Peter Rütten

The celebration of the 50th anniversary of “Capitol-Insurance” is due – that's what the bosses thought. All employees are invited to join the party in a hotel. However, rumors say the company's not doing very well. To avoid unemployment due to the possible shutdown of the smaller branch office the only option is to move to the headquarters. Now that's the ultimate challange for Stromberg, who is notoriously trying to be the example of a department manager, gathering all of his employees behind him.

Stromberg is a German television series which is produced by Brainpool and broadcast on the commercial television channel ProSieben. The series was proclaimed as a copy of the BBC series The Office, although initially the producers claimed it was based on a character from a past ProSieben comedy, in spite of many elements resembling the The Office. An "inspired by" credit was given to the creators of The Office, Ricky Gervais and Stephen Merchant, after the BBC threatened ProSieben with legal action. The first season, which appeared in 2004, was made up of eight episodes. A second season of ten episodes, although not initially planned, was launched on 11 September 2005. A third season of eight episodes was launched on 5 March 2007. A fourth season was launched on 3 November 2009, with the entire season being available on DVD on 6 November. All four seasons can be watched online for free, courtesy of Brainpool.