The "foreign soaps" topic

[MatinèeGirl]

Stacey is having an affair with Max I don't know why it happened not that I didn't see it or anything but it came out of the blue really.Stacey was never this 'meneater' I never seen her chase anyone like the way she's chasing Max the writers are turning her into a another Kat Slater (one of the worst characters on EE ever) wich is a shame because Stacey was a great character before all this sh*t happened.

May's husband Rob had an affair with Dwan and Dawn's baby is his so that's why May wants to buy the baby.Personally I hope Dawn keeps the baby I hate people who think they can be better parents just because they have more money.

Sonia didn't kill Pauline.Pauline died of a brain haemorrhage caused by being hit with a heavy object.Sonia did hit her but with her bare hand.I think Pauline was hit by someone else (I think it was Joe) between the time we saw Sonia leave the house and the time we saw Pauline heading to the Vic.

[Sylph]

Thank you, MatinèeGirl. I know about Rob’s affair with Dawn. I just wanted to know how did May find out.

And how did Stacey and Bradley break up?

I’m glad Sonia didn’t kill Pauline since I was really sorry for her (Sonia) and that has happened to her last year. She really deserves a moment of happiness although she gets on my nerves quite a bit sometimes.

Those episodes I watched were written by Sarah Phelps, Colin Wyatt and Jaden Clark. Scriptwriters to watch for.

[MatinèeGirl]

Dawn talked to May about her affair with a married man when Rob heard about that he assumed Dawn had told May everything he started to appoligise to May who realised Rob was the married man Dawn was talking about.

Bradley was invited to some posh party and told Stacey he wasn't allowed to bring someone.Stacey found the invitation and went to the party dressed very much like a hooker.At the party Stacey made a complete fool of herself and embarrased Bradley who threw her out shouting she wasn't good enough for him and never had been.

[heatherwebber]

I'm about 5 or 6 weeks behind on EE. But Bradley & Stacy have been in trouble for some time now. She isn't able to deal with him since he forced her to have an abortion she didn't want to have.

Stacy came in during a particularly annoying regime/mess the show was going through. She was way too harsh & strident when she showed up. It took a backstory about her mother to soften her & explain her so that she became more sympathetic & accepted.

I'm afraid the show is about to undergo another transition period. I'm not sure where it's headed. It's been really good for some time now. The gangster stuff is long gone. The characters are interacting again. The young kids aren't hogging all the airtime anymore. They've fixed the lighting problems the other producer had. The only bad spot has been the bizarre nastiness of Pauline and her obsession with getting rid of Sonia.

But I have noticed one odd trend lately. They've started making the bulk of the action over a given week take place during the evening & night.

[JoelMTL]

Canada's soap opera history is not too great. We did have Riverdale a few years ago which was good. I'd have to say the best show we've ever produced is the Degrassi series which goes on and on (since '79 or early '80's I think). It shows the trials and tribulations of the high school age crowd and is popular almost everywhere.

[heatherwebber]

By the way since it was asked here or on that other thread on foreign soaps, in terms of who's writing EE, Tony Jordan was brought back to "fix" the sad state the show had become during that last regime.

He did a lot of work and reset stories, brought in new ones, etc.

He wrote the Pauline's wedding episode too as I recall which ended in a free-for-all in the pub.

But I notice he's still credited as series consultant and from how strong the show still is I have no reason to disbelieve he's consulting away and still having a strong role.

He's also working for Hustle and other stuff. Possibly Life on Mars.

[Sylph]

Thanks, MatinèeGirl and HeatherWebber.

Heather, why do you think the show is going to change? The new EP?

I was the one interested in the credits for all soaps. I think the one left is Corrie. I don't know who's responsible for the story over there.

I think we here said that it was Brigie who weaves the storylines for EastEnders. You don't think so? I wonder how much is John Yorke involved, too.

[heatherwebber]

I know Tony Jordan is involved but probably the others too. Most shows change with new producers.

I think EE is much more a collaborative effort than most American shows are now. But I think most American shows are a lot more collaborative than people here seem to think. There's all kinds of hands throwing bits and pieces in and changng the direction & substance of what's being planned and what's going on.

Not everything on the American soaps is down to one headwriter. Just as not every script is completely the work of one credited scriptwriter.

For example I see a lot of hate lately for Y&R all directed to the headwriter. People are forgetting not only that Brad Bell is sticking his impressions in, and the network people as well, but also that Josh Griffith is now there in a major way along with several credited consultants and possibly an uncredited person or 2.

Quite a bit I've seen (and I must say I'm enjoying Y&R) has the trademarks of some of these other people (especially Josh.)

I haven't been able to see Corrie for about 10 years.

[Sylph]

ITV1 Individuals 4+ (Including Timeshift) - w/e 14/01/2007

Programme Millions

1 CORONATION STREET (MON 1934) 12.46

2 CORONATION STREET (MON 2030) 12.37

3 CORONATION STREET (FRI 1934) 12.21

4 CORONATION STREET (FRI 2028) 11.77

5 CORONATION STREET (SUN 1928) 11.52

6 CORONATION STREET (WED 1930) 11.26

7 EMMERDALE (MON 1902) 9.38

8 WILD AT HEART (SUN 1959) 9.00

9 EMMERDALE (THU 1902) 8.96

10 EMMERDALE (TUE 1902) 8.96

11 EMMERDALE (WED 1858) 8.70

12 EMMERDALE (FRI 1903) 8.60

13 FILM: HARRY POTTER AND THE PRISONER OF A (SAT 1849 8.41

14 EMMERDALE (SUN 1900) 7.66

BBC1 Individuals 4+ (Including Timeshift) - w/e 14/01/2007

Programme Millions

1 EASTENDERS (MON 2001) 10.69

2 EASTENDERS (TUE 1930) 10.34

3 EASTENDERS (FRI 2000) 9.88

4 EASTENDERS (THU 1929) 9.68

5 WAKING THE DEAD (MO

[Sylph]

BBC1 Individuals 4+ (Including Timeshift) - w/e 07/01/2007

Programme Millions

1 THE VICAR OF DIBLEY (MON 2133) 13.08

2 EASTENDERS (MON 2002) 10.96

3 EASTENDERS (THU 1930) 10.43

4 EASTENDERS (MON 2104) 10.37

5 EASTENDERS (FRI 1959) 10.22

6 WAKING THE DEAD (SUN 2101) 9.51

7 EASTENDERS (TUE 1929) 7.83

ITV1 Individuals 4+ (Including Timeshift) - w/e 07/01/2007

Programme Millions

1 CORONATION STREET (FRI 1934) 11.69

2 CORONATION STREET (WED 1931) 11.68

3 CORONATION STREET (MON 2032) 11.37

4 CORONATION STREET (MON 1934) 11.12

5 CORONATION STREET (SUN 1929) 11.11

6 EMMERDALE (THU 1902) 9.34

7 EMMERDALE (FRI 1902) 9.17

8 EMMERDALE (WED 1859) 8.98

9 HEARTBEAT (SUN 1959) 8.60

10 EMMERDALE (MON 1903) 8.39

11 EMMERDALE (TUE 1903) 8.38

[Huntress]

Ratings of the German soaps last week:

Show title | network | timeslot | total viewers in millions

GUTE ZEITEN, SCHLECHTE ZEITEN | RTL | 19.40 | 4.39

STURM DER LIEBE | ARD | 15.15 | 4.10

ALLES WAS ZÄHLT | RTL | 19.05 | 3.32

VERBOTENE LIEBE | ARD | 17.55 | 2.72

WEGE ZUM GLÜCK | ZDF | 16.10 | 2.57

MARIENHOF | ARD | 18.25 | 2.52

VERLIEBT IN BERLIN | SAT1 | 19.15 | 2.34

UNTER UNS | RTL | 17.30 | 2.32

ROTE ROSEN | ARD | 14.10 | 1.68

RTL is currently working on a fourth soap which is set to debut this spring, most likely at 5 pm before "Unter uns". The working title is "Ahornallee". Meanwhile, "Verliebt in Berlin" is stuck in a bad crisis since the show has lost almost 50% of its audience compared to last year.

RTL Passion, a new pay tv channel, was launched in december 2006. This station repeats GZSZ, UU and VL from the very beginning plus other classic soap operas and telenovelas.

[Huntress]

GZSZ has fired two of its contract actors because they are too old and the producers want some fresh blood for the future. Hanne Wolharn (38) and Klaus-Dieter Klebsch (57) will depart the show in March. Wolharn joined the cast in October 2000 as Senta Lemke, Klebsch followed in June 2002 as Senta's brother-in-law Hannes Bachmann. Both characters will be killed off in the aftermath of a plane crash. Senta is survived by her daughter Sandra Lemke Ergün (Maike von Bremen), Hannes by his children John (Felix von Jascheroff), Emily (Anne Menden) and Philip (Jörn Schlönvoigt). Hannes' ex-wife and Senta's sister Patrizia Bachmann (Christin Baechler) who was on contract from 2001 to 2003 will return for the funeral; John's older siblings Ben (Peer Kusmagk; 2002-2003) and Lena (Uta Kargel; 2004-2006) will not be seen.

Sandra and Senta / Franzi, Emily, Senta, Hannes, Philip and John

[Huntress]

RTL Germany has set the first airdate for its fourth daily soap "Ahornallee": The new half-hour soap will debut on Monday, April 16th 2007 at 5 pm. It will air back-to-back with "Unter uns" (1994-present) which follows at 5.30 pm. "Alles was zählt" (2006-present) and "Gute Zeiten, Schlechte Zeiten" (1992-present) form the second soap hour between 7.00 and 8.15 pm. "Ahornallee" ("Maple Parkway") is set in the upper class of Düsseldorf.

[Huntress]

GZSZ will celebrate its 15th anniversary in May 2007 and a new cast picture has been released, along with other promo shots.

Back row: Frank-Thomas Mende (Clemens Richter, original cast), Lisa Riecken (Elisabeth Meinhart, original cast), Kristin Meyer (Iris Cöster, 2007-), Nik Breidenbach (Alexander Cöster, 2007-), Hans Christiani (A.R. Daniel, original cast), Jasmin Weber (Franzi Reuter, 2005-), Felix von Jascheroff (John Bachmann, 2001-), Josephine Schmidt (Paula Rapf Bachmann, 2002-), Wolfgang Bahro (Jo Gerner, 1993-), Ulrike Frank (Katrin Flemming, 2002-), Daniel Fehlow (Leon Moreno, 1996-)

Front row: Jörn Schlönvoigt (Philip Höfer, 2004-), Anne Menden (Emily Höfer, 2004-), Arne Stephan (Marc Hansen, 2006-), Maike von Bremen (Sandra Ergün, 2002-), Susan Sideropoulos (Verena Koch, 2002-), Stefan König (Sebastian Winter, 2005-), Piotr Dwojak (Henrik Beck, 2005-), Robert Lyons (Vincent Buhr, 2004-)

Sitting: Oliver Bender (Tim Böcking, 2004-), Jessica Ginkel (Caroline Neustädter, 2006-)

J. Ginkel, O. Bender, J. Weber, J. Schlönvoigt, J. Schmidt & F. von Jascheroff

S. Sideropoulos, M. von Bremen, J. Weber & J. Ginkel

[Manny]

Nice photos!