Overview
- ZDF-Fernsehgarten, which opened Sunday, launched its 40th season live from Mainz with long-time host Andrea Kiewel.
- The opener revisited Kiewel’s outfits from 26 years as designer Guido Maria Kretschmer delivered blunt critiques, calling one look “the final stage” and “like a coffee trip where you do not want to buy anything.”
- The next episode on May 17 is billed as a Schlager party with Maite Kelly, Ella Endlich, Fantasy, Bernhard Brink, Mark Keller, Olaf Berger, Tiroler Schmäh and Anna-Maria Zivkov.
- ZDF scheduled 20 live, open-air Sunday shows for 2026 and says each episode draws about 130 crew and 5,000 to 6,000 on-site spectators across a 90,000 square-metre venue, with broadcasts offered with audio description and subtitles.
- Kiewel has anchored the show since 2000 apart from a two-year break after 2007, and coverage notes recent strong ratings in 2025 that underline the format’s continued pull.