German soaps: GZSZ, UU & AWZ

[Huntress]

Yes, it was a magazine shoot.

But the new Dallas will also be airing on RTL later this year. The original Dallas aired on ARD back in the day.

Edited August 21, 2012 by Huntress

[Huntress]

A look back...

Unter uns | Episode 1 | Original Airdate: November 28th, 1994

Synopsis: The soap opera debuts with several shots of Cologne, Northrhine-Westphalia, Germany's fourth-largest city. At Cologne Central Station, we see a train arriving. A young man, Chris Weigel (Oliver Bootz), returns from his time at the army. In the next scene, he approaches Schillerallee 10, the apartment house he was raised in and where his family still resides. In the courtyard, Chris ist greeted by his younger sister Anna (Janis Rattenni).

A few moments later, two young women enter the courtyard: Corinna Bach (Cecilia Kunz), a blonde bombshell, and Jennifer Turner (Tatiani Katrantzi), her best friend. They want to take a look at the attic flat which had recently been modernized. Chris offers to take them to the house owner – and that is his grandmother Margot Weigel (Christiane Maybach). In the meantime, Anna informs Wolfgang (Holger Franke), Chris's father and Margot's son, and Till (Stephen Dürr), the middle Weigel son, that Chris has returned home. Wolfgang is the owner of a bakery which is located on the ground floor of the apartment house.

Chris introduces Corinna and Jennifer to Margot who is very suspicious of the two women. She is of the opinion that they cannot afford the attic flat. She offers them another spare apartment on the third floor which is much smaller. Nevertheless, Corinna and Jennifer can convince Margot to show them the attic flat.

A bit later, Chris is reunited with his mother Irene (Petra Blossey). She tells Chris that they will celebrate his homecoming with a family dinner later that evening. Irene is haunted by memories of her brother. Corinna and Jennifer take a look at the attic flat. While Corinna is enthusiastic and wants to move in immediately, Jennifer is very reluctant because she knows that they cannot afford renting the apartment.

At the Weigel family dinner, drama ensues when Margot's sister Sophie (Karin Schröder) arrives. Margot refuses to stay in the same room with her and leaves abruptly.

That night, a man suffers from nightmares. It is Irene's brother Olaf (Ludwig Hollburg), who lives in East Berlin with his teenage daughter Antonia (Milena Dreißig). He has no job and might lose his apartment. Antonia urges him to move to a different city and suggests going to Cologne to visit their relatives.

The next morning, Olaf and Antonia arrive in Cologne. Olaf meets Wolfgang, his brother-in-law, who reacts dismissingly because Olaf never wanted Irene to contact him. However, Irene is overjoyed to see her brother and to finally meet Antonia. In addition, Antonia gets to know her cousins Chris and Till.

Corinna and Jennifer approach Margot once again. Corinna butters Margot up and tells her that they will rent the attic flat, but they will have to find one or two more flatmates. Margot finally agrees. Jennifer is still unsure whether this plan will work out.

Irene wants Olaf and Antonia to move into the other spare apartment. Wolfgang asks Margot to reduce the rent so that Olaf can afford the apartment, but she declines. Irene convinces Wolfgang to support Olaf financially, but Olaf must be kept in the dark about it. Wolfgang agrees.

Till allows Antonia to ride a bike that belongs to his best friend Marc Albrecht (Bodo Frank). In front of Schillerallee 10, Marc and Antonia nearly collide. The two get into an argument and Antonia pushes Marc to the ground. She is shocked when she sees that he hit his head on the asphalt...

ORIGINAL CONTRACT CAST APPEARING IN THIS EPISODE

Petra Blossey – Irene Weigel (11/1994 to present)

Oliver Bootz – Chris Weigel (11/1994 to 09/1997)

Milena Dreißig – Antonia Schwarz** (11/1994 to 03/1995)

Stephen Dürr – Till Weigel** (11/1994 to 12/1996)

Bodo Frank – Marc Albrecht (11/1994 to 10/1998)

Holger Franke – Wolfgang Weigel † (11/1994 to 11/2009)

Ludwig Hollburg – Olaf Schwarz (11/1994 to 09/1995)

Tatiani Katrantzi – Jennifer Turner (11/1994 to 08/1998)

Cecilia Kunz – Corinna Bach (11/1994 to 09/1997)

Christiane Maybach † – Margot Weigel † (11/1994 to 12/2005)

Janis Rattenni – Anna Weigel** (11/1994 to 08/2004)

Karin Schröder – Sophie Himmel** (11/1994 to 09/1995)

ORIGINAL CONTRACT CAST INTRODUCED IN SUBSEQUENT EPISODES

Sebastian Feicht – Alexander Albrecht (11/1994 to 04/1996)

Katja Frenzel-Röhl – Melanie Hoffmeister (12/1994 to 11/1995)

Lale Karci – Aylin Eray (12/1994 to 02/1998)

Björn Kegel-Casapietra – Armin Franke † (11/1994 to 02/1996)

Sylvia Agnes Muc* – Laura Böhme (11/1994 to 04/2001)

Alexander Osteroth – Joachim Albrecht (11/1994 to 05/1997)

Beate Wanke – Regina Albrecht † (11/1994 to 08/1997)

† = character was killed off

* = was credited as recurring for the first few episodes before becoming a contract cast member around episode 15

** = original characters who were recast once or twice:

– Nina Azizi took over from Milena Dreißig as Antonia Schwarz in March 1995 and lasted until July 1997

– After the character had been off the canvas for almost four years, Ben Ruedinger was cast as Till Weigel in October 2000 and he has played him since then

– Two years after Janis Rattenni had vacated the role of Anna Weigel, Kathleen Fiedler stepped into the role in June 2006. She lasted until August 2010 and was then replaced by Marylu Saskia Poolman who has played the character since September 2010

– Six years after Karin Schröder had last been seen as Sophie Himmel, Jane Hempel received the part in December 2001. She was a central character until May 2005. Even though she remained on contract, she only made sporadic appearances and last appeared in December 2009.

Edited August 21, 2012 by Huntress

[DRW50]

Thanks so much for sharing this! I love seeing those screencaps. Is the guy in the green shirt supposed to be gay?

[Huntress]

No, "Unter uns" has never had a gay character yet.

However, Armin, who was introduced in episode 2, was only allowed to move in with Jennifer and Corinna (and Melanie, who first appeared in episode 8) because he made everyone believe that he was gay. In reality, he was head over heels in love with Corinna, who in turn was attracted to both Chris and Alexander. Armin tried to push Melanie towards Chris so that he could have Corinna for himself. Eventually, Corinna and Alexander became a couple and Chris had a fling with Melanie. Melanie became pregnant with Chris's child, but she lost the baby and got sucked into a cult. Jennifer and Armin who at first could not stand each other developed feelings for one another after the truth about Armin's sexuality had become public, but then Armin was shot.

Melanie emigrated to the United States with her new boyfriend in 1995, while Alexander moved to Brazil in 1996 to become a priest.

Corinna and Chris left town together in 1997. It has been mentioned that they got married and that they have two children now.

Jennifer lasted the longest of the original attic flat crew. In 1998, she disappeared in the dead of the night to begin a new life in Africa.

They were all of course gradually replaced by new characters. The crew of the attic flat has changed a lot during the past 18 years, but nothing compares to the original cast. Almost every younger character has lived there for at least a short period.

[Ann_SS]

I rarely ever come in this thread and haven't been following AWZ so I am shocked to learn that Annette is dead. I loved her character so much.

[Huntress]

I've been watching more UU classics and those early episodes featured "the shower from hell". These particular scenes happened in episodes 15 and 18 from December 1994.

The story went as the following: In the first episode of the soap, Antonia moved to Cologne and subsequently became a student at Thomas-Mann-Gymnasium (a public high school). Marc and his ex-girlfriend Laura were among her classmates. Laura couldn't stand Antonia and tried to denounce her in front of the other students and the school's principal. Together with her best friend Carmen, she eventually forged out a devious plan. When Antonia went to shower at the school's gym after PE class, they locked her inside one of the shower stalls and turned on boiling water. Antonia was severely burned in the process. Of course Antonia and her friends Marc, Till and Heike knew that Laura was responsible for this gruesome act. Laura asked her mother to give her an alibi and put the blame on Carmen so that Carmen was expelled from school. To take revenge, Till and Marc locked Laura in one of the shower stalls and mixed the water with black ink. Laura was humiliated in front of the whole class and her mother found out about her lies.

[DRW50]

Wow. That looks very harsh.

[Huntress]

It was... I remember watching this as a 10-year old. But I never felt sorry for Antonia because I couldn't stand her Laura on the other hand was one of my favorites because she was so nasty. She did a lot of horrible things during her 6 1/2 year run, though.

When her mother was run over by a truck and subsequently fell into a coma, Laura had to move in with the Albrechts (Marc's family). She put the blame for her mother's accident on Regina, Marc's mother, and tried to terrorize the whole family. Of course she was also constantly fighting with Antonia who was now Marc's new girlfriend. Another victim of Laura's schemes was Antonia's best friend Ute, who was a very insecure teenager and hopelessly in love with Till Weigel (the two eventually got married in January 2003 and have a son named Conor, but they split up in 2008).

Regina became a cleptomaniac. Later Laura found out that Marc's father Joachim had faked his doctor's degree. She blackmailed him and the marriage of Regina and Joachim broke apart. Joachim ended up living on the streets and disappeared on a ship to the Netherlands. After Antonia had left town, Laura and Marc had sex and Laura claimed to the pregnant. Regina didn't believe her and forced her to go to the doctor with her. On their way to the doctor's office, their taxi crashed. Regina was dead.

Marc and Laura continued to live in the Albrecht flat which was then (fall 1997) occupied by a new family, the Falkenbergs (Viktor, Claudia and their teenage daughters Jessica and Alexa). After a while, Laura found out that Viktor was her biological father.

The Falkenbergs weren't a happy family, either: Viktor was a real devil, terrorizing and degrading his wife Claudia. He even forced her to prostitute herself. In the fall of 1999, Jessica found out about her father's evil behavior and that he was plotting to kill Andreas Sandmann, the father of one of her best friends. Jessica and Andreas fled town on a motorcycle but then had a fatal crash. Both died. Alexa left town only a few episodes later. Following these events, Claudia had a nervous breakdown.

When she returned to the Schillerallee, she was a stronger woman. She threw Viktor out and began an affair with another man. Little did she know that that man was paid by Viktor. Eventually Viktor killed the other guy and walled his corpse in. When the truth came out, Viktor wanted to flee the country with Claudia. At the airport, he was killed by the rotor of an airplane. A while later, Claudia found out that new Schillerallee resident Gideon Kern was her illegitimate son. Gideon was a psychopath, and when he couldn't win his ex-girlfriend Rebecca back, he first shot her and then committed suicide. After this tragic event, Claudia left Schillerallee to live with Alexa.

Meanwhile, Laura had opened up her own modeling agency which went bankrupt after some time. After Marc had left town, Laura found a new job working at Sue Sommerfeld's advertising agency. She also moved in with Sue and her former arch enemy Ute. Her new love interest was Maximilian Pfitzer, a poor carpenter. When Laura was the victim of a hit and run accident, she told the police that Sue was the driver – which of course was not true, but Laura wanted to take over the company. Only Max believed Laura's claims, but then the truth came to light. Despite her name being cleared, Sue left town and the agency was bought by Stefan Kramer who subsequently moved into the former Falkenberg flat with his wife Helena and daughter Vicky.

Laura was courted by Markus Korte, one of Stefan's clients. Since he was able to offer Laura a luxurious life, she broke up with Max and decided to marry Stefan. The new-wed couple eft town in March 2001 and Max was heartbroken. Six months later, Laura suddenly returned to Cologne and confessed her love to Max. The two reunited and moved to Paris.

[DRW50]

Fascinating. For such a malicious character Laura seemed to have a happy ending. I guess she'd matured by the end.

[Huntress]

Two more cast members have decided to leave Alles was zählt: Michael N. Kuehl (Florian Wild) and Julia Engelmann (Franziska Steinkamp) have already filmed their goodbye scenes and will last air in October. Both actors joined the show in 2010. Following their departures – Florian and Franziska will leave town together – the teen scene on AWZ will be non-existant, with the recently SORASed Zoé (Katharina Woschek) being the only character under the age of 20.

[DRW50]

What did you think of them? I know Florian was Roman's brother. I guess he had no role without Roman.

[wingwalker]

Florian's leaving? That's sad, I really liked him. Even sadder that with Florian leaving and Annette dead, Deniz will be about the only one left with a connection to Roman. I miss my DeRo, too bad Deniz will probably never get another male love interest again.

[Huntress]

Both Florian and Franziska were introduced in 2010 to revitalize the teen scene. While Florian is of course Roman's younger brother, Franziska is the niece of Richard Steinkamp. When Franziska's father Rüdiger, Richard's brother, went to jail, the Steinkamps decided to let Franziska stay with them.

Florian became a member of the ice hockey squad. Franziska disguised herself as a boy to become a player as well and she was admitted into the team under the name "Frank Schneider". After a while, Franziska fell in love with Florian. He also developed feelings for "Frank" and feared that he was gay. Eventually, Franziska revealed herself as being a girl. Initially, Florian was shocked, but then he forgave her and the two became a couple.

Their relationship ended during the summer of 2011 when Florian began an affair with the much older Lena Bergmann von Altenburg Öztürk. Florian and Lena stayed together until Lena decided to marry Marian who was in danger of being deported to Turkey. Florian couldn't handle the whole situation and broke up with Lena. A while ago, Florian had a little fling with Zoé but she just used him.

Franziska had little to do other than fighting with teen brat Melanie Wendt. In July 2012, her father Rüdiger (now a contract role and played by a different actor) was released from prison. There was a lot of potential for their strained relationship but little happened because Rüdiger is currently focused on taking revenge on Richard and seducing Richard's wife Simone. The teens were just pushed to the sidelines.

[Huntress]

Some casting news:

• On AWZ, Rosetta Pedone is already out as Viktoria König. Pedone joined the soap in July 2012.
  
• Meanwhile, two recurring cast members return to the canvas soon: Anneline Gerstl will once again portray Friederike von Altenburg, Simone's devious mother. Gerstl first appeared in 2007 and has made sporadic appearances ever since. Following the cancellation of the telenovala "Wege zum Glück", where she played one of the lead roles, Andrea Cleven is also back on AWZ as Jessica Haagner, the Jenny look-alike and Marian's ex lover. Cleven previously portrayed the character from fall 2010 to spring 2011.
  
• On GZSZ, Björn Harras is out as Patrick Gerner aka Patrick Graf, Jr. Harras joined the soap in November 2009. His character is supposed to have a "shocking ending".
  
• Also on GZSZ, Senta-Sofia Delliponti will be taking an extended break from the soap. Delliponti joined the soap in December 2010 as Tanja Seefeld. After trying to kill her bulemic younger sister Lilly (Iris Marike Steen) under the influence of drugs, Tanja flies to the US to live with her father Kurt (Tim Williams) – however, Kurt is on his way back to Berlin simultaneously, so Tanja's fate will be probably left unknown for a while – if she does return after all. According to rumors, Delliponti – and several of her younger co-stars – want to leave the show for good, but the producers want to keep them no matter what. In the case of Björn Harras, they weren't successful.
  
• On UU, Maximilian Claus returns as teacher Erik Hansen this week. The character was initially conceived as a short-term recurring role and debuted in June 2011. Eric's romance with his student Sina Uhland (Valea Scalabrino) proved to be a huge success with the audience so the story arc was extended until December 2011. Then Claus departed the show because he wanted to do theater work and Eric subsequently left to New Zealand. Now Maximilian Claus has been placed on contract and Eric is back to woo Sina once more.
  
• On VL, Renee Weibel and Dirk Moritz are out. Weibel joined the soap in October 2009 as Helena von Lahnstein, and Moritz first appeared as a recast Daniel Fritzsche in November 2011. The recast clearly wasn't successful.
  

Edited October 8, 2012 by Huntress

[DRW50]

Are you sad about any of these departures?

I guess the teacher/student affair stories are always likely to get a following, for one reason or another.