Huntress

AWZ updated both version of its opening.
This is the opening to feature Lisandra Bárdel (Malu Santos), Matthias Brüggenolte (Justus Albrecht), Dominik Flade (Yannick Ziegler) and Jasmin Minz (Kim Brenner).
Ania Niedieck (Isabelle Reichenbach) and Kaja Schmidt-Tychsen (Jenny Steinkamp) received new footage.
Birte Glang (Lena Öztürk), Amrei Haardt (Nathalie Reichenbach) and Bela Klentze (Ronny Bergmann) were removed. Francisco Medina (Maximilian von Altenburg), who left the show a few weeks ago, is still included, as well as André Dietz (Ingo Zadek), who's departing soon.

Version A

Tatjana Clasing as Simone Steinkamp – Sam Eisenstein as Marian Öztürk – Cheyenne Pahde as Marie Schmidt – Jörg Rohde as Ben Steinkamp – Franziska van der Heide as Ina Ziegler – Lisandra Bárdel as Malu Santos – Francisco Medina as Maximilian von Altenburg – Dominik Flade as Yannick Ziegler – Kaja Schmidt-Tychsen as Jenny Steinkamp – Silvan-Pierre Leirich as Richard Steinkamp – Igor Dolgatschew as Deniz Öztürk – Alles was zählt

Version B

Julia Augustin as Vanessa Steinkamp – Lars Korten as Christoph Lukowski – Ania Niedieck as Isabelle Reichenbach – Christopher Kohn as Finn Albrecht – Matthias Brüggenolte as Justus Albrecht – Jasmin Minz as Kim Brenner – Tijan Njie as Moritz Brunner – Julia Wiedemann as Lucie Ziegler – Alexandra Fonsatti as Chiara Nadolny – André Dietz as Ingo Zadek – Alles was zählt

Starting next Monday, Germany will shut down again. All restaurants, bars, theaters, gyms, beauty parlors, amusement parks, cinemas etc. have to close for at least a month – nationwide.

Schools and kindergartens will remain open, and most stores including hairdressers as well.
In public, you can only meet up to 10 people – but these 10 people can only belong to 2 different households.

So basically the same rules as we had in March/April except that schools stay open this time.

People have already begun hoarding toilet paper etc. once again *sigh*

Most of our neighboring countries have decided to go into lockdown mode as well.

7 hours ago, DRW50 said:

It's interesting to hear more about the precautions taken. I was watching some clips from a non-German soap, Rantabaari, and they still seem to have graphic sex scenes. I guess maybe that was pre-COVID, unless their country was never hit hard.

I've never heard of "Rantabaari" before and apparently it's a soap from Finland. According to its wikipedia page, the show has had 3 seasons so far. The first 2 seasons were filmed in 2019 and the third season, which was filmed in early 2020, premiered last month.

In terms of coronavirus infections, Finland has come off best of all European countries. I think they, Norway and Estonia (all 3 are nordic countries) have had the lowest numbers in relation to their population. But remember, Finland only has a population of 5.5 million and isn't densely populated while Germany has 83 million residents and has the same size as Finland

TVNOW will release the first episode of the "Verbotene Liebe" reboot on November 23rd, 2020.

Meanwhile, "Unter uns" will now also be using mannequins for love scenes ...

I'm not 100% sure, but I think other than Adrienne Frantz, none of B&B's late 90s/early 2000s younger crowd appeared on another daytime soap.

This includes:

Justin Torkildsen (Rick)
Mick Cain (C.J.)

Ashley Lyn Cafagna (Kimberly)
Jennifer Finnigan (Bridget)

Marissa Tait (Becky)

I don't think Carrie Mitchum (Donna Logan #1) had another soap role, either.

Yesterday the German government has decided to impose even stricter rules for cities and regions with more than 50 new infections per 100.000 citizens during the last 7 days. For example, all restaurants and bars have to close at 11 pm, and once again, you can only meet a limited number of people at a time.

There's been a heated debate about the so-called "Beherbergungsverbot" (which means something like accommodation ban) which some federal states introduced last week. This ban applies in half of our federal states (Baden-Württemberg, Bavaria,  Brandenburg, Lower Saxony, Mecklenburg-Vorpommern, Saarland, Saxony, Saxony-Anhalt, and Schleswig-Holstein). This means that people from a coronavirus hotspot are not allowed to spend the night (i.e. staying in a hotel) in a different federal state. For example, since the whole city of Berlin (which is also a state on its own) is a hotspot, people from Berlin cannot book a holiday in the neighboring state of Brandenburg. You can bypass this rule if you have a negative test result which must not be older than 48 hours. However, this ban also doesn't come into force if you stay with friends or relatives. You can also go on a shopping trip to a different state as long as you don't stay overnight. It doesn't make much sense.

Meanwhile, this ad from the tourism campaign "Visit Berlin" has gone viral.

The caption reads: "Up yours to those who don't wear a mask -- we obey the corona rules. #berlinagainstcorona".

https://edition.cnn.com/travel/article/berlin-coronavirus-ad-finger/index.html

Almost all European countries are completely or at least partially considered as corona risk areas by the German government. You are strongly advised not to travel to these places. If you do so nevertheless, you have to take a test once you return and have to self-quarantine until you have received a negative result. With a positive result, you have to stay in quarantine for 14 days (as has been the case since March).

The only countries that are completely regarded as "safe" are:

• Cyprus
• Greece
• Finland
• Italy
• Latvia
• Malta
• Poland
• Sweden
• Norway

There are partial risk areas in Austria, Bulgaria, Croatia, Denmark, Estonia, France, Hungary, Ireland, Lithuania, Netherlands, Portugal, Slovakia, Slovenia, Switzerland and the United Kingdom (mostly the capital cities and their surrounding areas). Countries that are regarded as complete risk areas are Albania, Andorra, Armenia, Azerbaijan, Belarus, Belgium, Bosnia & Herzegovina, Czech Republic, Georgia, Iceland, Kosovo, Luxembourg, Moldova, Montenegro, North Macedonia, Romania, Russia, Serbia, Spain, Ukraine.

In all of our neighboring countries, the situation is worsening by the day:

• The Netherlands have imposed even stricter rules: Restaurants and bars will be closed for 4 weeks, alcohol must not be sold after 8 pm, households can only invite 3 visitors per day, use of public transport is only allowed if really necessary, and you have to wear a face mask in every public space. Apparently, the health system in the major cities is close to collapsing
• France has enforced a ban on going out during nighttime in all major cities.
• Czech Republic, which only has one-tenth of our population, has had higher numbers of new infections than us for the last couple of days.
• In Denmark, Copenhagen and its surrounding area is considered a hotspot.
• Austria, Switzerland, Luxembourg, Poland and Belgium are suffering as well.

Some news from Germany: We had quite a strict lockdown in March/April/May, but the number of new cases was really low during the summer months and restrictions were gradually lifted, so that basically only large events with more than 1000 visitors such as concerts were forbidden. Nightclubs were also not allowed to open, and private parties such as weddings have a guest limit (which is different in each federal state).

However, even though the number of cases is still quite low compared to most other European countries, there has been a significant rise in recent days (4500 new cases today). The most affected age group is young people between 20 and 29 because they kept on partying and travelled abroad during the summer months. However, there have also been large outbreaks from Turkish weddings (that lasted a few days) and other private parties.

If a region or city has more than 50 new infections per 100.000 citizens, they need to tighten their restrictions. Big cities like Berlin, Munich, Bremen and Frankfurt have already put more restrictions in place: No alcohol in public places, stores, bars and restaurants have to close at 11 pm, and in some cities you have to wear a mask everywhere.

I was in Berlin 2 weeks ago, and the city is literally dead. There are no tourists, and all you can do is shopping and going to a restaurant.

Cologne just introduced similar measures, and the new rules will become effective tomorrow:

• Only five people are allowed to meet in public.
• You are not allowed to drink alcohol in public from 10 pm onwards (in Germany, drinking alcohol in public has always been allowed).
• Alcohol must not be sold in highly frequented spaces ("partying hot spots").
• Restaurants and bars remain open.
• In addition to every indoor location and public transport, you also have to wear a face mask on the street.
• Entrance to stores will be restricted (one customer per 10 qm²).
• Inviting friends to your home is still allowed, but the city counsil advises you against doing so.

Our mayor said in a press conference: "I call upon the common sense of all citizens of Cologne that you do not host any large parties. I ask you for this sincerely. We have to bring the surge to a stillstand."

This will be a tough fall/winter.

This is the the official promo for "SUNNY – Wer bist du wirklich?", GZSZ's highly promoted spin-off. The show debuts on October 1st, 2020. The first 2 episodes will be shown on RTL right after GZSZ, and the remaining episodes will be released on TVNOW Monday to Thursday.

For Wolfgang Bahro's 60th birthday, TVNOW produced a documentary. Bahro has played Dr. Jo Gerner on GZSZ since 1993 and is the longest-serving actor on any German soap.

In October, two new faces will appear in town:

• Jan Kittmann plays Tobias Evers, a handsome construction manager. He is a childhood friend of Nina's and applies for a job in Katrin's company. However, Tobias is said to have a dark secret. Kittmann first airs on October 21st, 2020.
• Birgit Würz joins the cast as Patrizia Araya, an older woman who Philip Höfer has a one-night-stand with. A few days later, it turns out that Patrizia Araya is no less than Patrizia Bachmann, John's mother (John and Philip are half-brothers as both have the same father).
  Swiss actress Christin Baechler played Patrizia Bachmann on contract from July 2001 to March 2003 and returned for a brief guest appearance in 2007. Patrizia is the mother of John, Ben and Lena Bachmann, the older sister of the late Senta Lemke, and the aunt of Sandra Lemke Ergün. After the supposed death of her husband Hannes, Patrizia and John moved to Berlin in 2001 where she was reunited with her sister. A while later, Patrizia's older son Ben also moved in with them. Patrizia fell in love with Jo Gerner and eventually married him, much to John's dismay. Shortly after the wedding, the presumed dead Hannes appeared in Berlin and tried to win his family back. Patrizia stayed with Jo, while Hannes started an affair with Senta which caused a huge rift between all family members. Eventually, Jo cheated on Patrizia with Katrin Flemming. Patrizia left Jo, spent a last night with Hannes, and quietly moved to South Africa. After Hannes and Senta had both died in a plane accident in 2007, Patrizia attended the funeral. She hasn't been mentioned since.
  This is not the first time that Birgit Würz plays a recast: On AWZ, she replaced original cast member Regine Seidler as Nadja Roschinski in 2008. She didn't last long, though, as the writers didn't know what to do with Nadja after the recast and she was gone within a few months. From 2010 to 2011, Würz played a main role on the telenovela "Rote Rosen".

Lennart Betzgen, Livia Matthes, Frederik Götz, Heinz Hoenig & Stephanie Japp

TVNOW has presented the full cast of the "Verbotene Liebe" reboot:

• Heinz Hoenig (a well-known film and television actor with a career spanning 40 years) plays Robert Verhoven, patriarch and owner of the fashion label "Verhoven"
• Stephanie Japp plays Eva Verhoven, Robert's wife
• Frederik Götz plays Alexander Verhoben, Robert and Eva's oldest son, founder of the fashion label "Greenlight"
• Sina Zadra plays Josefin Reinhard, a student and single mom of a daughter
• Anuschka Tochtermann plays Mia Ulrich, Josefin's best friend and owner of the alternative fashion store "Fräulein Grün"
• Livia Matthes plays Livia Verhoven, Robert and Eva's daughter, a fashion designer
• Lennart Betzgen plays Paul Verhoven, Robert and Eva's youngest son
• Asli Melisa Uzun plays Bobbi Atakan, a model and influencer of Turkish origin
• Martin Walde plays Finn Rogel, a carpenter and the father of Josefin's daughter

Returning as their characters from the original series are ...

• Claudia Hiersche as Countess Carla von Lahnstein (contract: 2003-2009, recurring: 2010) – Carla was one of the most popular characters on the original show, mostly due to her powerful relationships with Hanna Novak, Susanne Brandner and Stella Mann. On the reboot, she is now an event organizer.
• Wolfram Grandezka as Count Ansgar von Lahnstein (contract: 2004-2015) – Ansgar, one of Carla's brothers, was the show's male villain. At the end of the original show, he went to prison and will now be released.
• Gabriele Metzger as Charlotte "Charlie" Schneider (contract: 1995-2015) – Charlie was the only character to stay on the original show for its entire run. The kind soul is still running her restaurant "Schneiders".
• Jo Weil as Oliver "Olli" Sabel (contract: 2000-2002; 2007-2014) – Charlie's gay nephew. He still works as a model.
• Isa Jank as Countess Clarissa von Anstetten (contract: 1995-2001; 2011-2013) – The show's original villain.

More returns have been teased. Production will continue until October.

Wolfram Grandezka, Claudia Hiersche, Gabriele Metzger & Jo Weil

The Till recast on UU has now been made official: Constantin Lücke first airs as the new Till on September 24th, 2020.

https://www.rtl.de/cms/bei-unter-uns-constantin-luecke-ist-der-neue-till-weigel-4610920.html

On AWZ, there are 3 exits: Original cast member André Dietz (Ingo Zadek) departs the show after 14 years. Also out are Amrei Haardt (Nathalie Reichenbach) and – once again – Francisco Medina (Maximilian von Altenburg). Ania Niedieck (Isabelle Reichenbach) returns from her maternity leave on September 23rd.

Well, Till is the last remaining original member of the Weigel family... and while Ben Ruedinger clearly isn't the best actor in the world, the character is needed on the canvas, so it's good that they decided to recast him.

Rufus on the other hand hasn't been a viable in character in years and he should have exited years ago. When the Sturm family was introduced in 2003, they consisted of Rufus, his wife Ariane, his son René from a previous marriage, and Ariane and Rufus's daughter Romy. Rufus's backstory was that he worked as a writer of romance novels, using a female pseudonym. René was killed off in early 2006, Ariane departed a few months later, and Romy received a recast around the same time. She eventually left the show in 2009, so Rufus was left without a family. He was paired up with police officer Rebecca Mattern, until she was murdered in 2012. In the meantime, Rufus had fathered another daughter, Lotta, with a short-term character named Heidi. After a longer relationship with Anna Weigel (Till's younger sister), Rufus married Britta Schönfeld in 2018. Rufus leaves town with his daughter Lotta on September 9th, 2020.

UU's tv ratings have hit rock bottom in recent weeks. However, UU is always among the 10 most streamed programs on TVNOW. GZSZ is usually #1, and AWZ is among the top 3.

9 hours ago, I Am A Swede said:

Tens of thousands marched in Berlin, Germany, today in protest against restrictions brought on by the coronavirus pandemic.

https://www.bbc.com/news/world-europe-53959552

 

With cases rising sharply again in many places in Europe, this might not have been the best time for such a protest..... 

Well, Germany has one of the strictest coronavirus restrictions in Europe and compared to many other countries, the number of daily new cases in relation to the whole population is still quite low – even though there has been an increase lately, mostly due to people travelling to Southern Europe during the summer holidays.
People now have to pay a fine if they don't wear masks in certain places, such as in stores or on public transport. All mass events have been cancelled until the end of the year, even our traditional Christmas Markets and the Carnival season cannot take place.

Originally, the police had forbidden this demonstration, but since Germany is a democracy, some people went to court and the administrative court of Berlin decided that the demonstration could take place after all.

The majority of the demonstrators were "normal" people (whose main problem seems to be that they don't want to wear masks), but as always, some right-wing nutcases and conspiracy theorists saw their chance to wreak havoc. If it wasn't coronavirus, they'd use any other chance to spread their hateful agenda.

On 8/19/2020 at 1:10 AM, Skylover said:

Thanks for the info. Who would you consider to be the most popular characters on the show?

This is quite difficult to answer... I guess the most popular ones would be Jo, Katrin and Emily... followed by Felix, Nina, Erik, and maybe Sunny? A lot of the male characters – Leon, Paul, John and Philip – are characters who are just "there" and do not polarize. The women are more nuanced, but this has always been the case.

Jonas isn't that bad... he works well as a supporting player in family storylines, and I also like him with Merle.

I don't think there's an universally hated character on the canvas right now. I know the audience hated Leyla, Shirin and Nazan's cousin, who just departed the show, but she was only a guest role.

On UU, it looks like veteran actor Ben Ruedinger has departed the show after playing the part of Till Weigel for almost 20 years. Swiss born Ruedinger joined the cast in October 2000 when Till, middle son of the Weigel family, received a recast. Previously, Stephen Dürr had played the part from the show's first episode in 1994 to December 1996. In July 2020, a cast list was published by RTL which stated that Constantin Lücke would be playing Till; however, Ben Ruedinger still appeared on screen at that time. Now Till has disappeared in the middle of an important storyline, and there are spoilers that indicate that he will have a terrible accident that requires plastic surgery. Constantin Lücke is a seasoned stage actor with many years of experience. On television, he is best known for his main role on the telenovela "Rote Rosen"; he also appeared in small roles on "Verbotene Liebe" and "Alles was zählt".

Kai Noll, who's played Rufus Sturm since 2003, is also departing the show in early September. Maybe the show's budget is strained and they're happy to see two big earners gone...

On 8/23/2020 at 12:25 AM, kalbir said:

 

The only religious/conservative countries I can think of where B&B was exported to are Israel, Egypt, Turkey, India. I don't know if B&B was exported anywhere else in the Middle East or South Asia.

Apparently, the show also aired in Iran for a brief time (in 2009 according to wikipedia). It was also broadcast in Morocco, Pakistan, Malaysia, Indonesia, Thailand, Vietnam, the Philippines, and a few Sub-Saharan African countries. I know that the show was censored in Egypt (they cut scenes where people showed to much skin and even altered the opening credits to remove the pictures of the models), but the audience in these countries isn't stupid and they would notice bad writing as well. Soaps are very popular in Turkey and the Arab world (similar to telenovelas in South America).

This song is currently a hit in many European countries... very addictive.

In the late 90s/early 00s, I created my own soap opera called “South Beach” which was a mixture of “Sunset Beach” and “Melrose Place”. It was conceived as a primetime soap, with each season spanning 22 episodes and a regular cast of 11 to 15 characters. The show was supposed to run for 8 seasons, but was cancelled at the beginning of season 8

However, I do know how the show would have ended. I even created some fictional backstage drama… like actors not getting along, cast members demanding more storylines, and the show running on a tight budget during the final seasons

Here’s an outline of all the seasons. Season 1 is a bit more detailed to get to know the characters and their back-stories. And yes, some stories are quite cliché and repetitive.

Quote

SEASON 1
Casting notes: The original cast consists of Liane, Luke, Jean, Maria, Steve, Jake, Silvia, Kelly, Nancy, Chris, and Victoria.
– – –
The show takes place in South Beach, Miami. In the 2-hour pilot episode “Welcome to South Beach”, we first meet Liane Connor, a blonde bombshell, who is living in a beach house with her roommate Kayla Evans. Liane celebrates her engagement to aspiring doctor Luke Foster, not knowing that he is sleeping with Kayla behind her back. When Kayla suddenly moves out of the beach house without an explanation, Liane is dumbfounded. At the beach, Liane spots an attractive man that she tries to flirt with, but he doesn’t really take notice of her. Liane’s father James condemns Liane’s rampant lifestyle and tries to talk sense into her, but in vain.

 

Luke, who works at “Redfield Hospital”, has anger issues and becomes violent quickly. After he has hit a colleague, he has to undergo therapy. His psychiatrist is Dr. Maria Zavigo. Maria’s father Jacob is a renowned surgeon and has taken Luke under his wings. When Jacob invites Luke and Liane to dinner, they get to know Maria and her boyfriend Steve, who is the guy that Liane tried to flirt with at the beach. Kayla tells Luke that she is expecting his child. Luke wants her to have an abortion, but she wants to blackmail him instead. At Liane’s birthday party, Luke traps Kayla and beats her up badly. The injured Kayla seeks refuge at the beach house. Luke tries to kill Kayla again, but instead, he falls down the stairs. While Kayla disappears, Luke is brought to the hospital where he falls into a coma. Kayla calls Liane and tells her that she is expecting Luke’s child. Liane is disgusted and breaks things off with Luke.

 

Maria and her family are living in a mansion in a noble suburb of Miami. Maria’s boyfriend Esteban Morena, called “Steve”, has a secret that the family wants to keep hidden at any price. Suddenly Victoria Harris, Maria’s former best friend, returns from New York to Miami. Back in the day, Maria used to date Victoria’s older brother Damon until one day, he collapsed after a drug overdose and died on Jacob’s operating table. Victoria has blamed the Zavigos for Damon’s death ever since and now has returned to South Beach to make their lives a living hell. Victoria’s sidekick Nancy Gray is a woman that Victoria met while partying in New York’s clubbing scene. Nancy doesn’t really support Victoria’s plans and she tries to befriend Maria instead, which angers Victoria.

 

By searching through old documents, Victoria finds out that Steve was born in Mexico, came to the US as an illegal immigrant, worked as a rent boy for homosexual men and used to be a drug addict. One day he had a drug overdose in front of the hospital and was found by Maria, who took care of him and fell in love with him. Victoria wants Steve to suffer the same fate as Damon and tries to get him addicted again. When Jacob sees through Victoria’s game, she seduces him. Afterwards, she tells Jacob’s wife Helen, destroying Maria’s family in the process. Steve feels guilty and breaks things off with Maria.

 

French Canadian Jean Voltaire applies for a job in James’s business. James takes a liking to Jean because in his eyes, Jean is the perfect son-in-law. James hates Luke and wants him to stay away from his daughter Liane. James makes sure that Jean moves in with Liane at the beach house. Because he is very arrogant, mysterious and insulting, nobody can stand Jean. He is very promiscuous and has one-night-stands with both Nancy and Victoria.

 

Behind everybody’s backs, Nancy visits the comatose Luke. When Luke eventually wakes up, he has lost his memory and is a complete opposite of his former self. Nancy makes him believe that she is his girlfriend. Liane feels attracted to the “new” Luke. When she has a brawl with Nancy, Luke tries to interfere and hits his head. He regains his memory and returns to his “old” self. Liane realizes that Luke will never change his ways. She finds comfort in Steve’s arms. Steve moves to the beach house. One night, he and Jake have a long chat, which lays the foundation for their lifelong friendship. Steve tells Jake that he is bisexual.

 

Liane’s best friend is Asian American Silvia Shoon, a successful journalist. The two women went to high school together where Silvia met her current boyfriend, Jake Webb. In school, Jake used to be an outsider because he came from a poor background. He took to sports to overcome his loneliness, and now he is a muscular and tall guy. Despite his intimidating sight, he is a really friendly person. Jake, who works as a bartender at the bar “Riders”, wants to start a family with Silvia, but because of her career, she doesn’t have much time for him. Eventually, Jake feels so set back by Silvia that he leaves their joint apartment and moves to the beach house.

 

Silvia meets fashion designer Robert Holden and goes on a business trip to Milan, Italy, with him. The next day, she is raped by an hotel employee. Eventually, the rapist is shot and killed. Afterwards, Silvia suffers from a trauma. Meanwhile, Jake meets waitress Kelly Wyland, who’s looking for a new place to stay after breaking up with her boyfriend Chris Monroe, owner of the “Venom” night club. Jake offers her the last vacant bedroom at the beach house. Chris is jealous and wants to win Kelly back, but she tells him that she only wants them to be friends. Jake tries to reach out to Silvia, but due to her trauma, she pushes him away, directly in Kelly’s arms.

 

Silvia goes to a group therapy session for rape victims where she spots a familiar face: Jean. He eventually opens up to her and tells her that he had been raped by a family member for years. To protect himself from being hurt again, be became an ice-cold person. Silvia and Jean become friends. When Jake sees them together, he is jealous and confronts Jean. In his usual manner, Jean tries to make fun of Jake but then Jake thanks Jean for being there for Silvia, because she obviously likes his company. Jean didn’t expect so much gratitude, so he bursts out in tears and tells Jake about his troubled past. This breaks the ice between the two guys and they start to become friends. Jean urges Silvia to tell Jake about her rape which she eventually does. When Robert Holden reappears in South Beach, he and Silvia share a kiss which Jake witnesses. After Jake has slept with Kelly, he and Silvia break up for good. Jake rushes into a relationship with Kelly, but he is not happy. Meanwhile, Robert asks Silvia to move to Milan with him.  She rails against her fate, but eventually she decides to stay in South Beach and says goodbye to Robert.

 

In the 2-hour season finale “Hit Me Like a Truck”, Luke won’t accept that Liane is now with Steve. He tries to win her back, stalks Steve and aggressively tries to enter the beach house. Eventually, Jake is able to calm Luke down. Instead of calling the police, Jake makes Luke promise that he won’t come back to town until he has come clean with himself. Luke leaves Miami as a broken man.

 

Meanwhile, Maria and Kelly have become good friends. Maria takes a liking to Jean but he turns her down. Disappointed, Maria has a one-night-stand with Chris. Kelly finds out that Jake is still not over Silvia.

 

Damon’s former best friend Alex Travis arrives in town. He is an artist and lives on a boat. Victoria, who was once madly in love with him, is happy to see him and she tells him about her unsuccessful quest to revenge Damon’s death. When Alex spots Nancy, he is sure that he has seen her before, but at first he can’t remember where and when. Victoria plans to return to New York. Eventually, Alex realizes that Nancy used to be a hooker that Damon dated in the weeks before his death. She also dealt with drugs and fled town right after Damon’s death. It turns out that Nancy was responsible for Damon’s death. She only befriended Victoria out of guilt. Alex wants to confront Nancy, but she locks him in the bathroom before heading to the airport with Victoria. On the way, Nancy can’t bear keeping the secret any longer and she tells Victoria the truth. Before Victoria can react, their taxi is hit by a truck.

SEASON 2
Casting notes: While Luke and Nancy are gone, Alex becomes a regular character. Sydney and Raven join the cast as new series regulars.
– – –
In the second season, the original characters take a backseat as two new main characters come into the limelight: After studying in France, Sydney Eston, daughter of the wealthy publisher Cliff Eston, returns to South Beach in the season premiere “Home”. When Cliff finds out that Sydney has dropped out of college, he is furious and wants to cut off her money supply. A few hours later, Cliff dies of a heart attack and Sydney is temporarily left with nothing. She moves to the beach house, taking Kelly’s former bedroom, and has brief fling with Jean. When her father’s will is being read, Sydney expects to be the sole heir, but then a mysterious young woman appears and claims half of the inheritance. Her name is Raven Hartwood and she is Sydney’s half-sister! Raven was the result of one of Cliff’s affairs. After Cliff had sent Raven’s mother packing, she committed suicide and Raven was given to foster parents. She was a very difficult child and was eventually committed to a mental institution where she spent most of her teenage years. Sydney wants to get rid of Raven and takes drastic actions. However, Raven and her thuggish boyfriend Robin Thorpe strike back every time. Robin is the driving force behind Raven’s actions because he manipulates her and she is dependent on his love.

 

Kelly and Jake haven broken up during the summer and Kelly has moved out of the beach house. In the meantime, Maria finds out that she is pregnant with Chris’s child – just as Kelly and Chris have gotten back together. Maria, Kelly and Chris try to cope with the situation. Later that season, Maria meets African American physician Jamie Graham whom she briefly dates. However, she is secretly still in love with Jean.

 

After the accident, Nancy has died. Victoria has been paralyzed and is wheelchair-bound. Victoria wants to win Alex’s affection, but he is now with Silvia. Jake, who wants to win Silvia back, and Victoria team up to get Alex and Silvia apart, but to no avail. Victoria temporarily leaves town and goes to a rehab center in order to learn to walk again.

 

Liane and Steve are still a couple, but then Liane’s father James is found murdered. Liane is the prime suspect because she was the last person to see him alive. Because all evidence argues against her, she is sent to prison and experiences a living hell. All her friends, including Steve, turn their backs on her. Eventually, it turns out that Kayla killed James and that James is also the father of Kayla’s baby – the one she tried to pass off as Luke’s child! Liane is released from prison and swears revenge on her former friends. She throws everyone out of the beach house and seduces Alex to hurt both Steve and Silvia.

 

Jake sympathizes with Raven and tries to reconcile her and Sydney. Despite Jean’s warnings, Jake spends a night with Sydney. The two start having an affair and go to Las Vegas where they want to forget their distress. Sydney starts to gamble but she loses everything. Back in South Beach, she and Jake decide to stay good friends. Jean wants to start his own modeling agency. He hires Sydney as his secretary. In the meantime, Raven develops a crush on Steve. When Robin gets abusive, she seeks shelter at the beach house. After Alex and Silvia have split up, Jake sees his chance to reconcile with Silvia.

 

In the 2-hour season finale “Destruction Derby”, Jean, Sydney, Jake and Steve are forced to move out of the beach house. Jean inaugurates his modeling agency. Maria goes into labor. Jean realizes that he loves her. He rushes to the hospital where he holds Maria’s hand while she is going birth to a baby boy. While Steve packs his stuff at the beach house, Raven is with him. Silvia stops by because Jake wanted to talk to her. Suddenly Robin appears. He wants Raven to leave town with him, but she refuses. Robin gets angry and accidentally sparks a fire which spreads quickly. The season ends with the beach house ablaze.

 

SEASON 3
Casting notes: Jamie becomes a regular character. Everyone else returns. At midseason, Maria, Chris and Alex depart the show. Instead, Antonio and Mario become regular characters. Morgan joins the cast as a new series regular.
– – –
In the season premiere “Recovery”, the fire at the beach house can be quenched, but Steve, Silvia and Raven are rushed to the hospital. Raven is badly burnt and falls into a coma. Steve and Silvia have only received minor injuries and recover quickly. The beach house is rebuilt, and Steve and Sydney move back in.

 

A mysterious man visits Steve’s hospital room and holds Steve’s hand while he’s sleeping. Maria sees the man emerging from Steve’s room and confronts him. After a while, he confesses that his name is Antonio Morena – he is Steve’s long-lost half-brother who was born after Steve had fled with his aunt to the US as a child. Antonio poses as a journalist and tells Steve that he wants to do a story about his life. In this way, he wants to get to know him better. Steve develops a crush on Antonio and one day kisses him out of the blue. Antonio is disgusted and eventually reveals the truth about his identity. Steve is distraught about the revelation, but with Maria’s help, Steve and Antonio are able to form a brotherly bond. Antonio wants to move to South Beach and travels to New York to sort “some things” out.

 

Kelly falls in love with Jamie and the two get married very quickly. Afterwards, they are put on the backburner. Sydney leaves Jean’s modeling agency and starts working at “Tinetti Cosmetics”. She is soon smitten with her boss Mario. Liane and Alex are now a couple, but Liane quickly becomes bored because Alex is poor and can’t give her the luxurious life she is used to live. Alex finds out that Liane doesn’t really love her and secretly leaves town. Liane has a one-night-stand with Antonio, not knowing that he is Steve’s brother.

 

Maria, Jean and baby Jackson form a happy family, but Jackson’s biological father Chris wants to be a part of his son’s life. He interferes at any given chance. Jean, who is unsure how to deal with the situation, becomes estranged from Maria. She realizes that he is not fully committed to her and the baby, and hastily decides to leave town with Chris and Jackson to start over again in Texas.

 

Jake and Silvia get back together, but then Silvia is stalked by her jealous colleague Amy Abbott. When Jake confronts Amy, she falls from a window to her death. Jake is the prime suspect and Silvia investigates in the matter. Eventually, she can clear Jake’s name. Jake and Silvia plan to get married, but then Silvia gets to know the handsome model Ryan Turner and starts an affair with him.

 

In the second half of the season, fashion designer Morgan Cassidy becomes front and center as almost everybody else takes a backseat. Morgan is married to star designer Eric Cassidy, who forbids her from creating her own designs because he secretly fears her competition and wants to keep her down. With Jean’s help, Morgan is able to purchase her own boutique. Liane seduces Jean and becomes the new woman at his side, spending his fortune with open arms. After letting Maria go, Jean returns to his old promiscuous ways, and he sleeps with both Morgan and a model named Kim Ramirez. Raven awakes from her coma. She finds a new job working for Eric Cassidy and starts an affair with him.

 

When Antonio returns to South Beach, he is not alone. He introduces Steve to his wife – who is no less than Victoria! Steve can’t believe that Antonio is married to his former nemesis. Victoria tries to prove that she is a changed person, but Steve gives her a hard time.

 

In the season finale “Full Circle”, it’s Jake and Silvia’s wedding day, but Silvia cancels the wedding and runs off with Ryan.

SEASON 4
Casting notes: Everyone returns from the previous season.
– – –
This season has a murder mystery as an umbrella storyline. After Silvia has called off their wedding, Jake falls into a sort of limbo. He moves back to the beach house, where Steve and Sydney take care of him. Silvia is cut by everyone. Because Mario won’t commit to a steady relationship with her, Sydney dates Mario’s employee Ricardo. Kim gets between Jean and Liane. When Raven tells Morgan that Eric wants to divorce Morgan and marry Raven as soon as possible, Morgan and Raven declare war on each other. Steve meets a guy named Clive whom he starts dating. Antonio wants to start a family with Victoria, but she is infertile since her car accident. Suddenly, a mysterious murderer kills Ricardo and attacks Clive and Raven. A bomb explodes in Eric’s office, killing him in an instant. Morgan becomes the prime suspect and has to go into hiding. Eventually, it is revealed that Ryan is the murderer. He kidnaps Silvia and Victoria and wants to drive with them off a cliff, but then he is shot by the police. In the hospital, Victoria learns that she was pregnant after all. She can’t cope with the death of her child, which leads to her and Antonio ending their marriage.

 

Without a warning, Luke returns to South Beach and claims to be a changed person. While Jake is happy to see him, Steve is furious. When Jake tries to defend Luke, Steve questions their friendship. Luke and Liane meet again, and old sparks reignite. Luke and Liane get back together, and Jean and Kim become a couple. Luke wants to work at “Redfield Hospital” again, but there are no vacant jobs. Liane plots against Kelly and Jamie as she wants Luke to receive Jamie’s current position at the hospital.

 

While Kelly is visited by her mother Angela who’s addicted to painkillers, Liane is able to seduce Jamie. Angela sees the two of them together and blackmails Jamie so that he prescribes her more painkillers. Eventually Jamie is found out and loses his job. Angela tells Kelly about Jamie’s infidelity. Kelly wants to divorce Jamie and departs South Beach at the end of the season. Jamie also leaves. Sydney and Mario are plunged into a crisis when she assumes that Mario was happy about Ricardo’s murder. When drunk, Mario kisses Steve. He starts questioning his sexuality and wants to date Steve, but Steve doesn’t want to hurt Sydney and advises him to back off. Mario packs his belongings and leaves South Beach without saying goodbye to Sydney. Meanwhile, Silvia and Jake get together again.

 

SEASON 5
Casting notes: While Kelly, Jamie and Mario are gone, Kim becomes a regular character. Luke and Maria re-join the regular cast. Samuel and Joe join the cast as new series regulars. Liane departs the show at midseason and Enrique joins the cast as a new series regular.
– – –
In the 2-hour season premiere “Changing Places”, Maria returns to South Beach. She moves into the beach house with Steve and starts dating African American Samuel Northam, one of Jean’s up-and-coming models. After divorcing from Victoria, Antonio develops a terrible drug addiction. Steve tries to his help brother, but Antonio is in a downwards spiral. Sydney and Raven team up and open their own business. Raven meets Daniel Blake, the man of her dreams, who is still married to his annoying wife Sonya. Morgan is visited by her college crush Joe Alexander, who is now a wealthy businessman. She tries to win him back, but he is more interested in Sydney. After having moved out of the beach house, Victoria moves in with Jake and Silvia. She soon feels attracted to Jake and tries to seduce him. Silvia catches them in bed together and departs South Beach the next day.

 

Liane and Luke want to get married. Liane makes Luke believe that she’s pregnant with his child. Kim finds out that Liane is lying and that she blackmailed Jamie Graham so that Luke could get his job. She secretly tapes Liane’s confession and sends it to Luke on the day of the wedding. Luke calls the wedding off and sleeps with Kim, which in turn ends her relationship with Jean. While Kim and Jean reconcile, Luke never wants to see Liane again. After going to work drunk and making a fatal mistake, Luke loses his job at the hospital. Totally broke, he doesn’t know where to go. His last resort is the beach house where he hopes to find a place to sleep. Steve turns his archenemy down but when Luke bursts out in tears, Steve has a change of heart and lets Luke sleep on the couch. The two soon get along very well. One night, they get wasted and out of the blue, Luke kisses Steve. The next day, he acts as if nothing had happened. Luke tells Jake and Jean what he did and asks them for advice. Steve thinks that Luke only wants to jerk him around. When Luke apologizes to Steve and wants to forget about everything, Steve declares that he has grown feelings for Luke. Luke can’t cope with that and wants to move out. Steve asks him to stay because he would miss their friendship.

 

When a hurricane followed by an earthquake hits South Beach, everyone’s life is in danger. The beach house is destroyed once again. Liane is trapped in her car and is eventually killed when a tree crashes down on her. Also, Sonya Blake is allegedly killed during the earthquake.

 

At midseason, Steve and Antonio learn that they need to take care of their 18-year-old cousin Enrique because his father will temporarily move to Australia. Enrique brings new trouble to South Beach and especially Antonio has a hard time dealing with his antics. Kim and Jean take care of a young troubled model named Heather Graham, who is emotionally instable. During a trip to Hawaii with the gang, Samuel becomes jealous of Maria and Jean’s mutual past. He gets drunk and sleeps with another tourist, leading to him and Maria breaking up.

 

At the end of the season, another familiar face reappears as Kelly returns to South Beach. However, she is followed by a mysterious man who turns out to be her new abusive husband Tom Vega. Victoria meets Tom and falls head over heels in love with him. In the 2-hour season finale “Blood on the Dancefloor”, Jake learns that Silvia now lives in Atlanta. He follows her in order to win her back. Luke learns that he has testicle cancer. Sonya Blake is revealed to be alive. She lies in wait for Raven and pushes her in front of a driving car. During an event of the modeling agency, Heather snaps, reveals a gun and fires at the crowd.

SEASON 6
Casting notes: While Jake and Silvia are gone, Kelly re-joins the regular cast. Victoria departs the cast at midseason.
– – –
Kim is hit by a bullet. She survives but loses her memory and thinks that her name is “Gabriella Santiago”. She runs away from home, gets sick and is found by a man named Giovanni who nurses her back to health. Eventually, Jean finds Kim. She tries to run away from him but falls down the stairs and regains her memory. Kim and Jean reconcile and want to get married.

 

Luke discloses his cancer to Steve. The latter wants to support Luke, but Luke feels uncomfortable with being too close with Steve. When Steve meets Giovanni, the two men start dating and become a couple. Morgan is looking for a new model for her underwear line and wants Antonio, who has never modelled before, to be the figurehead for her campaign. Reluctantly, Antonio agrees. The two start having an affair, but Antonio soon feels exploited. He turns to drugs again – and his dealer is no less than Giovani. When Steve eventually finds out about this, he sends Giovanni packing.

 

Tom Vega uses Victoria to gather information on Kelly. Even though he’s dangerous and threatens her, Kelly can’t withdraw from Tom’s influence. She sleeps with him again. Raven has survived her accident but can’t remember that Sonya pushed her. Later Sonya reveals herself to be alive to Daniel. Tom and Sonya reside in the same hotel and get to know each other. After an employee overhears them talking about Sonya’s attempted murder, he blackmails her. Sonya kills him, but then his corpse disappears. During Kim and Jean’s engagement party, which takes place at the Blake mansion, Sonya finds the employee’s corpse in the refrigerator. Later that night, Sonya, Kelly and Victoria meet at the pool. When Sonya gives away that Tom sleeps with both Kelly and Victoria at the same time, the three women start to fight and end up falling in the pool. Victoria hits her head and dies. Because Sonya is still blackmailed, she wants to leave town and asks Tom to come with her. A mysterious car follows them. At a lonely rest house, Tom is stabbed by the other driver. The mysterious man is revealed to be Daniel who knew all along what Sonya had done. He holds Sonya at gunpoint, tells her to say her last prayer – and that is the last we see of them (for now).

 

Back in South Beach, Enrique develops feelings for the much older Kelly. Despite her earlier concerns, Kelly gets involved with Enrique and is happier than never before. Maria and Samuel try to mend their broken relationship, but to no avail. After a while, Luke learns that his cancer is in remission. He has a brief fling with Raven who wants to distract herself from her feelings for Daniel.

 

Kim witnesses a car accident where a little girl is injured. She learns that the girl named Ashley lives in a children’s home and begins to take care of her. Eventually, she persuades Jean to adopt the girl. In the meantime, Joe gets into business with some shady guys. When Joe finds out about their illegal transactions, he calls the police. The guys swear revenge. Joe proposes to Sydney and the two plan their wedding.

 

In the 2-hour season finale “There Goes the Bride/Caught in the Crossfire”, the wedding takes place without any problems. Joe and Sydney leave the after-party, which takes place at Jean’s modeling agency, earlier than planned to go on a world cruise. Suddenly the mobsters appear and want to kill Sydney. Kim and Ashley play “dressing up as brides” in one of the adjoining rooms. The mobsters mistake Kim for Sydney and fire two shots at her. In the meantime, there’s a close moment between Luke and Steve. Before they kiss again, Steve backs off and drives away. Drunk and tear-stained, he crashes into a tree.

SEASON 7
Casting notes: While Sydney and Joe are gone, Paige joins the cast as a new series regular.
– – –
Ashley has been killed by the mobsters. Kim suffers from nightmares and becomes addicted to alcohol, ruining her marriage to Jean. During an important fashion show, she is completely drunk and embarrasses herself and the modeling agency. After a heated argument with Jean, she realizes that she needs to go to rehab. 

 

Steve has survived his car accident. To Antonio’s surprise, he doesn’t blame Luke for anything. Antonio wants Luke to stay away from Steve and moves into the beach house to make Luke’s life a living hell. A little later, Antonio runs into Paige Carter, a woman from his past. She is married and has a 6-year-old daughter named Kayla. Paige avoids Luke, but the two of them always meet each other again. Antonio has a one-night-stand with Maria and briefly dates Morgan’s new assistant Caroline Harvey. Paige’s marriage to her husband Cole is instable and only her mother Madeline knows that Cole is not Kayla’s biological daughter. Eventually, Paige confesses to Antonio that he is Kayla’s father.

 

Luke has a fling with Morgan. Suddenly he is visited by his younger brother Logan whom he has never told anybody of. Luke sends Logan away. Logan doesn’t know where to sleep so he camps on the patio of the beach house. The next morning, he is found by Steve who – not knowing who he is – takes a liking to the handsome stranger. Raven opens a new bar called “Blue Moon” which becomes a rival to “Riders”. Logan begins working there as a barkeeper, which angers Steve. Nevertheless, he stays interested in Logan and one night kisses him out of the blue. Logan backs off and disappears. Later he apologizes to Steve and wants them to stay friends. Logan has an affair with an older woman named Caitlin who pays him for the sex.
Enrique is visited by his childhood friend Carla Ramirez who makes no secret of the fact that she wants to be Enrique’s girlfriend. She even tells Kelly that she and Enrique slept together. Enrique throws Carla out. Nevertheless, Kelly can’t trust Enrique anymore. While she and Luke get stuck in an elevator, the two share a kiss which leaves them confused. After Enrique and Carla have really slept together, Kelly ends her relationship with Enrique.

 

Daniel returns unexpectedly. Raven doesn’t want to see him because she can’t understand why he left her without saying a word. Instead, she sets her sights on Samuel and turns to drastic actions to keep Maria away from him. In turn, Daniel begins to date Morgan, who plans a big fashion show for her latest collection. Suddenly she runs into her mother Penny Baker, who is poor and hasn’t spoken to Morgan in years. Penny tries to suck up to Morgan and succeeds.

 

When Maria learns that Raven and Samuel want to get married in Nairobi, Kenya, she is eager to stop the wedding. In the 3-part episode “African Temptation”, Maria, Kelly, Jean and Luke travel to Kenya. While Maria tries to find Samuel and Raven, Kelly suddenly finds herself torn between Jean and Luke. Raven tries to poison Maria, but unbeknownst to Raven, Maria survives. In the rain forest, Raven confesses to Samuel what she did. They lose control over their truck and crash into a ditch. Maria finds them. Raven is brought to the hospital, and Samuel and Maria finally reconcile. Kelly chooses Luke, and Jean wishes them good luck.

 

In the 2-hour season finale “24 Hours”, Cole tries to kidnap Kayla, but in the end, Antonio and Paige can rescue the little girl. Logan gets beat up by Caitlin’s husband and seeks shelter at the beach house. He and Steve sleep in the same bed. The next morning, Luke returns from Africa and sees Logan emerging from Steve’s bedroom. Luke can’t believe his eyes and tells Steve about Logan’s true identity. Steve wants both brothers out of his life for good. Penny poisons Morgan’s drink and then tells her that she only wants her money. She places Morgan’s lifeless in the bathtub, where Morgan eventually drowns.

SEASON 8
Casting notes: While Raven and Morgan are gone, Devon joins the cast as a new series regular.
– – –
The final year brings closure to most of the show’s storylines, new couples develop and old friendships are rekindled. Logan learns that Raven has died and that he has inherited “Blue Moon”. Antonio, Paige and Kayla try living a life as a family, but they soon realize that this is not going to work. Even though he should dislike him, Antonio befriends Logan. The latter briefly dates Caroline, but then Logan and Paige grow closer which provides new drama. In turn, Antonio and Caroline give their love a second try. In the end, Antonio decides that Kayla should live with Paige and Logan.

 

After spending a night out partying, Steve ends up in bed with Daniel. While sleep-talking, Daniel confesses that he killed his wife Sonya. Steve can’t believe his ears and confronts Daniel, but Daniel accuses him of lying and hallucinating (I’m not really sure how that storyline was supposed to end, but I know I wanted to bring Sonya back alive and finish Daniel off somehow).

 

Kelly can’t forget Jean, and he feels the same. Jean and Kelly start an affair behind Kim and Luke’s backs. When Kim returns from rehab, she is a different person. She wants to get divorced from Jean and demands half of his modeling agency. Jean can’t afford paying her out and decides to start over with Kim. To deal with her past, Kim is seeing psychiatrist Dr. Devon King whom she grows attached to. When she finds out that Devon is a lesbian, Kim is puzzled, but after a while she realizes that she has fallen in love with Devon. In the end, Jean and Kelly receive their happy ending, as do Kim and Devon. Luke decides to leave South Beach and moves to Chicago where he has found a new job.

 

Early in the season, Maria learns that she has breast cancer. At first, she has great chances of recovery, but then her situation worsens every week. Samuel supports her as much as he can. Enrique dates a young model named Jordan Crawford who suffers from anorexia. He helps her overcoming her problems.

 

The 2-hour series finale “Goodbye, South Beach” takes place 6 months in the future. Maria and Samuel have a speed wedding on her death bed. Surrounded by Samuel, Jean, Kelly and Steve, Maria peacefully dies. Luke returns for Maria’s funeral and spends the night at the beach house. Steve now has a new boyfriend, a much older lawyer, who doesn’t treat Steve well. Eventually Luke gathers all his courage and joins Steve while he is taking a shower. The two guys receive their happy ending as well.
 

The show ends with the couples standing at the beach, looking over the ocean, reflecting the past and looking into the future that awaits them.

7 hours ago, Skylover said:

I watched the first episode yesterday and the acting was much weaker, but acting was weaker across the board back then. I suppose Leon's one of the only younger characters to have survived from the 90s and even he had a 2 year break. 

Yeah, the acting in the first year was atrocious – like I said, most younger actors didn't have any experience prior to GZSZ, and the older actors were stage actors. So there's a good mixture of "can't enunciate at all" and dramatic overacting. The worst were the actors playing Marina, Julia and the first Claudia, but Heiko and Tina were horrible in the beginning as well. The only really good actors were the first Peter (RIP), Frank, Lilo and Daniel. The sets also looked like a theatre, camera work was static and the sound mixing was horrible, especially in outdoor scenes. All in all, the first year can be mostly viewed as an experiment, and it gets much better afterwards (after the first big cast purge in spring 1993).

Leon is the only (former) younger character from the 90s who is still on the show. John debuted in 2001 (and also took a break).

7 hours ago, Skylover said:

Why was Emily unpopular to begin with?

Well, when she arrived the character was only 15 years old, and she quickly developed a crush on John, barging in between him and his girlfriend Paula (who were a very popular couple at that time). Emily and John slept with each other, not knowing they were half-siblings. The audience hated this storyline. In the following years, Emily had typical teenager storylines... she spent time on a pony farm and became friends with a troubled girl named Nele who was abused by her mother. Nele also became a contract role and for a while, both girls had filler storylines such as being crazy about a boy group and stuff like that. Nele soon vanished and again, Emily didn't have any friends on the show. Following the traumatic deaths of her father Hannes and her aunt Senta (who was like a mother for her), Emily worked as a model and a singer, then developed a drug addiction, which ultimately led to the death of another character, Franzi (Philip's ex-girlfriend). This was the turning point and the character gained popularity (also because Anne Menden had grown as an actress).

Yeah, in the 90s/2000s, it was extremely rare for a character to stick around longer than 3 or 4 years. It was usually only the older cast members that stayed on board to create the "backbone" of the show. This applied to all soaps, not just GZSZ. In the early days, most youngers "actors" didn't have any experience before being cast on a soap, and it showed. Because the soap genre had a bad reputation, many younger actors were eager to leave their shows to get "better" roles. Only some of them were lucky, though, and a lot of these actors quit acting altogether to find success in other professions. Some former GZSZ actors of the 90s became successful directors, for example. In other instances, people were fired because their characters had become stale or because they were unpopular.

Storytelling was also very different back then because there wasn't that much emphasis on character development. There were a lot of cheesy, over-the-top storylines that wouldn't work today.

However, there are lot of storylines that are popular on American soaps that German soaps have never or rarely done, such as "Who's the daddy?", baby switchs, return from the dead, long-lost twins, rape, plastic surgery/people wearing masks to pose as a different person, brainwashing, multiple marriages to the same partner, science fiction or supernatural stuff, and the likes.

Over time, some characters managed to become essential to the show's storylines (or their actors are very friendly with TPTB), and this is why they have sticked around for so long. I mean, back in 2004, I could have never imagined that Emily would still be on the show in the year 2020. She was a very unpopular character at that time and wasn't even well integrated into the cast for years. Same goes for Katrin. Philip has been a bore ever since, but apparently he's popular enough. Maren and Lilly, who have both been on the show for 10 years, also started out as rather peripherical characters.

If you look at these episode counts from January 1995, you will probably not recognize any familiar name except Jo:

January 1995

Total Episodes: 22

01. Sandra Keller (Tina Ullrich-Zimmermann #1) : 17
*** Alexander Kiersch (Patrick Graf) : 17
03. Wolfgang Bahro (Dr. Jo Gerner) : 15
*** Sali Landricina (Peter Becker #2) : 15
*** Lisa Riecken (Elisabeth Meinhart) : 15
*** Victoria Sturm (Milla Engel) : 15
*** Saskia Valencia (Saskia Rother) : 15
*** Claudia Weiske (Elke Opitz) : 15
09. Hannelore Minkus (Beatrice Zimmermann) : 13
*** Jan Sosniok (Tom Lehmann) : 13

11. Hans Christiani (A.R. Daniel) : 12
12. Andreas Elsholz (Heiko Richter) : 10
*** Frank-Thomas Mende (Clemens Richter) : 10
*** Julian Scheunemann (Charlie Fierek) : 10
15. Matthias Matz (André Holm) : 9
*** Angela Neumann (Vera Richter) : 9
*** Julia Gerke (Jenny Gruber) : 9 *
18. Judith Gerke (Jessi Gruber) : 8 *
*** Irene Neuner (Dr. Rebecca Scheele) : 8 *
*** Bastienne Voss (Mona Dorngräber, owner of "Modern Times") : 8

22. Ernst Dollwetzel (Jens Liebermann, owner of "Modern Times") : 6
*** Volker Lüdecke (Uwe Kraus, Tina's kidnapper) : 6
*** Simone Storch-Bicking (Ariane Lehnert, owner of "City Lights") : 6
25. Frank Halatsch (Willi Gerner) : 5
*** Werner Schuster (Manni Fürst, reporter at "Morgenecho") : 5
27. Elke Lanzendörfer (Officer Borg) : 4
*** Dagmar Sitte (Rita Sahmel) : 4
*** Sabine Svoboda (Officer Schwenke) : 4
30. Raphael Schneider (Andy Lehmann) : 2 *
31. Tanja Wenzel (Mascha Marcks) : 1

* became contract cast members at a later point.

Next year, the US will receive its own spin-off of the Eurovision Song Contest: The American Song Contest.

https://eurovision.tv/story/the-eurovision-song-contest-travels-to-america

9 hours ago, Skylover said:

Tuner doesn't do much these days. Moritz doesn't appear as much as I'd like I love the relationship between Moritz and Yvonne.

Regarding Tuner,

Some casting news:

• On GZSZ, Cryssanthi Kavazi (Laura Weber) returns from her maternity leave on August 20th, 2020.
• On AWZ, Birte Glang (Lena Bergmann von Altenburg Öztürk) departs the show on August 11th, 2020. Glang was the third actress in the role. Juliette Greco debuted as Lena in May 2007. In early 2013, she was replaced by Maria Kempken for six months during her maternity leave. Greco returned in September 2013 and departed again in August 2018. Glang took over in January 2019. Despite being on contract, Glang's Lena never really had a major storyline and in hindsight, the recast didn't make much sense. In her early years on the show, Lena had various affairs. She gave birth to her and Maximilian's son Alexander in 2009, which tied Lena to the Steinkamp family (a connection that was hardly used in the show's storylines). Since 2013, she had been married to Marian Öztürk (Sam Eisenstein).
• In turn, there are two new contract members on AWZ: Lisandra Bardél plays Malu Santos, a mysterious woman that Finn (Christopher Kohn) meets at a spiritual retreat. He soon feels attracted to her, but then it turns out that Malu is his brother Justus's (Matthias Brüggenolte) secret girlfriend. Dominik Flade plays Yannick Ziegler, Ina (Franziska van der Heide) and Lucie's (Julia Wiedmann)a brother.
• On UU, Alica Hubiak (Jana Huber) departs the show at the end of August when her character eventually dies of her terminal illness. Hubiak only joined the cast this past April. She quickly became a fan favorite, but the character's demise had been planned for months.
• There's also an unexpected return as Sarah Bogen reprises her role as Lili Mattern after being off the show for 8 years. Bogen debuted on the show in November 2001 when she was only 12 years old, and for years, she was the youngest contract cast member on any soap. In 2012, following the murder of Lili's adoptive mother Rebecca (Imke Brügger), Bogen was released from her contract. She departed the show in October 2012 and Lili moved to Namibia to live with her step sister Romy. Now Lili returns to Cologne to support her step father Rufus whose youngest daughter Lotta has apparently been kidnapped

Two more familiar faces will appear in the VL reboot:

• Gabriele Metzger, who was the only cast member to appear on the original show during its entire run, will return as Charlotte "Charlie" Schneider. At the beginning of the show, Charlie was Clarissa's snobby and man-crazy best friend. Once she and Clarissa had parted ways, Charlie became a more humble person. In addition, several of her family members were introduced, including her brother Lars, her nephew Olli, her niece Olivia, and her secret daughter Bella. At the end of the original show, she was married to police officer Frank Helmke and was the owner of the restaurant "Schneider's". On the weekly version of the soap, Charlie only appeared as a background character.
• Jo Weil will return as Oliver "Olli" Sabel, Charlie's gay nephew. On the original show, Weil was a contract member from 2000 to 2002 and again from 2007 to 2014. He was a fan favorite, but departed the show before VL became a weekly soap. At the end of the original show, Olli was said to be in New York.

Some more info about the VL reboot:

• The show's title will be "Verbotene Liebe – Next Generation".
• For the first season, there will be 10 episodes.
• The new series will not build on the original show's finale, but will honor its history.
• The new main family is called Verhoven. The family hides an "unthinkable secret".
• The "forbidden love" will happen between Josefin Reinhard (played by Sina Zadra) and Alexander Verhoven (played by Frederik Götz).
• Two returns has been confirmed: Wolfram Grandezka will repappear as villain Ansgar von Lahnstein. Grandezka played the part from 2004 to the show's finale. He currently stars on the telenovela "Rote Rosen". In addition, Isa Jank returns as the popular and iconic Clarissa von Anstetten. Jank had played Clarissa from 1995 to 2001 and again from 2011 to 2013.
• More returns have been teased.
• Filming will begin later this month in Cologne, Düsseldorf and on location in Belgium.
• Like the original (and GZSZ, AWZ, UU etc), the show is produced by UFA Serial Drama for TVNow.

I can only remember two examples from B&B:

Rick Forrester

Jacob Young (1997-1999)
Justin Torkildsen (1999-2006)
Kyle Lowder (2007-2011)
Jacob Young (2011-2018)

Storm Logan

Ethan Wayne (1987-1989)
Brian Patrick Clarke (1990-1991)
Ethan Wayne (various guest appearances between 1994 and 2004)

William deVry (2006-2008)