For 14 years now, Markus Lanz has been moderating the talk show named after himself on ZDF. And so far, the moderator has always been able to start work as planned. Now, however, he has to let the show burst for the first time.
After 1729 editions of the ZDF talk show named after him, moderator Markus Lanz had to cancel his program scheduled for Wednesday evening for the first time. The moderator had to pass at short notice due to cold symptoms and hoarseness, said the production company responsible for the format, Mhoch2.
ZDF also announced the failure via Twitter. The broadcaster also sent the 53-year-old a recovery wish: “Unfortunately, the show has to be canceled at short notice today. We wish you a speedy recovery!” It said in the corresponding tweet.
A talk by the moderator with Federal Minister of Economics Robert Habeck was planned after the coverage of the games in the Champions League on Wednesday. “The show would have been planned for midnight. The ‘Future Prize’ and the ‘Sportstudio’ went according to plan,” said ZDF. Instead of the talk show, a “Heute journal update” was broadcast from 11:55 p.m. and the “Auslandsjournal” documentary “Russia, Ukraine and the world” from 12:10 a.m.
It is not yet clear when the Lanz-Habeck talk will be made up for. When asked about this under the ZDF post on Twitter, the broadcaster replied that “at the moment” there is no concrete alternative date.
Markus Lanz celebrated his breakthrough as a television presenter on RTL in the 1990s. In 2008 he switched to ZDF, where he received, among other things, the talk show named after him in the evening program. Unlike the short-term “Wetten, dass..?” assignment by the native South Tyrolean, the format has become more and more of a model for success.
Since the outbreak of the pandemic, Corona has been the focus of the talk show more than once. It was not announced whether Lanz might have contracted the virus himself.
