German soaps: GZSZ, UU & AWZ

[Skylover]

Thanks for posting those credit sequences, Huntress.

I way prefer te second version of the credits, because it's got my favourites in them: Vince, Emily(?) and Zak(?) I have since watched Unter Uns but I haven't attempted Alles Was Zaehlt yet. UU comes across as quite cheesey but not in a good way. AWZ opening is quite harsh, I'm drawn to GZSZ which I didn't think would happen. I love the opening titles and the theme song. Plus the stories and characters are very engaging, I can see why it's the most popular soap.

GZSZ <3 It makes me laugh to read in the credits that it was created from an idea by Reg Watson, considering my love for his other show Neighbours.

[Huntress]

Current AWZ opening (December 2011-present):

Version A

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

Changes from the previous version: Ben was removed from his scene with Richard; Vanessa's shot was altered; Claudia was replaced by Ben

(picture coming soon)

Version B

Order: Richard & Simone - Annette - Jan Marco & Sarah - Axel / Maximilian - Lena & Maximilian - Deniz & Marian / Melanie - Isabelle & Katja / Ben

Changes from the previous version: Ingo & Tom were replaced by Jan Marco & Sarah; Roman was replaced by Melanie; Deniz and Marian's scene was slightly changed and moved to the left side of the screen; Claudia was replaced by Ben

Current UU opening (June 2011-present):

Version A

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

Changes from the previous version: Anna's shot was replaced since her hair color had changed from red to blonde

Version B

Order: Bine, Nils & Bela - Eva - Bela, Tobias & Micki - Rebecca & Rufus - Paco - Ute, Malte, Britta & Henning

Changes from the previous version: Till & Heidi were replaced by Bine, Nils & Bela; Bela was added to Tobias & Micki's shot

[DRW50]

Thanks for all this detail and the photos.

Is Eva a transsexual?

[Huntress]

LOL no, she's not a transsexual. But I admit she does look like one.

Eva is played by Claudelle Deckert, and she's actually one of the most entertaining characters on the show. She was on contract from March 2001 to August 2006 and returned in the fall of 2008. She's a lawyer, often conniving and ruthless, but she also has her soft moments. She was married to Till, middle son of the Weigel family clan. It was this marriage which caused Weigel patriarch Wolfgang to have a heart attack of which he eventually died. Thus, the other Weigels, especially Irene, hold a grudge against Eva. A bit later, Eva even purchased the apartment house where all characters live in and which was formerly owned by the Weigels. Eva is now good friends with Ute, Till's first ex-wife. Till and Eva are still in love with each other and they're trying to make each other jealous by pretending to have affairs with Britta and Malte, respectively.

Before I forget to post it, here's the current VL opening with the largest contract cast the show has ever had:

Order: Clarissa - Jan | Julia - Julia & Ricardo | Jan - Timo | Leonie | Emilio - Charlie | Arno - Jessica & Tanja | Jessica - Viktoria | Viktoria & Thomas | Kim - Christian | Olli - Tanja - Sebastian | Tanja & Sebastian - Ansgar - Ludwig & Elisabeth | Ludwig - Helena | Helena & Andi - Tristan | Marlene - Dana - Marlene, Dana & Hagen | Nico - Ansgar

[DRW50]

Thanks for all this info So Eva is sort of like Amanda from Melrose Place.

What do you think of VL bringing back the old incest theme from their early days?

Are the ratings any better? I read somewhere they weren't doing that again where they have stories in two different countries.

[Huntress]

Sadly, VL's ratings have not increased over the past few months, but the producers are still optimistic. The Mallorca storyline will find its end in January 2012, when the 4000th episode is being shown. Jan and Julia are finally free to love each other and depart the show together. The other Mallorca characters (Clarissa, Timo, Leonie, Emilio and Ricardo) will remain on contract and will be brought to Düsseldorf. Following this transition and the restructuring of ARD's evening schedule, VL will be shown between 5.50 and 6.30 p.m. as of January 23rd, 2012 instead of between 6.00 and 6.50 p.m. Thus, the 17 year-old soap will be shortened to 40 minutes in the process.

However, the producers told the press that the Mallorca setting will most likely return next summer.

[Skylover]

Thanks for the info, Huntress.

I've still been watching GZSZ. I really do love it. I've noticed how certain characters seem to feature for weeks on end, while other characters don't appear for a long time. It took half a month for me to see Zack again after the incident where Lilli threw up on him! He is so very attractive

Meanwhile, this show is really well-written. Although Emilie and Thune getting together seems really unrealistic, the characters have had so much air time and you really see the connection build between them. I don't like the separation between the two older characters (I forget their names) the woman just comes across as cold, and I was very surprised when she had sex with Tanja's dad in the toilets of the club!

I don't understand the love triangle between Zack/Tanja/Vince. At the end of the episode I just watched (22/11) it seemed like she was leading both of them on!

Dominic's recovery from the kidnapping has been really interesting to watch, and realistic too. I can't stand Patrick though.

[Huntress]

Yes, the audience is divided on Patrick: They either love or hate him.

Here are some preview pictures for the three RTL soaps (January 2012):

Unter uns

01. Tobias (Patrick Müller); 02. Nils (Martin Baden) & Bela (Bela Klentze); 03. Irene (Petra Blossey) & Ute (Isabell Hertel); 04. Britta (Tabea Heynig) & Till (Ben Ruedinger); 05. Rebecca (Imke Brügger) & Rufus (Kai Noll); 06. Eva (Claudelle Deckert) & Till; 07. Tobias & Nils; 08. Rufus & Rebecca; 09. Sina (Valea Scalabrino) & Irene; 10. Easy (Lars Steinhöfel) & Lili (Sarah Bogen)

Alles was zählt

01. Lena (Juliette Menke) & Florian (Michael N. Kuehl); 02. Jenny (Kaja Schmidt-Tychsen) & Marco (Salvatore Greco); 03. Richard (Silvan-Pierre Leirich) & Maximilian (Francisco Medina); 04. Axel (Daniel Aichinger) & Jenny; 05. Isabelle (Ania Niedieck); 06. Richard & Simone (Tatjana Clasing); 07. Ingo (André Dietz) & Annette (Ulrike Röseberg); 08. Isabelle & Katja (Anna-Katharina Samsel); 09. Sarah (Christina Siemoneit), Jenny, Simone, Axel & Marco; 10. Sarah & Deniz (Igor Dolgatschew)

Gute Zeiten, Schlechte Zeiten

01. Emily (Anne Menden), Jasmin (Janina Uhse) & Pia (Isabell Horn); 02. Katrin (Ulrike Frank) & Jo (Wolfgang Bahro); 03. Lilly (Iris Mareike Steen) & Vince (Vincent Krüger); 04. Dominik (Raul Richter), Jo & Patrick (Björn Harras); 05. Philip (Jörn Schlönvoigt) & Tayfun (Tayfun Baydar); 06. Lilly & Tanja (Senta-Sofia Delliponti); 07. Alexander (Clemens Löhr) & Maren (Eva Mona Rodekirchen); 08. Tayfun gets arrested in front of his father; 09. Jacky (new series regular Samia Dauenhauer) & Tuner (Thomas Drechsel); 10. Jasmin, Pia & Jacky

– – – – –

ARD has also released some stunning promotional pictures for VL's 4000th episode:

Tanja (Miriam Lahnstein), Clarissa (Isa Jank) & Jessica (Jana Julie Kilka)

Clockwise: Jessica (Jana Julie Kilka), Kim (Nicole Mieth), Julia (Nina Bott), Leonie (Stefanie Bock) & Tanja (Miriam Lahnstein)

Clarissa (Isa Jank), Tanja (Miriam Lahnstein) & Ansgar (Wolfram Grandezka)

Helena (Renee Weibel), Daniel (Dirk Moritz), Andi (Dominic Saleh-Zaki) & Jessica (Jana Julie Kilka)

Helena (Renee Weibel), Daniel (Dirk Moritz), Jessica (Jana Julie Kilka) & Andi (Dominic Saleh-Zaki)

Kim (Nicole Mieth), Ansgar (Wolfram Grandezka), Helena (Renee Weibel), Tristan (Jens Hartwig), Tanja (Miriam Lahnstein) & Sebastian (Sebastian Schlemmer)

Andi (Dominic Saleh-Zaki), Daniel (Dirk Moritz), Jessica (Jana Julie Kilka), Kim (Nicole Mieth), Tanja (Miriam Lahnstein), Leonie (Stefanie Bock), Helena (Renee Weibel), Julia (Nina Bott), Timo (Remo Schulze) & Emilio (Florian Wünsche)

[Skylover]

Thanks Huntress I loved seeing the promo pictures for GZSZ. I'm upset that Zack doesn't appear in them! Nice to see that the show is getting a new regular. Who are your favourite GZSZ characters? Emily is great, I really like Tayfun, but to me it seems like Dominic, Jo and Jasmin are some of the best characters. Katrin is ok but like I said before, she's a bit cold.

I might have to start watching Verbotene Liebe. From what I've heard it seems it's the German soap with the biggest international audience of the main soaps, even my French flatmate watches it with subtitles!

[Huntress]

Actually, I stopped watching GZSZ about six years ago because many of the characters I loved were gone at that point and the stories back then sucked. I had been watching regularly since 1995. A year later, AWZ was launched and I watched that show during its premiere year. The summer of 2007 was brilliant with the beginning of the Roman/Deniz storyline, Ingo/Annette, Marian/Nadja etc. However, it all went downhill when Maximilian arrived and became the center of attention. I still can't stand this character. These days, I watch all 4 soaps occasionally when time permits it, but due to my job I always know what's going on and who's who

On GZSZ, I've always liked John and Leon. However, both characters have changed a lot during the years.

John used to be a rebellious teenager (he was 15 when he first appeared in town in 2001) and he was the youngest member of the Bachmann/Lemke family clan. Ironically, he is also the only member of the family who has remained on the show, as his parents, his siblings, his aunt and his cousin have all been written out over the years. Emily and Philip are John's half siblings, and in 2005 John and Emily had sex before they knew they were related. For a long time, John was in love with his high school sweetheart Paula. They eventually got married after graduation, but then Paula fell in love with Philip's girlfriend Franzi. This quadrangle was very popular in 2008. Emily was also involved as she was doing cocaine during that time and introduced Franzi to the dangerous drug. The storyline ended with Franzi dying in the wreckage of the "Fasan" restaurant after causing an explosion in the kitchen. John and Paula separated, with Paula departing the show a few months later. John then fell in love with Caroline, the girlfriend of his best friend Tim. Caroline soon expected John's baby but she reunited with Tim and left town with him. John was devastated because he was looking forward to the birth of his son. He drew comfort from Pia and began an affair with her, which eventually developed to an honest relationship.

Leon used to be a ladies' man and he has had various affairs and short-lived relationships since his arrival in 1996. For example, he was involved with Katrin Flemming. Leon eventually settled with Verena whom he married in 2009. Their son Oskar was born in late 2010, and the three formed a happy family until Verena was killed in a car crash in September 2011.

The only characters I don't like are Philip and Ayla.

Edited December 13, 2011 by Huntress

[Rich]

On AWZ,why did Marian marry Lena?

[Huntress]

Obviously the writers had problems finding a new storyline for Marian, so they had to go back to him being of Turkish origin. For some reason he was supposed to be deported to Turkey because his residence permit had expired. Marian's only chance was to marry someone with a German passport, so he asked Lena to become his wife, breaking up Lena and Florian in the process.

[Huntress]

Print campaign for VL's Clarissa:

Das Erste Biest ist zurück is a pun. Literally it means "the prime bitch is back", but Das Erste is also the tv station that broadcasts VL.

[DRW50]

That's a gorgeous photo. Thank you.

[Huntress]

It's of course not a real soap (but rather close to it ): Last night the 6th season of the German edition of "I'm a Celebrity – Get Me out of Here!" ("Ich bin ein Star – Holt mich hier raus!") kicked off. The premiere episode was very successful, attracting almost 8 million viewers.

Here are the contestants:

1. Kim Gloss – singer, former contestant on "German Idol"

2. Marlene "Jazzy" Tackenberg – rapper, former member of the girl group "Tic Tac Toe" which was very successful in the 90s and had a small comeback in 2005

3. Radost Bokel – former child star

4. Micaela "La Mica" Schäfer – model, nude DJane, former contestant on "Germany's Next Top Model" and "Big Brother"

5. Daniel Lopes – former contestant on "German Idol" and "Germany's Got Talent"

6. Martin Kesici – winner of the first and only edition of "Star Search" in 2003, one hit wonder

7. Ramona Leiß – tv presenter for 3 decades

8. Rocco Stark – actor, played a contract role on the now defunct soap "Hand aufs Herz"

9. Vincent Raven – magician

10. Ailton – Brazilian soccer player, won the German Footballer of the Year award in 2004

11. Brigitte Nielsen –Danish actress ("Red Sonja", "Rocky IV", "Beverly Hills Cop II"), singer and former model