The true story of the odyssey of the Wermacht-Soldier Clemens Forell (Weiss), who flew from a soviet pow-camp in Siberian, was the biggest milestone in the history of the West-German TV. "So weit ..." was a so called "Strassenfeger" (road sweeper), because nobody wanted to miss a part of this show, and so the roads were empty at this time. Only a few years before the last prisoners returned from Russia, so the subject of this show was still fresh. Many people hoped that their husbands or sons could have done what Forell had done.
Only a few TV-shows rose reactions like this and grow this popular in Germany. The shows which grow so popular like "So weit ..." even have been exported to other countries or have been remade, among these shows are "Stahlnetz" (Dragnet), "Das Millionenspiel" (The Running Man) or Derrik, but "So weit die Fuesse tragen" never was sold to an TV-station in a English speaking country.
Only a few TV-shows rose reactions like this and grow this popular in Germany. The shows which grow so popular like "So weit ..." even have been exported to other countries or have been remade, among these shows are "Stahlnetz" (Dragnet), "Das Millionenspiel" (The Running Man) or Derrik, but "So weit die Fuesse tragen" never was sold to an TV-station in a English speaking country.