The show was meant to compete with those on West German television. To this end it was fairly successful even attracting a following in parts of West Germany which could receive Eastern TV. Its production values were high. Apart from song and dance numbers and appearances from East German celebrities, almost every broadcast featured well-known stars from the west, often after their popularity had peaked in their home countries.

The ZDF-Hitparade, or Hitparade for short was one of the most popular and most well-known music television series presenting mostly German Schlager.

Musikantenstadl is a live television entertainment program broadcast in the German language throughout Austria, Germany, and Switzerland. It features Austrian, Swiss, and German popular folk music, international pop and folk music as well as interviews and comedy. As a production of Eurovision, is co-produced by the Österreichischer Rundfunk, Bayerischer Rundfunk and Schweizer Fernsehen. Aside from the live television broadcasts it also tours in Austria and Germany as live concerts. It is currently hosted by Andy Borg and its location of broadcast varies between towns in different regions in Austria, Germany, and Switzerland. The show could be compared to being a much larger German version of the UK 1970's entertainment show The Wheeltappers and Shunters Social Club. However Musikantenstadl consists of a large ski lodge Set construction and not a Social Club.