"My favorite Spanish tv-program" - Teun

The Spaniards (and especially the Andalusians) are always up to a bit of drama, you’ll never have to be scared to get bored. Not even at rainy days when you have to stay at home. Because even though some regular conversations in a Sevillian bar can already make you feel like you are part of an hour-long artistic dialogue from a Spanish movie, also watching a good Spanish program can be a lot of fun.

And, oh yeah, they do love their own versions of television concepts. The first thing you have to take in mind is that you will need some patience to watch Spanish television. First of all, it will probably (as a foreigner) already cost you some more effort to understand everything. Besides that, programs somehow always need to take hours. When I first came to Spain I started to get to know the favorite programs of my girlfriend and family in law. And as many probably can imagine, here my mother in law is boss at home. And so what did we watch every week: music talent shows (Operación Triunfo) and Master Chef! And no, not just some quick sketches of some participants cooking… No not in Spain... Master chef episodes tend to take 3 or 4 hours here explaining the whole life and family tree of the contestants. But well they somehow became my guilty pleasures.

But after all this, it is actually quite funny to state that I am not even a real television watcher. All tough on my own I started to follow domestic content a lot as I am a fanatic YouTuber. Talk shows like El hormiguero or La resistencia are regulars on my phone. And also as I am a big football fan, I also tend to watch a lot of Spanish football weekly rounding it up on Sunday evening with El Partidazo, which I receive on my laptop with Movistar.

But there is one thing that really comes to my mind if we talk about Spanish television: series. So, when I say Spain and series, you probably say: La Casa de Papel. A series which I do love with the mind games of the Professor and the already famous laugh of Denver, played by Jaime Lorente. But my favorite series and so tv-program which I have to choose must be one about my own city: Movistar’s La Peste!

So as you now know I am a football fanatic, there is one thing for what you can call me an even bigger freak: Sevillian medieval history. La Peste is a Spanish series telling us the story of Mateo, a former soldier who gets mixed up into some criminal and political complots in 16th century Seville, right during the outbreak of one of Seville’s horrible bubonic plagues. Even though the great but confusing storyline and the appearance of some real historical figures are already more than entertaining to watch. The thing I enjoy the most about La Peste is to see how Seville really looked like during its glory days, days of world trade and Spanish imperialism.

So it’s time to boost your Spanish, start binge-watching and let us know what you think about Spanish television. You can also read our blog “4 Spanish Netflix series you need to watch!” for more Spanish series.