Huntress

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

How is this astonishing in any way? No one in any government is legitimately astonished. The only thing that surprises me is that we haven't been spying on the German Chancellor longer. Allies spy on each other. The U.S. has been caught red handed spying, so now our allies can demand concessions, but they spy on us and we spy on them and that's the way it has been and always will be. I'm getting a big kick out of all of these governments pretending otherwise though.

http://www.cnn.com/2013/10/29/politics/nsa-hearing/index.html?hpt=hp_t1

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

I guess Bjorn was a big fan favorite but they didn't want to bring him back from the dead?

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.)

Oh, sweet Huntress. Now I'm super excited for a new Placebo album, one of my favourite bands.

"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

What did you think of the fire on AWZ?

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")

No, it wasn't.

The show debuted in April 2011 as "Herzflimmern – Die Klinik am See" weekdays at 4 p.m. on ZDF. The network advertised the show as a "medical drama" although it was structured like a traditional daily soap. Beginning with episode 132, the show received a major relaunch and was renamed "Herzflimmern – Liebe zum Leben". Eight contract roles – including the whole Lindner family, who were the main focus – were written off the canvas, while new characters were brought in. However, ratings still didn't increase and the show only had a market share of 2 %. In December 2011, ZDF pulled the plug and kicked the show off its afternoon schedule. The remaining episodes were shown at 5 a.m. All in all, 255 episodes were produced.

http://youtu.be/2J3y314I6tk

The Backstreet Boys will appear on GZSZ later this fall. They will perform at a music festival that takes place in the show's storyline.

---

Some casting news:

AWZ:

• Claudia Hiersche joins the cast in the new contract role of Sylvia Kern. Her first airdate is September 2nd, 2013. Sylvia is a counselor and is supposed to be a new love interest for Maximilian (Francisco Medina). Hiersche is best known for her portrayal of the very popular Countess Carla von Lahnstein on "Verbotene Liebe", where she was on contract from 2003 to 2009.
• One Greco in, one Greco out: While Juliette Greco (Lena von Altenburg) returns from her maternity leave on September 19th, 2013, her husband Salvatore Greco (Jan Marco Schöler) exits the soap on September 4th. Salvatore played the role for two years. Juliette exited her role earlier this year after a six-year run because of her pregnancy. The character of Lena was temporarily recast with Maria Kempken who will exit once Greco returns.
• Recurring actress Sabine Fernandez, who has portrayed Constanze Hipp since the very first episode of the soap, will leave the show in September. Constanze is the victim of a fire inside the Steinkamp centre.

GZSZ:

• Following the additions of new contract players Linda Marlen Runge (Anni Brehme) and Ramona Dempsey (Nele Lehmann) and recurring player Elena Garcia Gerlach (Elena Castillo), another new female will join the canvas this month: Franziska van der Heide portrays the contract role of Mieke Lutze, whose nickname is "Mieze" (German for "kitty"). Mieze is a streetkid and an old friend of Vince's. Her first airdate is August 19th, 2013.

UU:

• Two male stars are out as Bela Klentze (Bela Hoffmann) and Maximilian Claus (Erik Hansen) have decided to leave the show. Klentze, who joined "Unter uns" in spring 2011, exits on October 2nd, 2013. Claus first appeared as teacher Erik Hansen in April 2011. Originally conceived as a guest role, he left later that year because of other commitments. However, because of the popularity of Erik's pairing with this student Sina (Valea Scalabrino), Claus was brought back in the fall of 2012, this time as a contract cast member. Claus's final airdate is September 10th, 2013.
• Eric Stehfest has joined the cast in the recurring role of Yannick Benhöfer, an old friend of Ringo's (Timothy Boldt). As soon as Yannick appears in town, it becomes clear that the two boys had had a fling shortly before Ringo and his family moved into the apartment building. So far, Ringo has been portrayed as a straight bully who blackmailed some of his peers.

VL:

• ​Three new contract roles will appear on-screen soon: Henrike Fehrs will play Alexa Berg, while Franziska Kruse will portray Eva Baumann, an ironer at "LCL". Swiss actor Sascha Pederiva has been cast in the role of Sascha Vukovic, a janitor at "LCL", who will catch Martha's eye.
• Patricia Schäfer (Viktoria Wolf) has been let go from the show. Viktoria, who is in her late 40s and pregnant, will die in an accident.

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Preview pictures for August/September:

GZSZ

01. Zac (Jascha Rust) and Bommel (Merlin Leonhardt) plan their new business: Planting marihuana 02. Pia (Isabell Horn, right) is worried that John (Felix von Jascheroff) has moved on with Elena (Elena Garcia Gerlach) 03. Lilly (Iris Mareike Steen) and Maren (Eva Mona Rodekirchen) 04. Jasmin (Janina Uhse, right) is morified when her erotic surprise for her husband Kurt (Tim Williams, second from right) backfires 05. Anni (Linda Marlen Runge) and Kurt grow closer 06. Maren cheats on Alexander with Leon (Daniel Fehlow) 07. Emily (Anne Menden, right) is annoyed by Nele (Ramona Dempsey) and Tayfun (Tayfun Baydar) 08. Vince (Vincent Krüger) meets his old friend Mieze (new series regular Franziska van der Heide) 09. Anni slaps Jasmin 10. Nele wants to catch Dominik's (Raul Richter) attention

UU

01. Malte (Stefan Bockelmann) tries to outwit Britta (Tabea Heynig) 02. Eva (Claudelle Deckert) tells Till (Ben Ruedinger) that she fears not being a good mother 03. Rufus (Kai Noll), Anna (Marylu Saskia Poolman) and Lotta 04. Easy (Lars Steinhöfel), Moritz (Marvin Linke) and Bambi (Benjamin Heinrich) try to impress a girl 05. Till and Irene (Petra Blossey) 06. Henning (Benjamin Kiss) and Ute (Isabell Hertel) 07. Erik (Maximilian Claus) is torn between Sina and his old flame Melanie 08. SIna (Valea Scalabrino) and Erik try to rescue their relationship 09. Erik says goodbye to his best friend Henning 10. Ringo (Timothy Boldt) threatens Yannick (Eric Stehfest)

AWZ

01. Jenny (Kaja Schmidt-Tychsen) is all alone 02. Richard (Silvan-Pierre Leirich) and Vanessa (Julia Augustin) 03. Julia (Jenny Bach) and Letizia (Jennifer Dessin-Brasching) continue fighting over Lukas 04. Joscha (Carlo Degen) and Can (Volkan Isbert) 05. Double Wedding: Ben (Jörg Rohde) and Bea (Caroline Frier) ... 06. ... and Marian (Sam Eisenstein) and Lena (Maria Kempken) tie the knot 07. The fire: Letizia fears being trampled to death 08. Lena is hit by a pillar 09. Joscha comforts Sylvia (new series regular Claudia Hiersche) 10. Jenny and Simone (Tatjana Clasing) in panic 11. Richard carries Isabelle (Ania Niedieck) 12. Joscha and Deniz (Igor Dolgatschew)

The problem with season 7 was that most of the characters were watered down.

Amanda had lost all of her steam from the early seasons. It all started in season 4 when she turned from bad girl to victim.

In season 4 she ran away from her past as a Parezi, in season 5 her life and marriage was threatened by Taylor (and later her career was threatened by Craig & Sydney), in season 6 she was blackmailed by Eric and her marriage to Kyle was threatened by Taylor's scheming, and in season 7 it was once again her past that haunted her. Different from early Amanda, that Amanda never really fought back as she was portrayed as the troubled heroine.

Same with Peter. When he was first introduced, he was a villain, then in seasons 4 to 6, he was portrayed as a rather shady and moody person, and in season 7 he became dull as hell when he married Eve.

Michael turned from being a manipulative sleaze to a goofball somewhere in the middle of season 6.

They botched Jane's return by reverting her character back to "season 1 plain Jane" (including an awful hair cut). Jane and Megan were basically the same character.

I could have done without Kyle as well since I always thought that he and Amanda had zero chemistry.

The only characters that worked in season 7 were Lexi and Eve. At least they were entertaining.