''Gute Zeiten, schlechte Zeiten'' ("Good Times, Bad Times"), often abbreviated ''GZSZ'', is a long-running German television
soap opera
A soap opera, or ''soap'' for short, is a typically long-running radio or television serial, frequently characterized by melodrama, ensemble casts, and sentimentality. The term "soap opera" originated from radio dramas originally being sponsored ...
, first broadcast on
RTL in 1992. The programme concerns the lives of a fictional neighborhood in Germany's capital city
Berlin
Berlin ( , ) is the capital and List of cities in Germany by population, largest city of Germany by both area and population. Its 3.7 million inhabitants make it the European Union's List of cities in the European Union by population within ci ...
. Over the years the soap opera tends to have an overhaul of young people in their late teens and early twenties, targeting a young viewership.
Based on the Australian format ''
The Restless Years
''The Restless Years'' is an Australian soap opera which followed the lives of several Sydney school-leavers and the drama and relationships faced by young adults. It was created by Reg Watson and produced by the Reg Grundy Organisation for N ...
'', which first was successfully adapted in the
Netherlands
)
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as ''
Goede tijden, slechte tijden
''Goede tijden, slechte tijden'' (, ), also known as ''GTST'' or simply ''Goede tijden'', is the longest-running Dutch soap opera, which began on 1 October 1990 on RTL4. The programme was the first daily (every workday) soap in the Netherlands a ...
'', the German version took the scripts of the first 230 episodes, even though heavily rewritten, from the original. After the first year, ''Gute Zeiten, schlechte Zeiten'' started using original material.
The programme started off with low ratings and was panned by critics. However the network believed in the success of the show and by the autumn of 1993, a
serial killer
A serial killer is typically a person who murders three or more persons,A
*
*
*
* with the murders taking place over more than a month and including a significant period of time between them. While most authorities set a threshold of three ...
storyline helped to improve the ratings, making ''GZSZ'' a success. It not only won its time slot but became also one of the highest-rated programmes, normally ranking in the Top 10 ratings of the day. In 2002, the soap opera reached its peak with over seven million viewers turning in for the 2,500th episode.
''Gute Zeiten, schlechte Zeiten'' has tackled with issues like
homosexuality
Homosexuality is romantic attraction, sexual attraction, or sexual behavior between members of the same sex or gender. As a sexual orientation, homosexuality is "an enduring pattern of emotional, romantic, and/or sexual attractions" to pe ...
,
incest
Incest ( ) is human sexual activity between family members or close relatives. This typically includes sexual activity between people in consanguinity (blood relations), and sometimes those related by affinity (marriage or stepfamily), adopti ...
,
rape
Rape is a type of sexual assault usually involving sexual intercourse or other forms of sexual penetration carried out against a person without their consent. The act may be carried out by physical force, coercion, abuse of authority, or ...
,
drug addiction
Addiction is a neuropsychological disorder characterized by a persistent and intense urge to engage in certain behaviors, one of which is the usage of a drug, despite substantial harm and other negative consequences. Repetitive drug use oft ...
, various crimes,
breast cancer
Breast cancer is cancer that develops from breast tissue. Signs of breast cancer may include a lump in the breast, a change in breast shape, dimpling of the skin, milk rejection, fluid coming from the nipple, a newly inverted nipple, or a r ...
,
bulimia
Bulimia nervosa, also known as simply bulimia, is an eating disorder characterized by binge eating followed by purging or fasting, and excessive concern with body shape and weight. The aim of this activity is to expel the body of calories eaten ...
, underage drinking,
adoption and mental illnesses.
Frank-Thomas Mende and Lisa Riecken were the last original cast members when leaving the show in 2010.
Wolfgang Bahro, who joined the show in February 1993, has become the longest-serving actor on the show since. He is described as having become a cult-like figure among soap opera stars, frequently noticed in public. Other long-serving actors are
Daniel Fehlow, who joined the show in 1996 but has since taken several breaks, and
Felix von Jascheroff, who's part of the programme since 2001.
Ulrike Frank is currently the longest-serving female cast member, being part of the soap opera in her current role since 2002.
''GZSZ'' launched several successful careers in the music industry. The first being original cast member Andreas Elsholz. The most successful ones were
Jeanette Biedermann
Jeanette Biedermann (born Jean Biedermann, 22 February 1980) is a German singer, actress, and television personality. Born and raised in the greater Berlin area, Biedermann began performing as a member of a troupe of acrobats in a children's cir ...
and
Yvonne Catterfeld
Yvonne Catterfeld (born 2 December 1979) is a German singer, actress, and television personality. Born and raised in Erfurt, Thuringia, she later moved to Leipzig to pursue her career in music. In 2000, she participated in the debut season of the ...
, who both left the soap opera at the peak of their careers.
Production
The idea to establish a daily
soap opera
A soap opera, or ''soap'' for short, is a typically long-running radio or television serial, frequently characterized by melodrama, ensemble casts, and sentimentality. The term "soap opera" originated from radio dramas originally being sponsored ...
in Germany first came in late 1991. Production company Grundy UFA (now
UFA Serial Drama) adapted the Australian format ''
The Restless Years
''The Restless Years'' is an Australian soap opera which followed the lives of several Sydney school-leavers and the drama and relationships faced by young adults. It was created by Reg Watson and produced by the Reg Grundy Organisation for N ...
'' from
Reg Watson. The programme was successfully launched in the
Netherlands
)
, anthem = ( en, "William of Nassau")
, image_map =
, map_caption =
, subdivision_type = Sovereign state
, subdivision_name = Kingdom of the Netherlands
, established_title = Before independence
, established_date = Spanish Netherl ...
one year earlier. Production on the German adaption, officially now called ''Gute Zeiten, schlechte Zeiten'', started on 23 February 1992.
The first episode aired almost three months later, on 11 May 1992.
The programme was filmed in a studio in Berlin-
Tempelhof
Tempelhof () is a locality of Berlin within the borough of Tempelhof-Schöneberg. It is the location of the former Tempelhof Airport, one of the earliest commercial airports in the world. The former airport and surroundings are now a park called ...
for the first three years. In October 1995, production of the show moved to the
Filmstudio Babelsberg
Babelsberg Film Studio (german: Filmstudio Babelsberg), located in Potsdam-Babelsberg outside Berlin, Germany, is the second oldest large-scale film studio in the world only preceded by the Danish Nordisk Film, Nordisk Film (est. 1906), producing ...
. This required several set changes. In the beginning it wasn't certain where the show was set. However, in its second year it was established that ''Gute Zeiten, schlechte Zeiten'' is set in Berlin. The city has since been used to identify with the format; using several skyline settings in an episode.
Rainer Wemcken and Guido Reinhardt have the primary responsibility over the production, with Marie Hölker controlling the day-to-day production and overseeing the writing of the programme. The writing is controlled by a team of writers who are known to shift between the other Grundy UFA soaps ''
Alles was zählt
''Alles was zählt'' ("All That Matters") is a German television soap opera first broadcast on RTL on 4 September 2006.
Plot
The original plot revolved around Diana Sommer's dream to become a world class ice skater. She fell in love with Jul ...
'', ''
Verbotene Liebe
''Verbotene Liebe'' (, "Forbidden Love") was a German television soap opera created by Reg Watson for Das Erste. The show was set primarily in the German city of Düsseldorf although, at times, the city of Cologne and the Spanish island of ...
'' and ''
Unter uns
''Unter uns'' (''"Between Us"'') is a German television soap opera, based on the Hungarian soap opera Barátok közt, first broadcast on RTL on 28 November 1994. It is centered on the lives of the people in a residential house, which is set i ...
''. ''Gute Zeiten, schlechte Zeiten'' uses a darker setting than the other three soap operas with sets appearing in modern, mostly dark, colors.
Cast
*
Wolfgang Bahro as Dr. Hans-Joachim "Jo" Gerner
*
Daniel Fehlow as Leon Moreno
*
Felix von Jascheroff as John Bachmann
*
Ulrike Frank as Katrin Flemming,
née Gabriele "Gabi" Galuba
*
Jörn Schlönvoigt
Jörn Schlönvoigt (; born 1 August 1986) is a German actor and singer who became popular through the soap opera "''Gute Zeiten, Schlechte Zeiten''".
Early life and his career
Schlönvoigt was born in Köpenick, East Berlin. When Schlönvoig ...
as Philip Höfer
*
Thomas Drechsel
Thomas Drechsel (born 15 January 1987, in Berlin) is a German actor.
Drechsel is best known for his portrayal of ''Max "Tuner" Krüger'' in the German soap ''Gute Zeiten, schlechte Zeiten
''Gute Zeiten, schlechte Zeiten'' ("Good Times, Bad T ...
as Max "Tuner" Krüger
Spin-off
In 2000, at the peak of the programmes success, RTL wanted to launch a spin-off, called ''
Großstadtträume
''Großstadtträume'' is a German television series.
See also
*List of German television series
The following is a list of television series produced in Germany:
Current
Drama
* '' 4 Blocks'' ( TNT Serie, 2017–2019)
* '' Alarm für Cob ...
'' (''City Dreams''), of the highest-rated soap opera. Actress
Sandra Keller who vacated her popular role as Tina Zimmermann four years earlier was set to return to star in the new format. However negotiations between the network and Keller fell through. The network decided to recast the popular role.
Ulrike Frank, who just starred in the canceled ''
Mallorca – Suche nach dem Paradies
''Mallorca – Suche nach dem Paradies'' (English: ''Mallorca - Search for the Paradise'') or short named just ''Mallorca'' is a German television soap opera, produced by Grundy UFA on location in Spain. The show premiered on April 26, 1999 on P ...
'', was cast. The character of Tina shortly returned to ''Gute Zeiten, schlechte Zeiten'' with Frank in the role.
''Großstadtträume'' premiered on 8 May 2000. Next to Ulrike Frank as Tina, the show saw the return of Victoria Sturm as Milla Engel. Laurent Daniels, who played Philip Krüger, switched from ''GZSZ'' to its spin-off. The programme was about the launch of a lifestyle print magazine, called POOL. It targeted an older viewership well below the age of twenty.
The network ordered 26 episodes. However the show wasn't a success. After the premiere the ratings dropped dramatically and ''Großstadtträume'' was canceled after only seven aired episodes. The programme was never aired again since then.
Parody
In the German comedy series ''Freitag Nacht News'', they had a sketch called ''Schlechte Zeiten, schlechte Zeiten'' (''Bad Times, Bad Times'' or ''SZSZ'') which was a parody of the soap opera. The sketch featured four men who lived together in an apartment, and suffered from severe depression. In every sketch, they kill each other but often kill themselves. Although three of the characters were unnamed, the fourth person was named Clive, whose face was never seen. He is always shown dead in every sketch, mostly hanging himself.
See also
* ''
Goede tijden, slechte tijden
''Goede tijden, slechte tijden'' (, ), also known as ''GTST'' or simply ''Goede tijden'', is the longest-running Dutch soap opera, which began on 1 October 1990 on RTL4. The programme was the first daily (every workday) soap in the Netherlands a ...
''
References
External links
*
*
GZSZ-Wiki
{{Authority control
German television soap operas
1992 German television series debuts
2000s German television series
2010s German television series
German-language television shows
RTL (German TV channel) original programming
Non-Australian television series based on Australian television series
Television shows set in Berlin