German soaps: GZSZ, UU & AWZ

[DRW50]

Not to be rude, but it's hard to imagine they looked less sexy than this group.

[Huntress]

I don't know if you watch these episodes from every country, but RTL put up old anniversary episodes of GZSZ for free:

http://rtl-now.rtl.de/gzsz.php (where it says " FREE | Anlässlich der 5.000. Folge "GZSZ" bieten wir diese Jubiläumsfolgen 7 Tage lang kostenlos an")

There's a short ad at the beginning of each episode.

Episode 1000 (1996): A rallye through Berlin unites all cast members

http://rtl-now.rtl.d...ayer=1&season=0

(Contract cast: Barbara #2, Charlie, Clemens, Daniel, Elisabeth, Fabian, Flo, Gerner, Kim, Leon, Nataly, Nico, Robert K., Tina #1, Vanessa, Vera)

(Opening sequence: 1996.1 Heiko - Elke - Clemens - Vera - Charlie - Elisabeth - Daniel - Saskia - Tina - Gerner - Rebecca - Andy - Kim - Tom)

Episode 2000 (2000): In the midth of a big charity event, Cora goes into labor and gives birth to her daughter Antonia

http://rtl-now.rtl.d...ayer=1&season=0

(Contract cast: Barbara #3, Charlotte, Chris, Clemens, Cora, Daniel, Flo, Franziska, Gerner, Jan, Kai, Lara, Marie, Moritz, Nataly, Nico, Peter #3, Sandra #1, Sonja #2)

(Opening sequence: 2000.1/A Jan - Nataly - Clemens - Marie - Kai - Elisabeth - Daniel - Flo - Nico - Gerner - Barbara - Philip - Cora - Peter)

Episode 3000 (2004): Most of the cast is on board of a plane that might crash

http://rtl-now.rtl.d...ayer=1&season=0

(Contract cast: Clemens, Cora, Daniel, Deniz, Elisabeth, Gerner, Hannes, Isabel, John, Julia, Katrin, Lena, Leon, Nico, Paula, Sandra #2, Senta, Tim #2, Verena, Vincent)

(Opening sequence: 2003.1/B Verena - Elisabeth - Daniel - Sandra - Hannes - Ben - Paula - Deniz - Cora - John)

Episode 4000 (2008): A big explosion at the "Fasan" restaurant kills Franzi

http://rtl-now.rtl.d...ayer=1&season=0

(Contract cast: Dominik, Emily, Franzi, Gerner, Jasmin, John, Katrin, Paula, Philip)

(Opening sequence: 2007.1/A Alexander, Lucy, Iris & Lenny - Elisabeth, Tim & Clemens - Caroline / Henrik - Leon - Emily - Daniel, Paula & John - Marc - Franzi & Philip - Sandra - Katrin & Gerner - Jasmin / Dominik - Verena)

[DRW50]

Thanks for finding those! What did you think of those episodes. I hope they will be up for a while as I can't watch them at the moment. (if they play for me at all).

[Huntress]

The anniversary episodes are still up if you click on the individual links I posted. They're no longer available on the episode overview, though.

By comparing #1000 and #4000, you will notice that the show has undergone a complete transformation. Back in the 90s and the early 00s, German soaps still had that distinct "soap look" with sets that looked like stages and rather wooden actors. The production quality gradually increased but the big change eventually came around 2006/2007 with the construction of more realistic sets and a new filming technique.

The next soap to celebrate its anniversary is Alles was zählt. The 1500th episode will be broadcasted on August 17th, 2012. It has been announced that three new contract cast members will arrive on the scene. Among them are two recasts:

• Katharina Woschek, who played Marie Töppers on "Marienhof" from 2007 to 2009, has been cast as a now grown-up Zoé Laffort, Ingo and Celine's daughter. The character had previously been played by Carolin von der Groeben on a recurring basis from 2008 to 2010.
  
• Ulrich Drewes, a telenovela veteran – he has played parts on "Wege zum Glück", "Anna und die Liebe", "Alisa – Folge deinem Herzen" and "Hanna – Folge deinem Herzen" – has been cast as Rüdiger Steinkamp, Richard's younger brother and Franziska's father. The character had previously been played by Christian Kerepeszki on a recurring basis in 2010 before Rüdiger went to prison.
  
• Rosetta Pedone has been cast as Viktoria König, a professional dancer. Pedone is best-known for her work on "Marienhof" where she played devious doctor's receptionist Laura Conti from 2008 to 2009. Laura was responsible for a big explosion which resulted in the collapse of the Marienhof mall.
  

In addition, now that Annette is dead, it seems that Ingo will find himself attracted to Jenny – the woman who killed his wife!

[DRW50]

Thanks. I can't believe Annette is gone. I wonder how the decision to have Ingo with Jenny will go - isn't she a recast? Does anyone like her?

What will they do with Deniz since he and Sarah (or whoever) have split?

[Huntress]

Yes, Jenny is a recast. Kaja Schmidt-Tychsen is the fourth actress to play her. The first Jenny (Christiane Klimt) was simply awesome, the second one (Silvia Maleen) took some time to make the role her own, and the third one (Sophie Lutz) only appeared in a video message. Schmidt-Tychsen is the least popular actress on AWZ right now.

Regarding Deniz, I have no idea. I hope they don't put him with Lena which would mean him and his father Marian going after the same woman – again. The show desperately needs some new blood.

[Huntress]

The final frame of Annette's death:

It was such a sad episode. Even Roman made a surprise appearance.

On a side note, original cast member Daniel Aichinger (Axel Schwarz) is out as well. He last airs next week. Anna Katharina Fecher who joined the show last year as teenage brat Melanie Wendt, Ingo and Annette's adoptive daughter, will also depart later this summer.

[DRW50]

Is Axel the one who had a crush on Roman a few years ago? I don't remember the character. Did he want to leave?

So I guess Roman came back to meet Annette on the other side?

They seem to be cleaning house. I wonder if it's a ratings issue.

[Huntress]

Axel is the nemesis of the Steinkamp family, especially Simone, Richard and Maximilian. From the beginning on, he tried to gain control over the Steinkamp enterprise. His life is full of schemes and blackmail, with various degrees of success. Even though he was initially in love with Jenny, he had an affair with her mother Simone. In 2009, Axel embarked on a serious relationship with the much younger Nina Sommer but they broke up and Nina left town. He also had a short fling with Roman that year, but nothing happened except a kiss. Axel married Jenny in 2010 after she had been thrown out by her parents. Due to this union, Axel gained major shares in the Steinkamp enterprise. Shortly after that, Jenny presumably died in a plane crash and when Jenny's will was read, she gave all her shares to Vanessa, leaving Axel with nothing. In 2011, Axel tried to become a politician, but failed miserably. Now the police is after him because he's suspected of having embezzled money. Ironically, it's Jenny and Simone who help him flee town.

Yes, they showed black-and-white footage of Roman at the beach, implying that he reached out to Annette. They also had her seeing the most important people in her life.

The main problem is that people are fed up with Katja as the main heroine. Her storylines are awful, she is not credible as a figure skater, she is always presented as the victim, and her acting abilities are mediocre at best.

[DRW50]

Will you miss Axel?

I wonder if they should have just recast Diana.

[Huntress]

Axel was a fun character because he was the typical loser who always tried to succeed but failed miserably and who nobody really liked. His exit will leave a big void on the canvas, just like Annette's death since she was the heart and soul of the show.

To be honest, Diana was awful as well during her first year on the show. After Julian's death, Diana was put on the backburner and became more tolerable, but the problem is that the writers tried to recreate the Diana/Julian/Jenny several times, only with different characters. There's always the good girl, the "handsome" clueless guy, the bitch, and most of the times a second guy who wanted the good girl and allied with the bitch.

There was...

• Diana, Julian, Jenny and Mike
  
• Annette, Ingo, Lena and Mike
  
• Diana, Lars, Jenny
  
• Stella, Lars, Jenny and Deniz
  
• Katja, Ben, Isabelle and Tom
  
• Katja, Ben, Isabelle and Maximilian
  
• Sarah, Marco, Jenny and Deniz
  

[Huntress]

The telenovela "Wege zum Glück – Spuren im Sand" has already been cancelled due to weak ratings. After 99 episodes (instead of 240), ZDF will pull the plug next month.

[DRW50]

What did you think of the show? It doesn't sound like they gave much of a chance.

[Huntress]

ZDF didn't promote the show at all and thought that the audience of the previous "Wege zum Glück" installments would tune in again, but they didn't.

The cancellation announcement came after just 25 episodes had aired. However, production will continue until the end of June to bring the story to a closure and the remaining episodes will be shown on ZDF_NEO, a smaller channel. ZDF also did that with other daily dramas, for example "Herzflimmern" which occupied "Wege zum Glück's" current timeslot at 4.15 p.m. last year. The final episode of "Wege zum Glück" will probably air in September 2012.

[Huntress]

Unter uns has cast four new contract roles:

• Timothy Boldt as Ringo Beckmann
  
• Anne Apitzsch as Sonja Beckmann
  
• Barbara Prakopenka as Kira Beckmann
  
• Eric Langner as Paul Beckmann
  

​

The new family will arrive on screen in August. In turn, three cast members have been let go: Martin Baden (Nils Hoffmann), Ela Paul (Bine Kern) and Bela Klentze (Bela Hoffmann) will depart the show this fall. However, Klentze is supposed to be back next year.

According to set sources, more cast members are on their way out.