German soaps: GZSZ, UU & AWZ

[wingwalker]

Hopefully they can find a way to keep it going. Always sad to see soaps disappear.

[DRW50]

Sorry to hear this. Sounds like it had been coming for some years, but still. I remember first hearing about this show around 2008 when "Chrolli" became so popular among some fans over here. Seems like a lifetime ago.

[Huntress]

Statements of two actresses:

Gabrlele Metzger (54, has portrayed Charlotte "Charlie" Schneider since episode 1):

She also told the press that she cried when she received the cancellation note via e-mail. Metzger fears that most of her younger cast mates will not find other acting gigs.

Martina Servatius (59, has portrayed Elisabeth Ryan Brander von Lahnstein since 1999):

Edited July 21, 2014 by Huntress

[Huntress]

On August 11th, GZSZ celebrates 5555 episodes.

From left to right: Eva Mona Rodekirchen (Maren Seefeld), Iris Mareike Steen (Lilly Seefeld), Clemens Löhr (Alexander Cöster), Wolfgang Bahro (Dr. Jo Gerner), Ulrike Frank (Katrin Flemming-Gerner), Lea Marlen Woitack (Sophie Lindh), Daniel Fehlow (Leon Moreno), Vincent Krüger (Vince Köpke), Franziska van der Heide (Mieke "Mieze" Lutze)

From left to right: Jörn Schlönvoigt (Dr. Philip Höfer), Philipp Christopher (David Brenner), Anne Menden (Emily Höfer-Badak), Tayfun Baydar (Tayfun Badak)

From left to right: Iris Mareike Steen (Lilly Seefeld), Eva Mona Rodekirchen (Maren Seefeld), Clemens Löhr (Alexander Cöster), Franziska van der Heide (Mieke "Mieze" Lutze), Vincent Krüger (Vince Köpke)

From left to right: Anne Menden (Emily Höfer-Badak), Philipp Christopher (David Brenner), Thomas Drechsel (Max "Tuner" Krüger), Raul Richter (Dominik Gundlach-Gerner), Janina Uhse (Jasmin Nowak Flemming LeRoy), Linda Marlen Runge (Anni Brehme), Nadine Menz (Ayla Özgül Höfer), Jörn Schlönvoigt (Dr. Philip Höfer), Ramona Dempsey (Nele Lehmann), Tayfun Baydar (Tayfun Badak), Mustafa Alin (Mesut Yildiz)

Edited August 1, 2014 by Huntress

[Huntress]

There are rumours that Verbotene Liebe might continue as a weekly soap come 2015.

Even though the show has been cancelled, there are still new cast members joining: Ex-GZSZ actress Sila Sahin and ex-Unter uns actor Maximilian Claus are set to debut this fall.

The show is also bringing back a character from the distant past: Clara Gerst will portray Lara Cornelius, the granddaughter of Countess Elisabeth Brander Ryan von Lahnstein (played by Martina Servatius). Her first airdate is October 2nd, 2014. In 2000, Lara was introduced as a member of the teen scene. Back then, she was played by Karoline Schuch. Lara grew up believing that Irene Cornelius, Elisabeth's sister, was her mother. After Irene's death, she found out that Elisabeth's daughter Nina Ryan is her biological mother. Lara also had a problematic relationship with Christian Toppe who wanted to become a pop star. After a while she felt neglected by Christian. In May 2002, Lara moved to Greece to live with Nina.

In turn, five contract cast members are leaving the show during the next few weeks:

Jana Julie Kilka (Jessica Stiehl), Daniel Sellier (Ricardo Mendes), Diane Willems (Dana Wolf von Lahnstein) and Christoph Mory (Hagen von Lahnstein) will last air on September 10, 2014. While Ricardo moves back to his native Spain, Dana, Hagen and Jessica leave for the North Sea where they want to begin a new life together with Jessica and Hagen's son Maximilian. Two weeks later, on September 24th, Melanie Kogler (Marlene Wolf von Lahnstein) makes her last appearance. Marlene moves to New York after her relationship with Rebecca von Lahnstein (Tatjana Kästel) has failed.

Kilka joined the soap in January 2010. Kogler and Willems were introduced as sisters Marlene and Dana along with the rest of the Wolf family in January 2011. Initially, the two sisters were involded in a triangle with Hagen, who was then played by Tom Viehöfer. He was replaced by Christoph Mory in May 2011. While Hagen and Dana ended up together, Marlene found happiness with Hagen's sister Rebecca.

Daniel Sellier was introduced as Ricardo Mendes during VL's 2011 Mallorca storyline. He was the new husband of original character Julia von Anstetten (who was brought back after a 14-year absence along with her twin brother Jan and her mother Clarissa). After the Mallorca storyline had ended in early 2012, Ricardo was transferred to VL's main setting and he became involved with several women, most notably Jessica and Dana.

Edited to add:

Till Demtrøder (Thomas Wolf) and Susanne Szell (Biggi Schumann) are also out. Thomas, Marlene and Dana's father, and Biggi will go on a long journey together with little Tommy, the infant son of Thomas and his late wife Patricia. They will last air in early October. Demtrøder joined in April 2011 and Szell in November 2013.

Katja Sieder (Caro Schulze), Kim Riedle (Giselle Schulze) and Philipp Oehme (Thore Hellström) are also rumoured out as they are no longer listed among the cast for the fall season. Sieder and Oehme joined in December 2013 and Riedle followed in February 2014. Caro and Thore are the show's current main couple.

Edited August 21, 2014 by Huntress

[Huntress]

Preview Pictures for September/October 2014:

Unter uns

01. Irene (Petra Blossey) and Kira (Barbara Prakopenka) plan Paco and Leonie's wedding 02. Lisa (Svenja Jung) is nervous before starting her new job at the police station 03. Maik (Paul Wollin) threatens Ute (Isabell Hertel) 04. Kira catches Kimberly (Maja Lehrer) stealing a purse 05. Malte (Stefan Bockelmann) and Caro (new series regular Ines Kurenbach) grew closer 06. Rolf (Stefan Franz), Schillerallee's resident psycho villain, has been released from prison and is back to his old games when he breaks into an apartment 07. Britta (Tabea Heynig) is scared when she learns about Rolf's return since she stills owes him 75.000 euros 08. Britta tries to keep her cool in front of Kira 09. Rolf fakes a sickness to gain Sina's (Valea Scalabrino) sympathy 10. Eva (Claudelle Deckert) is torn between her feelings for her husband Till and her lover Sascha.

Alles was zählt

01. After Richard has left her, Isabelle (Ania Niedieck) is pestered by the press 02. Erik (Alexander Wüst) tries to comfort his daughter Emilia (Tabea Willemsen) 03. Lena (Juliette Greco, middle) is happy that Simone (Tatjana Clasing) has agreed to declare Maximilian dead so that Marian can legally adopt Maximilian (Ralf-Maximilian Prack) 04. Erik meets his ex-wife Tina (Tina Bordihn) 05. Julia (Jenny Bach) has decided to abort her and Ben's unborn child 06. Can (Volkan Isbert, left) pitches a new business idea to Richard (Silvan-Pierre Leirich) 07. Isabelle swears revenge on the Steinkamp family 08. Deniz (Igor Dolgatschew) realizes he feels attracted to Letizia (Jennifer Dessin-Brasching) 09. Old rivalries break out again between Jenny and Letizia as Felix (Hannes Sell) looks on 10. Katja (Anna Katharina Samsel) suffers a nervous breakdown when she has to witness Can and Susi having sex in the pool

Gute Zeiten, Schlechte Zeiten

01. Tayfun (Tayfun Baydar, middle) and Leon (Daniel Fehlow, right) try to pressure David (Philipp Christopher) into testifying against the mafia 02. Ayla (Nadine Menz, left) and Anni (Linda Marlen Runge, right) try to comfort a lovesick Nele (Ramona Dempsey) 03. Alexander (Clemens Löhr, left) and Jo (Wolfgang Bahro) pull an all-nighter 04. The tensions at "Metropolitan Trends" continue as Katrin (Ulrike Frank), Sophie (Lea Marlen Woitack), Jasmin (Janina Uhse) and Maren (Eva Mona Rodekirchen) clash once again 05. Jonas (Felix van Deventer) teaches Mieze (Franziska van der Heide) how to swim 06. Anni helps Jasmin to fight her nervousness before her first photo shooting 07. Nele has a catfight with Mesut's (Mustafa Alin) date 08. Lilly (Iris Mareike Steen) senses that Jonas has fallen in love with Mieze 09. David overpowers "The Dane" (David Owe) 10. David holds Vince (Vincent Krüger) and Leon at gunpoint 11. "The Dane" has gunned Tayfun down 12. After the hostage drama, Leon is reunited with Vince and Mieze

Verbotene Liebe

01. Jessica (Jana Julie Kilka) and Ricardo (Daniel Sellier) are unsure if they want to be a real couple 02. Elisabeth (Martina Servatius, left) and Charlie (Gabriele Metzger) team up against Ansgar (Wolfram Grandezka) 03. Ben (Patrick Gräser) plans to put Elisabeth at odds with her butler Justus 04. Caroline (Katja Sieder) seeks Sascha's (Sascha Pederiva) company 05. Caroline blames herself for Giselle's (Kim Riedle) suicide attempt 06. Justus (Claus Thull-Emden) looks on in horror as Ben mutilates himself 07.Alexa (Henrike Fehrs) has fallen in love with Ansgar, her father's murderer 08. Justus confronts Ben about his deeds while Elisabeth calls the police 09. Caro and Thore (Philipp Oehme) are back together as a jealous Giselle watches from behind 10. Olli (Jo Weil) is treated at the hospital by a new doctor, Jo Helmke (new series regular Mickey Hardt) 11. Caro and Thore present their new fashion line 12. Caro and Thore pose for the press

[Huntress]

I finally managed to update the cast overviews for GZSZ, UU and AWZ on the first page of this topic.

I won't even start doing the same for VL, though, since half of the cast will be gone within the next few weeks.

Ironically, even though it has been cancelled, VL will have its first primetime crossover on September 30th: In episode #660 of the successful medical drama "In aller Freundschaft" (In All Friendship), Sebastian Schlemmer and Miriam Lahnstein will appear as their VL characters Sebastian and Tanja von Lahnstein. After a riding accident, Sebastian has to undergo surgery at the fictional Sachsenklinik.

"In aller Freundschaft" is a weekly series and has been on the air since October 1998. It runs during the whole year with occasional breaks of 1 or 2 months between each season. These days it is the most-watched series on German television. Currently the show is in its 17th season.

"In aller Freundschaft" already had cross-overs with fellow dramas "Tierärztin Dr. Mertens" (Veterinarian Dr. Mertens) and "Heiter bis tödlich: Akte Ex" (Fair to Fatal: Ex-Files).

More on wikipedia: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/In_aller_Freundschaft

Edited August 29, 2014 by Huntress

[Huntress]

Yesterday several media outlets reported that Verbotene Liebe will continue in 2015 – however, the 20-year old soap will be indeed transformed into a weekly format. Since ratings have gone up slightly during the past few weeks, broadcaster ARD has apparently agreed to keep the program on the air. VL's new timeslot is most likely to be fridays at 7 p.m.

An official statement by the broadcaster is expected to be released in the next few days.

[DRW50]

Thanks for keeping us posted. I wonder which characters will still be there.

[Huntress]

ARD has now confirmed that VL will continue as a weekly soap with the transformation beginning in late February/early March 2015. The broadcaster has ordered 15 episodes á 48 minutes which will air until the summer break.

The official press release says that the following characters* stay part of the ensemble:

• The aristocratic von Lahnstein family with Elisabeth; villain Ansgar; siblings Tristan, Rebecca and Sebastian; and Sebastian's evil wife Tanja
• original character Charlie Schneider, her husband Frank, and his brothers Jo and Tim (who will be introduced this fall)
• Olli Sabel and his group of friends (this most likely includes Sascha, Bella and Andi)

* Only the characters' names are listed, so it's unclear if all characters will be played by their current performers.

A new character, Mila von Dragow, is currently in the process of being cast.

Of the current cast, only the characters of Kim Wolf, Emilio Sanchez and Alexa Berg are not mentioned. Everyone else not mentioned has already been confirmed to depart the show this fall.

[Huntress]

AWZ has announced another major cast overhaul as three new female regulars have been cast. In addition, a familiar face returns to the canvas.

At the end of October, Julia Augustin is back as Vanessa Steinkamp – and this time, she'll be on contract again. An original cast member, Augustin originally played the youngest Steinkamp daughter from September 2006 to May 2009. Vanessa is the slighty overweight, loud-mouthed daughter of Simone and Richard and the younger sister of villain Jenny. Usually neglected by her mother, she has a good rapport with her dad. Her half-brothers include Ben, Marco and Maximilian.

Augustin then took a break from acting to focus on her studies. From August 2010 to February 2012, Augustin was again part of the main cast before Vanessa took off to Boston to study medicine. When her mother Simone was presumed dead, Vanessa visited her family for a few weeks in the summer of 2013. Now ready to become a doctor, Vanessa is back in town and is supposed to become involved in a hostage drama.

The new faces are singer-turned-actress Christina Klein, Michèle Fichtner and Naima Fehrenbacher.

Under her stage name "LaFee", Klein has released four albums (three of which charted in the Top 10 of the German Album chart) and has had a string of successful singles. On AWZ, she will play Iva Lubowski, who works as a DJane.

Fichtner and Fehrenbacher will play Toni Fuchs and Larissa Schuhmann. Both girls apply for a scholarship at the "Steinkamp Dance Factory" and they will soon fight for the affection of the same man – long-established character Deniz Öztürk (Igor Dolgatschew). Toni is described as a "plain Jane" while Larissa, who is also Isabelle's (Ania Niedick) younger sister, is supposed to be a schemer.

AWZ again follows the same formula with a good girl and a bad girl fighting for the same man and the same job as the main story.

The last main triangle was Julia (Jenny Bach) and Letizia (Jennifer Dessin-Brasching) fighting for a place at the Dance Academy and fighting for Lukas (Marc Schöttner). All three characters were introduced in the spring of 2013. The storyline fizzled out rather quickly. Letizia turned out to be Simone's granddaughter which put her more in the Steinkamp family orbit. Besides, she didn't have a viable love interest. Currently she is about to fall in love with Deniz, but with Deniz soon being the leading man in the new triangle, Letizia's days on the show are obviously numbered. Meanwhile, Julia fell in love with Ben Steinkamp, the husband of her older sister Bea (Caroline Frier). This also led to Lukas leaving town earlier this year. Julia has now turned into a bitch and the roles between her and Letizia have been reversed. Could Julia also be leaving soon?

Another character waiting to be axed is Raquel (Yara Hassan), who never quite caught on with the audience. She was introduced last fall as a new love interest for Ingo (André Dietz) and got married to gay soccer player Joscha, Lukas's brother. When Ingo chose Bea, Raquel was supposed to be paired with Felix (Hannes Sell), Lukas's replacement at the Dance Factory. Felix however slept with Isabelle and now Isabelle is pregnant. But who is the daddy? Felix or Isabelle's husband Richard? With all this drama going on, Raquel somehow got pushed to the backburner.

[DRW50]

I'm surprised they don't try Vanessa/Deniz again.

[Huntress]

Probably because that pairing wasn't really popular back in the day. Deniz and Roman were only together for three months when Deniz began lusting after Vanessa and that angered a lot of fans. Roman was Deniz's only popular pairing. They never even bothered giving him another male love interest even though all his romances with women were short-lived. Last year, when Joscha appeared, he and Deniz flirted a lot and everyone thought that they might become an item, but then Joscha was given a new love interest, Kai. (Both Joscha and Kai exited the show last June.) In my opinion, Deniz never had any chemistry with any of his female co-stars.

All in all, couples on German soaps rarely reunite once they have split up. It's basically only those couples that are considered to be soulmates that stay together for a long time and get back together after they have spent some time apart. On AWZ, Simone and Richard are the best example. They were married when the show started, but Richard always had affairs with other women. Simone also bedded a few guys, including Richard's brother. Richard is currently married to Isabelle – who was previously married to Richard's son Ben and Simone's son Maximilian. (She also had an affair with Richard's other son Marco.) Anyway, Simone and Richard have always remained close and they get back together in regular intervals. Everyone else on this show switches partners like their underwear.

In that regard, AWZ is similar to B&B. The Steinkamp family is also similar to the Forrester clan, and Isabelle has clearly taken a lesson or two from Brooke Logan how to bed several men of the same family.

An example on UU would be Till and Eva who had a short affair in 2001. When Eva returned in 2008, she and Till were paired up again and have remained together ever since.

Edited September 10, 2014 by Huntress

[wingwalker]

More female love interests for Deniz? UGH that's so disappointing. They really should try him with another man. Like you said, Roman was his most popular pairing and he's never had chemistry with women.

It's funny you mention the B&B comparison. I don't get to watch all of AWZ, but it's always felt very similar to B&B except instead of set in fashion, it's sports/ice skating.

[Huntress]

The madness continues:

Last week it was revealed that VL's transformation into a weekly series doesn't mean that the show has been renewed by its broadcaster ARD. Filming still ends on November 14th, 2014, and the daily broadcastings will stop in late February. The remaining 15 episodes that are part of the current broadcasting season will then be shown on a weekly basis until June. What the network execs said about VL's renewal was completely wrong.

Furthermore,it was reported that VL's cast and crew members are not allowed to sign contracts with any other production until the network has decided if they want to continue the soap in the 2nd half of the year 2015. Later a spokesperson claimed that this is false information.

AWZ also made big headlines: Two weeks ago the show announced that Naima Fehrenbacher and Michéle Fichtner will be joining the soap at the end of October as Larissa Schumann and Toni Fuchs to form the new main triangle with Igor Dolgatschew's Deniz Öztürk.

Yesterday it was reported that four actresses were released from their contracts – among them Fehrenbacher and Fichtner who haven't even aired yet. The other two are Jenny Bach (Julia Meyer) and Yara Hassan (Raquel Santana).

Apparently there was a major change behind the scenes and the show wants to get rid of the "Steinkamp Dance Academy" which has been the main focus since 2011. This means that all cast members who portray members of the "Dance Academy" will be out by February 2015.

A new sport is supposed to become the show's main focus next year.