Afers exteriors
Afers exteriors is a Catalan television travel show created and presented by Miquel Calçada. It was produced and broadcast by Televisió de Catalunya. Each episode focuses on a different country or region of the world, usually with the aim of showing the life of the Catalan diaspora there.
The show premiered in 2003 and ran for seven seasons on channels TV3 and El 33, ending in 2016.
Format
The programme typically follows a documentary format narrated and hosted by Catalan journalist Miquel Calçada, with occasional snippets of his own personal opinions and humour. In each episode, he visits a different region of the world to meet with people from the Catalan Countries who have emigrated there. In addition, the series highlights the historical impact of Catalans in these territories and frequently explores the social reality of the locals.Seasons 6 and 7 were exceptionally more focused on the social issues of the time, such as the economic crisis, the war in Afghanistan and the Catalan sovereignty movement. They feature visits to countries that recently achieved independence or countries with unsettled identity questions, with some themed episodes, such as those dedicated to the European Union and its economic situation.
Release
The series first aired on 29 January 2003 and ran for five annual seasons until it was ended on 24 December 2009. Afers exteriors was brought back for a sixth season in 2014 and a seventh and final season in 2016. The final episode, a rewind of the entire series, aired on TV3 on 17 April 2016.Reception
During original air time, the programme was generally extraordinarily well received in terms of audience ratings. The premiere of the second season achieved a 23.1% share, with the fifth season peaking at 23.3% and the sixth season averaging 16.2%. Just after its first season, the show won the Catalunya Exterior award, presented to journalistic projects focused on the Catalan diaspora. After the end of the fifth season, it won the Ràdio Associació award.Regarding critical remarks, in 2010, Hèctor López, writing for Avui, made reference to the North Korea episode, in which Calçada meets Alejandro Cao de Benós, a representative of the country's Ministry of Foreign Affairs. He noted that the episode depicted an overly entertaining view from urban areas, without enabling viewers to see "the villages plunged into misery."
In 2014, the series' sixth season was criticised by parties PSC and PP for featuring a CiU electoral candidate and for the presence of a Catalan estelada badge worn by Calçada.