking for a typical Cologne working-class family to capture a representative German children’s room on film – and struck gold with the Fussbroichs. Ten years later, she visited the family again to authentically portray their everyday life in the cooperative apartment building environment in the Cologne-Buchheim district. The result was an 85-minute documentary, shown in February 1990.

The ups and downs in three lives in Cologne

What was shown was so popular that a total of 100 episodes of 30 minutes each were to follow by 2003. There was no script: the plot, the protagonists and the dialogues spoken in Kölsch were real. In this way, viewers were able to follow the development of the Fussbroichs over a decade – including birthdays, illnesses, vacation trips, job loss and retirement. Fred Fussbroich was loved above all for his nonchalance: when he was bothered by his wife’s television habits, he took action. Since then, two screens have stood one on top of the other in the small room at Johanniterstrasse 18.

<!–

–>

<!–

–>