The "foreign soaps" topic

[Sylph]

Thank you, Ben, for the clips (I'm going to check them out) and for all the info. Do you know who replaced Bennett as drama executive? If someone did, that is...

[dayslover]

"Westenwind" that aired for like 6 years I quess, It was a primetime soap, airing twice a week, and later once a week. It had rating between 1 and 2 million viewers, but when the leading actors where leaving the show they cancelled it, because recasting wasn't an option with those populair actors.

There was also a dutch soap called 'Goudkust' that aired 5 times a week and had almost 1000 episodes. It was cancelled back in 2000 if im right, it was the best soap in reviews but it never got great ratings.

[Ben]

Well, Sue Masters was the head of drama, up until January this year. She quit, and has now been replaced by, Rick Maier, who is now Ten's drama executive. What I cannot find is if Sue took over from Dan Bennett? She must have, as the time period is too short for there to have been anyone else in between.

As for DB (as he was known to H&A fans), I never liked him, either. He had no idea about characterization; everything was plot-centric, and he used the flimsiest of excuses for having characters stand on cliff edges, and fall off of them! Characters went psycho at the drop of a hat - Summer Bay really was the most dangerous soap town to live in. GH, eat your heart out!

I loved the show during 1995-1999. Anyone know who the producer was?

ETA: As for DB's time with Neighbours: I actually liked the whole story with, Rowena Wallace kidnapping Pepper, and trying to get her imprisoned son, Kevin, to impregnate her. What I didn't like, was everything that happened before this. Paul and Elle blowing up Carmella's fruit truck, for instance, represents a *very* low point in the shows history.

[JamesF]

I think Dan Bennett's position was different. Sue Masters' title was "Head of Drama" and she'd been in the job since 2002. She wasl responsible for the current batch of episodes airing in Australia.

She left this year, Dan Bennett quietly slipped away and Susan Bower brought in a new producer for Neighbours (replacing Peter Dodds who had been in the role for around 12 years). Linda Walker was also ousted as Production Co-ordinator having been there since Day One.

Oh the Dastardly and Mutley thing, watching from behind a tree. Appalling. I didn't have a problem with a lot of the sensationalist stories but I didn't think they were very well told. The show became so obsessed with ramping up the drama that they were burning story incredibly fast and characterisation was virtually non-existent. Mary Casey, Terrence's murder, the plane crash, psycho Harold, Robert Robinson, Guy Sykes taking Katya hostage etc could all have worked but nobody was bothered about writing motivation or emotional fallout.

I think they were on an absolute creative high in 2003-4. The Karl/Izzy/Susan triangle was sensational and just the right side of being OTT. Also liked Liljana's long lost son and psycho Gus. As soon as they burnt down Lassiters and Ten started poking around (demanding the axing of the Bishops and then the Timminses as well as the Carmella/Ned inclusion) the wheels fell off.

They finally seem to be showing signs of an even keel in Oz. I like the new Parker story developing and Paul's affair should have a great fall out with Lyn returning and Rebecca soon to find out.

No idea I'm afraid. I loved the show from around 93-96. Shane, Angel, Shannon, Selina. The earthquake. The flood. The bushfire. Good times.

The thing with Daniel Bennett was that he was a master of hype and creating excitement. I remember his first episodes at the start of the 2005 season being genuinely exciting but as intricate as his plotting could be, he relied too heavily on plot devices to further things along.

[dannigold]

These were today Australian Neighbours credits

Supervising script editor - Luke Devenish

Story Producers = Lara Radulovich, David Hannam

Producer - Peter Dodds

Executive Producers - Susan Bower, Ricardo Pellizzerri

Executive Producer Drama and prodcuction - Rick Maier

Network Drama executive - Dan Bennett

[Sylph]

Thank you, dannigold, for the credits! I love it when someone transcribes those from the screen!

Ben, I'll try to dig out the information you look for!

[Sylph]

'Out of the Blue' drops to 100,000 viewers

A move to BBC Two for new Aussie soap Out of the Blue has seen its audience decline further.

The show - commissioned as a potential successor to Neighbours - was shifted from BBC One after failing to win viewers.

After attracting more than 1m for its early episodes, Out of the Blue's audience had dropped to about 500,000 by last week, its last on the flagship channel.

On Monday and yesterday it drew in just 100,000 in the 1pm slot on BBC Two. Repeats of Diagnosis Murder, which have replaced the soap on BBC One, attracted 1m on Monday and 900,000 yesterday.

Later on Tuesday, the final episode in the current series of Waking The Dead led the way for BBC One during primetime. The show was watched by 6.2m, or 27% of the viewing audience.

On ITV1, the second part of The Duchess in Hull documentary, in which the Duchess of York handed out health advice, interested 3.9m (16.7%). The figure was down 1.1m on the audience for the first episode, shown on Monday.

Channel 4 drew 2.5m (10.9%) at 9pm with The F Word while 2.2m (9.6%) watched CSI: Crime Scene Investigation on Five.

Trailing the pack was The Supersizers Go... Wartime on BBC Two. Some 1.6m (6.8%) watched Giles Coren and Sue Perkins try out a World War Two-style diet.

[JamesF]

Well they could hardly expect the viewers to go up though that is quite some drop.

Even I've stopped catching episodes on Iplayer and I enjoyed the show. The minute I found out it was relegated and therefore had 0.01% chance of being renewed, I lost more interest. I'd imagine other people felt the same way.

[Sylph]

Too bad, I didn't expect this from BBC. Possibly the Australians will pick it up.

Does anyone here know why is Steven Moffat taking over from Russell T Davis as Doctor Who's lead writer? Was it a "hostile" take-over?

[Huntress]

Verbotene Liebe updated its opening two weeks ago. Because several characters have exited the show since the last update occured in September 2007, only four sequences were left unchanged. In addition, the opening now features the names of the characters.

Order: Verbotene Liebe - Lars Korten (Leonard von Lahnstein) & Sina-Valeska Jung (Sarah Hofmann) - Martina Servatius (Elisabeth von Lahnstein) - Claudia Hiersche (Carla von Lahnstein) & Milan Marcus (Constantin von Lahnstein) - Jasmin Lord (Rebecca von Lahnstein) & Joscha Kiefer (Sebastian von Lahnstein) - Theresa Underberg (Lydia Brandner), Katrin Heß (Judith Hagendorf) & Jo Weil (Oliver Sabel) - Thomas Ohrner (Matthias Brandner) & Diana Frank (Katja Brandner) - Konrad Krauss (Arno Brandner) - Herbert Ulrich (Lars Schneider), Gabriele Metzger (Charlie Schneider) & Kristina Dörfer (Olivia Schneider) - Andreas Jancke (Gregor Mann) & Thore Schölermann (Christian Mann) - Klaus Zmorek (Adrian Degenhardt) - Jenny Winkler (Nathalie von Lahnstein) - Wolfram Grandezka (Ansgar von Lahnstein) & Miriam Lahnstein (Tanja von Anstetten) - Verbotene Liebe

Removed: Thomas Gumpert (Johannes von Lahnstein), Claudia Scarpatetti (Susanne Brandner), Lilli Hollunder (Lisa Brandner), Vanessa Jung (Jana Brandner), Dominic Saleh-Zaki (Andi Fritzsche), Mariangela Scelsi (Coco Faber)

[Faulkner]

RTD doesn't want to do sci-fi anymore; he wants to go back to doing kitchen-sink, realistic stuff like Queer As Folk.

[Ben]

Thanks for clearing that up. Weird, how there's doesn't seem to be any news on who took over from DB. I was quite sad to learn that Peter Dodds was let go (at least, I don't think he left on his own terms), as he was a big part of Neighbours, for so long. But sometimes a person can be too close to something, to see it's flaws. And Susan Bower seems to be doing a good job, so far.

I hate Paul's affair with Kirsten. It totally screws with the whole acoustic neuroma that writers made up to explain away Paul's behaviour.

[Huntress]

4000 EPISODES OF "GUTE ZEITEN, SCHLECHTE ZEITEN"

The German daily soap "Gute Zeiten, Schlechte Zeiten" celebrated its 4000th episode on Monday and the show has literally been on fire since then. The drama began when Emily (Anne Menden) and Franzi (Jasmin Weber) broke into the "Fasan" restaurant. Being on drugs, Franzi accidentally set the kitchen on fire and an explosion occurred. Being on drugs herself, Emily was unable to rescue her best friend. When Paula (Josephine Schmidt) found out about the fire, she entered the burning kitchen and begged Franzi not to die. She confessed her love to Franzi but it was too late - Franzi died. Meanwhile, Jasmin (Janina Uhse) and Katrin (Ulrike Frank) who were trapped in the apartment above the "Fasan" were rescued by firefighters.

Paula was devastated after Franzi's death and was haunted by her ghost. She and ghostly Franzi shared a last kiss before Franzi finally faded away for good. Later Paula told her husband John (Felix von Jascheroff) that she won't return home with him. In the meantime, Henrik (Pete Dwojak) was furious when he found out that Iris (Kristin Meyer) was still using the pill even though she previously agreed to have a child with Henrik. Sandra (Maike von Bremen) and Marc (Arne Stephan) prepared themselves for their trip around the world. When Sandra learned of Franzi's death, she wanted to postpone their departure. Emily gave Sandra some pictures of her and Franzi and asked Sandra to bring these pictures to New York because it was Franzi's greatest desire to see Central Park and the Broadway. Marc and Sandra gave a farewell party at the "Mocca" café and said goodbye to their friends Henrik, Jasmin, Caroline (Jessica Ginkel), Tim (Oliver Bender) and Daniel (Hans Christiani). Later they even made peace with Leon (Daniel Fehlow). While Leon left for Thailand, Marc and Sandra went to the harbor and departed Berlin with their yacht "Piccolo".

The following cast members departed GZSZ this week:

Jasmin Weber as Franzi Reuter - episodes #3336 to #4002

Maike von Bremen as Sandra Ergün #2 - episodes #2530 to #4003

Arne Stephan as Marc Hansen - episodes #3453 to #4003

The whole staff of the "Fasan" restaurant - long-time recurring actors Armin Benz, Stefan Eggers, Nadja Polk and Kathleen Richter

[Errol]

Really enjoying Holly Oaks.

[TheDSA]

I am currently addicted to the Christian and Oliver storyline on Verbotene Liebe. I dont remember how i found it but im sure it had something to do with gay guys kissing. anyways, this is the most well written gay storyline that I have ever seen in soaps. This is what Nuke fans would die for. I suggest watching their whole story. All the videos have english subtitles. It starts off a little slow but i ended up watching the first 67 videos in one day and I am completely addicted.

http://www.youtube.com/view_play_list?p=CE1738656BCC0E20