Verliebt in Berlin
Encyclopedia
Verliebt in Berlin is a Golden Rose
Rose d'Or
The Rose d’Or is one of the most important international festivals in entertainment television. It was founded in Montreux in 1961 and has taken place in Lucerne since 2004. Producers, executives from independent and public service broadcasters and heads of production companies from over 40...

-winning German telenovela
Telenovela
A telenovela is a limited-run serial dramatic programming popular in Latin American, Portuguese, and Spanish television programming. The word combines tele, short for televisión or televisão , and novela, a Spanish or Portuguese word for "novel"...

, starring Alexandra Neldel
Alexandra Neldel
- Career :Neldel worked as a dental assistant before she was discovered by the boss of a Berlin casting agency during a polo competition. He helped her audition for daily soap opera Gute Zeiten, schlechte Zeiten and Neldel, barely experienced in acting, immediately landed the role of Katja Wettstein...

, along with Mathis Künzler
Mathis Künzler
Mathis Künzler is a Swiss film, television and stage actor. He grew up in suburban Münchenstein, close to the borders of France and Germany.-External links:...

, Tim Sander
Tim Sander
- TV :* 1998–2002: Gute Zeiten, Schlechte Zeiten* 2004: 18 – Allein unter Mädchen* 2005–2006: Unter den Linden – Das Haus Gravenhorst* 2006–2007: Verliebt in Berlin-External links:...

, and Laura Osswald
Laura Osswald
Laura Isabella Lolita Osswald is a German stage, and television actress.- TV :* 2000: Alphateam* 2001: Schulmädchen* 2003: St. Angela* 2005–2007: Verliebt in Berlin* 2008: Doctor's Diary...

. It premiered on February 28, 2005, on Sat.1
Sat.1
Sat.1 is a privately owned German television broadcasting station. Sat.1 was the first privately owned television broadcasting station in Germany, having started one day before RTL Television....

 in most of German-speaking Europe
German-speaking Europe
The German language is spoken in a number of countries and territories in West, Central and Eastern Europe...

, with its final episode broadcast on October 12, 2007. The series is an adaptation of the Colombia
Colombia
Colombia, officially the Republic of Colombia , is a unitary constitutional republic comprising thirty-two departments. The country is located in northwestern South America, bordered to the east by Venezuela and Brazil; to the south by Ecuador and Peru; to the north by the Caribbean Sea; to the...

n telenovela Yo soy Betty, la fea, written by Fernando Gaitán
Fernando Gaitán
Fernando Gaitán Salom is a Colombian TV series and telenovelas screenwriter as well as a producer.-Career highlights:Fernando Gaitán is known for weaving different histories into diverse social contexts...

 and produced by RCN TV
RCN TV
RCN Televisión , is a Colombian private television network. It started as a production company in 1967...

.

The original season of the serial comedy-drama
Comedy-drama
Comedy-drama is a genre of theatre, film and television programs which combines humorous and serious content.-Theatre:Traditional western theatre, beginning with the ancient Greeks, was divided into comedy and tragedy...

 followed the life of the unsophisticated but good-natured Lisa Plenske (Neldel), and her incongruous job at the ultra-chic Berlin fashion house
Fashion House
Fashion House is an American telenovela that aired at 9 p.m. ET/8 p.m. CT Monday through Saturday on MyNetworkTV stations. The series premiered on September 5, 2006 and concluded on December 5, 2006...

 Kerima Moda; while the second season revolved around Lisa's ham-fisted but sly half-brother Bruno (Sander) and junior designer Hannah Refrath (Osswald). Lisa and Bruno's status as two "fish out of water" drove much of the story plot.

ViB was adapted into a Berlin setting by creators Michael Esser, Peter Schlesselmann and their co-team and co-producers Markus Brunnemann and Rainer Wemcken, whose production company Phoenix Film Karlheinz Brunnemann GmbH & Co. Produktions KG partnered with Grundy UFA TV Produktions GmbH to create the half-hour-long program for the German-speaking audience.

Original season

The plot is set in the present time. Elisabeth "Lisa" Plenske (Alexandra Neldel
Alexandra Neldel
- Career :Neldel worked as a dental assistant before she was discovered by the boss of a Berlin casting agency during a polo competition. He helped her audition for daily soap opera Gute Zeiten, schlechte Zeiten and Neldel, barely experienced in acting, immediately landed the role of Katja Wettstein...

), a kind, intelligent, but naive and not necessarily beautiful young woman, grows up in the (fictional) village Göberitz, near Berlin, with her parents Bernd (Volker Herold
Volker Herold
Volker Herold is a German actor and director.- Filmography :* 1992: Freunde fürs Leben* 1990-1995: Polizeiruf 110 * 1996: Alarmcode 112: Vier wie Blitz und Donner* 1998: Moments in Monochrome...

) and Helga (Ulrike Mai). Lisa moves to Berlin and tries to get a job at Kerima Moda, a fashion company. There, she bumps into the junior chairman David Seidel (Mathis Künzler
Mathis Künzler
Mathis Künzler is a Swiss film, television and stage actor. He grew up in suburban Münchenstein, close to the borders of France and Germany.-External links:...

) and falls in love with him. She starts off catering at Kerima Moda, but manages to get promoted to personal assistant of Seidel. She works with him, however he does not really notice her qualities (much less herself as a woman), because he is engaged to Mariella von Brahmberg (Bianca Hein) and is also involved with various other women.

During the course of the series, Lisa manages to save and finally own Kerima Moda, rescues her boss David from death and the wrath of his then-fiancée, watches the dissolve of his engagement to Mariella, protects the company from David's maleficent rival and stepbrother and Mariella's brother Richard von Brahmberg (Karim Köster) and his mother Sophie von Brahmberg (Gabrielle Scharnitzky), endures the antics of the secretary Sabrina (Nina-Friederike Gnädig), falls in love with and gets engaged to Robert "Rokko" Kowalski (Manuel Cortez), while bearing the quirks of the chief designer Hugo Haas (Hubertus Regout) and helping his assistant Hannah Refrath (Laura Osswald
Laura Osswald
Laura Isabella Lolita Osswald is a German stage, and television actress.- TV :* 2000: Alphateam* 2001: Schulmädchen* 2003: St. Angela* 2005–2007: Verliebt in Berlin* 2008: Doctor's Diary...

), David's sister Kim (Lara-Isabelle Rentinck) and the runner boy Timo (Matthias Dietrich) with their love lives.

She is aided by her best friend Jürgen Decker (Oliver Bokern) and the cook Agnes Hetzer (Susanne Szell). In the end, she calls off the wedding to Rokko, marries David instead and sails with him on his boat to the Caribbean.

Second season

Season two centers around sympathetic conman Bruno Lehmann (Tim Sander
Tim Sander
- TV :* 1998–2002: Gute Zeiten, Schlechte Zeiten* 2004: 18 – Allein unter Mädchen* 2005–2006: Unter den Linden – Das Haus Gravenhorst* 2006–2007: Verliebt in Berlin-External links:...

), who is Lisa's half-brother. Bruno is on the run and lands up in Berlin to see his (unassuming) father Bernd. There, he starts to save the lifework of his half-sister Lisa, and Bruno starts to realize that his charm won't get him anywhere and that sometimes you have to work for your achievements. Also, he starts to fall in love with the young (and married) designer Nora Lindberg (Julia Malik). Because of bad ratings, Sat1 replaced Julia Malik. So Bruno is now fallen in love with Kim who is the younger sister of David Seidel and married to the evil Paolo Amendola .
Since January 2007 Bruno Lehmann isn't the main character, who is in love with somebody, anymore. Instead it's the returned designer Hannah Refrath who is in love with him …

Production

The concept for the German adaptation of Yo Soy Betty La Fea was the end result of a long consideration process. The original name of the telenovela was Alles nur aus Liebe (Everything just out of love), but the for soap operas typical abbreviation would have been ANAL, so the title was changed. Lisa also was called "Lily" in earlier versions.

Most Verliebt in Berlin episodes are shot in two closed studios in Berlin-Adlershof
Adlershof
-External links:*...

. While switching between a range of 24 different sets, the team generally films one episode (each 25 minutes) per day; in addition, outdoor shots in Berlin are booked twice a week. Supervised by creators Michael Esser, and Peter Schlesselmann, 15 writers daily draft a script for one episode. Nearly 120 crewmembers are involved in the shooting of a single episode.

Originally, 225 episodes would have been produced and aired within a year. However, since the telenovela was very successful, Sat.1 produced the series for another year. On September 1, 2006, a 90-minute TV movie was aired - hence being the final episode of the first season (with ratings of more than 7.6 million people watching — very much for the German market). Two versions of this movie exist: one, where Lisa marries David (the canonical version which was chosen in the end) and the other, where she marries Rokko.

In June 2006, Grundy UFA and Sat.1 officially announced the renewal of a new season for another year. Till August 2007, 280 more episodes will be produced with Bruno Lehman as new protagonist. With the combination of renewal and change of protagonist, the series left the traditional set-up of a telenovela with a set run, and a closed story and moves towards the concept of a soap opera
Soap opera
A soap opera, sometimes called "soap" for short, is an ongoing, episodic work of dramatic fiction presented in serial format on radio or as television programming. The name soap opera stems from the original dramatic serials broadcast on radio that had soap manufacturers, such as Procter & Gamble,...

. The reason for this is possibly the huge success of the series: it managed to get similar high viewership like Gute Zeiten, schlechte Zeiten
Gute Zeiten, schlechte Zeiten
Gute Zeiten, schlechte Zeiten is a German television soap opera.In 1990, the first commercial channel in the Netherlands, RTL 4 had a spectacular ratings success with its soap Goede Tijden, Slechte Tijden, a remake of the Australian soap-opera The Restless Years...

, the soap opera which had previously dominated viewership just before primetime. In January 2007 it was announced that Alexandra Neldel would reprise the role of Lisa Plenske Seidel during a four-week visit to Verliebt in Berlin in April.

Merchandising

Additional information about the telenovela is available via a fan magazine (available in Germany, Switzerland and Austria), as well as a PC video game adventure. Also, DVD boxes are available (20 episodes each), including the specials. The 18th box set includes the last twenty episodes and the TV movie. On October 6, 2006 the alternate ending of the TV movie was released. The show also spawned a series of novels and a soundtrack CD containing music from the series, including the show's theme song by Nena
Nena
Gabriele Susanne Kerner , better known by her stage name Nena, is a German singer and actress. She rose to international fame in 1983 with the New German Wave song "99 Luftballons". In 1984, she re-recorded this song in English as "99 Red Balloons". Nena was also the name of the band with whom she...

, plus songs from Dido
Dido (singer)
Dido Florian Cloud de Bounevialle O'Malley Armstrong , known as Dido, is an English singer-songwriter.Dido shot to worldwide success with her debut album, No Angel...

, Glashaus
Glashaus
Glashaus is a German musical band, consisting of lead singer Peppa Singt, songwriter and rapper Moses Pelham and producer Martin Haas. The trio is best known for their mixture of R&B, soul and pop music with lyrics in German language....

, Sarah Connor, Norah Jones
Norah Jones
Norah Jones is an American singer-songwriter and occasional actress.In 2002, she launched her solo music career with the release of the commercially successful and critically acclaimed album Come Away With Me, which was certified a diamond album in 2002, selling over 20 million copies...

, Sarah McLachlan
Sarah McLachlan
Sarah Ann McLachlan, OC, OBC is a Canadian musician, singer and songwriter. Known for her emotional ballads and mezzo-soprano vocal range, as of 2006, she has sold over 40 million albums worldwide. McLachlan's best-selling album to date is Surfacing, for which she won two Grammy Awards and four...

, Joss Stone
Joss Stone
Jocelyn Eve Stoker , better known by her stage name Joss Stone, is an English soul singer-songwriter and actress. Stone rose to fame in late 2003 with her multi-platinum debut album, The Soul Sessions, which made the 2004 Mercury Prize shortlist...

, and others.

Miscellaneous

Since January 2006, the Hungarian TV station TV2
TV2 (Hungary)
TV2 is a Hungarian commercial television channel operating since 1997, providing a large variety of programming. It is owned by ProSiebenSat.1 Media AG...

 is airing a dubbed version of ViB called Lisa csak egy van (There's only one Lisa). Also, the French TV station TF1
TF1
TF1 is a national French TV channel, controlled by TF1 Group, whose major share-holder is Bouygues. TF1's average market share of 24% makes it the most popular domestic network...

, the Belgian RTL-TVI and the Télévision Suisse Romande
Télévision Suisse Romande
Télévision Suisse Romande is a TV network with 2 channels: TSR 1 and TSR 2. They are the main French language channels in Switzerland, part of SRG SSR idée suisse...

 air a dubbed version called Le destin de Lisa (The destiny of Lisa). In Slovakia, the series is aired with its original title Verliebt in Berlin on TV JOJ.

The series was originally planned to be titled "Alles Nur Aus Liebe" (Everything Out Of Love), but the producers decided to change the name once realising that the acronym for this title would be inappropriate.

Awards

  • 2005: Deutscher Fernsehpreis (German TV Award) for Best Daily Series
  • 2006: Rose d'Or
    Rose d'Or
    The Rose d’Or is one of the most important international festivals in entertainment television. It was founded in Montreux in 1961 and has taken place in Lucerne since 2004. Producers, executives from independent and public service broadcasters and heads of production companies from over 40...

    • Best Soap
    • Best Actress in a Soap — Alexandra Neldel
      Alexandra Neldel
      - Career :Neldel worked as a dental assistant before she was discovered by the boss of a Berlin casting agency during a polo competition. He helped her audition for daily soap opera Gute Zeiten, schlechte Zeiten and Neldel, barely experienced in acting, immediately landed the role of Katja Wettstein...


Main actors

Actor Role Episodes Year(s)
Alexandra Neldel
Alexandra Neldel
- Career :Neldel worked as a dental assistant before she was discovered by the boss of a Berlin casting agency during a polo competition. He helped her audition for daily soap opera Gute Zeiten, schlechte Zeiten and Neldel, barely experienced in acting, immediately landed the role of Katja Wettstein...

 
Elisabeth Maria "Lisa" Seidel, (born Plenske) 1–feature film, 519–534 2005–2006, 2007
Mathis Künzler
Mathis Künzler
Mathis Künzler is a Swiss film, television and stage actor. He grew up in suburban Münchenstein, close to the borders of France and Germany.-External links:...

 
David Hieronymus Seidel 1–feature film 2005–2006
Volker Herold
Volker Herold
Volker Herold is a German actor and director.- Filmography :* 1992: Freunde fürs Leben* 1990-1995: Polizeiruf 110 * 1996: Alarmcode 112: Vier wie Blitz und Donner* 1998: Moments in Monochrome...

 
Bernd Plenske 1–645 2005–2007
Ulrike Mai
Ulrike Mai
Ulrike Mai is a German television, movie, voice and theater actress. Among her native German she speaks English, French and Russian languages.- Life and career :...

 
Helga Plenske 1–645 2005–2007
Wilhelm Manske Friedrich Seidel 1–645 2005–2007
Olivia Pascal
Olivia Pascal
Olivia Pascal is a German actress.-Selected filmography:*Derrick - Season 11, Episode 5: "Tödlicher Ausweg" -External links:*...

 
Laura Seidel 1–645 2005–2007
Hubertus Regout
Hubertus Regout
Hubertus Regout is an actor living and working in Germany. His father was Belgian, his mother is Austrian.-Biography:...

 
Hugo Haas 1–645 2005–2007
Gabrielle Scharnitzky Sophie von Brahmberg 1–645 2005–2007
Susanne Szell Agnes Hetzer 1–234, 398–405 2005–2006
Bianca Hein Mariella van der Lohe, (née von Brahmberg) 1–254, feature film 2005–2006
Nina-Friederike Gnädig Sabrina Hofmann 1–feature film 2005–2006
Stefanie Höner Inka Pietsch 1–feature film 2005–2006
Karim Köster Richard von Brahmberg 1–feature film 2005–2006
Alexander Sternberg Maximilian "Max" Petersen 1–393 2005–2006
Laura Osswald
Laura Osswald
Laura Isabella Lolita Osswald is a German stage, and television actress.- TV :* 2000: Alphateam* 2001: Schulmädchen* 2003: St. Angela* 2005–2007: Verliebt in Berlin* 2008: Doctor's Diary...

 
Hannah Lehmann, (née Refrath) 1–feature film, 449–645 2005–2006, 2007
Matthias Dietrich Timo Pietsch 2–384 2005–2006
Oliver Bokern Jürgen Decker 6–645 2005–2007
Lara-Isabelle Rentinck Kimberly Frederike "Kim" Seidel 7–645 2005–2007
Bärbel Schleker Yvonne Petersen, (née Kuballa) 8–393 2005–2006
Manuel Cortez Robert Konrad "Rokko" Kowalski 226–feature film 2005–2006
Tim Sander
Tim Sander
- TV :* 1998–2002: Gute Zeiten, Schlechte Zeiten* 2004: 18 – Allein unter Mädchen* 2005–2006: Unter den Linden – Das Haus Gravenhorst* 2006–2007: Verliebt in Berlin-External links:...

Bruno Lehmann 365–645 2006–2007
Julia Malik Nora Lindbergh, (née Amendola) 365–448 2006–2007
Alexandra Seefisch Doreen Vogel 372–645 2006–2007
Thorsten Feller Paolo Amendola † 376–645 2006–2007
Matthias Gall Sven Lindbergh 394–645 2006–2007
Anja Thiemann Theresa Maria Funke 402–645 2006–2007
Susanne Szell Lotte Hetzer 404–645 2006–2007
Daniel Roesner Luis Rothenburg 419–645 2006–2007
Yvonne Hornack Peggy Refrath 515–645 2007
Björn Harras Tobias Refrath 540–645 2007
Dirk Schoedon René Refrath 562–645 2007
Igor Jeftic Jan Rothenburg 584–638 2007

Minor actors

Actor Role Episodes Year(s)
Lilli Anders Ariane Sommerstädt 4–645 2005–2007
Claudia Weiske Gabriele Kamps 32–645 2005–2007
Susanne Berckhemer Britta Haas, (née Paul) † 24–267 2005–2006
Clayton Nemrow Lars van der Lohe 52–254 2005–2006
Gabriele Metzger Traudl Decker 55–534 2005–2007
Jean-Marc Birkholz Marc Trojan 72–645 2006–2007
Roman Rossa Viktor Karski 76–150 2006
Shai Hoffmann Alexander "Alex" Greifenhagen 133–319 2006
Matthias Rott Boris Wudtke 148–233 2006
Axel Röhrle Olaf Kern 301–329 2006
Ina Rudolph Katarina Dorn 307–329 2006
Nora Düding Angelina Martens 338–405 2006
Dieter Bach Johannes Fuchs 339–522 2006–2007
Peter Raffalt Martin König 386–406 2006
Katharina Koschny Doris Lehmann 373–645 2006–2007
Axel Scholtz Meister Pöhnke 490–636 2006–2007
Kristina van Eyck Tante Carlotta Amendola 412–424, 640–645 2006, 2007
Roberto Guerra Roberto Donatelli † 478–535 2007
Maike Jüttendonk Judith Haake 498–645 2007
David C. Bunners Maurice Maria Ming 529–582 2007
Mirjam Heimann Susanne "Susi" Breuer 556–645 2007
Roberto Guerra Giorgio Donatelli 626–645 2007
Claudio Maniscalco Luigi 640–643 2007

External links

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