Huntress

Huge hit in Sweden right now – love it. http://youtu.be/l2Tc2hMcEnc And something from Estonia. http://youtu.be/deNL_Ei7mzg

Well, it worked for Days of our Lives. At first, RTL aired unedited episodes of Days at 2 p.m. Then they moved the show to 10.30 a.m. and split the episodes. In France, Days currently airs as 20-minutes episodes on France 2 at 9.10 a.m as "Des jours et des vies". It is followed by B&B aka "Amour, Gloire et Beauté" at 9.30 a.m. I think their current Days episodes are from 2003/2004 and B&B is from 2011.

Yes, the fans were gutted, considering the show still attracted a million viewers every day. However, ZDF wanted to restructure their program and kicked B&B off its schedule, stating that they were too close to the US airings and that they needed to take a break. Since two episodes were shown every day, they were indeed close to the US airings and had to take breaks before. In order to avoid this problem, ZDF tried airing Y&R and B&B back to back (with Y&R episodes split in half as two individual of episodes of 20 minutes each). but almost nobody wanted to see Y&R so they had to revert to showing two episodes of B&B. Currently repeats of B&B are shown on Tele5, but they only have the rights for a small amount of episodes from 2007 onwards. Tele5 is a rather small station and they cannot afford dubbing new episodes. So far, DVD sets of the first 250 episodes (7 individual boxes) have been released here. I think it's either up to the tv station or the distributor to decide if a show's name gets translated. Up until the 90s it was rather common for show's titles to be translated, but these days they usually have their original titles. Sometimes a subtitle is added for a better understanding of what the show is about, for example "Grey's Anatomy – Die jungen Ärzte" (Grey's Anatomy – The Young Doctors). In many cases names were translated because the majority of people back then wouldn't know what it means. Nowadays almost everyone speaks and understands English to a certain degree, but it was of course different with older generations. My grandparents for example couldn't speak a word and wouldn't even listen to music with foreign lyrics. Other than American programs, there's hardly any other foreign stuff on tv. The only current show from the UK I can think of is Downton Abbey. Oh, and Inspector Barnaby is also quite popular. In many regions you can also watch stations from other countries. My cable provider carries free stations from France, Netherlands, Belgium, Italy, Russia, Turkey and even some Arabic channels. I also have BBC, CNN, Al Jazeera and the likes.

Yes, that sums up Marc/Viktor/Sandra pretty well. The "Inception" story happened shortly after and Sandra was a main player in that as well (that girl surely was tortured during her 8 years on the show). After the debacle with Viktor, Sandra got back together with Marc, but then she thought she was pregnant, which caused a rift between them because Sandra had already suffered a miscarriage two years earlier (with her then boyfriend Deniz, who was killed on their wedding day when he fell from a tower) and she didn't want to suffer that again. In turn, Marc thought he shouldn't become a father because of his genes (he feared that he and the baby might be schizophrenic as well). After her mother Senta and her uncle Hannes had died in a plane crash, Sandra hit rock bottom. In the meantime, Sandra's best friend Verena planned to marry her boyfriend Vincent Buhr, but then had an affair with Sebastian Winter. Vincent found out and disappeared for several months. When he returned to Berlin, he had become a spokesperson for "Incecption", an instituion which promised its participants to "remodel their lives". Sandra, fragile as she was, fell prey to their mind games and began to turn on her friends. Marc and Verena teamed up to help Vincent and Sandra to quit "Inception". Vincent was first to realize his mistake and broke freem from "Inception", but Sandra was not listening to anyone and even had Vincent beat up. After she was kicked off from "Inception" due to Vincent's scheming, Sandra tried to commit suicide, but was rescued by Marc in the last second. Sandra hoped to reunite with Marc, but he married Katrin Flemming instead, who was only out for his money. Vincent meanwhile fell in love with the daughter of the leader of "Inception". Eventually, they took the cult down and left town together in August 2007. Sandra remained on the show until June 2008 (episode 4000). After Katrin and Marc had split up, a quadrangle developed between Sandra, Verena, Marc and Verena's former lover Leon with Sandra and Leon becoming an item much to Marc's and Verena's dismay. Sandra and Marc eventually reunited and left Berlin, while Verena and Leon got back together and were a couple until 2011 when Verena was killed off. --- Quite a lot of foreign soaps were shown in Germany, however many of them ran only for a rather short time and none of the soaps are still on the air. I tried to make a list... I'm not sure if it's 100 % accurate. As the World Turns – Jung und leidenschaftlich (1992-1993 on RTL; 1993-1994 on VOX, 194 dubbed episodes from the 80s?) The Bold and the Beautiful – Reich und Schön (1988-2011 on Tele5 > RTL > ZDF, from first episode on, last new US episode was from February 2011) Days of our Lives – Zeit der Sehnsucht (1993-1995 on RTL; later on Premiere; 919 dubbed episodes from the late 80s) General Hospital – General Hospital (1988-1991 on Sat.1, 884 dubbed episodes from the early 80s) Guiding Light – Springfield Story (1986-1999 on RTL, 3278 dubbed episodes from 1979 to 1992) One Life to Live – Liebe, Lüge, Leidenschaft (1989-1990 on Pro7, 357 dubbed episodes from 1980/1981) Santa Barbara – California Clan (1988-1997 on RTL, full run, 2175 dubbed episodes) Sunset Beach – Sunset Beach (1998-1999 on RTL, only the first year of the show was dubbed) The Young and the Restless – Schatten der Leidenschaft (1993-1994 on Sat.1; later episodes from the mid 90s on Premiere; re-start on ZDF with US episodes from 2005/2006 from March to December 2008; in total 1718 dubbed episodes) Of course we had all the primetime soaps of the last decades (and most American shows in general). The only Aussie soap that was shown here was Neighbours (844 episodes from the late 80s). I don't think any British soap has ever aired in Germany. We also had several South American and Mexican telenovelas, for example Rubí or Salomé.

I think the "Sommerloch" was pretty much present in the 2000s. These days stories are dragged out for a much longer time, so there's no hard cut in quality during the sommer months. Maybe the stories' overall quality has become worse, though Up until 2005/2006, when all RTL soaps received their first outdoor sets (which were later extended), the shows used to film many scenes on location. UU for example had the "Übersee" bar which was located at a real lake and was part of the show's summer storylines for at least 7 consecutive years. I think the set was eventually abolished in 2008 or 2009. When GZSZ introduced the "Kiez" (Berlin neighborhood) formula, the show basically changed overnight. Not only became the storylines more down-to-earth and realistic – the last outrageous storylines were the Marc/Viktor/Sandra triangle with the terror wedding and mannequins as wedding guests, and the "Inception" cult storyline in 2006/2007 –, the sets also lost their lost typical "soapy" look. However, the exclusive use of the outdoor set instead of filming on location became annoying because we always the same sets over and over again. For a while, many scenes took place in that subway wagon where people randomly met. UU's and AWZ's outdoor sets are rather small compared to GZSZ's and they are close to one another since both shows are filmed on the same lot. If you look closely enough, you can see the entrace gate to the show's studios and other maintenance buildings in the background of many of AWZ's outdoor scenes.

All four soaps run during the whole year except on national holidays: New Year's Day (Neujahr) – January 1st Good Friday (Karfreitag) – either March or April Easter Monday (Ostermontag) – either March or April Labor Day (Tag der Arbeit) – May 1st Ascension Day (Christi Himmelfahrt) – either May or June Whit Monday (Pfingstmontag) – either May or June German Day of Unity (Tag der Deutschen Einheit) – October 3rd Christmas (Weihnachten) – December 25th and 26th In addition, there are no new episodes on Christmas Eve (Heiligabend) (December 24th) and New Year's Eve (Silvester) (December 31st) due to holiday programming. These days are no official holidays, but most people are on holiday during this time anyway. There are also some holidays that are only holidays in some of our 16 federal states, for example All Saints' Day (Allerheiligen) (November 1st). Until a few years ago, the soaps did not air new episodes on this day either, but somehow this was abolished. "Verbotene Liebe" is the only soap to frequently pre-empt episodes throughout the year because of sports coverage since ARD holds the rights to broadcast all major sports events (Olympic Games, soccer, winter sports, swimming events, track and fields events etc.)

Yes, Daniel Aichinger (Axel) is back in January and will appear for ca. 2 months. Also back is Sabine Fernandez whose character Constanze Hipp was killed off during the fire this past fall. Fernandez will portray Constanze's twin sister Corinna Hipp starting January 30th, 2014. Like Constanze, Corinna will be a recurring character and she is set to appear for at least 3 months. Apparently she is part of Axel's plan to get revenge on the Steinkamp family. On VL, Olli (Jo Weil) will get a new love interest since Christian (Thore Schölermann) is off the show again. Olli, who feels alone, sets his sights on Sascha (Sascha Pederiva), who becomes Olli's roommate and is of course straight (for now). VL also released promo pics for its upcoming 4444th episode. The pictures feature Tanja (Miriam Lahnstein), Sebastian (Sebastian Schlemmer), Eva (Franziska Kruse) and Ansgar (Wolfram Grandezka).

This movement against homophobia is currently the hottest topic in German media: Straight male celebrities kissing each other in front of the camera. http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2013/12/12/mundpropoganda-german-gq_n_4432878.html https://www.facebook.com/gqmundpropaganda Could a campaign like this happen in the US as well?

Coming up this winter on "Verbotene Liebe": http://youtu.be/OR1iubaWTEs

The year is almost over... so let's take a look at who has been on contract this year on all 4 soaps. Green exclamation mark = has joined this year Red cross = has left this year Alles was zählt Gute Zeiten, Schlechte Zeiten Unter uns Verbotene Liebe

UU has confirmed that Marylu Saskia Poolman is one of the cast members to be let go. Fortunately her character Anna Weigel won't die, though. That would have been too much of a shock because Anna has been on the show since the very first episode and the audience saw her grow up from a 10-year old girl to a woman in her late 20s. Poolman is the third actress in the role and took over from Kathleen Fiedler who played the part from 2006 to 2010. The first actress, Janis Rattenni, was on the show from 1994 to 2004. Strangely enough, Poolman will film her last scenes in April 2014, which means that she'll air at least until June. Why the show confirmed her exit so early is beyond me. I don't mind Anna, but they haven't written her well after her face got burned in a deep fryer explosion and once they paired her up with her cousin Paco. They eventually got married, but Anna was desperate to become pregnant. She lost her baby and got depressed. Anna and Paco's marriage fell apart and now Anna is in a relationship with Rufus, who's 20 years older than her. However, Anna already had an affair with a much older man as a teenager (with her teacher), so that isn't totally out of character. At least Anna can play mommy to Rufus's daughter Lotta. Poor Lotta already had two "moms" who died. Her birth-mom Heidi was killed off in 2011, and her step-mom Rebecca, Rufus's wife, was murdered in 2012.

http://youtu.be/gJRXodZoP40 http://youtu.be/T1TKf2r2pWU http://youtu.be/h5lLI8oKc6I

And the weirdness continues: Two days ago, Unter Uns announced in a press release that five characters might be on their way out. Four of them could die in a shocking cliffhanger. According to the release, the producers are currently evaluating which of these characters are still needed and which are disposable. The affected cast members are Lars Steinhöfel (Easy Winter, 2005-), Marylu Saskia Poolman (Anna Weigel #3, 2010-), Eric Langner (Paul Beckmann, 2012-), Anne Apitzsch (Sonja Beckmann, 2012-) – and newcomer Sarah Hannemann (Josephine Johlke) who hasn't even started airing yet! Lars Steinhöfel, Marylu Saskia Poolman, Eric Langner, Anne Apitzsch and Sarah Hannemann Again, all important media outlets reported on this story. RTL surely knows how to promote their shows... AWZ is probably next to fire some cast members, considering they want to revamp the show once more in 2014.

When it was announced that Felix von Jascheroff will depart GZSZ in February 2014 after being on contract for more than 12 consecutive years, his fans were clearly disappointed. In an interview von Jascheroff revealed that his character John Bachmann, who arrived on-screen in July 2001, will receive a happy ending. Fans began to wonder what that would mean, since John recently got together with this ex-girlfriend Pia Koch, played by Isabell Horn. A few days later, the show released another press statement: Isabell Horn is also on her way out! While the press release stated that Horn did not renew her contract because she's looking forward to playing other roles after portraying Pia for five years, a Facebook message written by the actress made it clear how disappointed she is that she's being written off the show. Some media outlets acted as if this was the first time a cast member was fired. In reality, 90 percent of past cast members did not leave voluntarily. Speaking of which: VL has decided to replace its main couple once more. This past May, Julia Sontag and Kristian Kiehling were introduced as Martha Wolf, a clumsy ugly duckling, and Juri Adam, a wild and mysterious fashion designer. Their love story unfolded during the summer months, but ultimately did not catch on with the audience. Their finale airdate is today (November 18th, 2013). The show has already hired replacements: Katja Sieder and Philipp Oehme have been cast as Caroline Schulze and Thore Hellström. Their story is basically a redux of Martha and Juri, since Caroline is a new assistant at "LCL" while Thore is the new creative director and therefore her boss. Both appear for the first time on December 27th, 2013. Episode still of Katja Sieder and Philipp Oehme

Great singer, great lyrics. http://youtu.be/kiMG_JV2gbo

The big problem is that basically every citizen has been spied on. In Europe we have very strict privacy laws (it's part of the European Union directive) and people are actually fighting for them to get tightened even more, so that revelation was a huge slap in the face for everyone. Yesterday it was revealed that the NSA has gathered information from Google, Yahoo and other media companies without their knowledge. Are you fine with that as well?

Anni (whose full name is Andrea) is probably one of the best additions to the GZSZ cast in recent years. She does come across like a real person - unlike the other two newcomers Nele and Mieze, who look like cartoon characters. Alexa has appeared on screen month last month. She's the daughter of the wealthy businessman Vincent Berg. Ansgar von Lahnstein owes Vincent 90 million euros and therefore he agreed to hire Alexa as a designer for "Ligne Clarisse". Initially, she came across as being naive and dumb, but in reality she's manipulative and egoistic. She wants to push her own fashion line and sleeps with Ansgar's cousin Tristan who's the co-owner of "Ligne Clarisse". Gradually Alexa infuriates the whole Lahnstein family (Ansgar, Tanja, Rebecca, Sebastian, Elisabeth). Alexa's father is also up to no good, that's why Elisabeth steals his cell phone data. I think he's illegaly dealing with fur.

Preview pictures for November 2013: Unter uns 01: Britta (Tabea Heynig) is run over by Irene 02: Ringo (Timothy Boldt) and Yannick (Eric Stehfest) continue their affair 03: John (Elvis Clausen) blackmails Leonie (Sarah Stork) 04: Irene (Petra Blossey) and Britta 05: Sina (Valea Scalabrino) and Bambi (Benjamin Heinrich) 06: Britta and Henning (Benjamin Kiss) for Moritz's (Marvin Linke) life 07: Irene and her children Anna (Marylu Saskia Poolman) and Till (Ben Ruedinger) 08: Irene meets Florian (Stephan Käfer) 09: Yannick says goodbye to Kira (Barbara Prakopenka) 10: Sina meets Joe (new series regular Sarah Hannemann), Bambi's best friend, for the first time Verbotene Liebe 01: Alexa (Henrike Fehrs) and Tristan (Jens Hartwig) 02: Jessica (Jana Julie Kilka) and Sascha (Sascha Pederiva) 03: Elisabeth (Martina Servatius) steals data from a cell phone 04: Tristan and Alexa 05: Alexa 06: Sebastian (Sebastian Schlemmer), Rebecca (Tatjana Kästel) and Tristan 07: Ricardo (Daniel Sellier) and Dana (Diane Willems) 08: Juri (Kristian Kiehling) wants to kill Sascha 09: Alexa 10: Ansgar (Wolfram Grandezka) and Sebastian Alles was zählt 01: Letizia (Jennifer Dessin-Brasching) wants to show that she still is the star of the "Dance Academy" 02: Joscha (Carlo Degen) and a male stripper 03: Can (Volkan Isbert) has trouble buying condoms in Croatia 04: Isabelle (Ania Niedieck) celebrates her triumph over the Steinkamps 05: Simone (Tatjana Clasing) thinks she is too old and considers having cosmetic surgery 06: Raquel (Yara Hassan) and Joscha get married 07: Raquel spends her wedding night alone 08: Isabelle 09: Joscha and Kai (Alexander Gier) have sex in the changing room 10: Raquel plans a strip routine with Marian (Sam Eisenstein), Ingo (André Dietz), Can, Deniz (Igor Dolgatschew) and Ben (Jörg Rohde) Gute Zeiten, Schlechte Zeiten 01: Zac (Jascha Rust) has trouble with his father Lars (Sebastian Hölz) 02: Leon (Daniel Fehlow) threatens Mieze (Franziska van der Heide) 03: Tayfun (Tayfun Baydar) and Emily (Anne Menden) try to be good parents for Baby Kate 04: Jasmin (Janina Uhse) doesn't recognize that Anni (Linda Marlen Runge) is in love with her 05: Anni seduces Nele's best friend Didi (day player) 06: Nele (Ramona Dempsey) figures out that Anni loves Jasmin 07: Ayla (Sila Sahin) wants Baby Kate for herself; Philip (Jörn Schlönvoigt) comforts her 08: Vince (Vincent Krüger) cheers up a distressed Lilly (Iris Mareike Steen) 09: Emily is freaked out when Baby Kate has disappeared 10: Mesut (Mustafa Alin) tries to talk Ayla, who has kidnapped Baby Kate, out of fleeing to Turkey

None of the soaps has ever brought a character back from the dead – only if their deaths weren't seen on-screen, but that hasn't been done much, either. One rare example would be Jenny on AWZ who went missing after a plane crash in Russia in the summer of 2010. Then in December 2011 she suddenly turned out to be alive. Two other examples would be Tanja and Clarissa on VL who were also presumed dead after a plane crash in 2001 – the audience never saw the actual crash – and who returned in 2004 and 2011, respectively. I can't think of anyone else right now... because apart from AWZ, the other soaps rarely bring back characters from the past. GZSZ is the worst offender in this regard.

AWZ has added two more contract roles to its cast: Yara Hassan plays Raquel Santana, a woman from Colombia. She is about to get married to Joscha, but then Ingo realizes he's in love with her. Alexander Gier plays Dr. Kai Seebach, a man from David's past. Alexander is gay and is supposed to become Joscha's love interest – which means that Deniz and Joscha will probably not get together in the near future. Promotional still of Alexander Gier Meanwhile on UU, Alexander Sholti will return to the canvas later this year. The 38-year old actor played the part of Björn Winter from February 2001 to May 2008. The older brother of Malte (Stefan Bockelmann), cousin of Easy (Lars Steinhöfel) and ex-lover of Eva (Claudelle Deckert) was then shot in the heart when he tried to protect Malte from a shady loan shark. Now Sholti is back in the role of Björn's long-lost twin brother Dr. Sascha Brenner. At first glance, he seems like a nice person, but of course he has an agenda. His first airdate is November 25th, 2013. (This is the second time that UU brings back a former regular in the form of a twin. In 2003, Petra Gumpold returned as Ariane Sturm after having portrayed Ariane's twin sister Belle from 2001 to 2002. So far, other soaps haven't done this.) Promotional still of Alexander Sholti Also, Irene will receive a much younger lover: Stephan Käfer has been cast in the recurring role of Florian Stein, a business man in his mid-30s. Irene is in her late 50s and the show's last remaining original cast member. Käfer is no stranger to German soap fans: From May 2010 to September 2011 he played the contract role of Prince Philipp zu Hohenfelden on "Verbotene Liebe". (There he was quite unpopular and his character was eventually killed off.)

"Too Many Friends" is the lead single of Placebo's latest album "Loud Like Love" which was released last month In Germany, it was their most successful single to date, reaching #14. In the UK, the single didn't chart at all and the album only peaked at #13 The music market surely is twisted.

I'm digging this new version of "Sonnentanz". The instrumental version was a huge hit earlier this year, and the new version with vocals eventually even reached the Top 5 in the UK. http://youtu.be/79YDgv_zWA4 These are also current favorites of mine: http://youtu.be/69aCTCP1t9Q http://youtu.be/mq9w64tc118

Been listening to some classic Eurotrance from the turn of the millenium... http://youtu.be/P9_CeWDlrJI http://youtu.be/qj58nbn35bg http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vIMpPqF-pXk

It was executed very well and I liked that every character was somehow involved in the drama, whether they were trapped inside or had to wait for news outside the building. Constanze was a fun character but since she was recurring never had her own storyline. She had various flings and flirts with main characters, including a short-lived relationship with Oliver Sommer a few years ago, and was known for her gossiping. In the last few months her friendship with main characters Bea, Katja and Lena was intensified on-screen so it was quite strange that they got rid off her now. Maybe the actress found a gig that pays her more. I don't know about that. Constanze's co-worker Brigitte Schnell, also a recurring character since the beginning, is still on the show. She's the one with the curly red hair. All of the newcomers are still featured in frontburner storylines. I like all of them except Letizia. The character is actually quite interesting and she also has family ties to a lot of other people but the actress is incredibly weak. She was mostly hired for her dancing skills and it shows. She always pulls the same face, no matter what emotion she's supposed to convey. Yeah, apparently Deniz falls in love with Melanie. Joscha on the hand gets to know Raquel Santa, a woman from Colombia who's introduced on September 30th, 2013. The two become friends instantly because Joscha reminds Raquel of her gay brother. Joscha agrees to marry Raquel so she can stay in Germany. I wonder how that story plays out. Raquel is played by Yara Hassan, a Syrian-German actress. So far it's not clear if she's on contract or just a guest role. They actually started their career in Germany – like many boybands at that time did – and had twelve Top-10 singles (two #1 hits) between 1995 and 2000. But since 2000, their success has faded and their most recent single only reached #100.

Currently the first season of "Celebrity Big Brother" is airing in Germany. Among the contestants is also someone from the US - David Hasselhoff. Pictures of the contestants: http://www.sat1.de/tv/promi-big-brother/bewohner-2013 Marijke Amado (Dutch tv host) Percival Duke (singer) Natalia Osada (former reality show contestant) Martin Semmelrogge (actor who has been in prison more than once) Sarah Joelle Jahnel (former contestant on German Idol) Fancy (singer/producer who was successful in the 80s) Jenny Elvers-Elbertzhagen (actress and former It-Girl) Manuel Charr (boxer) Lucy Diakovska (singer, former member of the girlband "No Angels") Simon Desue (comedian) Jan Leyk (actor on the reality show "Berlin – Tag & Nacht")