"Unter uns" has finally released a new cast picture.

Back row (left to right): Birte Glang (Heidi Danne; 2010-), Ben Ruedinger (Till Weigel #2; 2000-), Lars Steinhöfel (Easy Winter; 2005-), Claudelle Deckert (Eva Wagner Weigel; 2001-2006; 2008-), Tabea Heynig (Britta Schönfeld; 2010-), Stefan Bockelmann (Malte Winter; 2001-), Valea Scalabrino (Sina Uhland; 2010-), Stefan Franz (Rolf Jäger; 2002-), Petra Blossey (Irene Weigel; original cast member), Milos Vukovic (Paco Weigel; 2000-), Marco Sprinz (Richie; recurring), Imke Brügger (Rebecca Mattern; 1997-), Sarah Bogen (Lilli Mattern; 2001-), Kai Noll (Rufus Sturm; 2003-), Isabell Hertel (Ute Weigel; 1995-), Benjamin Kiss (Henning Fink #2; 2010-)

Front row (left to right): Patrick Müller (Tobias Lassner; 2006-), Joy Lee Juana Abiola (Micki Fink; 2009-), Marvin Linke (Moritz Schönfeld; 2010-)

The cast photos they do generally look so glam and great--US soaps are supposed to be so glam, but they don't even come close.

Those group pictures of the "Marienhof" cast were taken when the latest opening was filmed in early 2010:

(Left to right:) Mirco Wallraf (Raul Garcia, 2002-), Alfonso Losa (Carlos Garcia, 2000-), Giovanni Arvaneh (Sülo Özgentürk, 1995-1998; 2003-), Tuna Ünal (Tarek Berisi, 2009-), Wolfgang Seidenberg (Frank Töppers, 1995-), Hendrik Borgmann (Nic Stein, 2009-), Simon-Paul Wagner (Marlon Berger, 2000-)

(Left to right:) Julia Dahmen (Constanze Riemer, 2005-), Heike Ulrich (Tanja Maldini, 2000-), Isabella Hübner (Lisa Busch #3, 2004-), Viktoria Brams (Inge Busch, original cast member), Antonio Putignano (Stefano Maldini, 2000-), Sandra Koltai (Toni Maldini #2, 2005-), Simone Gorholt (Ruth Horvath, 2009-)

(Left to right:) Maike Billitis (Kerstin Töppers, 2007-2010), Christian Volkmann (David Verhaag, 2007-2010), Ivonne Polizzano (Netty Töppers, 2007-), Erwin Aljukic (Frederik Neuhaus, 1998-), Sven Thiemann (Charly Kolbe, 1997-), Verena Mörtel (Heidi Torg, 2009-), Christian Buse (Thorsten Fechner, 1999-)

Not only will Nicole Belstler-Boettcher return as Sandra Behrens next month, Roland Pfaus will also reprise the role of Jakob Weidemann. Both Sandra and Jakob left town together last year. Pfaus is the second actor in the role and was on contract from 2005 to 2009. In addition, Berrit Arnold will once again return to "Marienhof" as Annalena Bergmann, Frank's ex wife. Arnold was on contract from 1994 to 1998 and again from 2001 to 2004. Later she returned for several guest appearances in 2005 and 2007.

Thanks again for keeping us up to date with these shows. Are you enjoying them at the moment?

From a creative point of view, all 5 soaps are pretty stable at the moment.

AWZ got better the minute they wrote Stella and Lars off the canvas. There are three more exits coming up as Silvia Maleen (Jenny), Norman Kalle (Oliver) and Nina Bott (Celine) will all exit the show in August/September.

On GZSZ, Sarah Tkotsch (Lucy Cöster) is out after 2 1/2 years. There are rumors that two ex cast members might return but it has also been announced that a single mother and her three (or four?) children will join the soap later this year.

On UU, Kathleen Fiedler and Marcel Saibert are out. Fiedler replaced original cast member Janis Rattenni as Anna, the youngest Weigel daughter, in June 2006. She was never quite popular with the audience (IMO, that woman just can't act). Now, in the midst of an upcoming love story with her cousin Paco (Milos Vukovic), Anna is badly burned when a deep fryer explodes. Anna cannot deal with her disfigured face and leaves town. Since her mother Irene (Petra Blossey) looks for a possibility to finance Anna's plastic surgery, one could assume that the character may receive a recast in the future. Marcel Saibert first appeared as Martin "Mars" Sommer during the summer of 2004. He stayed on for a few weeks before he left town. One year later, he was put on contract, but apart from a love story with Anna he never had an important storyline.

Fans of all three RTL soaps are also eagerly waiting for the new opening sequences to debut. GZSZ last updated its opening in December 2007 (in June 2008, Sandra, Marc and Franzi were removed but nobody was added), UU last updated its opening in October 2007 (in May 2008, Björn was removed but nobody was added), and AWZ last updated its opening in August 2008. More than 1/3 of the current cast members are missing from each opening.

I don't follow the buzz on VL and MH but I read that VL's Olli and Christian will get married soon.

Edited July 2, 201015 yr by Huntress

Jenny is leaving AWZ. Arrgh. Horrible news! I don't know if I can take it. Why is the actress leaving? I love Jenny.

Silvia Maleen (Jenny) wants to play other roles. I'm sure she'll turn up on some telenovela soon or later

While RTL has renewed "Gute Zeiten, Schlechte Zeiten" until 2016 and the ARD has renewed "Verbotene Liebe" for at least another year, the latter network may pull the plug on "Marienhof" in February 2011, as it was revealed yesterday. Once attracting almost 3 million viewers every day, the soap has lost half of its audience during the last few years. However, the big question is: What could replace "Marienhof" if it was indeed going off the air? The timeslots between 6 and 8 p.m. (leading up to the most watched news program on German television) have proved to be desaster for the ARD as many shows that were shown after "Marienhof" were cancelled after a short time.

"Alles was zählt" celebrates 1000 episodes

Left ro right: Jörg Rohde (Ben Roschinski), Francisco Medina (Maximilian von Altenburg), Silvan-Pierre Leirich (Richard Steinkamp), Julia Augustin (Vanessa Steinkamp), Tatjana Clasing (Simone Steinkamp) & Silvia Maleen (Jenny Steinkamp)

Left to right: Ulrike Röseberg (Annette Bergmann-Zadek), Ania Niedieck (Isabelle Reichenbach), Anna Katharina Samsel (Katja Bergmann) & Juliette Menke (Lena Bergmann)

Left to right: Dennis Grabosch (Roman Wild), Igor Dolgatschew (Deniz Öztürk) & Sam Eisenstein (Marian Öztürk)

Igor Dolgatschew (Deniz Öztürk) & Dennis Grabosch (Roman Wild)

Ania Niedieck (Isabelle Reichenbach), Jörg Rohde (Ben Roschinski) & Anna Katharina Samsel (Katja Bergmann)

Ulrike Röseberg (Annette Bergmann-Zadek) & André Dietz (Ingo Zadek)

Edited July 21, 201015 yr by Huntress

Following the cancellation of the telenovela "Eine wie keine" which will air its final episode in September, Sat1 is currently developing a new soap opera called "Hand aufs Herz" ("Cross my Heart", literally "Hand on the Heart"). According to the first press release, the show is set at a school in Cologne and is supposed to be a daytime version of "Glee" and "High School Musical". Among the cast members are Oliver Petszokat (played Ricky Marquardt on "GZSZ" from 1998-1999, hosted Big Brother for a short while and also had two #1 hits on the German Singles charts) and Vanessa Jung (played the second Jana Brandner von Lahnstein on "Verbotene Liebe" from 2005-2008). Shooting for the show will begin in August.

Do you think the show looks promising, Huntress, or is it too early to tell?

Marian is straight with two gay guys there and yet his pose looks the most gay

Is Vanessa back on a more permanent basis? Otherwise I don't know if she'd be in the photo.

Is Vanessa back on a more permanent basis? Otherwise I don't know if she'd be in the photo.

Vanessa's only back for a couple of weeks. She leaves again in early September, shortly after the 1000th episode.

Regine Seidler is also back for the anniversary episodes as Ben's mother Nadja Roschinski. This is the first time in the history of German soaps that a character that has been recast returns in the form of its original portrayer. Seidler, an original cast member of AWZ, left the show in February 2008 because of her pregnancy. She was replaced by Birgit Würz who never managed to become popular among the audience. Therefore Nadja was written out in December 2008. These days Birgit Würz plays one of the lead characters in the telenovela "Rote Rosen".

On "Unter uns", Marylu Saskia Poolman will replace Kathleen Fiedler in the contract role of Anna Weigel. She will be the third actress in the role and first appear on-screen in September 2010. Previously, Poolman starred in the short-lived RTL soap opera "Ahornallee" which was cancelled after two months in 2007. There she starred opposite Mascha Müller who later became famous as Princess Luise von Waldensteyck on "Verbotene Liebe".

Speaking of Mascha Müller, her former on-screen lover Andreas Jancke (Gregor on VL) has joined the cast of "Hand aufs Herz" where he will play the male lead. Interestingly enough, Vanessa Jung who will play the female lead also played opposite Jancke on "Verbotene Liebe". "Hand aufs Herz" is set to debut on October 4th, 2010 at 6 pm. Just like its predecessor "Eine wie keine", the new soap will air against "Verbotene Liebe".

Jessica Ginkel, who played Caroline Neustädter on "Gute Zeiten, Schlechte Zeiten" from 2006-2009, is now playing the lead character in the latest ZDF telenovela "Lena – Liebe meines Lebens" which will debut on September 20th, 2010.

Current soap and telenovela line-up on German television:

ARD: 2.10 pm ROTE ROSEN | 3.10 pm STURM DER LIEBE | 6 pm VERBOTENE LIEBE | 6.25 pm MARIENHOF

ZDF: 4.15 pm HANNA – FOLGE DEINEM HERZEN*

RTL: 5.30 pm UNTER UNS | 7.10 pm | ALLES WAS ZÄHLT | 7.40 pm GUTE ZEITEN, SCHLECHTE ZEITEN

SAT1: 6 pm EINE WIE KEINE** | 6.30 pm ANNA UND DIE LIEBE

* will be replaced by LENA – LIEBE MEINES LEBENS in September

** will be replaced by HAND AUFS HERZ in October

Edited August 15, 201015 yr by Huntress

I don't know if you can watch it from a foreign country, but the new opening of "Gute Zeiten, Schlechte Zeiten" has been presented today.

The theme is still the same, but the visuals are a mixture of the 1996-2000 and the 2006-2010 opening. Again, there are two different versions. It's been 4 years since a new opening was filmed.

RTL promises that everytime a new actor joins the show, they will appear in the opening immediately. They also want to remove actors as soon as they have left the canvas. If they want to keep that promise they need to change the opening in two weeks when Carsten and Lucy depart the show.

Video: Version 1

Cast: Lisa Riecken as Elisabeth Meinhart & Frank-Thomas Mende as Clemens Richter – Thomas Drechsel as Max "Tuner" Krüger – Björn Harras as Patrick Graf, Jr. – Felix von Jascheroff as John Bachmann & Daniel Fehlow as Leon Moreno – Anne Menden as Emily Höfer – Felix Isenbügel as Carsten Reimann – Janina Uhse as Jasmin Nowak – Isabell Horn as Pia Koch

Video: Version 2

Cast: Ulrike Frank as Katrin Flemming & Wolfgang Bahro as Jo Gerner – Jörn Schlönvoigt as Philip Höfer – Raul Richter as Dominik Gundlach – Tayfun Baydar as Tayfun Badak – Sila Sahin as Ayla Özgül – Lena Ehlers as Dascha Petrova – Kristin Meyer as Iris Cöster & Sarah Tkotsch as Lucy Cöster – Clemens Löhr as Alexander Cöster – Susan Sideropoulos as Verena Koch

This is the first time that Drechsel, Harras, Isenbügel, Horn, Baydar, Sahin, Ehlers and Löhr are included in the opening, even though most of the them have appeared on the show for over a year.

On Monday, the new opening of Unter uns will be unveiled. They will also have two versions for the first time. Meanwhile, the new opening for Alles was zählt has been postponed because RTL did not approve of the first version.

Edited August 27, 201015 yr by Huntress

GZSZ – Opening 2010.1.A

Cast: Katrin & Jo - Philip - Dominik - Tayfun - Ayla / Dascha - Iris & Lucy - Alexander - Verena

Unter uns – Opening 2010.1.A

Cast: Anna & Paco - Sina, Easy, Moritz & Lili - Ute & Eva - Malte - Till, Irene, Sina & Rolf

Thanks for posting those, it's great to get to see these.