Huntress

Probably the most unexpected #1 song in recent months: It came out of nowhere and was/is #1 in Germany, Austria, Belgium, Denmark, Finland, Norway, Sweden, Switzerland (plus #2 in UK and many other European countries).

GZSZ ends the year 2018 with its 6666th episode. The year closes with a big bang: The battle for the Gerner empire is at full blast. Will Katrin and Jo lose everything and take it without a whimper? No, never! They contrive a bold scheme and declare war on Felix and Laura! Meanwhile, Sunny makes a big mistake: She takes drugs to numb her exam anxiety. Of course this doesn't end well and she ends up in the ice-cold Spree river while the New Year's celebrations are going on around her. Will Sunny die? What will happen in 2019? Will Sunny be rescued and by whom? Will one character really die? What will happen to Maren, Alex, Leon and the baby that nobody had planned? Will Gerner regain control over his empire? Who will fall in love, who will break up? In addition, RTL has now begun to upload the very first episodes from 1992 to its streaming portal TVNOW. All episodes from 2006 to today are already available for premium users. The ladies at the photo shoot: The stars of AWZ, UU and GZSZ are thankful for 100.000 subscribers to the RTL youtube channel:

Official Promo: 6000 Episodes of UU (naked butt alert!) "We have laughed... we have suffered... we have lived... 6000 episodes full of emotions... we are celebrating 6000 episodes of Unter uns... Tuesday 5.30!" Backstage: Taking Selfies Interview: "How many autograms have you given?"

I haven't watched it often (my grandmother used to watch it religiously though from the very beginning until the early 2000s), so I can't comment on the show's stories. The special thing is that "Lindenstraße" has never changed its producers: Hans W. Geißendörfer created the show in 1985 and is still Executive Producer as of today. In 2015, his daughter Hana Geißendörfer joined the production team. In all objectivity, the show can definitely be called a "cultural artifact" because it was the first tv show to tackle topics like HIV (in straight and gay characters), homo, bi- and transsexuality, environmentalism, vegetarism, Islamism and terrorism, criticism of the armed forces, pressure to achieve in society, unemployment, stalking, assisted suicide, integration problems, current politics and so much more. "Lindenstraße" has always had a multicultural cast, most notably families of Turkish, Greek and Italian origin. Despite being a weekly half-hour show, the show has a cast of roughly 40 main characters. --- Since the soap year 2018 is almost over, it's time for a little retrospective. Current soap schedule: 2.10 pm Rote Rosen (ARD) 3.10 pm Sturm der Liebe (ARD) 5.00 pm Freundinnen (RTL) 5.30 pm Unter uns (RTL) 8.30 pm Alles oder nichts (Sat.1) 7.05 pm Alles was zählt (RTL) 7.40 pm Gute Zeiten, Schlechte Zeiten (RTL) Gute Zeiten, Schlechte Zeiten (1992-present, RTL) Total episodes in 2018: 251 (#6415 to #6666 [#6515, #6516 and #6517 were shown as a 90 minute episode on the same day]) Current cast: http://www.soapsworld.de/gute-zeiten-schlechte-zeiten-gzsz/besetzung Contract arrivals: Olivia Marei as Toni Ahrens (July 2018-present) Gamze Senol as Shirin Akinci (February 2018-present; recurring previously) Timur Ülker as Nihat Güney (September 2018-present) Contract departures: Oliver Franck as Martin Ahrens (August 2017-February 2018) Linda Marlen Runge as Anni Brehme (August 2013-August 2018) Confirmed for 2019: Departing: Lea Marlen Woitack as Sophie Lindh (March 2014-2019) Arriving: Gisa Zach as Yvonne Bode (January 2019-present) Unter uns (1994-present, RTL) Total episodes in 2018: 249 (#5766 to #6015) Current cast: http://www.soapsworld.de/unter-uns-uu/besetzung Contract arrivals: Sharon Berlinghoff as Vivien Köhler (July 2018-present) Linda König as Larissa Huber (April 2018-present) Yannik Meyer as Conor Weigel (September 2018-present) Contract departures: Pauline Angert as Kay-C Schneider (September 2016-April 2018) Nora Koppen as Elli Schneider Weigel † (September 2015-October 2018) Milos Vukovic as Paco Weigel (May 2000-December 2018) Alles was zählt (2006-present, RTL) Total episodes in 2018: 249 (#2844 to #3093) Current cast: http://www.soapsworld.de/alles-was-zaehlt-awz/besetzung Contract arrivals: Christopher Kohn as Dr. Finn Albrecht (October 2018-present; recurring previously)* Madeleine Krakor as Steffi König (October 2018-present) Tijan Njie as Moritz Brunner (October 2018-present; recurring previously)* * Still listed as recurring in the closing credits, but listed as contract on the show's website Contract departures: Daniel Buder as Vincent Thalbach (September 2016-February 2018) Christian Feist as Damian Steinkamp (November 2017-November 2018) Juliette Greco as Lena Öztürk #1/#3 (May 2007-January 2013; September 2013-August 2018) Francisco Medina as Maximilian von Altenburg (October 2007-October 2013; November 2014-April 2015; January 2017-April 2017; January 2018-April 2018) Tanja Szewczenko as Diana Sommer (September 2006-January 2009; April 2016-November 2018) Heike Warmuth as Carmen Bauer (February 2016-December 2018) Confirmed for 2019: Arriving: Birte Glang as Lena Öztürk #4 (2019-present) Freundinnen (2018-present, RTL) Total episodes in 2018: 86 (#1 to #86) Alles oder nichts (2018-present, Sat.1) Total episodes in 2018: 47 (#1 to #47) Current cast: https://www.sat1.de/tv/alles-oder-nichts/darsteller Rote Rosen (2006-present, ARD) Total episodes in 2018: 227 (#2573 to #2800) Current cast: http://www.daserste.de/unterhaltung/soaps-telenovelas/rote-rosen/darsteller/index.html Sturm der Liebe (2005-present, ARD) Total episodes in 2018: 225 (#2839 to #3064) Current cast: http://www.daserste.de/unterhaltung/soaps-telenovelas/sturm-der-liebe/darsteller/index.html Lindenstraße (1985-present, ARD) Total episodes in 2018: 45 (#1610 to #1655) Current cast: https://www1.wdr.de/daserste/lindenstrasse/personen/aktive/index.html

Germany's longest running weekly soap has been canceled: "Lindenstraße", which debuted in December 1985 on ARD, will air its final episode in spring 2020. Once a groundbreaking show and must-see TV attracting 10 million people on average, the soap has suffered from declining ratings since the 2000s. At the turn of the millennium, "Lindenstraße" still had an audience of 5 million, but these days they're lucky to get 2 million. It clearly didn't help that ARD started pre-empting episodes on short notice and aired them on ONE, a niche channel, instead. In addition, questionable casting choices and budget cuts alienated fans. 8 cast members have been with the show since day one. "Lindenstraße" was inspired by ITV's Coronation Street. The show takes place in the fictional Lindenstraße neighborhood in Munich. Official website: https://www1.wdr.de/daserste/lindenstrasse/index.html Current cast: https://www1.wdr.de/daserste/lindenstrasse/personen/aktive/index.html

Some casting news: On AWZ, recurring stars Christopher Kohn (Dr. Finn Albrecht) and Tijan Njie (Moritz Brunner) have apparently been placed on contract – at least they were added to the STARS section on the official website last week. In the closing credits, they are still listed as recurring, though. On GZSZ, Lea Marlen Woitack has announced that she will departing the soap in spring 2019. Woitack joined the cast in March 2014 as Sophie Lindh. Originally a love interest for the much older Jo Gerner, she fell in love with Leon Moreno a few months later and married him in 2015. Neither Gerner's schemes nor the problems with Leon's children could keep them apart. The couple briefly split when Sophie had a miscarriage, but they reunited a few weeks later. Other storylines involved Sophie's job as the editor of "Metropolitan Trends" (a job she lost thanks to Katrin Flemming) and her becoming Jasmin and Emily's business partner at the fashion label "Tussi Attack". One night, Leon slept with Maren Seefeld, which resulted in Maren becoming pregnant. Maren decided to keep the child, and at first she and Leon kept it all a secret. Sophie eventually learned the truth in the show's 6500th episode. At first she wanted to be accepting, but eventually she couldn't deal with all the drama and broke up with Leon. Now she's found a new lover – Maren's 20-year old son Jonas! (I'm sad to see her go – Sophie is a very down-to-earth and rational character, and she and Emily as BFFs have always played so well against each other. She could have driven so much story, but she was hardly given a chance.) UU celebrates 6000 episodes in early December. Backstage at the photo shoot: Contract cast of the 6000th episode: Sharon Berlinghoff – Vivien Köhler (2018-present) Petra Blossey – Irene Weigel-Küpper (1994-present) Timothy Boldt – Ringo Beckmann (2012-present) Andrea Brix – Roswitha Küpper-Pütz (2016-present; recurring previously) Claudelle Deckert – Eva Wagner (2001-2006; 2008-present) Jens Hajek – Benedikt Huber (2016-present) Benjamin Heinrich – Benno "Bambi" Hirschberger (2013-present) Isabell Hertel – Ute Kiefer (1995-present) Tabea Heynig – Britta Sturm (2010-present) Linda König – Larissa Huber (2018-present) Astrid Leberti – Andrea Huber #2 (2017-present) Luca Maric – Robert Küpper (2015-present) Yannik Meyer – Conor Weigel #4 (2018-present) Antonia Michalsky – Saskia Weigel (2017-present) Alexander Milo – Jakob Huber (2017-present) Patrick Müller – Tobias Lassner (2006-present) Kai Noll – Rufus Sturm (2003-present) Ben Ruedinger – Till Weigel #2 (2000-present) Valea Scalabrino – Sina Hirschberger (2010-present) Lars Steinhöfel – Ingo "Easy" Winter (2005-present) Milos Vukovic – Paco Weigel (2000-present)

The new daily soap "Alles oder Nichts" finished its first week on the air - and ratings were terrible. The show only managed to attract 0.8 million viewers, and Friday's episode only had 0.6 million viewers (market share 14-49: less than 5 %). This won't be enough to keep it on the air.

Very good – I wasn't sure if they were. I think they did a very good job with casting all the roles – there doesn't seem to be a weak link. It's also interesting that most of the poor characters speak in Berlin dialect. And we already got our "love at first sight" couple with Jenni and Tarek at the end of the 1st episode Opening sequence: Jascha, Melissa & Maria – Melissa – Maria – Jascha – Daniel (3x) – Rocko & Anja (3x) – Bea – Bea, Olaf & Tarek – Tarek (2x) – Chelsey (2x) – Mike, Jenni, Basti & Elke – Jenni – Alles oder Nichts The end credits list the actors alphabetically, ordered by their first names and omitting any character names, which is also quite unique. The original cast consists of the following actors: Anna Mennicken – Jenni Neumann Anne Brendler – Elke Neumann Anno Kaspar Friedrich von Heimburg – Jascha Brock Franziska Breite – Anja "Angel" Meyer Heiko Kiesow – Axel Brock Josephine Martz – Maria Brock Lennart Borchert – Basti Neumann Marc Barthel – Rocko Schwarz Michael Krabbe – Horst Wölling Mirco Reseg – Mike Neumann Niki Finger – Bea Brock Raphael Vogt – Daniel Wagner Sarah Maria Besgen – Melissa Brock Thomas Morris – Olaf Brock Varol Sahin – Tarek Aliki Four more main characters are introduced in subsequent episodes. I really hope this show succeeds... it reminds me so much of early AWZ. (Sarah Maria Besgen would have been a perfect Jenny Steinkamp recast.)

Sat1 has already uploaded the first 5 episodes of "Alles oder Nichts" on youtube. This actually looks very promising. First episode: Promos: GENERAL ANJA MELISSA ROCKO JENNI DANIEL

Obviously somebody's not appreciating my hard work Some news: RTL has not given up on their 4th daily soap "Freundinnen" yet even though ratings are still terrible. Now they're even doing a crossover with UU: Milos Vukovic, who has played Paco Weigel on UU since 2000, will appear on "Freundinnen" as his UU character in several episodes in December 2018 and January 2019. This means that all 4 RTL soaps belong to the same fictional universe since GZSZ and AWZ have had two crossovers so far, and AWZ and UU have also had a minor crossover before. Also on UU, Yannik Meyer has joined the cast in the role of Conor Weigel. The character has been slightly SORASed: Conor, who was born in 2003, is now ca. 22 years old. Meyer is the first actor to portray the role on contract. In good old soap fashion, there's going to be a love triangle between Conor, his father Till and Till's wife Eva. On AWZ, Tanja Szewczenko has decided to leave the soap once again. The actress originally played Diana Sommer, the show's first heroine, from 2006 to 2009. In spring 2016, Szewczenko returned to much fanfare, but apart from a romance with Ingo (André Dietz) and working as Marie's (Cheyenne Pahde) coach, she hasn't driven much story. This year, she has already appeared infrequently. Szewczenko will last air in November 2018 when Diana accepts a new job in Las Vegas. Also on AWZ, Madeleine Krakor joined the cast in the new contract role of Steffi König on October 10th, 2018. Steffi is an old friend of Lena's (Juliette Greco – who's currently on maternity leave) and quickly becomes friends with Ben and Ingo. She's probably becoming Ben's new love interest. In addition, the show just brought back Simone's mother Friederike von Altenburg. The character was portrayed on a recurring basis by Annelinde Gerstl between 2007 and 2012. Now 70-year old veteran actress Ursula Michaelis has stepped into the role. Friederike, nicknamed "Die Fledermaus" (The Bat) by her family, once again causes confusion among the Steinkamps. Furthermore, Francisco Medina will once again return to the show later this year, which will be his fourth return overall. Medina has portrayed Maximilian von Altenburg from 2007 to 2013, 2014 to 2015, early 2017, and most recently from January to April 2018. Bela Klentze, who had to take a break from filming following an accident, will also resume playing Ronny Bergmann later this year. On GZSZ, there's also a new contract role as Timur Ülker has joined the cast as Nihat Güney, Shirin's (Gamze Senol) cousin. Nihat's father is a successful lawyer and wants his son to follow in his footsteps, but Nihat has other plans and soon becomes entangled in the lives of Shirin, John, Emily and Paul. Before joining GZSZ, Timur Ülker was a regular on the scripted reality "Berlin – Tag und Nacht", and he also appeared as a totally nude contestant on the 4th season of "Adam sucht Eva" (Dating Naked). Sat.1 has made the first 5 episodes of its new daily soap "Alles oder Nichts" available for streaming several days before its television premiere. This is the official website: https://www.sat1.de/tv/alles-oder-nichts, and this is the cast page: https://www.sat1.de/tv/alles-oder-nichts/darsteller First promo: Voice-over: "Vor zwei Wochen bin ich ums Leben gekommen. – Das hier ist meine Familie. – Das sind meine Kinder. Sie kennen sich nicht, und sie haben nichts gemeinsam. Bis auf... mein Erbe. Aber es geht um mehr als nur mein Geld... es geht darum, um sein Glück zu kämpfen... um ALLES ODER NICHTS..." [Die neue Daily Soap, ab 22. Oktober um 18.30] Translation: "Two weeks ago, I lost my life. – This is my family. – These are my children. They don't know each other, and they don't have anything in common. Except for... my inheritance. But it's about more than just my money... it's about fighting for one's fortune... about EVERYTHING OR NOTHING..." [The new daily soap, starting October 22nd at 6.30]

As of episode #3000, AWZ has had 75 performers in contract roles. Here are all of them, ranked by their duration on contract... (* denotes original cast member | † denotes deceased character) The Top 10 – AWZ's most iconic performers Tatjana Clasing as Simone von Altenburg Steinkamp [2006-present | 3000 eps] * Silvan-Pierre Leirich as Richard Steinkamp [2006-present | 3000 eps] * André Dietz as Ingo Zadek [2006-present; recurring previously | 2949 eps] Sam Eisenstein as Marian Öztürk [2006-present; recurring previously | 2929 eps] Igor Dolgatschew as Deniz Öztürk [2007-present | 2769 eps] Juliette Greco as Lena Bergmann von Altenburg Öztürk #1/#3 [2007-2013; 2013-2018 | 2650 eps] Jörg Rohde as Ben Roschinski Steinkamp #2 [2009-present | 2198 eps] Julia Augustin as Dr. Vanessa Steinkamp Lukowski [2006-2009; 2010-2012; 2013; 2014-present | 2054 eps] * Ania Niedieck as Isabelle Reichenbach Steinkamp von Altenburg Pachlhuber [2010-2016; 2017-present | 1851 eps] Francisco Medina as Maximilian Santiago de Castillo von Altenburg [2007-2013; 2014-2015; 2017; 2018 | 1746 eps] Northern Jenny Ah, Axel, Annette and Roman.. those were the golden days. Katja – not so much. Bea, Oliver and Mike sucked big time. Kaja Schmidt-Tychsen as Jenny Steinkamp Herzog Schwarz Hartmann Schulte Öztürk #3 [2011-present | 1674 eps] Daniel Aichinger as Dr. Axel Schwarz [2006-2012; recurring otherwise | 1453 eps] * Ulrike Röseberg as Annette Bergmann Zadek [2006-2012 | 1452 eps] † Tanja Szewczenko as Diana Sommer [2006-2009; 2016-present | 1443 eps] * Anna Katharina Samsel as Katja Bergmann [2009-2015 | 1387 eps] Dennis Grabosch as Roman Wild [2006-2011 | 1299 eps] * † Lars Korten as Christoph Lukowski [2015-present | 894 eps] Caroline Frier as Beatrice Meyer Steinkamp Zadek [2012-2016 | 874 eps] Norman Kalle as Dr. Oliver Sommer [2007-2010; recurring previously | 843 eps] Stephen Dürr as Mike Hartwig [2006-2009 | 812 eps] * † Nina Can Melanie Nathalie Thiede as Nina Sommer [2006-2009 | 793 eps] * Christina Klein as Iva Lukowski [2014-2017 | 754 eps] Franziska Benz as Michelle Bauer [2016-present | 628 eps] Volkan Isbert as Can Öztürk [2012-2015 | 626 eps] Heike Warmuth as Carmen Bauer [2016-present | 625 eps] Michael N. Kuehl as Florian Wild [2010-2012 | 618 eps] Daniel Brockhaus as Dr. Thomas Brück [2015-2017 | 597 eps] Anna Katharina Fecher as Melanie Wendt [2011-2012; 2013-2014 | 569 eps] Nina Bott as Celine Laffort [2008-2010 | 542 eps] Cheyenne Pahde as Marie Schmidt #2 [2016-present | 532 eps] Ugh, Austrian Jenny... she was nothing compared to the real prissy Jenny Sweet Julia Letizia was such a wasted opportunity – as was Vincent. Silvia Maleen as Jenny Steinkamp Herzog Schwarz Hartmann Schulte Öztürk #2 [2008-2010 | 522 eps] Julia Engelmann as Franziska Steinkamp [2010-2012 | 520 eps] Salvatore Greco as Jan Marco Schöler [2011-2013 | 501 eps] Jenny Bach as Julia Meyer [2013-2015 | 468 eps] † Christiane Klimt as Jenny Steinkamp Herzog Schwarz Hartmann Schulte Öztürk #1 [2006-2008 | 450 eps] * Jennifer Dessin-Brasching as Letizia Kaldenhoff von Altenburg [2013-2014 | 419 eps] † Tobias Licht as Lars Berger [2008-2010; recurring previously | 388 eps] Bela Klentze as Ronny Bergmann [2017-present; recurring previously | 387 eps] Daniel Buder as Vincent Thalbach [2016-2018 | 359 eps] Maria Wedig as Juli von Altenburg [2008-2009 | 356 eps] The real Nadja Tobi Everyone else here sucked big time. Well, David was ok. But he kidnapped Jenny's baby! Regine Seidler as Nadja Roschinski #1 [2006-2008 | 355 eps] * Julian Bayer as Leo Brück [2015-2017 | 349 eps] Christina Siemoneit as Sarah Wendt [2011-2013 | 344 eps] Christoph Humnig as Tom Reichenbach [2010-2011 | 341 eps] Nadine Rennack as Stella Coretti [2008-2010 | 336 eps] Yara Hassan as Raquel Santana [2013-2015 | 327 eps] † André Emanuel Kaminski as Tim Herzog [2006-2007 | 323 eps] * Michael Jassin as Tobi Märtz [2015-2016; recurring previously | 317 eps] Paul T. Grasshoff as Julian Herzog [2006-2007 | 313 eps] * † Andreas Hofer as David M. Degen [2013-2014 | 301 eps] Another bunch of nobodies. Mrs. Trinker was so wasted in this thankless role. Pia with her smug face... That awful Nadja recast... Heike Trinker as Claudia Bergmann [2010-2011; recurring otherwise | 292 eps] Armin Dallapiccola as Dieter Sommer [2006-2007 | 291 eps] * Marc Schöttner as Lukas Levin [2013-2014 | 268 eps] Carsten Clemens as Veit Hartmann [2015-2016 | 264 eps] Andreas Seyferth as Grandpa Lutz Hoffmann [2006-2007 | 263 eps] * Isabell Horn as Pia Koch [2015-2016 | 250 eps] (Horn played the same character on GZSZ from 2009-2014 and again in 2015) Julia Albrecht as Flo Brück [2015-2016 | 248 eps] Barbara Sotelsek as Sonja Brück [2015-2016 | 248 eps] Carlo Degen as Joscha Degen [2013-2014 | 236 eps] Birgit Würz as Nadja Roschinski #2 [2008 | 216 eps] The worst of the bunch with the exceptions of Rüdiger Kai. Pauline and Damian are still relatively new so they still have the chance to make a lasting impression. Poor Toni... we were all very sad when you broke your neck... not. Jan Niklas Berg as Ben Roschinski Steinkamp #1 [2006-2007 | 214 eps] * Maike Johanna Reuter as Pauline Reusch [2017-present | 207 eps] Ulrich Drewes as Rüdiger Steinkamp #2 [2012-2013 | 201 eps] (this character was played by a different actor in 2010 in a recurring capacity) Katharina Woschek as Zoé Laffort #2 [2012-2013 | 199 eps] (this character was played by a different actress between 2008 and 2010 in a recurring capacity) Susanne Schlenzig as Jutta Sommer [2006-2007; 192 eps] * Judith Neumann as Marie Schmidt #1 [2015-2016 | 188 eps] Christian Feist as Damian Steinkamp [2017-present | 179 eps] Alexander Wüst as Erik Schulte [2014-2015 | 177 eps] † Maria Kempken as Lena Bergmann von Altenburg Öztürk #2 [158 eps] Robert Maaser as Tim Hayer [2017 | 122 eps] Alexander Gier as Dr. Kai Seebach [2013-2014 | 119 eps] Rosetta Pedone as Viktoria König [2012 | 97 eps] Hannes Sell as Felix Landeck [2014 | 92 eps] Naima Fehrenbacher as Larissa Schuhmann [2014-2015 | 68 eps] Michèle Fichtner as Toni Fuchs [2014-2015 | 66 eps] †

The cast of UU at the 15th annual Fan Event In attendance were: Sharon Berlinghoff (Vivien Köhler), Petra Blossey (Irene Weigel-Küpper), Timothy Boldt (Ringo Beckmann), Andrea Brix (Roswitha Küpper-Pütz), Jens Hajek (Benedikt Huber), Isabell Hertel (Ute Kiefer), Tabea Heynig (Britta Sturm), Chronis Karakassidis (Nikos Karadimas), Lena Klöber (Sarah Fuchs), Linda König (Larissa Huber), Sebastian Kolb (Marc Reichert), Nora Koppen (Elli Weigel), Astrid Leberti (Andrea Huber), Stefano Ligorio (Gianni Aurino), Luca Maric (Robert Küpper), Antonia Michalsky (Saskia Weigel), Alexander Milo (Jakob Huber), Patrick Müller (Tobias Lassner), Valea Scalabrino (Sina Hirschberger), Mariella Simon (Lotta Sturm), Lars Steinhöfel (Easy Winter), Milos Vukovic (Paco Weigel) Not pictured: Contract stars Claudelle Deckert (Eva Wagner), Benjamin Heinrich (Bambi Hirschberger), Ben Ruedinger (Till Weigel) --- On AWZ, Ekaterina Osimowa Steinkamp (Roni Zorina) died a horrible death: When her husband Ben was about to get shot by the devious Rottmann, Ekaterina grabbed Rottmann and touched a power line. Both were eletrocuted. Ekaterina died at the hospital. Bye bye, beautiful. ––– And the next new soap has started taping: "Alles oder Nichts" (All or Nothing) is Sat.1's latest venture. Since the 90s, the network has tried to establish a daily soap on several occasions, but all efforts ended badly. We had "So ist das Leben – Die Wagenfelds" (That's Life – The Wagenfeld Family) from 1995-1996, "Geliebte Schwestern" (Beloved Nurses) from 1997 to 1998, "Hand aufs Herz" (Cross My Heart) from 2010 to 2011, and "Mila" in 2015. In the mid/late 00s, Sat.1 had two successful telenovelas – "Verliebt in Berlin" (2005-2007) and "Anna und die Liebe" (2008-2012) – both of which however died a quick death after several behind-the-scenes changes. The new soap is described as a "glamour soap". At the beginning, business mogul Axel Brock dies in a plane crash. At the reading of Axel's will, his wife Melissa and their two children Jascha and Maria learn that Axel had three illegitimate children: Jenni, Anja and Daniel. A fight between rich and poor ensues – everyone wants their share of the family business. "We are telling a story of Top Dog vs. Underdog. The battle line runs straight through the family. Our show wants to polarize, but we will also tell emotional stories. It's a mirror of our time," says one of the showrunners. The show is produced by Berlin-based company Producers at Work. Among the cast are Anna Mennicken, Raphael Vogt (ex-GZSZ), Franziska Breite, Anne Brendler (ex-GZSZ), Mirco Reseg, Thomas Morris, Niki Finger, Marc Barthel (ex-VL), and Taynara Wolf.

No, it's a really bad scripted reality show. Every episode deals with a teenager or young adult in trouble, usually focusing on money, family or school problems, sexual abuse, mobbing, etc. It's a typical RTL2 show. Their current top 10 shows are: Berlin – Tag und Nacht (Berlin – Day and Night) Köln 50667 (Cologne 50667) Love Island Die Wollnys – Eine schrecklich große Familie (The Wollnys – An Awfully Big Family) Curvy Supermodel (Like Germany's Next Top Model, but for plus size models – the "real" GNTM runs on rival network Pro7) Hilf mir! Jung, pleite und verzweifelt (Help Me! Young, Broke and Desperate) Armes Deutschland (Poor Germany) Hartz und herzlich (Hartz and Hearty – Hartz IV is the colloquial term for welfare / social aid in Germany) Echt Familie – das sind wir! (True Family – This Is Us) Autopsie (Autopsy) The whole channel is full of trash tv. BTN airs against AWZ and GZSZ and has a market share of ~ 13 percent. That's perfectly possible that Chroust created the storyline. He's been writing for soaps since the late 90s – he first wrote for VL in 1998, and went to GZSZ in the early 00s. I think he went back and forth between VL, AWZ and GZSZ for quite a while (all produced by UFA Serial Drama), and now he's writing for Sturm der Liebe (which is produced by Bavaria Film). AWZ and UU's current headwriters are Nicole Peisker and Nina Blum, respectively. I don't know who's writing GZSZ at the moment. Producers Petra Kolle and Damian Lott are usually the ones giving interviews.

Yeah, they definitely did I'm glad that AWZ finally got a lot of press coverage because the show's debut in 2006 definitely changed the quality of the remaining soaps for the better. Back then it introcuded a new standard, and even flagship GZSZ borrowed heavily from AWZ's filming and storytelling techniques. RTL's new 4th daily soap "Freundinnen" went on the air last week, but ratings have been awful so far. They only managed to get half of UU's ratings (and these are not great at the moment, either). Yesterday's live ratings: 2:10 pm: Rote Rosen | Total viewers: 1.47m | Market share: 14.5% 3.10 pm: Sturm der Liebe | Total viewers: 1.63m | Market share: 14.1% 5.00 pm: Freundinnen | Total viewers: 0.67m | Market share: 5.5% | Viewers 14-59: 0.43m | Market share: 7.7% 5.30 pm: Unter uns | Total viewers: 1.09m | Market share: 7.9% | Viewers 14-59: 0.71m | Market share: 10.7% 7.05 pm: Alles was zählt | Total viewers: 2.1m | Market share: 9.3% | Viewers 14-59: 1.37m | Market share: 13.1% 7.40 pm: Gute Zeiten, Schlechte Zeiten | Total viewers: 2.86m | Market share: 11.2% | Viewers 14-59: 2.02m | Market share: 16.5% Yesterday's Top 10 programs on RTL's streaming platform: 01. Gute Zeiten, Schlechte Zeiten (RTL - daily soap) 02. Köln 50667 (RTL2 - daily scripted reality) 03. Die Bachelorette (The Bachelorette) (RTL - weekly scripted reality) 04. Alles was zählt (RTL - daily soap) 05. Berlin - Tag und Nacht (Berlin - Day and Night) (RTL2 - daily scripted reality) 06. Shopping Queen (VOX - daily scripted reality) 07. Unter uns (RTL - daily soap) 08. Zwischen Tüll und Tränen (Between Tulle and Tears) (VOX - daily scripted reality) 09. Hilf mir! Jung, pleite und verzweifelt (Help Me! Young, Broke and Desperate) (RTL2 - daily scripted reality) 10. Alarm für Cobra 11 (RTL - weekly action series) As you can see, the soaps are competing with other "high quality programs"

AWZ: "3000 episodes – and we still haven't had enough!" (Image Campaign) Backstage at the Anniversary Episode Screening Several cast members attended the Fan Event, including contract stars Jörg Rohde, Franziska Benz, Igor Dolgatschew, Silvan-Pierre Leirich, and recurring stars Roni Zorina, Christopher Kohn, Madlen Kaniuth, Ingeborg Brings and Tijan Njie.

20 years after "Never Ever": Their biggest worldwide hit was this one:

At the beginning of the 3000th episode, AWZ will unveil its brand new opening sequence. Again, there are two versions. The theme has not been changed (and you can see Pauline and Vanessa singing the lyrics – or in Vanessa's case, it's rather bawling). Everyone who appears in the new opening has appeared in the previous opening as well. However, three performers who were in the previous opening were not included this time: Francisco Medina (Maximilian von Altenburg), who departed the show in April; Juliette Greco (Lena Öztürk), who's on maternity leave and last aired August 6th, 2018; and Bela Klentze (Ronny Bergmann), who came by an injury while taking part in the 11th season of "Dancing with the Stars" and last aired on May 2nd, 2018. Version A Order: Tatjana Clasing as Simone Steinkamp – Sam Eisenstein as Marian Öztürk – Igor Dolgatschew as Deniz Öztürk – Cheyenne Pahde as Marie Schmidt – Kaja Schmidt-Tychsen as Jenny Steinkamp – Silvan-Pierre Leirich as Richard Steinkamp –Jörg Rohde as Ben Steinkamp – Maike Johanna Reuter as Pauline Reusch – Alles was zählt Version B Order: Julia Augustin as Vanessa Steinkamp – Lars Korten as Christoph Lukowski – Ania Niedieck as Isabelle Pachlhuber – Tanja Szewczenko as Diana Sommer – Christian Feist as Damian Steinkamp – Tatjana Clasing as Simone Steinkamp – Silvan-Pierre Leirich as Richard Steinkamp – Heike Warmuth as Carmen Bauer – André Dietz as Ingo Zadek – Franziska Benz as Michelle Bauer – Alles was zählt In addition, RTL launches a 4th daily drama on August 20th, 2018: "Freundinnen" (Girlfriends) airs weekdays at 5 pm, followed by "Unter uns" at 5.30 pm. The show is about 4 female friends and their daily struggles. Judging from the previews, it looks like a mixture of a soap and a sitcom. (I think I already hate it and I'm sure it won't last long.)

Official promo video for AWZ's 3000th episode: And two videos of Emily and Paul's wedding on GZSZ: Teaser and Backstage.

Wedding Madness! On AWZ, Jenny Steinkamp and Deniz Öztürk tie the knot on August 15th, 2018. This is Jenny's 5th marriage: Her ex-husbands include Julian Herzog (2006, divorced), Dr. Axel Steinkamp-Schwarz (2008, divorced), Officer Erik Schulte (2015, widowed), and Veit Hartmann (2016, divorced). Marriage #1 happened with original performer Christiane Klimt in the role, and marriage #2 with Silvia Maleen in the role. The Steinkamp Clan 2018 From left to right: Father of the Groom: Marian Öztürk (Sam Eisenstein, original cast member) Cousin of the Bride: Damian Steinkamp (Christian Feist, 2017-present) Damian's current girlfriend, Ben's and Richard's ex-wife, Jenny's nemesis: Isabelle Reichenbach Steinkamp Pachlhuber (Ania Niedieck, 2010-present) Brother-in-law of the Bride: Christoph Lukowski (Lars Korten, 2015-present) Sister of the Bride: Dr. Vanessa Steinkamp Lukowski (Julia Augustin, original cast member) The Groom: Deniz Öztürk (Igor Dolgatschew, 2007-present) The Bride: Jenny Steinkamp Herzog Schwarz Schulte Hartmann Öztürk #4 (Kaja Schmidt-Tychsen, 2011-present) Mother of the Bride: Simone von Altenburg Steinkamp (Tatjana Clasing, original cast member) Father of the Bride: Richard Steinkamp (Silvan-Pierre Leirich, original cast member) Half-brother of the Bride: Ben Roschinski Steinkamp #2 (Jörg Rohde, 2009-present) Ben's wife: Ekaterina Osimowa Steinkamp (Roni Zorina, 2018-present, recurring) Housekeeper: Frau Renate Scholz (Ingeborg Brings, original cast member, recurring) Children: Annabelle Steinkamp (Jenny's daughter with David M. Degen) and Henry Steinkamp (Vanessa and Christoph's son) Family members no longer on the show were apparently not invited to the wedding On GZSZ, Emily Höfer Badak (Anne Menden) and Paul Wiedmann (Niklas Osterloh) get married on August 8th, 2018. This is Emily's second wedding: She previously married Tayfun Badak in 2014 (which ended in divorce). Tuner (Thomas Drechsel) and Sophie (Lea Marlen Woitack) are Paul and Emily's witnesses.

Some GL episodes dubbed in German... #3226, #3227 and #3228 (these are the episode numbers of the German broadcast, so these episodes should actually be from the early 90s?) #3278 (the final episode to be shown here, German airdate: July 9th, 1999) Synopsis: It's Gilly and Hampton's wedding day. Jenna wants to make a big haul. Bridget tries to impress Hart. Alex mistrusts Roger and sends some of her people to Europe to spy on him. According to my researches, this episode must be from April 1992.

After all the hype that GZSZ received in recent weeks, UU and AWZ are finally getting some love from RTL as well. AWZ celebrates its 3000th episode (and 12th anniversary) on August 15th, 2018. Official synopsis for #3000: While Deniz (Igor Dolgatschew) is looking forward to leading Jenny (Kaja Schmidt-Tychsen) to the altar, Jenny is in severe danger. Meanwhile, Ben (Jörg Rohde) is unaware of Ekaterina (Roni Zorina) being blackmailed by Rottmann (Marko Drylich). Ekaterina wants to sacrifice herself for Jenny. When Ben eventually learns of Ekaterina's plan, it may be too late. In the meantime, the preparations for the wedding run at full speed. While the guests are arriving, a catastrophe is looming... Meanwhile, UU is repeating a successful formula: Family vs. Family. The backstory: After a heated argument with her parents Benedit (Jens Hajek) and Andrea (Astrid Leberti), Larissa Huber (Linda König) speeds off in her car – and has a hit and run accident. Instead of going to the police, the Hubers contrive a scheme: In order to protect their daughter, they try to cover up the whole incident and try to sabotage police investigations. The Hubers don't even care about the fact that neighbor Ute Kiefer (Isabell Hertel), who is the first to find the victim, is blamed for the accident and is subsequently taken into police custody. When child protective servicess take charge of Ute's daughter Maja, Ute's ex-husband Till Weigel (Ben Ruedinger) tries to interfere: He wants to take the blame in order to protect Ute, the mother of two of his children. Till believes that due to confessing he will only receive a mild punishment – but he's wrong. Instead of Ute, Till goes to prison. The Hubers are watching from the outside as the patchwork family consisting of Ute, Till, Eva (Claudelle Deckert) and their children is heading for disaster...

That's because it was the 4th episode that was broadcast here Apparently, the package consisted of 357 episodes, starting with #3083 and probably ending with #3444 (if they didn't skip some episodes in-between – that did happen to other US soaps). The 1st episode was shown on January 2nd, 1989, on Pro7 (the network's logo can be seen in the video above). After 100 episodes, Pro7 cancelled the show on May 19th, 1989. The remaining episodes – that probably already had been dubbed in the late 80s – were then shown on a pay-tv station between 1997 and 2000. And then they wondered why nobody tuned in... imagine watching "brand new" episodes that were in reality almost 20 years old. They actually gave every episode a title, just like a primetime show.

Found this on youtube, some OLTL episode – albeit dubbed in German. The show ran in Germany for a brief time in the late 80s/90s. This episode probably is from 1980 or 1981.

After five years, Linda Marlen Runge is leaving GZSZ later this summer. The actress joined the cast in August 2013 as Anni Brehme, a tough and sharp-tongued woman who quickly turned out to be a lesbian. After a one-night-stand with her new roommate Pia, Anni set her sights on Jasmin Flemming. The very popular couple broke up in 2015, but got together in 2017 until Jasmin left Berlin to focus on her career as a fashion designer. In 2016, Anni was jealous when Jasmin started Frederic Riefflin – who later turned out to be Jasmin's biological father. When Frederic was accidentially murdered by Maren, Anni was also involved in the case as she helped Katrin and Maren to get rid of the corpse. Earlier this year, Anni became Katrin's new personal assistant. It wasn't long before both women realized their attraction for one another. The big problem: Katrin is Jasmin's mother. Anni's exit will definitely leave a huge void. She's really been a great character, maybe even one of the best GZSZ ever had. French promo for GZSZ:

Episode Counts June 2018 Actor names in italics denote recurring roles or guest appearances. One-shot characters do not appear in this list, even though they were listed in the closing credits. Unter uns A total of 21 episodes aired this month. Who's who? http://www.soapsworld.de/unter-uns-uu/besetzung 01. Jens Hajek (Benedikt Huber) : 18 *** Antonia Michalsky (Saskia Weigel) : 18 *** Patrick Müller (Tobias Lassner) : 18 04. Petra Blossey (Irene Weigel-Küpper) : 17 *** Nora Koppen (Elli Weigel) : 17 *** Luca Maric (Robert Küpper) : 17 07. Claudelle Deckert (Eva Wagner) : 16 *** Timothy Boldt (Ringo Beckmann) : 16 *** Kai Noll (Rufus Sturm) : 16 *** Lars Steinhöfel (Easy Winter) : 16 11. Benjamin Heinrich (Benno "Bambi" Hirschberger) : 15 *** Alexander Milo (Jakob Huber) : 15 *** Ben Ruedinger (Till Weigel) : 15 *** Valea Katharina Scalabrino (Sina Hirschberger) : 15 15. Isabell Hertel (Ute Kiefer) : 14 *** Astrid Leberti (Andrea Huber) : 14 17. Linda König (Larissa Huber) : 13 *** Milos Vukovic (Paco Weigel) : 13 19. Ramon Ademes (Roger Schmitz) : 9 20. Lena Klöber (Sarah Fuchs) : 5 21. Andrea Brix (Roswitha Küpper-Pütz) : 4 *** Cronis Karakassidis (Nikos Karadimas) : 4 *** Stefano Ligorio (Gianni Aurino) : 4 24. Mariella Simon (Lotta Sturm) : 3 25. Finn Luca Cramer (Noah Weigel) : 2 26. Laura Linke (Amelie Hirschberger) : 1 CONTRACT ARRIVALS: Linda König (Larissa Huber) [04/10/2018] CONTRACT DEPARTURES: Tabea Heynig (Britta Sturm) [02/15/2018] (maternity leave) Pauline Angert (Kay-C Schneider) [04/05/2018] Final cliffhanger of June 2018: Sina acts as if nothing has happened after her husband Bambi has moved out. Alles was zählt A total of 21 episodes aired this month. Who's who? http://www.soapsworld.de/alles-was-zaehlt-awz/besetzung 01. Ania Niedieck (Isabelle Pachlhuber) : 20 02. Tatjana Clasing (Simone Steinkamp) : 18 *** Silvan-Pierre Leirich (Richard Steinkamp) : 18 04. Cheyenne Pahde (Marie Schmidt) : 16 05. Igor Dolgatschew (Deniz Öztürk) : 15 *** Heike Warmuth (Carmen Bauer) : 15 07. Julia Augustin (Dr. Vanessa Steinkamp) : 14 *** André Dietz (Ingo Zadek) : 14 *** Juliette Greco (Lena Öztürk) : 14 *** Kaja Schmidt-Tychsen (Jenny Steinkamp) : 14 *** Tanja Szewczenko (Diana Sommer) : 14 12. Sam Eisenstein (Marian Öztürk) : 13 *** Christian Feist (Damian Steinkamp) : 13 14. Jörg Rohde (Ben Steinkamp) : 12 15. Franziska Benz (Michelle Bauer) : 11 *** Maike Johanna Reuter (Pauline Reusch) : 11 17. Christopher Kohn (Dr. Finn Albrecht) : 10 18. Roni Zorina (Ekaterina Osimowa) : 9 19. Lars Korten (Christoph Lukowski) : 7 *** Haydar Zorlu (Yüksel Öztürk) : 7 21. Marko Drylich (Ralf Rottmann) : 6 22. Jenny Laura Bischoff (Sonja Lenz) : 5 *** Vanessa Boritzka (Natascha Osimowa) : 5 24. Jana Klein (Conny Pfitzer) : 4 *** Maxwell Richter (Henchman Tom) : 4 26. Thomas Schumann (Sex Guest Jochen Möller) : 3 27. Marc Barthel (Justin Deller) : 2 *** Ralf-Maximilian Prack (Alexander Öztürk) : 2 29. Bela Klentze (Ronny Bergmann) : 0 CONTRACT ARRIVALS: Francisco Medina (Maximilian von Altenburg) [01/04/2018] (3rd return) CONTRACT DEPARTURES: Daniel Buder (Vincent Thalbach) [02/26/2018] Francisco Medina (Maximilian von Altenburg) [04/30/2018] (4th departure) Final cliffhanger of June 2018: Isabelle has found Pauline's earring in Damian's pocket. She begins to cry, but then she regains her strength and whispers "You'll regret this". Gute Zeiten, Schlechte Zeiten A total of 21 episodes aired this month. Who's who? http://www.soapsworld.de/gute-zeiten-schlechte-zeiten-gzsz/besetzung 01. Valentina Pahde (Sunny Richter) : 19 02. Thomas Drechsel (Max "Tuner" Krüger) : 17 03. Daniel Fehlow (Leon Moreno) : 16 *** Ulrike Frank (Katrin Flemming) : 16 *** Jörn Schlönvoigt (Dr. Philip Höfer) : 16 06. Thaddäus Meilinger (Felix Lehmann) : 15 *** Eva Mona Rodekirchen (Maren Seefeld) : 15 08. Anne Menden (Emily Badak) : 14 *** Linda Marlen Runge (Anni Brehme) : 14 10. Felix van Deventer (Jonas Seefeld) : 13 *** Clemens Löhr (Alexander Cöster) : 13 *** Gamze Senol (Shirin Akinci) : 13 *** Iris Mareike Steen (Lilly Seefeld) : 13 *** Maria Wedig (Nina Ahrens) : 13 *** Lea Marlen Woitack (Sophie Lindh) : 13 16. Felix von Jascheroff (John Bachmann) : 12 17. Chryssanthi Kavazi (Laura Weber) : 11 18. Maximilian Braun (Luis Ahrens) : 10 19. Niklas Osterloh (Paul Wiedmann) : 9 20. Wolfgang Bahro (Dr. Jo Gerner) : 8 21. Eric Stehfest (Chris Lehmann) : 4 22. Patrick Heinrich (Erik Fritsche) : 3 *** Mirya Kalmuth (Sandra Kramer) : 3 24. Luisa Wietzorek (Miriam Althoff) : 2 CONTRACT ARRIVALS: Gamze Senol (Shirin Akinci) [02/22/2018] (recurring previously) CONTRACT DEPARTURES: ––– Final cliffhanger of June 2018: At the hospital, Philip has stolen Felix's cell phone to gather some information about his illegal activities. Naturally, Felix catches him red-handed.