German soaps: GZSZ, UU & AWZ

[DRW50]

Will you miss those characters?

[Huntress]

No, not really. Nils and Bine's domestic violence storyline had potential – Nils was regularly beaten up by his father as a child and never overcame this trauma, so he started to hit Bine whenever he was disappointed in her – until Bine started to fall in love with her only friend Rebecca. Pairing up Bine and Rebecca was cringeworthy and received a huge backlash from the audience. Bela's major storyline is a triangle with HIV-positive Micki and her ex-boyfriend Tobias.

Meanwhile, the next exit has been confirmed: Imke Brügger has decided to leave "Unter uns" after more than 15 years. Brügger joined the soap in May 1997 as Rebecca Mattern. Originally portrayed as a no-nonsense cop and a maneater, Rebecca evolved into a caring friend and into a loving mother for her adoptive daughter Lili.

Brügger's last episode airs August 31st, 2012. Rebecca is killed by Rolf (Stefan Franz).

Edited August 6, 2012 by Huntress

[DRW50]

Will you miss Rebecca?

[Huntress]

Yes, because she was a very unique character and Imke Brügger has always played her convincingly, no matter how horrible the storyline was.

Today it has been announced that Sarah Bogen, who has played Rebecca's on-screen adoptive daughter Lili since November 2001, will depart the show as well after Rebecca's death. Bogen will last air in November 2012. When she first joined the show, she was only 11 years old. The character will not be recast. Lili came to town when her father Fabian Rose pursued Rebecca. Fabian's ex-wife Belle used Lili to get Fabian back, but she failed. Both Fabian and Belle were killed off in May 2002, but Lili stayed on the show and was eventually adopted by Rebecca and her first husband Malte. Over the years, Lili evolved into a typical teenager and is now a grown woman.

Kai Noll, who has played Rebecca's current husband Rufus Sturm since March 2003, will probably be the next cast member to announce his departure.

Edited August 6, 2012 by Huntress

[DRW50]

Thanks. That's a lot of longtime actors going.

[Huntress]

I guess Brügger's contract was not renewed because she has become way too expensive.

"Unter uns" was on the brink of cancellation back in the summer of 2009. In order to save money, the producers decided to fire one of the most expensive cast members. They had to choose between Holger Frank (Wolfgang Weigel), Petra Blossey (Irene Weigel), Ben Ruedinger (Till Weigel) and Isabell Hertel (Ute Kiefer Weigel Fink). Eventually Franke was fired and his character was killed off. Another high-paid actress, Yvonne de Bark (Dr. Pia Lassner), was fired after being with the show for three years. In addition, two members of the teen scene, Andreas Büngen (Jan Gräser) and Sarah Ulrich (Romy Sturm), were written off after 7 and 4 years, respectively.

The production model was also changed: Now the show has annual summer and winter breaks so they only film 6 months a year – but they produce 6 or 7 episodes a week so that the show can still air during the whole year.

[Huntress]

More casting news:

• Konrad Krauss, the last original cast member, is out at "Verbotene Liebe": His character Arno Brandner dies on September 11th, 2012. Arno is currently suffering from Alzheimer's disease and eventually dies of pneumonia.
  
• Claudia Scarpatetti (Susanne Brandner) and Verena Zimmermann-Bonato (Nico von Lahnstein) return to "Verbotene Liebe" to take part in Arno's funeral. Scarpatetti portrayed Arno's only daughter Susanne from 1995 to 1997 and from 2005 to 2008. Zimmermann-Bonato was on contract from 2002 to 2012 with several longer breaks.
  
• Samia Dauenhauer (Jacky Krüger) is reportedly out at "GZSZ". The only current black cast member on any German soap joined the show in January 2012, but has hardly ever been featured on-screen. She has also never had a real frontburner storyline. Dauenhauer will most likely exit the show in October.
  
• In turn, a new actress has been cast: Adriana Möbius, the daughter of a German and an Ecuadorean, will play Julie Moreau, a French drama student, who comes to Berlin in order to fulfill her dream of becoming an actress. Möbius first airs September 6th, 2012.
  

"Alles was zählt" celebrated its 1500. episode with a small press event last Saturday. The whole cast (except Christina Siemoneit) was present.

More pictures can be found here: http://www.soapsworld.de/alles-was-zaehlt-awz/bilder/pressetermin-1500-folgen

A tour of the set can be found here: http://www.soapsworld.de/alles-was-zaehlt-awz/bilder/setbesuch-2012

Edited August 6, 2012 by Huntress

[CassieFan]

Isn't Charlie the last remaning cast member? And how is Susanne Arno's only daughter, isn't Julia his daughter as well?

[Huntress]

You're right, that should have said "Scarpatetti portrayed Arno's oldest daughter"

Regarding Gabriele Metzger (Charlie): Yes, she's been with the show since day one, but she wasn't on contract back then and only played a minor part as Clarissa's sidekick. The character wasn't fleshed out until 1997. That's when she was finally included in the opening sequence.

[CassieFan]

I didn't know that, thanks!

The same thing almost happened in the Croatian version. Stela (Croatian Charlie) was Victoria's (Croatian Clarissa) sidekick who was recurring for 2 years and she stayed more on the show then her best friend.

[Huntress]

Alles was zählt – Official Cast Photo 2012

Fourth row (from left to right): Sam Eisenstein as Marian Öztürk (2006-2007 recurring, 2007-present contract), Juliette Menke as Lena Bergmann von Altenburg (2007-present), Igor Dolgatschew as Deniz Öztürk (2007-present), Rosetta Pedone as Viktoria König (2012-present), Salvatore Greco as Jan Marco Schöler (2011-present)

Third row (from left to right): Ingeborg Brings as Renate Scholz (2006-present recurring), Jörg Rohde as Ben Steinkamp #2 (2009-present), Anna Katharina Samsel as Katja Bergmann (2009-present), Francisco Medina as Maximilian von Altenburg (2007-present), Katharina Woschek as Zoé Laffort #2 (2012-present), André Dietz as Ingo Zadek (2006-2007 recurring, 2007-present contract)

Second row (from left to right): Ania Niedieck as Isabelle Reichenbach Steinkamp (2010-present), Kaja Schmidt-Tychsen as Jenny Steinkamp #4 (2011-present), Silvan-Pierre Leirich as Richard Steinkamp (original cast member), Tatjana Clasing as Simone Steinkamp (original cast member), Ulrich Drewes as Rüdiger Steinkamp #2 (2012-present), Caroline Maria Frier as Beatrice Meyer (2012-present)

Front row (from left to right): Michael N. Kuehl as Florian Wild (2010-present), Julia Engelmann as Franziska Steinkamp (2010-present)

Missing: Christina Siemoneit as Sarah Wendt (2011-present)

[DRW50]

I had to laugh at Deniz with that "why am I here?" face. I wish they'd give him a good story.

[Huntress]

Yeah, you're right.

In 6 weeks, Marian finds out that his ex-lover Jessica (the Jenny look-a-like) gave birth to a child that might be his. He and Lena (they are currently married) have to take care of the baby. But there's also the chance that Deniz is the father since both Marian and Deniz had sex with Jessica before she left town last spring. Another father-son drama on the horizon?

And another goodie:

AWZ goes Dallas

Jörg Rohde as Bobby, Igor Dolgatschew as Cliff, Sam Eisenstein as Ray, Ania Niedieck as Donna, Anna Katharina Samsel as Pam, Julia Engelmann as Lucy, Silvan-Pierre Leirich as J.R., Tatjana Clasing as Sue Ellen and Ingeborg Brinks as Miss Ellie.

[DRW50]

That's a great photo. I guess that was for a magazine? Or is that TNT version of Dallas airing on RTL?

The Lucy one is the best.

Jorg and Igor look great.

[Skylover]

I wanted to continue watching GZSZ but there's nowhere online I can watch it anymore so I had to give up.