Although Bernd was created in 2000, and has been on television since 2001, Jeremy Wasser of
Spiegel Online wrote that "Bernd epitomized the fundamental pessimism felt by many, if not most, Germans about, well, almost everything. (...) That Germans would take to a character like Bernd and be willing to engage in this form of self-analysis and self-mockery should, in my view, be commended. That the people of the land of
Goethe and
Schiller would choose as their guide in this spiritual exploration a clinically depressed loaf of bread, is, perhaps, just another improbable element of the German
Zeitgeist". David Frogier de Ponlevoy, also of
Spiegel Online, commented that Bernd shows were "a successful mix of
slapstick and irony that irresistibly brings families in good mood." The
Süddeutsche Zeitung wrote that the idea of making a depressed loaf of bread the star of a children's channel was crazily funny. In 2004, Bernd das Brot won the
Adolf Grimme Award for representing "the right to bad mood" and resisting "the reign of good mood that endlessly drones out of the television". The
Deutsche Welle commented that "most likely the jury realized just how subversive Bernd das Brot's attitude is when many human beings these days are willing to do almost anything to achieve fame and fortune on TV". The Adolf Grimme Award is the German equivalent of the
Emmy Award. ==Kidnapping==