German soaps: GZSZ, UU & AWZ

[DRW50]

Thanks as always @Huntress

[AMCOLTLLover]

Unter Uns is doing returned characters no favor.. Killing off Corinna… Jennifer’s return with her shady past and ending up with RUFUS out of all people.. bringing back Charlotte to get bumped off.. 

At least it brought us Mars back to the show.

i was at the fan event of UU on August 12th and got to meet the cast and some old stars that were there for the 30th anniversary.. only two not being there this year were Paco and Sina

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but at least I got to meet my all time favorite Holger Franke as Wolfgang Weigel and Petra Blossey as Irene Weigel. Legendary Stefan Franz as Rolf was there..Mother and daughter from the 90’s Claudia neidig as Claudia Falkenberg and Vanessa Glinka as Alexa Falkenberg. (I did kinda hit on her lol). Now I met all women from the Falkenbergs coz I got to meet Verena Zimmermann (Jessica Falkenberg but more known for playing Nicola on verbotene liebe)

That Cook from 2011-2013 who hit his girlfriend was there, Stefan bockelmann as malte and that actress that played his wife.. 

Lilly was there .. it was such a great event.

miriam Lahnstein from verbotene liebe was so different from what I expected live at that event. She is so warm and wholesome and friendly. I said to her that I like her character on unter uns but it’s no Tanja ! 
she replied: you can’t play a character like Tania anymore coz the bad guys always have to get caught and lose and that’s not Tania ! She kinda implied how soft this era became lol

Edited September 6, 2024 by AMCOLTLLover

[Huntress]

Re: How times have changed. You're right about that, but even back in the early days, main characters were usually written off their respective shows once they did something really terrible (like murder, stalking or kidnapping). The bad guys simply needed to be punished. I think at one point one of the producers of the RTL soaps said that they can't have a murderer walking freely around in town.

It was mostly recurring or guest characters who turned out to be psychopaths. Compared to US soaps, rape or sexual assault is a trope that has rarely been used on any German soap (current or defunct), and when it happened, the perpetrator (male or female) was a guest character. Also, most deaths occured due to accidents and not because characters were murdered. If someone was indeed murdered, it was a huge shock (for example, when Crazy Auntie Eva killed poor Lizzie, put her in a suitcase, and dragged her body through the woods, leaving behind a trail of blood – now that was a shocking storyline back in 1996).

Main characters were usually not allowed to cross a certain moral border, only if they were on their way out. For example, on GZSZ, Barbara was sent to prison after she had kidnapped baby Antonia. Then she came back, tried to kill her sister Sonja, and had to flee the country in the back of a truck. Anna went from being an anorexic supermodel to a complete loon who murdered her therapist because of her split personality. She was institutionalized and never mentioned again. Inka went bananas at school, shot Elisabeth and killed Chris, and was arrested, never to be seen again. When the truth about Sonja faking Flo's death came to light, Sonja was killed in an explosion. On UU, Gideon committed suicide after gunning down Rebecca. Viktor Falkenberg was killed by a plane rotor. (I loved all of these characters, though.)

There were only a few cases where characters were redeemed, like André on GZSZ who was a complete nutcase in the beginning (pushing Lilo down a stairway, burying Elisabeth alive and blackmailing various characters), only to become a comic relief and eventually being at peace with everybody.

However, psychological violence was clearly allowed – for example, on GZSZ, Gerner verbally abused Barbara when she was an alcoholic. Sonja publically accused Gerner of molesting children. On UU, Viktor Falkenberg did horrible things to his wife Claudia. When it came to physical violence, most villains had henchmen that did dirty work for them.

I never really watched VL back in the day (I only remember a lot of actors / characters and probably the most memorable storylines), but Tanja was clearly an outlier. She was an ice-cold murderer and was never really punished for her various crimes – she was always one step ahead of everyone. However, while she remained a menace until the end of the show, the writers also gradually softened her by bringing in her mother, exploring her backstory and having her start her own family. But that was obviously in the later years.

Edited September 7, 2024 by Huntress

[AMCOLTLLover]

Andre Holms from Gzsz was hilarious., Tanja from VL and Rolf from Unter Uns are the only ones that had some legend status that they got away with murder and being kept on the show. I agree VL tried to soften Tanja while they never made any excuses for Rolf. He was a psycho and they never played it down.

Only other character that had a few runs while having killed some was Barbara von Heidenberg from Sturm der Liebe!

I get that villains have to end at some point before it’s getting ridiculous (yes I’m looking mostly at the Days of our lives villains at this point)

The only villain that became a soap legend in Germany and got away with all the bs was Ansgar von Lahnstein from VL. He slapped his wife Natalie and pulled so many stunts yet people still love him and root for his character. But i definitely sided with him. His father is a hypocrite. He slept with a married women (Elisabeth).. his son (Leonard) stole his girl (Cecile) and his daughter (Carla) lied to him for years about being gay yet he excused everything of them while giving Ansgar so much sheet even though he worked his butt off for the family and the company. I don’t excuse some stuff but they tried doing Ansgar dirty but we know he was and is still the best character from German tv.

I miss Jo Gerner form GZSZ. I mean the real one who went head to head with his brother (Patrick).. Who nearly drove Katja Into a psychiatric clinic while letting a “dead” Biedermann appear to him. Being verbally abusive to Barbara. Letting everyone believe that Johanna was dead and keeping Leon locked up etc. List goes on and on. When I watch him with Yvonne and her kids and the way they talk to him and the way they behave overall I can’t believe Gerner is taking that. I know people can grow and stuff BUT the REAL Gerner would never let them treat him like this. He would’ve given them hell. Especially 2 years ago when Gerner was on the run from Linostrami and Yvonne was calling the cops on him. Real gerner would not have given her another chance lol he became weak

1996 was overall such a strong year for Gzsz with the cast overhaul and the storylines. Crazy auntie Eva who wanted Charlie’s money.. Heiko wrongly accused of murder of Tina’s ex boyfriend and toyboy. The writers really outdone themselves even with the new characters 

Edited September 9, 2024 by AMCOLTLLover

[Huntress]

1995 – 1996 of GZSZ was amazing – clearly one of the best phases the show had. The cast overhaul in the first half of 1996 was indeed crazy (I mean, they basically lost more than half of the cast in the span of 100 episodes, and most sets had been changed due to the studio move in the fall of 1995), but the introduction of all these newbies was flawless. It felt organic, and the new characters were not carbon copies of the former characters.

1996 

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Unlike 1993, where they got rid of everything that wasn't working in the span of 10 episodes and introduced at least two new characters every episode. The cast was so bloated at that time, and most of these new characters were gone half a year later anyway.

In early 1997, the show lost steam with too many filler stories, and it didn't recover until later that year with the introduction of Sonja. While the first actress was clearly horrendous, it actually made her storyline even better (from the ugly duckling to the manipulative seductress). Cora also had a "great" (meaning acting so bad it makes you laugh) scene where she accused Vanessa of hitting her with a coat hanger. You don't get such scenes anymore.

And of course in 1997, we had the first gay couple on GZSZ with Fabian and Philip. The first lesbian couple was Saskia and Harumi one year earlier (pictured above).

I loved the Gerner-Barbara-Sonja-Jörg quadrangle in 1998. Then of course Sonja's car accident happened with her face getting destroyed (and the character being recast in the process). I remember clearly what an absurd moment it was when after a month or so, Sonja removed her bandages and we saw the new actress appearing in the mirror.

The "Nataly, Nico, Cora, and Ricky get trapped in a bunker with no food and water" storyline around Christmas 1998 was also well-written. Especially when Cora accidentally destroyed the last water bottle, when Nataly tried to climb through the tiny duct and dislocated her shoulder, or when Cora had a hallucination of Robert König who ordered her to eat Nico "because he wouldn't even notice it"  There was also a scene where a completely deranged Cora sang a Christmas song to herself.

The first half of 1999 was also great, with the virus storyline (which was a last-minute addition because half of the cast was sick with the flu and they had to rewrite storylines quickly), Anna's split personality, Elisabeth's breast cancer, and Zombie Biedermann stalking Katja.

Summer 1999 – Late 2001 was probably the worst era of the classic years, especially because of the Bohlstädts (+ Jan) and too much focus on Marie/Kai/Sandra/Moritz. While they were ok-ish actors, the Barbara and Peter recasts were also not working. I hated the fact that both characters had interacted in 1993 – they even worked together at Peter's business at that time –, and then in 1999, they acted as if they had never met before with Peter even saying to his mother "I'm so glad I got to meet Barbara".

Then they made Barbara bisexual and paired her with that god-awful Lara (who became a contract role before being dropped a month later without explanation). I think Lara's actress was from Austria and she had an annoying accent. It also didn't make sense that the actor playing Chris spoke with a Northern accent, when his mother and his twin sister clearly did not. The actress playing Cora was also easily recognizable as being from the Hamburg area. It was clear that many younger cast members back then didn't have any prior acting experience.

Eventually, Barbara became a crazy kidnapper. Nataly was ruined with the amnesia storyline and her getting pregnant by Gerner. Of course, she was then written out because they "ran out of storylines" for her. Bullshit. At the same time, Flo became addicted to some weird tea and wanted to kill herself. In the span of a couple of months, they completely destroyed three female characters that formerly were assertive, strong women. Bad writing overall.

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Back to current news ... AWZ is bringing back André Dietz as Ingo Zadek later this year. At the beginning of the show, he was only supposed to be a guest character, but he was placed on contract a few months later. Dietz departed AWZ at the end of 2020. Ingo was the show's comic relief, and he and Annette (RIP) were one of the most popular couples back in the day. I don't remember much about his stories in the latter part of his run, only that he was paired with Diana.

[AMCOLTLLover]

1999 had Andy being in a cult (my favorite storyline ever of gzsz)… and don’t forget Leon’s return in 99 and him having a fling with the chick of a mob boss lmao typical Leon. Lol

I actually liked Peter Becker #3… I also enjoyed Kai and Marie. But I agree Sandra being addicted to shopping etc. Flo’s weird tea addiction, Moritz and Sandra’s dragging love story before he nailed her mom lol (that was a good one though).. Daniel having visions and could predict some future nonsense lol 

Barbara becoming a baby snatcher made sense though. She always wanted kids. Couldn’t get one on her own. Then the whole mess with Katja that ruined her last chance of a baby.. She was mentally already unstable because of that and her alcoholic past. I do think it was still in character somewhat 

1998-2002/03 was one my favorite eras of that soap. It lost some magic between 2003-05. I just got back with Phillip and his gang and then subway running. 2006 felt a bit boring overall but 2007 and Gerner faking Johanna’s death really brought me back to the show.

Nataly was my favorite character and I still can’t believe they axed her

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 but I did enjoy her amnesia story and her getting revenge on Gerner.

i didn’t mind the Bohlstadts. Chris and Xenia were hilarious together… Charlotte and Jan were so sweet in the beginning. She wasn’t able to see and got her eyesight back and finally got to see Jan etc. But down the line they ruined the whole storyline out of nowhere. Didn’t Jan shot gerner and skipped town? 

Edited September 10, 2024 by AMCOLTLLover

[Ninejamb]

I am currently watching the 1993 episodes of GZSZ, as a Dutch soap geek who was curious to see when and how the German version changed from the Dutch (and Australian) version. I'm around episode 295 and it's... somewhat tiresome. It is still in a so-called Frankenstein-era, with the combination of altered storylines of the Australian original and storylines from their own. It is clear the small German writersteam was still figuring out how to write compelling soap stories - or even scenes. But in a way it is very interesting to see how they slowly get a sence of making a soap which will stick with the audience.

 

I've watched AWZ for some periodes in the past, and it's safe to say I disliked the character of Ingo. I don't know what it was, but his somewhat childish behavior really bothered me. His relationship with Diana was a snoozefest, although the writers didn't even know to write some compelling stuff for her return so it wasn't a suprise. But anyway, given his popularity with the fans, I can understand why the creators would bring him back, especially now that the series is in a slump.

[Huntress]

Cool that you're watching it for the first time. Who are your favorites characters at that point of the show (if you have any

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)?

I liked Tina, Milla, Vera, and Saskia best. Most of the male cast annoyed me, especially Patrick, Peter, and Clemens.

They officially ditched the Australian scripts at episode #231, but surely still borrowed from the Australian scripts (and also from GTST, the Dutch adaption, which at that time had already run for 3 years).

Between #231 and #250, they wrote out half of the characters and introduced like 30 new people (major and minor roles). Also, a lot of sets were changed. Back then, they didn't really distinguish between contract and recurring cast which is also reflected in the closing credits. Everyone that appeared in a given episode is just listed in random order. The first "real" closing credits, where you can see who's part of the main cast and who's a guest star, start around #360.

There are of course many storylines that are really cheesy and cringy and wouldn't work today. And the acting is horrendous in most cases. That's because most of the actors they hired back then were either completely inexperienced newbies or theater actors. The latter overacted most of the time, and the former ... well, they did the best they could. Which wasn't much in many cases.

Edited September 12, 2024 by Huntress

[Ninejamb]

I think Gerner is already very strong portrayed by Wolfgang Bahro, despite the questionable scripts and fashion of that time. I also like Peter, although the writers clearly struggled to portray him as more than just a hothead. I have always found Daniel sympathetic (also in the Dutch version) and Michael is also a fine character. In the period I am in now, Tina is not yet a very strong character, I think. But I find the whole line with the boutique rather strange. If only because you never see a customer there 

Officially yes, but the scripts are still half filled with original Australian storylines up to episode #300, although changed (often because the original characters have been written out). A few examples: the storyline of Max Probst who comes to live with his uncle Michael, is originally a story in which Hilde Reim's nephew needs shelter because his criminal father is on the loose, and ends up with the then newly married Frank and Elke through her. The stories about the bullying at school and his difficulty with reading and writing also come from Australia.

Also from Australia: the introductory story about Charlie Fierek. Originally he is the son of KC, a woman who replaces Elisabeth in Domi-Ziel when she is on vacation for a while (that character never made it into the German version). He has bad friends with whom he commits a burglary, but when the police are after them Charlie panics and hides the loot in Peter's warehouse, who is then suspected of the burglary. For GZSZ they made Charlie a resident of Domi-Ziel, changed electronics for drugs and the story largely played out as in both Australia and the Netherlands.

Other storylines taken directly from the Australian script: Saskia's romance with Volker Arnold (although it was originally a storyline for Julia), the campaign to save a city park, Daniel and Cornelia's troubled romance (she was Carola Richter's sister in the original story), Claudia's return and affair with Gerner (and her sudden feelings for Daniel for about two episodes), Patrick joining the city council, Tommy and Max getting lost and Tommy undergoing surgery to regain his sight, the storyline involving Anni Kauffeld (although she died in both Australia and the Netherlands in the story, and it originally was about stolen diamonds) and the mystery surrounding the anonymous threatening letters (although originally involving characters like Julia, Frank, Elke and the aforementioned KC). Wiebe and Barbara also come from the Australian story and their backstory (with Barbara's dead fiancé that Wiebe blames himself for) is pretty much the same, but originally Wiebe was a construction worker that Peter came to work for, while Barbara was initially a housewife and would later work in the café before becoming romantically involved with Gerner.

Storylines that were created by the German writing team during that period include the return of Tina and the opening of the boutique, the romance between Heiko and Yaesmin, the closing of Domi-Ziel with Daniel who later wants to take over a fitness studio, the return of Andre Holm, the romance between Michael and Iris and the first signs of romance between Peter and Saskia. The romance between Florian and Simone is also of German origin, although Florian was initially a replacement for Markus Born (the storyline where he is secretly in love with Saskia is an example of this).

They really didn't take much from the Dutch GTST (except for the title and a few character names), mainly because they largely stuck to the Australian original for a longer period (until around episode #400, with a few changes for popular characters in The Netherlands like Heiko, Tina and Lilo). Fun fact: GTST clearly borrowed the storyline about Tina opening a boutique from GZSZ (the latter came up with the storyline in spring 1993, while GTST came up with it in autumn 1993 when they brought the character back for a second time).

In many of the own storylines I just notice that the German writers tried to get a feel for what works for a soap. For example: the storyline where Patrick has Saskia's apartment building molested with stones through the windows and disconnected telephone lines could have been interesting, but there is no good or clear reason given why. It was more of a diversionary maneuver in the storyline about Heiko and Yaesmin but not well thought out. The return of Andre also feels rather illogical with the things he does, and the romance between Florian and Simone is soporific. But with the knowledge of the Dutch (and to a lesser extent the Australian) version sharply in mind, it makes it all the more interesting to watch 

[Huntress]

Thanks, that was really fascinating to read 

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I wasn't aware of all these storyline adaptions from later episodes of The Restless Years, but in hindsight, it makes total sense.

Milla was a replacement for Marina, Michael for Frank, and Saskia took Julia's spot. The other characters that were introduced in 1993 didn't make a huge impact ...

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Oh, and of course Jo Gerner is the only character who has stayed on board until today. With a few exceptions (mainly the older cast members), everyone who appeared in the 1993 episodes was gone by summer 1996.

Yeah, I know what you mean. They clearly had ideas what kind of stories they wanted to tell, but they didn't really know how to do it (yet).

In the first year (when they still adapted the Australian scripts), there were also some stories that were simply dropped. For example, one episode ended with Julia kissing Heiko out of the blue. In the next episode, they acted as if this had never happened and the kiss or any romantic attraction between the two was never brought up again. Some episodes also didn't have a cliffhanger and just ended mid-scene. It was definitely a weird era. I once read that for a long time, the producers tried to hide the fact that the first year of the show even existed 

Like I wrote before, there were also many cringy stories later on. For example, when André buys an ice cream machine for his shop and for a couple of episodes, there are a lot of children singing and dancing inside the shop. The story ended with one of the kids (I think it was Milla's brother) getting an upset stomach after eating too much ice cream. There's also an episode where the characters start singing Christmas carols mid-scene (because the the show wanted to promote a Christmas CD).

In 1996, there was a story involving a magician (Felix), who organized a role-playing game called "The Octagon". Basically all the younger characters took part in it, and they had to solve quests and whatnot. It was horrible and lasted way too long.

In 1995/1996, there was a story where two "bands" competed against each other, and the winning groups "Just Friends" – consisting of 4 recurring characters – released a couple of Eurodance songs with two of their singles even reaching the Top 10 of the charts. Whenever they released a new single, they were forced into the storylines again between 1996 and 1998. For example, they played a key role in the 1000th episode, and again, when one very popular character died one year later. They also switched two members on two occasions.

I mean, the lead singer could actually sing, but the songs were cheap, even for Eurodance standards. The other female member quit the group a year later and somehow became a quite succesful actress.

That was their first and most successful song which they also performed a hundred million times on the show:

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Edited September 13, 2024 by Huntress

[Huntress]

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GZSZ is heading south: The show is currently filming another primetime special – and this time, they've chosen Spain as their destination, where filming is taking place in and around Barcelona. Among those involved are (left to right): Ulrike Frank (Katrin Flemming), Lars Pape (Michi Bode), Eva Mona Rodekirchen (Maren Seefeld), Felix van Deventer (Jonas Seefeld), and Iris Mareike Steen (Lilly Seefeld).

The special will be probably broadcast in late November/early December.

In recent years, the show has filmed at such places as the islands of Mallorca (2018) and Fuerteventura (2020), and in Paris (2023).

Meanwhile, one half of the show's gay couple Moritz & Luis is leaving: Marc Weinmann, who joined the show in September 2021 as Luis Ahrens, is departing next week. Weinmann was the second actor in the role. Another recast is unlikely to happen.

[DRW50]

Thanks as always @Huntress

[Huntress]

Now we know what the big surprise was: They brought back Margot Weigel via AI. The actress, Christiane Maybach, died in 2006 at the age of 74. Last week, Margot appeared as a "dream-like" vision to her granddaughter Cecilia. Margot's AI version looked a lot younger than she ever did on the show, though, but she had the same voice.

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While exploring her family's rich history, Cecilia meets two new characters, Baris and Esma Gülek, who turn out to be her distant relatives. Apparently, back in the 1950s, Margot had an affair with a Turkish gentleman, and thus had a secret 3rd child ...

Özge Delioglan plays Esma, and Metehan Demiröz plays Baris. Both are on contract with the show.

It was about time that the show added some Turkish-German actors, especially since the show has always taken place in Cologne, where there are a lot of people of Turkish origin. In the show's first 3 years, there was Aylin, but that's it.

I just noticed that all 3 RTL soaps currently have one token black character (GZSZ = Flo, AWZ = Imani, UU = Theo). At least all of them have frontburner storylines and are involved in complicated relationships: Flo's boyfriend Jonas has been confined to a wheelchair for nearly a year, Imani's boyfriend Tom is an ex-con, and Theo's girlfriend Britta is a cougar almost twice his age.

[AMCOLTLLover]

This was the most tasteless bs I’ve ever seen on soap operas and they are all in a bad shape. But this was distasteful… I get what they were aiming for but it was just off. 
I mean I’ve been to the UU fan event and love this show but this AI thing made me worried. 
what if we don’t need actual soap stars anymore and create them all together with AI?

and adding some Margot offspring’s? Ugh

Edited October 13, 2024 by AMCOLTLLover

[Huntress]

Some news:

For its 30th anniversary, UU received completely new opening credits. Again, there are two versions:

Version A

Carina Koller as Cecilia Weigel – Timothy Boldt as Ringo Huber & Patrick Müller as Tobias Lassner – Floriane Eichhorn as Nadine Pfeiffer – Julius Dombrink as Theo Wolters – Özge Delioglan as Esma Gülek – Maxim Agné as Henry Gerlach & Diego Carlos Seyfarth as David Junker – Milos Vukovic as Paco Weigel – Miriam Lahnstein as Tanja Neumann-Goldberg

Version B

Jens Hajek as Benedikt Huber – Theresa Traser as Ronja Pfeiffer – Bettine Langehein as Stella Richter – Valea Scalabrino as Sina Hirschberger & Benjamin Heinrich as Bambi Hirschberger – Metehan Demiröz as Baris Gülek – Tabea Heynig as Britta Schönfeld – Lars Steinhöfel as Easy Winter – Isabell Hertel as Ute Huber

Both versions can be watched here: https://www.rtl.de/sendungen/unter-uns/neuer-unter-uns-vorspann-das-hat-sich-veraendert-id1936827.html
(Not sure if the videos are geo-blocked, though.)

Margot Weigel's secret daughter Nuray, played by Turkish actress Lilay Huser, just appeared on the show. Nuray's the love child of Margot and Yusuf, and thus related to the Weigel family. Newbies Esma and Baris are Nuray's grandchildren. They are all somehow related to the other remaining members of the Weigel family clan (= Cecilia, Paco, Sina, and David).
Like, Nuray is Paco and Sina's aunt, and Cecilia and David's great-aunt.
The Weigel family has always had a very complicated family tree, but it's getting messier every year.

Behind the Scenes of filming Margot Weigel's past in the 1950s:

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GZSZ's opening credits also received an update. There are still 3 different versions. Josefin Bressel (Alicia) and Lara Dandelion Seibert (Zoe) were added, but strangely enough, Pauline Afaja (Flo) and Anna Katharina Fecher (Melanie) were forgotten. In turn, Marc Weinmann (Luis) and Charlotte Reschke (Johanna), who both left the show in recent weeks, are still included. Olivia Marei (Toni), Eva Mona Rodekirchen (Maren), Felix van Deventer (Jonas), and Niklas Osterloh (Paul) received new footage.

Behind the Scenes of filming the opening credits and one version of the updated opening credits (at the end of the video):

GZSZ's child-oriented spin-off "Uferpark" debuted on streaming and also on linear TV. The show uses the same outdoor set as GZSZ and also features GZSZ's longest-running cast member Wolfgang Bahro (Dr. Jo Gerner) in a recurring capacity.

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Meanwhile, the telenovela "Rote Rosen" has started its 23rd cycle. This time, former GZSZ actress Lea Marlen Woitack – now with darker hair than back in the day – plays the lead character. From 2014 to 2019, Woitack starred on GZSZ as Sophie Lindh.

Edited November 23, 2024 by Huntress