Swedo-Norwegian talk show takes on Denmark
Richard Orange - [email protected]
Published: 9 Sep, 2013 CET.
Updated: Mon 9 Sep 2013 11:19 CET
"Skavlan", the Norwegian and Swedish Friday night talk show, is to start broadcasting in Denmark. But the host isn't yet willing to risk interviewing guests in the impenetrable Danish tongue.
Norwegian presenter Fredrik Skavlan (47) has had huge success in Sweden since launching his show on Sweden's SVT channel in 2009, winning the country's Kristallen award for best male presenter. He speaks in Norwegian whether he is interviewing Swedish or Norwegian guests, taking advantage of the mutual intelligibility of the two languages. When the show features an international celebrity, both Skavlan and his Scandinavian guests switch to English for the on-stage banter. The show has featured international stars such as Jay-Z, Robbie Williams, Vince Vaughn, Shakira, Rihanna, Cheryl Cole, and Eddie Izzard, using the lure of its two million viewers spread across two countries. An attempt to launch the show on the international BBC Entertainment channel in 2011 failed to draw a big enough audience. "The program has already been a linguistic cocktail, but the culture is also quite exciting. I'm excited about how the Danes will receive a Norwegian-Swedish talk show," Skavlan told VG. "I should really start speaking Danish." However, as Danish is more challenging for Swedes to understand, the show will not be adapted to the Danish market, or feature guests speaking Danish. The programme is broadcast on SVT and Norway's NRK on Friday nights, and will be broadcast on Denmark's DR2 channel on Saturday night.
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Norwegian presenter Fredrik Skavlan (47) has had huge success in Sweden since launching his show on Sweden's SVT channel in 2009, winning the country's Kristallen award for best male presenter.
He speaks in Norwegian whether he is interviewing Swedish or Norwegian guests, taking advantage of the mutual intelligibility of the two languages.
When the show features an international celebrity, both Skavlan and his Scandinavian guests switch to English for the on-stage banter.
The show has featured international stars such as Jay-Z, Robbie Williams, Vince Vaughn, Shakira, Rihanna, Cheryl Cole, and Eddie Izzard, using the lure of its two million viewers spread across two countries.
An attempt to launch the show on the international BBC Entertainment channel in 2011 failed to draw a big enough audience.
"The program has already been a linguistic cocktail, but the culture is also quite exciting. I'm excited about how the Danes will receive a Norwegian-Swedish talk show," Skavlan told VG. "I should really start speaking Danish."
However, as Danish is more challenging for Swedes to understand, the show will not be adapted to the Danish market, or feature guests speaking Danish.
The programme is broadcast on SVT and Norway's NRK on Friday nights, and will be broadcast on Denmark's DR2 channel on Saturday night.
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