German soaps: GZSZ, UU & AWZ

[Huntress]

Jörg knows that he's very attractive and he's willing to pose half-naked every other week. He even holds the record with the most nude appearances on any German soap... last week he showed his butt again.

The problem is that his character has become very chavvy and it seems that Jörg has at some point begun playing himself rather than a character. But that's a general problem on AWZ... several characters have been dumbed down or come across as being shallow, for example Ingo, Bea, Iva and Flo. The worst, however, is Pia. On GZSZ, she used to be quite volatile, but she wasn't dumb or rude. Now that she's on AWZ, she seems like a different character with no manners or respect at all.

I think you mixed up GZSZ and GTST  GZSZ (Gute Zeiten, Schlechte Zeiten) is the German version and GTST (Goede Tijden, Slechte Tijden) is the Dutch version. Both soaps were originally based on the Australian soap "The Restless Years" and thus had the same storylines and characters during their first year on the air. After that, both soaps went their own way and are now completely different from one another. The Dutch version airs on RTL4 and has a summer break every year, while GZSZ runs through the whole year.

I have never seen a single episode of the Dutch version. In Germany, we can only watch some of our neighboring countries' television channels because of licensing fees. From the Netherlands, I get NED1, NED2, and NED3, but not RTL4 since it's a commercial broadcaster. Even though our languages are closely related, I hardly understand any spoken Dutch. In written form, it's much easier but many words in Dutch are archaic in modern German.

On the left are the Dutch lyrics of the GTST theme and on the right a literal translation into German.

Edited August 30, 2015 by Huntress

[DRW50]

Thanks. Sorry for that. And that's a shame about shallow writing on AWZ. Do you think it's hurt the show a lot?

[Huntress]

For me, it did, yes. But the majority of the audience obviously doesn't mind since the show is still doing well in the ratings department.

There's going to be another anniversary this year as Germany's answer to Coronation Street, Lindenstraße, celebrates its 30th birthday in December 2015. For this occasion, the show will do a live episode on December 6th (episode #1559).

"Lindenstraße" first aired on December 8th, 1985, and has been shown every Sunday at 6.40 pm on ARD ever since. During the past 30 years, only 7 episodes have been post-poned.

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Lindenstraße has always featured a large cast. Today's ensemble consists of 41 contract roles and features 10 cast members who have been on contract since the very first episode: Domna Adamopoulou as Elena Pallas Sarikakis, Ludwig Haas as Dr. Ludwig Dressler, Hermes Hodolides as Vasily Sarikakis, Joachim H. Luger as Hans Beimer, Marie-Luise Marjan als Helga "Mutter" Beimer, Moritz A. Sachs as Klaus Beimer, Andrea Spatzek as Gabriele "Gaby" Skabowski Zimmermann Zenker, Amorn Surangkanjanajai as Gung Pham Kien, Georg Uecker as Dr. Carsten Flöter and Sybille Waury as Tanja Schildknecht Dressler  Several other current cast members joined in the late 80s/early 90s.

A cast overview can be found here: http://www.lindenstrasse.de/Leute/Personen/liste.jsp?fu=schauspieler_aktiv&bk=bk

Most of the former cast is listed here: http://www.lindenstrasse.de/Leute/Personen/liste.jsp?fu=schauspieler_ehemalig&bk=bk (quite a few of these actors are deceased)

Edited September 4, 2015 by Huntress

[DRW50]

Is this the first live episode for a German soap?

[Huntress]

It will actually be the first live episode of any scripted television series as far as I remember.

 

Yesterday, Sat.1's latest attempt at launching a new daily soap went on the air: "Mila". The half-hour show runs weekdays at 7 p,m. – and thus directly against AWZ on RTL.

Most of the cast has appeared in other soaps and telenovelas before.

A cast overview can be found here: http://www.deutsche-dailys.de/mila/rollen

The original cast consists of:

• Susan Sideropoulos as Mila Zellinger, the show's heroine who is desperately looking for love and works in a hip agency
  Sideropoulos starred on GZSZ as Verena Koch Moreno from March 2001 to August 2011 until her character was killed off. For most of her run, she was considered to be GZSZ's leading lady as she always received the most press coverage.
• Laura Osswald as Sally Hauser, Mila's best friend
  Osswald has worked in the business steadily since 2000 and played the main part in the second season of the cancelled telenovela "Verliebt in Berlin".
• Jenny Bach as Luisa Zellinger, Mila's younger sister
  Bach played the contract role of dancer Julia Meyer on AWZ from February 2013 to February 2015 until her character was killed off.
• Stephan Baumecker as Hendrik Zellinger, Mila's step-father
  Baumecker played the male half of the central couple in the fifth cycle of the telenovela "Rote Rosen".
• Oliver Bender as Julian Hofer, Luisa's fiancé
  Bender starred as Tim Böcking on GZSZ from June 2004 to February 2009 with a guest appearance in 2010.
• Simone Hanselmann as Theresa Kasten, Mila's ruthless boss
  Hanselmann, who worked as an international model in her teens, received her first acting role on GZSZ in January 1998. Here she portrayed Anna Meisner, a model who suffered from bulimia, had a relationship with a 50-year-old man and later became schizophrenic. She exited the soap in July 1999.
• Frank Kessler as Bernd Ritter, Mila's father
  Kessler is best-known for his roles on crime and action series.
• Claudia Lietz as Felicitas Zellinger, Mila's mother
  Lietz played minor roles on GZSZ and UU, and on the cancelled telenovelas"Wege zum Glück" and "Alisa".
• Tino Lindenberg as Uwe Blond, a marketing director
• Eva Mannschott as Sylvia Dressler, Felicitas's best friend
• Andreas Nickl as Rudi Seeler, Mila's co-worker
• Florian Odendahl as Nick Schröder, a photographer
• Dennis Schigiol as Nils Thaler, a computer nerd
  Shigiol played a contract role on the cancelled soap "Hand aufs Herz".
• Sarah Schindler as Nadine Templin, receptionist
• Isabella Vinet as Antonia Krüger
• Nika Weckler as Kathi Tackenfeld, social media manager

Despite a huge marketing campaign, only 1 million people watched the first episode.

This is the opening sequence:

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And one of the official previews:

 

[DRW50]

Did you like it?

[wingwalker]

That's exciting to see a new soap opera launch. Strange they'd try to launch it in a timeslot that has other soap competition 

[Huntress]

While the sets and the cast of "Mila" are brilliant, the story is boring – it's all about Mila trying to find the love of her life. It's basically a telenovela disguised as a "romantic comedy". Sat.1 neither calls it a telenovela nor a soap. It's "a new daily serial". Yeah, right.

Furthermore, the show is clearly targeted at single women between 25 and 40. That's not going to work in the long run. The RTL soaps are shows for the whole family.

Since the 90s, Sat.1 has tried to establish 4 daily soaps and 2 telenovelas ("So ist das Leben! Die Wagenfelds", "Geliebte Schwestern", "Eine wie keine", "Hand aufs Herz", "Schmetterlinge im Bauch" and "Verliebt in Berlin"). All of them aired in various timeslots between 6 and 7.45 pm – and none of them lasted more than a year. The only exception was "Verliebt in Berlin", which was a huge ratings success during its first year on the air. ViB even threatened GZSZ's popularity but then the show was run into the ground and was  subsequently cancelled.

[DRW50]

What happened to ruin ViB?

[Huntress]

"Verliebt in Berlin" was a telenovela based on the Colombian telenovela "Yo soy Betty, la fea" (the US adaption was ABC's "Ugly Betty"). It debuted in March 2005 and ran weekdays at 7.15 pm. Like all telenovelas, the show was supposed to end when the main storyline had come to a conclusion. Originally, 225 episodes were planned but because of its initial success, ViB received 140 extra episodes.

Lead actress Alexandra Neldel (who had previously played a contract role on GZSZ from 1996 to 1999) was only contracted for a year. The first season concluded with a television movie which had an audience of 7.35 mliion people. Because of the huge success, Sat.1 didn't want the show to end so ViB was extended and a new main character was introduced in episode #365: Lisa's half-brother Bruno, played by Tim Sander (also of GZSZ fame). Most of the supporting cast stayed on board. However, Bruno's storyline was disliked by the audience and the show's market share sank from 22 percent to 14 percent within a short span of time. Eventually, Sat.1 pulled the plug and the final episode (#645) aired on October 12th, 2007. During the 2006-2007 season, ViB ran against newcomer AWZ with the latter outperforming ViB.

[DRW50]

Thanks.

 

That must have been a poor story...

[Huntress]

Sat.1 has already pulled the plug on "Mila". Following disastrous ratings, the show will be taken off the channel's schedule immediately.

However, "Mila" has been given a new life on sixx, a smaller channel, which also belongs to the Pro7Sat.1 group. According to a spokesperson, the story of "Mila" will receive a proper ending. sixx will show five episodes in a row on Saturday evenings where the show serves as a lead-in for "Big Brother" – which also found a new home on sixx after airing on RTL2 for eleven seasons.

Sat.1 also cancelled "Mila's" lead-in "Unser Tag" (Our Day) and the primetime soap "Frauenherzen" (Women's Hearts).

[Huntress]

Last Tuesday, the 12th season of "Big Brother Germany" started. After running on RTL2 for 11 seasons between 2000 and 2011, the show has moved to sixx. Daily recaps are shown at 10 pm with a 2 hour live show (nominations and evictions) taking place every Tuesday at 8 pm.

On day one, 13 contestants moved into the house:

• Àsa (41), entertainer, from Cologne; born in Iceland
• Atchi (35), journalist and vlogger, from Berlin
• Bianca (36), personal trainer, from Hamburg
• Christian (23), works in IT, model, former Mr. Thuringia, from Erfurt
• Hans-Christian (36), actor, from Vienna (Austria)
• Isabell (30), hairdresser, from Nürnberg
• Kevin (26), car salesman, from Olpe
• Lusy (26), self-employed, from Vienna (Austria); born in Belarus
• Manuel (28), bouncer, from Essen
• Sharon (23), stripper, from Hamburg
• Sophia (33), professional dancer, from Hamburg
• Thomas (32), entrepreneur, from Aschersleben
• Tim (21), vlogger, from Leutkirch

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While they are not celebrities per se, most of these people have media experience – and it clearly shows.

After the first six contestants had moved into the house, they had to choose a team partner from the remaining contestants.

The following teams were formed:

• Àsa & Manuel
• Bianca & Sharon
• Isabell & Atchi
• Lusy & Christian
• Sophia & Kevin
• Tim & Hans-Christian

Because Thomas was the last one left, he was forced to move into the penalty area which is located in the house's garden.

During week one, all contestants are up for eviction.

[DRW50]

Thanks.

 

So this is the first since 2011?

[TimWil]

Christian is pretty adorable.