German soaps: GZSZ, UU & AWZ

[Huntress]

It definitely was – and they did the best they could filming it due to coronavirus restrictions.

 

However, I won't miss Alex that much because in recent years, he didn't contribute much to the show other than being Maren's partner and owning the local kiosk. In his early days on the show, he still had his own family (back then, he was played by a different actor), but he was relegated to supporting player around 2011/2012. Everything he did was somehow connected to Maren – even when he had an affair a few years ago, the story was mostly told from Maren's perspective (how she suffered etc.) I wonder what the show will do with Maren now.

 

That was Alex's last scene:

 

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Edited June 24, 2020 by Huntress

[Skylover]

I wasn't that impressed by the actress who plays Maren in the aftermath. I thought Lilly was brilliant though. Shirin thought she'd just go and get the tube afterwards 

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I really liked how it was written. They had all these plans to go travelling, it was so sad 

Edited June 24, 2020 by Skylover

[wingwalker]

Verbotene Liebe coming back? That's unexpected and great news. I do hope they bring Ollie back. 

 

 

 

[Huntress]

 

Moritz is gay which will be revealed in today's episode.

 

This is the full cast list for GZSZ's spin-off "SUNNY":

• Valentina Pahde as Sunny Richter; title character
• Wilson Gonzalez Ochsenknecht as "Ove"; a wealthy young man
• Gerrit Klein as "Lennard"; comes from a wealthy background, self-confident, but full of secrets
• Ben Andrews Rumler as "Karl"; Lennard's best friend, emotional and talented
• Linda Rohrer as "Ruby"; Lennard's little sister
• Meryl Marty as "Frieda"; influencer
• Brix Schaumburg as "Nik"; transsexual
• Sarah Buchholzer as "Kim"; social outcast
• Felix Lampert as "Brian"; star photographer and teacher

 

Back row (from left to right): Linda Rohrer, Sarah Buchholzer, Ben Andrews Rumler
Front row (from left to right): Felix Lampert, Wilson Gonzalez Ochsenknecht, Valentina Pahde, Brix Schaumburg, Gerrit Klein, Meryl Marty

 

Due to coronavirus restrictions, the actor work in an enclosed setting, meaning they have little to no contact with the outside world, so they can have physical contact and film intimate scenes.

[Skylover]

 

Thanks, I'll deffo be watching then!

[gyroscope]

 

I'm all caught up on this too now - really thought it was well done.  The actor who played Maren was good, but I agree Lilly was really good. I love Lilly so much,  I was in bits.  The actress has such a streak of sorrow that runs through her protrayal of her, it gets me every time something happens to her!

[Skylover]

'Stichwort: Urban edginess'. Sunny and Emily are hilarious in this handbag storyline

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[Skylover]

Moritz flirting with Nihat 

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Loved their little exchange.

 

(Moritz is changing a lightbulb and Nihat mistakes him for a handyman)

MORITZ: Do you get paid much?

NIHAT: Is that a trick question? Do you?

MORITZ: I don't do it for the money. I just like screwing. 

 

 

Edited July 1, 2020 by Skylover

[gyroscope]

 

I've enjoyed his scenes with Nihat too. 

 

Though,  not sure about the GZSZ wardrobe department - I'm not sure what young gay guy is choosing to wear 90s surferdude baggy underwear

 

 

 

Though, perhaps gay guys in Germany have different tastes 

 

 

[Skylover]

@gyroscope I'm not complaining

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 They could have put him in some tighter underwear though  @Huntress have there been many LGBT characters before?

Edited July 2, 2020 by Skylover

[gyroscope]

 

Yeah , exactly, I was hoping for some tighter underwear at least ! 

 

I quite liked the lesbian girl, Anni, who left a few years ago. 

 

I wonder who they are planning to pair Moritz up with? Let's hope they don't waste the character. 

[Huntress]

 

Not that many, actually. Usually the stories centered around a straight guy or woman developing feelings for a bisexual or gay character.

 

1996: Saskia Rother was about to marry Tom Lehmann but he had an affair with her best friend Milla Engel. Saskia learned about this on her wedding day. Shortly after, she ran into her old classmate Harumi Shimizu. Saskia let Harumi stay with her. Harumi had a one night stand with Tom, but then one day she kissed Saskia out of the blue. Saskia developed feelings for Harumi and they became a couple. Saskia's father tried to get them apart, but in the end, both women moved to San Francisco. The storyline lasted for 4 or 5 months.

1997: Fabian Moreno (Leon's older brother; Leon's still on the show) became friends with a DJ named Philip Krüger. They spent a lot of time together and worked on restoring some antique cars. When Philip told Fabian that he was gay, Fabian backed off, but eventually he developed feelings for Philip and they became a couple, much to Leon's dismay. The relationship didn't last long, though, because Philip cheated on Fabian with his ex-boyfriend. They also went through an HIV scare.
Originally, Philip was only a recurring character, but he became a regular in late 1997/early 1998 – just when his relationship with Fabian had ended. Afterwards, he didn't really have much to do other than being a good listener to other people's problems and working as a journalist. In 1999, he briefly dated (and even wanted to marry) a guy named Simon who turned out to be a psycho. In the summer of 2000, Philip left GZSZ and became a regular on GZSZ's short-lived primetime spin-off "Großstadtträume" which was cancelled after 7 episodes. He wasn't brought back to the main show and was quickly forgotten.
For Fabian, his relationship with Philip was his only foray into dating men, as he resumed dating women afterwards. He also left the show in 2000, and returned in a recurring capacity from 2003 to 2004. Eventually, he ended up in prison and Leon seems to have forgotten about his brother.

2000: Peter Becker and Barbara Graf were a couple. While Barbara was on a business trip, Peter had one night stand with a woman named Lara Kelm. Lara forced herself into Peter's life and met Barbara, whom she eventually also seduced. For a while, Barbara was torn between Peter and Lara. However, the story quickly fizzled out because the actress playing Lara was abruptly written off the show (just as she had become a contract player). A few weeks later, Barbara became a psycho, kidnapped a baby, and went to prison – thanks to her sister Sonja who turned her in to the police. In 2002, Barbara briefly returned because she wanted to kill Sonja, but she failed. Sonja was killed a few weeks later when the "Daniel's" pub exploded.

2003: Deniz Ergün's old friend Alia Öndar appeared in town because both his and her family expected them to get married (it was some kind of arranged marriage). Alia came out as a lesbian and one night kissed Deniz's girlfriend Sandra. Alia was only a recurring role and lasted for about 4 months before she returned to her native Turkey.

2008: Paula Rapf was married to John Bachmann (who's still on the show), and Franzi Reuter was involved with Philip Höfer (John's half-brother, who's also still on the show). Both girls were unhappy in their relationships and eventually developed romantic feelings for one another. However, Paula wasn't willing to give up her marriage. Together with John's and Philip's sister Emily (who's also still on the show), Franzi turned to drugs and they regularly snorted cocaine. One night, Franzi and Emily caused a fire in the kitchen of the "Fasan" restaurant. Franzi was killed in a sudden explosion and Paula was heart-broken. She finally broke up with John and started a new life as a police officer. She developed feelings for her good friend Verena Koch (Leon's late wife), who turned her down. In early 2009, Paula left town and moved to Canada.

2009: Lenny Cöster (the late Alexander's son) was deemed a "sissy" by his peers because he was shy and plain. When he had to join the army (back then, Germany still had a compulsory military service which was abolished a few years ago), Lenny had the worst time of his life. His instructor Carsten Reimann saved him from the attacks of his peers. Nethertheless, Lenny quit the army. He tried to become a "real man". When he met Carsten again, the latter introduced him to his circle of friends (Tuner was one of these friends), who were into martial arts and boxing. Lenny grew some self-confidence and even won Emily over so that they became a couple. However, he didn't suspect that Carsten was secretly gay. Carsten developed feelings for Lenny, but Lenny backed off and told him to stay away from him. When Carsten's father found about his son's sexuality, he threw him out. Lenny's sister Lucy was there for Carsten and even allowed him to stay with her family. Eventually, Lenny realized that he loved Carsten, too, but he couldn't cope with the fact. To release his inner tension, he robbed a store. A while later, Lenny and Carsten became a couple, but then Lenny was charged with robbery. He was sentenced to one year in prison. Carsten stayed in town, but didn't have much to do after Lenny's departure. Lucy was briefly interested in him, but he brushed her off. Later that year, Lenny returned earlier than planned and he and Carsten left town together.

2013: Anni Brehme arrived in Berlin. She moved in with Jasmin Flemming (Katrin's daughter) and whoever lived in that flat sharing community at that time. Anni was openly lesbian. She had a one night stand with Pia Koch who was bisexual (Pia had also tried to kiss Jasmin one day which ruined their friendship). Later, Anni fell in love with Jasmin. The two girls had a troubled relationship which ended a year later, but they rekindled briefly before Jasmin left town in 2017. Anni had a brief affair with Rosa Lehmann (Felix's mother; she's still on the show as a recurring character) in 2016. In 2018, Anni fell in love with Katrin, her ex's mother, and it was a huge shock that Katrin ended up sleeping with Anni. However, Katrin couldn't bring herself to a enter steady relationship with Anni. After a fun night out partying with her friends, Anni silently left town and only said goodbye to her best friend Tuner.

 

A recurring character named Gerd who was on the show for more than 10 years was also gay. He worked at the "American Store", at "Kais Korner" and eventually at the "Mocca" café. He was best friends with Deniz Ergün and even had some small storylines on his own. I think he debuted in 1997 and left in 2008.

 

There were also a few guest characters who were LGBT, for example Paul's father came out as gay last (?) year.

 

UU has only had Easy and Ringo (who are still on the show and happily married), and AWZ had Deniz, Roman, Kai and Joscha plus Iva and Pia (both bisexual). Currently AWZ has Ina (lesbian) and Chiara (exploring her bi side).

 

Regarding underwear, I think most guys on German soaps wear wide boxershorts. Maybe it's because they are not allowed to show bulges (or are afraid of the lack thereof in some cases? 

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) There hasn't been any rear nudity in quite some time, either. AWZ used to do it a lot in 2015/2016 but they have also become very tame. 

Edited July 3, 2020 by Huntress

[Skylover]

Thanks @Huntress, I think Rosa's the only one I'm familiar with.

[Huntress]

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.

[Skylover]

Thanks Huntress. I'm really enjoying the performance of the actress who plays Shirin in GZSZ. Very powerful.