Alles was zählt is a German television soap opera first broadcast on RTL on September 4, 2006. The original plot revolved around Diana Sommer's dream to become a world class ice skater. She fell in love with Julian Herzog, who signed her at the prestigious Steinkamp Sport and Wellness Center, run by the unscrupulous Steinkamp dynasty. Diana and Julian eventually became a couple, but in November 2007, Julian suffered a brain hemorrhage and died during their wedding. Diana remained in Essen until January 2009, when she left to join a skating centre in Halle. The story continues to revolve around the Steinkamp Sport and Wellness Centre and its quest to become a sporting powerhouse, as well as the lives of the characters who work at and around the Centre.

Gute Zeiten, schlechte Zeiten is a long-running German television soap opera, first broadcast on RTL in 1992. The programme concerns the lives of a fictional neighborhood in Germany's capital city Berlin. Over the years the soap opera tends to have an overhaul of young people in their late teens and early twenties; targeting a young viewership.

A long-running German television series about a two-man team of highway police, originally set in Berlin and later in North Rhine-Westphalia.

German version of Dancing with the Stars, the reality competition in which celebrities perform choreographed dance routines which are judged by a panel of renowned ballroom experts and voted on by viewers.

Tutti Frutti was the German version of the Italian game show Colpo Grosso. It was aired from 21 January 1990 through to 21 February 1993 on RTL plus for three seasons, totaling approximately 140 episodes. It was the first erotic TV show on German television and was also available to viewers across Europe as it was broadcast without encryption via the Astra satellite which could be received over a wide area and was popular with 'early adopter' satellite enthusiasts in the UK. The show caused substantial outrage at the time, as partial nudity was a central feature.

The show was innovative in broadcasting 3D effect film clips where the background was scrolled across the screen at a slower speed than dancers in the foreground, thereby giving the effect of depth on a 2D screen using the Pulfrich effect.

RTL Samstag Nacht was a comedy show, which ran from 6 November 1993 to 23 May 1998 on the German TV network RTL. RTL Samstag Nacht was the first major comedy show in German television, created after the example of the long-running American show Saturday Night Live and broadcast late on Saturday night. It helped comedy in German television to a breakthrough and was a model for several later comedy shows. Karl Ranseier was a recurring character featured in fake news reports telling about his death at the end of each episode. The name Karl Ranseier has become a catchphrase in Germany that has led to its own joke category of Ranseiers which are in widespread usage outside of the comedy origin.

Mein Leben & Ich is a German situation comedy produced by Sony Pictures in association with RTL Television for RTL. The series was created by Paula A. Roth and loosely based on ABC's 1994 teen drama My So-Called Life. The series focuses on the life of student Alex Degenhardt, who deals with everyday life and sometimes frustrating friends, Claudia and Niko, as well as her family; her little brother Basti and her Hippie-parents Hendrik and Anke. A sixth Season was produced in 2006 but not shown until late 2009.

It is also telecast in Finland by Nelonen, in France and in Spain.

Willkommen bei Mario Barth-Episoden is a German television series.

German game version show based on the original British format of "Who Wants to Be a Millionaire?".

Unter uns is a German television soap opera, first broadcast on RTL on 28 November 1994. Centered around the lives of the people in a residential house, which is set in the fictional Schillerallee in Cologne. Since the show debuted the baker's family Weigel is the series core family. Unter uns isn't based on a foreign soap opera like Verbotene Liebe or Gute Zeiten, schlechte Zeiten. After Gute Zeiten, schlechte Zeiten, the show was the second daily soap for RTL, followed years later in 2006 by Alles was zählt. The show aired its 3,500th episode on 30 December 2008.

Deutschland sucht den Superstar is a German reality talent show, also commonly known by its initials DSDS. Part of the Idol franchise, it was created by English media mogul Simon Fuller as a spin-off from the British show Pop Idol, of which two series were broadcast between the years of 2001 and 2003. Debuting to mediocre ratings in October 2002 on the RTL network, the show has since become one of the most successful shows on German television.

The program aims to discover the best singer in the country through a series of nationwide auditions in which viewer voting determines the winner. Voting is done through telephone and SMS text voting.

Medicopter 117 – Jedes Leben zählt is a German television series.

A batch of more or less known celebrities, ready to expose themselves to a large amount of viewers, have to spend about two weeks in an Australian jungle camp. Each day, the viewers vote for the celebrity they would like to face a difficult task and later vote for their favorite to become the “Queen” or “King of the Jungle”. Based on the British reality television show I'm a Celebrity...Get Me Out of Here!

The Bambi, often called the Bambi Award and stylised as BAMBI, is a German award presented annually by Hubert Burda Media to recognize excellence in international media and television to personalities in the media, arts, culture, sports, and other fields "with vision and creativity who affected and inspired the German public that year", both domestic and foreign. First held in 1948, it is the oldest media award in Germany. The trophy is named after Felix Salten's book Bambi, A Life in the Woods and its statuettes are in the shape of the novel's titular fawn character. They were originally made of porcelain until 1958, when the organizers switched to using gold, with the casting done by the art casting workshop of Ernst Strassacker in Süßen.