41 minutes ago, Maxim said:

Thank you for this fantastic reply. I'm going to share this info with my husband... So far I'm liking the actress that plays Clarissa the best... and Jan and Julia are both quite charming. Jan looks like he came out of the Backstreet Boys. 😀

Yeah sure you are Welcome.

Jan and Julia had that IT Factor which made this soap popular. I try not to Spoiler but when These Two left there was a Big Void to fill. You could tell that it was hard replacing them.

My favorites of the early years: Jan, Julia, Clarissa, Arno, Anna AND especially Florian! He is still one of my all time favorites and some that join down the line in the first year. But no Spoilers there

Can’t wait to hear your thoughts later :)

Edited Friday at 03:07 PM1 day by AMCOLTLLover

22 hours ago, AMCOLTLLover said:

Yeah sure you are Welcome.

Jan and Julia had that IT Factor which made this soap popular. I try not to Spoiler but when These Two left there was a Big Void to fill. You could tell that it was hard replacing them.

My favorites of the early years: Jan, Julia, Clarissa, Arno, Anna AND especially Florian! He is still one of my all time favorites and some that join down the line in the first year. But no Spoilers there

Can’t wait to hear your thoughts later :)

Thank you soooo much for the extra information and the encouragement! 🙂 We are already six episodes in, and with each one, it just keeps getting better and feels more natural. I anticipated they would require some time to hit their stride. It still feels a bit stiff, like a brand new something that still smells of the store where it was purchased. I've caught a few glimpses of the show in the later seasons, and they appear to have transformed into a full-fledged soap opera by then. Everything seems more refined and well-worn and soapy. I remember that while watching season 1 of "The Bold And The Beautiful," the overall stiffness and newness didn't settle for me until at least the first 60 episodes passed. Even the acting was bizarre in these first 3 months of episodes. So I'm watching this knowing very well that it will change with time. Some of the sets are strange too. They have scenes where everything is well lit and polished looking... and then we have some quite tortured looking rooms and shots. I love seeing them figure it out with each episode.

P.S. My husband already bragged to his German colleagues about watching the show and one of the women even asked where she could watch too. Spreading the word! 🤭

Edited 16 hours ago16 hr by Maxim

Like I mentioned before, I was always a strict RTL watcher, and neither of the ARD soaps ever did much for me 😄

VL always had the best-looking cast and the best opening credits, though. I always wanted some of the actors to jump to the RTL soaps, especially after VL’s cancellation, but I think Jo Weil (Olli on VL) was the only one who actually made the jump (he was briefly recurring on AWZ and then a regular on UU for a while). And of course, Miriam Lahnstein has been a regular on UU for two years now.

It’s probably because most actors get typecast, and if they’ve played a certain role for a couple of years, the audience will forever associate them with that character.

On 12/11/2025 at 4:51 PM, AMCOLTLLover said:

Alle zusammen was Limited with the filming on Location but gave it their all. I was upset when it was cancelled. But I get why they did it

I remember watching AZ when I was a teen, but I forgot most of its storylines. I always wanted to rewatch the whole show, but never got around to it. Same with Mallorca. (Kinda OT, but it’s strange that the AZ episodes on YouTube don’t have any closing credits.)

As 2025 is coming to a close, here’s the current contract cast for GZSZ, UU, and AWZ.

GZSZ

This year’s biggest WTF was the introduction of Fabian Hanis as Robin Zielke, a “mysterious new teenager.” In July, Hanis was announced as a new contract player, and his first episode eventually aired on September 3rd. A couple of episodes into his run, Robin was revealed to be the illegitimate son of Martin Ahrens (Nina’s violent ex-husband and Toni and Luis’s father). Robin fell in love with Luis’s ex-boyfriend Moritz, but he had anger issues like his father and was doing drugs. Interestingly, in the closing credits, Hanis was always listed as recurring. In November, Robin snapped and held Johanna and Matilda hostage. He escaped and went into hiding. His final episode aired on November 17th, and afterward RTL claimed that “Hanis’s guest role had come to an end.” (Clearly, something must have happened behind the scenes.)

Current Contract Cast (as of 12/2025):

With images: https://www.soapsworld.de/gute-zeiten-schlechte-zeiten-gzsz/besetzung/

• Wolfgang BAHRO – Dr. Jo Gerner (1993-present)

• Lennart BORCHERT – Moritz Bode (2020-present)

• Josefin BRESSEL – Alicia Bäumler (2023-present)

• Onno BUSS – Julian Gerner (2025-present)

• Felix van DEVENTER – Jonas Seefeld (2014-present)

• Nina ENSMANN – Jessica Reichelt (2022-present)

• Anna Katharina FECHER – Matilda Gerner (2024-present)

• Patrick FERNANDEZ – Carlos Lopes (2022-present)

• Ulrike FRANK – Katrin Flemming (2004-present; recurring previously)

• Patrick HEINRICH – Erik Fritsche (2019-present; recurring previously)

• Felix von JASCHEROFF – John Bachmann (2001-2014; 2015-present)

• Chryssanthi KAVAZI – Laura Bachmann (2017-present)

• Jan KITTMANN – Tobias Evers (2020-present)

• Olivia MAREI – Toni Fritsche (2018-present)

• Anne MENDEN – Emily Wiedmann (2004-present)

• Niklas OSTERLOH – Paul Wiedmann (2016-present)

• Lars PAPE – Michi Bode (2022-present; recurring previously)

• Charlott RESCHKE – Johanna Flemming (2025-present; recurring previously)

• Eva Mona RODEKIRCHEN – Maren Seefeld (2010-2022; 2023-present)

• Jörn SCHLÖNVOIGT – Dr. Philip Höfer (2004-present)

• Laura Dandelion SEIBERT – Zoe Lopes (2024-present; recurring previously)

• Iris Mareike STEEN – Lilly Seefeld (2010-present)

• Timur ÜLKER – Nihat Güney (2018-present)

• Maria WEDIG – Nina Reichelt (2017-present)

• Gisa ZACH – Yvonne Bode (2019-present)

UU

Current Contract Cast (as of 12/2025):

With images: https://www.soapsworld.de/unter-uns-uu/besetzung/

• Timothy BOLDT – Ringo Huber (2012-present)

• Guido BROSCHEIT – Juri Jansen (2025-present)

• Özge DELIOGLAN – Esma Gülek (2024-present)

• Metehan DEMIRÖZ – Baris Gülek (2024-present)

• Jens HAJEK – Benedikt Huber (2016-present)

• Benjamin HEINRICH – Benno "Bambi" Hirschberger (2013-present)

• Isabell HERTEL – Ute Huber (1995-present)

• Tabea HEYNIG – Britta Schönfeld-Küpper (2010-present)

• Lilay HUSER – Nuray Gülek (2024-present)

• Miriam LAHNSTEIN – Patrizia Neumann-Goldberg (2023-present)

• Bettine LANGEHEIN – Stella Neumann-Goldberg (2022-present)

• Nadine MENZ – Naomi Schönfeld (2025-present)

• Patrick MÜLLER – Tobias Lassner (2006-present)

• Valea SCALABRINO – Sina Hirschberger (2010-present)

• Lars STEINHÖFEL – Easy Winter (2005-present)

• Theresa TRASER – Ronja Pfeiffer (2023-present)

• Milos VUKOVIC – Paco Weigel (2000-present)

• Viola WEDEKIND – Dana Gülek (2025-present)

• Harun YILDIRIM – Ferhat Gülek #2 (2025-present)

AWZ

Current Contract Cast (as of 12/2025):

With images: https://www.soapsworld.de/alles-was-zaehlt-awz/besetzung/

• Suri ABBASSI – Leyla Öztürk (2021-present)

• Riccardo ANGELINI – Matteo Borazio (2024-present)

• Berrit ARNOLD – Daniela Bremer (2021-present; recurring previously)

• Julia AUGUSTIN – Vanessa Steinkamp (2006-2009; 2010-2012; 2013; 2014-2021; 2025-present)

• Stefan BOCKELMANN – Henning Ziegler (2021-present)

• Tatjana CLASING – Simone Steinkamp (2006-present)

• André DIETZ – Ingo Zadek (2006-2020; 2024-present)

• Igor DOLGATSCHEW – Deniz Öztürk (2007-present)

• Marc DUMITRU – Kilian Reichenbach (2022-present)

• Shaolyn FERNANDEZ – Charlie Beer (2024-present)

• Bianca HEIN – Gabriella Perez (2025-present)

• Amrei HAARDT – Nathalie von Altenburg (2019-2020; 2021-2023; 2024-present)

• Antonia KOLANO – Valea Borazio (2024-present)

• Féréba KONÉ – Imani Okana (2022-present)

• Silvan-Pierre LEIRICH – Richard Steinkamp (2006-present)

• Josephine MARTZ – Joana Perez (2025-present)

• Francisco MEDINA – Maximilian von Altenburg (2007-present – with like a hundred breaks in between)

• Ania NIEDIECK – Isabelle Reichenbach (2010-present)

• Jörg ROHDE – Ben Steinkamp (2009-present)

• Kaja SCHMIDT-TYCHSEN – Jenny Steinkamp #4 (2011-present)

• Florian THUNEMANN – Dragan Petrovic (2025-present)

Edited 16 hours ago16 hr by Huntress

@Huntress Thanks. I remember some who were eager about that UU signing and confused over what happened.

I was curious (to any of you who were watching VL at the time) - where Chrolli popular with fans or was that more an international sensation but not as popular with the actual fans? It did seem like they were running out of ideas (I can't remember if one or both of them ended up having drunken sex with women).

2 hours ago, DRW50 said:

@Huntress Thanks. I remember some who were eager about that UU signing and confused over what happened.

I was curious (to any of you who were watching VL at the time) - where Chrolli popular with fans or was that more an international sensation but not as popular with the actual fans? It did seem like they were running out of ideas (I can't remember if one or both of them ended up having drunken sex with women).

Chrolli was popular as hell. It wasn’t that the were running out of ideas for them after the strong storyline that started it all. The actor of Christian (Thore) had drunk sex with the Jessica character later on. And why did that happen? Cause both of them became a thing in real life and they are actually still together and have a family. Thore was on his way out anyway cause he became more of a host on the voice of Germany and some Other show I think. They had to write him out so they wrote in the Jessica and Christian hook up. What I give them is that they actually wrapped up chrolli with a two week return of Christian a couple of months later instead of just leave it in the air. Of course no happy ending but hey. It was during the 2010’s where the writers gave everyone a happy ending besides the couples we actually wanted lol

I always thought verbotene Liebe had the strongest gay storylines in German television! But the chrolli storyline was so strong. The tried a lesbian pairing a year later cause of the hype with Rebecca von Lahnstein—#1 and the side character Miriam from the pub “No Limits” and they were quite popular but the writers seemed not really interested and gave up on it and when Jasmin lord left the role they brought Rebecca back with a recast and she was a full on lesbian and got paired with Marlene Wolf and the were popular as hell too

12 hours ago, Maxim said:

Thank you soooo much for the extra information and the encouragement! 🙂 We are already six episodes in, and with each one, it just keeps getting better and feels more natural. I anticipated they would require some time to hit their stride. It still feels a bit stiff, like a brand new something that still smells of the store where it was purchased. I've caught a few glimpses of the show in the later seasons, and they appear to have transformed into a full-fledged soap opera by then. Everything seems more refined and well-worn and soapy. I remember that while watching season 1 of "The Bold And The Beautiful," the overall stiffness and newness didn't settle for me until at least the first 60 episodes passed. Even the acting was bizarre in these first 3 months of episodes. So I'm watching this knowing very well that it will change with time. Some of the sets are strange too. They have scenes where everything is well lit and polished looking... and then we have some quite tortured looking rooms and shots. I love seeing them figure it out with each episode.

P.S. My husband already bragged to his German colleagues about watching the show and one of the women even asked where she could watch too. Spreading the word! 🤭

Verbotene Liebe has so many different vibes during its 4664 episodes it’s crazy! It was always soapy from the get go but they had to found their groove. They did that pretty fast. I have to say I forgot to mention Henning von Anstetten. I loved them too. Shame the actor committed suicide

Some actors grew into their characters pretty fast and some struggled like all their run but were still charming. I know what u mean. Some sets look so good and exquisite for the 90’s and some like the put them together last minute from IKEA.

I have to say I would rather tell people to start with verbotene Liebe classics than GZSZ tbh. GZSZ 1992 was rough as hell. It was even worse than unter uns 1994. Unter uns at least felt like they could be your real life neighbours so u overlooked some of the bad acting cause the stories made up for it and the general vibe. But GZSZ nearly needed 2-3 years to finally get there. When the scripts from the other show GZSZ was based on and they axed half the cast it already got better but GZSZ just stated to find its footing by mid 1994/early 1995.

I recently tried rewatching Marienhof on YouTube. I still loved it but I didn’t remember some of the acting that bad for 2007/2008. It didn’t had the charm that it had back then. Verbotene Liebe on the hand still holds up. Verbotene Liebe had the strongest cast over their run. I have to admit that GZSZ never had that much of a strong cast besides during a few periods. They were just lucky to get the timeslot from Santa Barbara that was airing there for a while.

13 minutes ago, AMCOLTLLover said:

Chrolli was popular as hell. It wasn’t that the were running out of ideas for them after the strong storyline that started it all. The actor of Christian (Thore) had drunk sex with the Jessica character later on. And why did that happen? Cause both of them became a thing in real life and they are actually still together and have a family. Thore was on his way out anyway cause he became more of a host on the voice of Germany and some Other show I think. They had to write him out so they wrote in the Jessica and Christian hook up. What I give them is that they actually wrapped up chrolli with a two week return of Christian a couple of months later instead of just leave it in the air. Of course no happy ending but hey. It was during the 2010’s where the writers gave everyone a happy ending besides the couples we actually wanted lol

I always thought verbotene Liebe had the strongest gay storylines in German television! But the chrolli storyline was so strong. The tried a lesbian pairing a year later cause of the hype with Rebecca von Lahnstein—#1 and the side character Miriam from the pub “No Limits” and they were quite popular but the writers seemed not really interested and gave up on it and when Jasmin lord left the role they brought Rebecca back with a recast and she was a full on lesbian and got paired with Marlene Wolf and the were popular as hell too

Thanks. I never knew that was why they had Christian hook up with Jessica. I know he'd been straight before Chrolli so it wasn't a big leap (from what I read Ollie was only written as bi in his first stint but I haven't seen most of his run so I was wondering - soaps often do such a poor job with bi men).

Appreciate the detailed response.

6 minutes ago, DRW50 said:

Thanks. I never knew that was why they had Christian hook up with Jessica. I know he'd been straight before Chrolli so it wasn't a big leap (from what I read Ollie was only written as bi in his first stint but I haven't seen most of his run so I was wondering - soaps often do such a poor job with bi men).

Appreciate the detailed response.

What made the chrolli storyline great was that Christian didn’t just fell for Olli. He was with Coco and tried fighting his feelings and even got aggressive. He slept with Olli one time and felt shame and said: yeah just wanted to try it. It’s not for me”.. It was realistically written and that made it so popular when Christian was finally admitting to himself that he actually Loves him. Felt sorry for coco though.