"The Teachers": B&B Endemol Shine produces new Swiss sitcom
«Die Lehrer» is the new Swiss comedy sitcom. Starting in late fall 2016, it will air exclusively on Myprime, UPC Cablecom's streaming platform, and is also scheduled to air later on a Swiss free-to-air TV channel.
B&B Endemol Shine is producing the eight episodes from July 2016 on behalf of UPC Cablecom. The script was written by the two 34-year-old Zurich natives Adrian Aeschbacher and Eric Andreae, who are also directing.
You remember that moment in your school days when you first met a very special kind of person: the teacher. An incisive as well as formative experience. All the more so because this teacher had a legendary place of retreat where you were never allowed to go as a student: The teachers' room.
The eight-part sitcom "Die Lehrer" (The Teachers) finally reveals the secrets of the teachers' lounge and shows what goes on there. The focus is on the everyday absurdities of the teaching profession: Why is the coffee machine broken again? Who distributes exam solutions on the Internet? And why do two teachers often disappear together in the cleaning room? "The Teachers" provides answers in a witty and entertaining way and gives an insight into the life of this very special breed of human being.
B&B Endemol Shine is producing the series. For the first time since the huge success of SRF's school soap Best Friends, Switzerland's biggest production company is back in the fictional business. "Fictional programming is a discipline all its own and is particularly fun," says producer Pea Weber. "It's super to be active in this area again after Best Friends - the fact that UPC Cablecom has awarded us the contract makes us very happy."
Adrian Aeschbacher and Eric Andreae from Zurich are responsible for the scripts and the direction. The two series fans got the idea from their private environment, of all things. "We have friends in common who are teachers and have been telling us amusing anecdotes from their everyday working lives for years," says Adrian Aeschbacher. "Teachers, after all, are in a peculiar dilemma. Society expects them to be role models. At the same time, they are also very normal people with weaknesses and vices. There's a lot of comedy in this contrast," adds Andreae. In short, the subject matter of "The Teachers" is a perennial favorite. School and education leave no one cold. And where there's a lot at stake, there's also a great dramaturgical fall. Perfect conditions for a modern and humorous series.
