80,000 francs per episode SRF launches new format - despite cost-cutting measures
The new SRF show "Zwei auf Reisen" with Jonny Fischer and Mira Weingart starts on March 28.
Image: SRF
The presenters will be traveling in opposite directions. Here, Jonny Fischer visits a Mongolian nomad family.
Image: SRF
For the format, they travel to countries that are on their bucket list. For Mira Weingart, this includes Zambia.
Image: SRF
Jonny Fischer visits Lapland.
Image: SRF
Mira Weingart on her way to the Columbia Glacier (Valdez) in Alaska.
Image: SRF
The new SRF show "Zwei auf Reisen" with Jonny Fischer and Mira Weingart starts on March 28.
Image: SRF
The presenters will be traveling in opposite directions. Here, Jonny Fischer visits a Mongolian nomad family.
Image: SRF
For the format, they travel to countries that are on their bucket list. For Mira Weingart, this includes Zambia.
Image: SRF
Jonny Fischer visits Lapland.
Image: SRF
Mira Weingart on her way to the Columbia Glacier (Valdez) in Alaska.
Image: SRF
SRF launches the new format "Zwei Reisen" with comedian Jonny Fischer and presenter Mira Weingart. A daring adventure - especially now that SRF has cut many formats to save money.
No time? blue News summarizes for you
- The format "Two Journeys" takes presenter Mira Weingart and comedian Jonny Fischer to two contrasting regions of the world that are largely unknown to them.
- Mira Weingart travels to Zambia and Alaska, Jonny Fischer to Lapland and Mongolia. Both have their personal bucket list with them.
- "Zwei Reisen" starts on March 28, 2025 at 9 p.m. on SRF 1 - and can be accessed in parallel on Play SRF.
- The timing of the launch is surprising, especially as Swiss television has recently been in the headlines due to cost-cutting measures.
Presenter and comedian Jonny Fischer and SRF radio virus presenter Mira Weingart set off on an extraordinary TV adventure. In the new SRF travel program "Two Journeys", they explore two completely different, previously unknown destinations.
The contrasts could hardly be greater: from endless deserts to the freezing cold of the Arctic, from the far north to the vast savannahs of Africa.
But the trip has a special twist: both have a personal bucket list in their luggage - with three experiences each that they absolutely want to include in their trip.
Jonny Fischer in Lapland, Weingart in Zambia
Jonny Fischer is heading to the far north for his first trip - to Lapland. In the Finnish part of the Arctic, he wants to experience the spectacular Northern Lights, spend a night in the icy wilderness and ride a snowmobile through the snow-covered landscape.
But Lapland has a few challenges in store: Fischer braves temperatures of up to minus 30 degrees while ice fishing and visiting a reindeer farm. And, of course, the traditional sauna session with a dip in the ice-cold water is not to be missed.
Mira Weingart begins a new journey in two senses with the first episode. With "Two Journeys", the radio presenter celebrates her TV debut as a host. In Zambia, she is traveling by motorcycle - but the rough roads pose major challenges even for the experienced rider.
Also on Weingart's bucket list: seeing a lion in the wild. But the lion population in Lower Zambezi is anything but large - a real challenge.
Mongolia and Alaska once
Jonny Fischer immerses himself in the culture of the nomadic women and faces unfamiliar challenges. On the way to the south of the country, the film crew is unexpectedly stopped by the police - filming has to be interrupted. But life in the steppe is also a challenge for the 45-year-old. Whether riding an untamed Mongolian wild horse or experiencing the simple everyday life of the nomadic women - it is a journey full of borderline experiences for the comedian.
Things get particularly emotional for him at the end of his Mongolia tour: he has been living with asthma for 25 years, but a shaman is supposed to help him beat the disease. Will the spiritual healing really work?
While Fischer holds his own in the vastness of Asia, Weingart fulfills a long-cherished dream: her second trip takes her to Alaska - her first trip to America. She crosses the country in a camper van and confronts the harsh wilderness. Things get particularly exciting when she spends a night alone in the open air. The crowning glory is a kayak tour to the mighty glaciers near Valdez - an adventure that will demand everything from her.
A new travel show at this time?
The announcement of the new travel show comes as a surprise, especially as SRF recently made headlines with cost-cutting measures.
For example, the people program "Faces and Stories" will be discontinued from this summer, and several science formats will also fall victim to the austerity measures.
What SRF says
SRF only addresses the criticism of launching a new travel program despite cost-cutting measures in general terms. None of the cost-cutting measures that had to be announced at the beginning of February were easy for SRF. Nevertheless, SRF must continue to develop in order to remain relevant to its audience.
"We also have to adapt our content so that it corresponds to the audience's current habits. We are developing new offerings that - in line with changing user behavior - are better suited to time-shifted use on streaming platforms. This increasingly corresponds to the audience's usage behavior," writes the media office.
It goes on to say that SRF wants to concentrate its resources even more where they will have the greatest possible impact on the audience. "That's why we are investing in streamable content like 'Zwei Reisen'."
An entertaining, informative travel format with in-depth content is "in line with our concept of public service and is missing from our portfolio," SRF continues. "Being able to discover unfamiliar destinations and experience how the two Swiss hosts prove themselves in unfamiliar surroundings is, in our opinion, interesting for a broad audience."
On the exact costs, SRF says: "A 40-minute episode of a factual entertainment format for prime time costs an average of 82,000 francs."
