Neighbours needs to get cancelled.

Huntress: Watching those German openings, I noticed how the entire casts are white, with no other racial groups at all. Weird, considering the amount of debate that goes into US/UK/Oz soaps not being diverse enough (and right that is). Have the longer running soaps been more multicultural in the past? Is diversity an issue in the German TV industry?

Although Germany is a multi-cultural country, television shows usually don't feature that many characters of different ethnicities but there have never been any complaints or public debates about that. However, on reality shows there are usually more people with an immigrant background, for example on "German Idol" or "Popstars".

"Marienhof" has and always had a multi-cultural cast. There are several actors with non-German roots on the canvas right now: Antonio Putignano (Stefano Maldini, 2000-), Giovanni Arvaneh (Sülo Özgentürk, 1995-1998; 2003-), Tuna Ünal (Tarek Berisi, 2009-), Alfonso Losa (Carlos Garcia, 2000-) and Mirco Wallraf (Raul Garcia, 2002-). (Strangely enough, Giovanni Arvaneh doesn't have a solo sequence on the new opening, he can only be seen in the group scene at the end. The same goes for two other actors and both child actors. Weird considering that even that stupid dog received a credit.)

On the other hand, "Verbotene Liebe" has never had any foreign contract cast member. The same goes for "Unter uns" even though it takes place in Cologne, one of the most diverse cities in Germany. "Unter uns" is also the only soap that has never featured a gay or lesbian couple.

"Sturm der Liebe" is a telenovela and is now in its fith cycle. The third cycle featured a black actress as the main heroine – Dominique Siassia as Samia – and therefore the main couple was interracial.

"Gute Zeiten, Schlechte Zeiten" has two Turkish contract cast members right now, Tayfun Baydar (Tayfun) and Sila Sahin (Ayla).

Btw, I can't post any of the openings of the RTL soaps, since RTL prohibits uploading videos of their programs to youtube. They have a very strict policy and their online library is pay-per-view.

Edited March 27, 201015 yr by Huntress

God bless Neighbours for continuing the "lots and lots of young, hot people with quick glances of wacky old people doing wacky things" tradition.

Sturm der Liebe - Cycle 6: Eva & Robert

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OzA4QefzvvM

GZSZ - Opening 2010.1/A

Cast: Katrin & Jo - Philip - Dominik - Tayfun - Ayla / Dascha - Iris & Lucy - Alexander - Verena

Lyrics: Ich seh' in dein Herz, sehe gute Zeiten, schlechte Zeiten, ein Leben, das neu beginnt, durch Liebe und Schmerz, wird in guten und in schlechten Zeiten dein Schicksal bestimmt.

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GZSZ - Opening 2010.1/B

Cast: Elisabeth & Clemens - Tuner - Patrick - John & Leon - Emily / Carsten - Jasmin - Pia

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Unter uns - Opening 2010.1/A

Cast: Anna & Paco - Sina, Easy, Moritz & Lili - Ute & Eva - Malte - Till, Irene, Sina & Rolf

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Unter uns - Opening 2010.1/B

Cast: Till & Heidi - Eva - Tobias & Micki - Rebecca & Rufus - Paco - Malte, Ute, Britta & Henning

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Edited September 12, 201015 yr by Huntress

Anna und die Liebe – 2010 opening (episode 564-present)

Order: Jeanette Biedermann as Anna Broda - Jacob Weigert as Enrique Vega - Patrick Kalupa as Tom Lanford - Sarah Mühlhause as Carla Rhonstedt - Franziska Matthus as Natascha Broda - Chris Gebert as Virgin - Sebastian König as Maik Majewski - Maja Maneiro as Paloma Greco – Group scene

Lyrics: Gib mir Sonne, gib mir Wärme, gib mir Licht, all die Farben wieder zurück; verbrenn den Schnee, das Grau muss weg, schenk mir ein bisschen Glück; wann kommt die Sonne? Kann es denn sein, dass mir gar nichts mehr gelingt? Wann kommt die Sonne? Kannst du nicht sehen, dass ich tief im Schnee versink?

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Edited November 5, 201015 yr by Huntress

They have a character named Virgin?

Yes, he's a gay fashion designer.

That was the previous opening:

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Edited November 5, 201015 yr by Huntress

Opening sequence of the German drama series "Stadtklinik" (literal translation: "City Hospital") which ran from 1993 to 2000 on RTL. The show had 10 seasons with 159 episodes. This particular opening is from one of the middle seasons:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jPAFP3W3PAI

Alles was zählt - 2011 openings

Lyrics: Ich kriege nie genug vom Leben, ich kriege nie genug – bist du dabei? Ich will alles riskieren, will gewinnen, nicht verlieren, immer mehr, immer mehr, immer mehr – ich kriege nie genug!

Version 1: Simone & Maximilian - Lena, Annette & Katja - Ingo / Deniz - Vanessa / Richard & Ben - Franziska / Florian - Claudia & Katja / Isabelle

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Version 2: Simone & Richard - Annette - Ingo / Tom - Axel, Maximilian & Lena - Roman / Deniz & Marian - Isabelle & Katja / Claudia

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Gosh, the German opening titles really are cheesy in a bad way! Not like the lovely Neighbours ones

Verbotene Liebe (November 2010-present opening)

Cast: Nico & Philip - Maria & Elisabeth - Matthias, Nathalie & Arno - Rebecca & Ludwig - Charlie, Christian & Olli - Sebastian & Lydia - Ansgar & Tanja - Helena, Andi & Tristan

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Marienhof (September 2010-present opening – will probably be the last version as the show will air its final episode in May 2011)

Cast: Ruth & Tarek - Charly & Netty - Marlon & Dino - Constanze - Toni, Nic, Stefano & Tanja - Raul, Heidi & Carlos - Lisa, Inge & Frank - Whole cast

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Rote Rosen (2010 opening)

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Lena – Liebe meines Lebens (September 2010-present opening)

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Hand aufs Herz (October 2010-present opening)

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Norwegian Hotel Cæsar (2011):

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=781gPRWYCxo

I wonder, what do you think about it?

Edited February 24, 201114 yr by MKA

Looks a bit outdated, but it's also quite classy. Reminds of the old Y&R opening.

Hilsener til Norge

Hilsener til Norge

Takk

Hotel Cæsar (1998)

Himmelblå (2008, 2009, 2010):

The most watched drama series in Norway for a long time. And it's a direct copy of the british "Two Thousand Acres of Sky"...!