Deniz + Jenny

Kaja Schmidt-Tychsen & Igor Dolgatschew.

I haven't been watching Alles Was Zählt forever. Not since Joscha and Kai left the show actually. But from what I have seen it really seems like Deniz has only dated really wavy girls. Like Mel. Hated her. And even before Roman he dated wavy girls. Like Nina. I really think he has kind of crappy taste in women. But now it seems like he has something going on with Jenny Steinkamp! The older sister of ex-girlfriend Vanessa that is! And I have to say, I don't totally hate it! I still have hopes for Deniz to fall in love a man again, but if they are persistant of Deniz only dating women, I actually think Jenny is quite all right. Ok, she is a total bitch but I kind of like that total bitch! At least she is a strong and interesting character. I don't hate it. I don't love it, but I donät hate it.

Hotshots

There are some gay characters in soap operas that have, how to say it... quite fancy occupations! Or at least occupations where I guess being gay is not a walk in the park. Police as an example. I imagine that it is not that easy to come out as a police officer. The story of Oliver Fish in One life to live tells us that, and I do believe that it is not just fiction.

Oliver Fish.

Oliver Fish (Scott Evans) had a really hard time coming out after years and years of denial, and as he feared, his parent were not supportive at all. But as far as I can remember his collegues were alright. And he also had the support of his beloved Kyle.

Menno Kuiper.

And then we have Menno Kuiper (Dave Mantel) in Goede Tijden, Slechte Tijden. He was the lover of the regular Lucas Sanders, and they even got married. But I read somewhere that Menno did beat Lucas up and then he disappeared from the series. I still haven't started with this Dutch soap, but it is my summer project, so I have to get back to you on that.

Nicolas Barrel.

And here's my sweetie Nicolas Barrel (Nicolas Herman) from Plus Belle La Vie. I just adore him! Both the character and the actor! A sweeter guy is really hard to find! He started out as a cop, and also had a hard time with his family. His collegues appreciated him a lot, but his father was a real homophobe, and we understand that Nicolas became a cop to prove his manliness to his father. Poor Nicolas. But it seems he enjoyed it anyway. Until he had to fake his death and work undercover. And then he became a lawyer instead! And after he came back to life and chocked the hell of his boyfriend Thomas, he continued working as a lawyer. I like the new Nicolas, but I kind of miss the old police-Nicolas anyway...

Florian Estève.

And speaking of men of the law, Thomas' new boyfriend after Nicolas, Florian (Franck Borde), was even a judge! But I don't really get how judges work in France. I think that he worked more as a prosecutor. He was very much out on the fields. But he was also a cutie and you can't really dislike him, even if you are Thomas/Nicolas-shipper. Florian was a really lovely guy. And also, a little bird whispered that Thomas is going to date a doctor after Florian. But I have to get back to you on that to.

Kieron Hobbs.

The most controversial character has to be Kieron Hobbs (Jake Hendriks) in Hollyoaks who was a priest. A catholic such. And as you know, they have a chastity vow. He broke that a lot of times with Jon Paul, deservedly, because later he got murdered by John Paul's half brother. At least he got some shagging before he died! And love, of course!

Kalle Laitela.

And we do have a lot of doctors. My favourite are Kalle Laitela (Pete Lattu) in Salatut Elmät. He is just such a lovely character. And he also got promoted to some kind of head physician lately. And he has got his fair share of homophobia through the years. His father, Ismo, was a real homophome back in the days and his collegues seem to be assholes! There's a lot of gossip and bullshit talk about him and his boyfriend Lari, just because Lari is a little bit younger. But that is no biggie, really!

Kai Seebach.

Another favourite is Kai Seebach (Alexander Gier) in Alles Was Zählt. He was working as a sports physician in the Steinkamp Sport and Wellness Centre and had a love story with the very closetered football player Joscha. He was just a really nice character and I do miss both him and Joscha very much! When will AWZ have a new gay storyline?!

Tom Seifert.

Another German doctor is Tom Seifert (Kay Böger) in Verbotene Liebe who used to date lli, and then dated Olli and then went back to Ulli, but after the character left the show. But we know that because we got a little sneak peak into Tom and Ulli's lives when VL had their 10th anniversery. Tom was also a really nice character who always wanted all well. From that point, I think he and Olli was very suibtable for eachother. But I am a Tulli shipper. Totally!

Dr Jo Helmke (and Olli).

And it seems like Olli has a thing for doctors, because after things went nasty with Christian Olli had a relationship with Dr Jo Helmke (Mickey Hardt). The sleazebag. I am sying that without knowing anything about him. But he looks sleazy and everyone who takes Christian's place is a sleazebag. And that's how it is.

Lucas Jones.

Last but not least we have Dr Lucas Jones (Ryan Carnes) i General Hospital. Well, he was a bit of a unnapproachable doctor, and it took a while for him to start working as one. He was whining something about not being able to be such a god a doctor as his adoptive father. Whiner. But now it's just as he has never done anything other than working as a doctor When he is not making out with Brad. Then it's just he has never done anything but that. But we don't get nough deama from this couple, I have to say. A slower storyline you have to look hard for!

John Paul McQueen.

And you also get a bonus. It might not be any status working as a teacher in Sweden (hich it should be!), but it seems that it's a little bit better in he UK. So therefor I give you John Paul McQueen (James Sutton). The teacher. And also one of my favourites. I think that John Paul has a very important occupation!

A little bit of age difference

Well, if you have read my blog I guess it doesn't come as a surprise that I am a huge Lari and Kalle shipper right now! I think they are perfect for each other. But there are some people that doesn't agree, both in the series and in real life. The biggest objection about a relationship between the two are the age difference. But I don't really get what all the fuzz is about.

Pete Lattu as Kalle and Ronny Roslöf as Lari.

Ok, there are 16 years between them, but that's nothing! Been there, done that. Lari is of age, and Kalle is both warm and kind. Lari has been through so much that he really needs a mature boyfriend, and that is not Elias right now. Just go for it!

Dennis Grabosch as Roman and Igor Dolgatschew as Deniz.

There has been some couples with a bit of age difference before. One of the clearest examples are Deniz and Roman, DeRo. Ok, Deniz Öztürk was 17 when he joined the series in 2007, which makes him born 1990, that's 7 years younger than the actor. Anyway, Roman turned 30 in 2009 or 2010 or something, if I haven't gotten it completely wrong, which makes him about 10 years older than Deniz. And that is nothing! Nothing to worry about there. Maybe when he was under age, but that's niceties. The biggest issue with these two was that they persistated on breaking up all the time!

Carlo Degen as Joscha and Alexander Gier as Kai.

Well, I guess the writers of Alles was zählt like a bit of age difference in their gay storylines. Joscha and Kai, that we had the pleasure of following last year until May this year had a little bit of age difference to I guess. If I understood it right Joscha was about 20-22. Well Kai was a doctor, who had been working for a while, so he have to had been in his thirties. I guess there was about 10 years between those cuties to. And we have already noted that 10 years are nothing! Even 16 years are nothing!

James Sutton as John Paul and Stephen Billinton as Danny.

And then there's John Paul MacQueen and Danny Lomax who had a fling last year. Danny and John Paul worked together and also started sleeping together. Ok, John Paul actually was 17 in 2006. That makes him 25 now. He looks older. That might be because James Sutton is 31. But anyways, Danny Lomax has grown up children so he would be at least 40. I would guess about 45. That means about 20 years of age difference! That is quite a lot, but if everyone is happy it is not a problem. And really, that is just fur years older than 16 years, and as stated before, that is nothing. The problem here was that Danny was married. And, just as an anecdote, he is also Ste's biological dad. Ste and John Paul is dating right know. And Danny also died in a car crash.

Ferry Doedens and Dave Mantel.

There is also suppose to be an age difference between Lucas and Menno from Goede Tijden, Slechte Tijden, but I haven't seen that storyline yet and they also broke up so I don't really have much to say about them. But I will see it, of course. Anyone who know how much of age difference there was?

So, my point is that age difference is a phenomenon from real life that we also see in soap operas, and not just with yung girls and rich older men. There is nothing shocking with a little bit of age difference so stop nagging about it and let Lari and Kalle snog in peace. Amen.

Violence in our minds

Ok, there is something with soap operas, violence and gay relationships. Straight relationships to I guess, but there is a significance in gay once, I think. The classical scenario is that a gay character is so deep into the closet that he can't handle the fact that he is attracted to another man that he uses violence to suppress both his and the other gay characters feelings. There are lots of examples of that.

Amy interrupts a tense moment between Brendan and Ste.

The most obvious example of this is the relationship/non-relationship between Ste Hay (Kieron Richardson) and Brendan Brady (Emmett J. Scanlan). This seems to be the first example of domestic violence in a gay relationship in a british soap opera. The actors stated that they were very proud of the storyline, and I do think that it is avery important matter to portrait. In the beginning of the Stendan journey, Brendan handled it by smacking Ste up about every second time they got together. Ste tried to stop loving Brendan and borke it off with him several times, but always ended up in Brendans arms in the end. In time, Brendan did start to handle his aggression and dealt with it and stopped smacking Ste up, and they started an sort of equal relationship, but even then he smacked Ste when he was haunted and pressured, a couple of times. Ste of course forgave him. Again and again. And Stendan is a very very popular couple. Even though their relationship was dashed by a little violence.

Ringo beating Yannick almost to death,

Another homophobic character very deep down into the closet is Ringo Beckmann  (Timothy Boldt) from Unter Uns. His self-disgust knew no bounds when he almost hit his fling Yannick Benhöfer (Eric Stehfest) almost to death, just because he wanted to have a proper relationship with him. Ringo on the other hand, repented of course, and tried to get Yannick back. But thankfully, Yannick never forgave him andleft the series just some episodes after the abuse. It would have been to unreal if he would have forgiven him, I think.

Lenny and Carsten beating eachother up before some snogging.

Well, another storyline with a lining of violence is the Cenny one. Carsten Reimann (Felix Isenbügel) and Lenny Cöster (Alexander Becht) liked beating both eachother and others up. When they were not fighting with other gangs, they were trying to resist eachother and did that with som beatings. In the end, Lenny even participated in an assault of Carsten, where they actually both were so damaged they ended up in hospital. Lenny, of course, changed his mind in the last moment and tried to stop the gang from beating Carsten up. Carsten had a hard time forgiving Lenny, but because he loved him so much, he finally did. And they live happily ever after.

Deniz and Roman forgot it all.

There are some similarities between the Cenny and the DeRo storylines. Just as Lenny knew that the gang was going to beat up Carsten, Deniz Öztürk (Igor Dolgatschev) knew that his hockey team mates was going to beat up Roman Wild (Dennis Grabosch). The homophobic hockeyplayers told Deniz about their plans, and even wanted Deniz to participate in them, and Deniz never really tried to stop them. He was a coward. He was running after them, but then he chickened out and ran away. The homphobes broke Romans knee and almost ruined his figure skating career. At first Roman knew nothing about Deniz's part in the assault, but when he knew, he never really had a hard time forgiving him. But, I read in an article that the actor, Dennis Grabosch, said that he never would have forgiven such a thing. But, I have to say, thank you writers for Roman forgiving Deniz, otherwise, we would have missed out on one of the most beautiful love storys of this century.

Joscha is not happy with Kai.

Alles was Zählt have given us another great love story where there was a bit of violence. Joscha Degen (Carlo Degen) was closetered football player that even got married to a woman to hide his homosexuality. But when he met the hot doctor Kai Seebach (Alexander Gier) on his wedding night, there was no turning back. But when they shared a cozy moment in the bushes, and Joschas team mates showed up, he reacted irrationally and pushed Kai into the bushes. Thank gods that Deniz showed up and talked some sence to Roman by telling him not to be such a pusch over and not letting others pay for his assholeness, and Joscha apologized to Kai. Kai in his hand, ended the thing between them, because of how Joscha treated him. A perfectly logical reaction. But of course, he couldn't resist Joscha and eventually gave in. And they lives happily ever after.

Larias. Not always friends.

Craig and John Paul.

There have also been some smacking and pushing between Larias and McDean. That is Lari Väänänän (Ronny Roslöf) and Elias Vikstedt (Petteri Paavola) and John Paul McQueen (James Sutton) and Craig Dean (Guy Burnet). In both cases passion won against anger and the couples were united. And this made me start thinking. I am not saying that these kind of stereotypichal scenarios are just in gay relationships. I am fully aware of that abuse are present in straight relationships in soaps to, even though I think it is more common that there is more common with a little bit of violence in the beginning af relationships between men, in the denial state. Maybe it's about testosteone and male stereotypes. Violence is present in both same sex and straight relationships in both soaps and real life, and people stay with their partners after abuse in real life to. And it is important to show this in soap operas to bring awareness of violence and help people deal with it, and maybe even seek help. Hollyoaks is actually very good at directing to help lines when showing these storylines. But, because of the ordinariness of at least a little bit of violence in gay relationships in soap operas there is some kind of message that it's ok with a little bit of violence. Expect a little bit of abuse, but after that everything is fine. But I get that it has to some drama to the storylines, and even I have confessed that a lot of my favourite storylines actually have som violence in them (see above), but it really would be nice to see a nice helathy gay relationship with no violence, no infidelity and no fucking brain tumour, or shooting maniac, or a collapsing building, or strange deadly virus, just happiness, love and lots of snogging. Would that be too uninteresting to watch?

Sextember

In a tumblr I use to check out, I think it was this one, the concept Sextmeber occured along ith this image:

I guess it's all from Shameless USA. I like the concept so I decided to make an own sextember tribute. But to find hot and steamy pictures from hot and steamy sex scenes between gays in soap operas was easier said than done. Gays usually don't get to have sex scenes. I guess the only ones that got to get some sex scenes worthy of the name are DeRo (Deniz and Roman ) and Chrolli (Christian and Oliver). And a little bit of Ringo with Yannick and Aaron maybe... But here is my version of Sextember!

 

It's nothing special really, just a small collage made i picCollage, and some of the photos are not actually sex scene photos, but some kind of foreplay or just snogging, but at least we have both WilSon (Will and Sonny, Joschka (Joscha and Kai, Chrolli, Yango (Ringo and Yannick), DeRo and Larias (Lari and Elias). And that is not bad. That is not bad at all...

Zu Ende.

Now it's official. Joscha und Kai, Joschka, is history. And it was among the most beautiful love stories I've seen. It was quite easy and quiet. And I love it! I've told you before that I like short stories because they don't have the time to become boring, but now I kind of feel a little bit snuvad på konfekten (google translate says: forced to yield to the confection). I wanted more! And it really was no snogging after the return of Kai... Stingy! But I love Carlo Degen and Alexander Gier and let's hope we see them in more productions in the future. And of course, we hope they are coming back some time. I will let these wonderful pictures from the last two episodes with Joscha and Kai speak for themselves:

Joschka

Now it's just one week left before Joscha and kai leaves Alles was zählt. I am already mourning. Right now they are not together but we know that they will be. This lovestory was oh so beautiful but oh so short. In a way I like when the stories are short so they won't be too boring and they don't break up or hurt each other too bad. I know few couples in soap operas that end up together after ten years or so. If they don't break up one of them dies. So let's celebrate an ending that will be happy with som lovely pictures of the beauty in Joscha and Kai played by Carlo Degen and Alexander Gier.

Lovely isn't it!

Gay-bashing

Kai, Joscha and Nick.

In mondays episode of Alles was zählt Joscha was brutally gay-bashed. Yesterday we learned that it is so serious that he had to be operated and that they have to drill a whole in his scull to ease the pressure. Unpleasant indeed. But I have also read som spoilers that tell that Joscha will be alright. Today I also was reached by the news that both Joscha and Kai (and also Joschas brother Lukas and his father David) will leave the series in May. That is such a shame and I am upset! But I hope that it will be the happy ending we all are hoping for with a profi-Vontrag und ein neues jobb. My tip is that the guy to the right has something to do with the bashing...

Tom and Ulli.

But gay-bashing is not a new pehonomenon in the soap operas around the world. In Germany it has happened more than once before. Back in the year 2000 Tom and Ulli from Verbotene Liebe was attacked by two homophobes on their way to the cinema. Tom had a punch in the stomach and Ulli almost got beaten when his brother Nick came to the rescue. No serious enjurys that time.

Olli and Christian in the hospital.

It was worse for Olli some years later when Christians extremely homophobic boxing club pals, Axel, got hold of him. After the big outing in the boxing ring Axel just had to beat Olli almost to death. It is interesting how you can be so provoked by mutual love that is not directed to you. Olli was relatively alright that time, but later on it was discovered that he had cot brain injurys and he almost died. Unpleasant indeed.

Ringo and Yannick in a tense moment.

Also in Unter Uns there has been som gay-bashing, but this time, Yannick was gay-bashed by another gay, that is Ringo, his kind of boyfriend. The only homophobe I have seen in Unter Uns is Ringo. Stop beating Yannick almost to death. Their relationship ended after that. Surprise!

Syed and Christian after the bashing.

There ha salso been som gay-bashing in Great Britain. In 2009 Christian Clarke was brutally gay-bashed by a man he brought home from the pub after som flirting. He was expecting sex but got bashed instead. Well it is simple, if you don't want to have sex with the person, don't follow him/her home! I can't understand what is so provoking with what gays do in their bedroom? Though, this led to a very cute moment when Syed forced Christian to go to the police and waited outside the whole time and the invited himself home to Christian and they had sex for the second time. I think.

There are a lot of more examples of gay-bashing in soaps, but these are the ones that comes to mind right now. It is understandable that gay-bashing is a important and dramatic subject to illuminate. But I think that it is important also to show the utopia of a world where there is no gay-bashing and where gays are naturally accepted and to. There is a lot of homophobia in this world and soap operas are sometimes realistic and sometimes not, and that's why I think it is important to prescribe a world where it is OK to be gay. Because it is. I hope there will be a world where you don't have to "come out" you can just tell everyone that you are in love. And that soon. Both in soaps and in the real world.

The BIG coming out!

Yesterday on the 14th of March finally it was the big day. The day of Joscha coming out. And it was beautiful!

Joscha and Kai's first kiss in public.

The episode 1892 of Alles was zählt figured around the indoor football tournament at the Steinkamp centre and the episode both contained an "Ich liebe dich", two nice kisses, and circuling camera and Tammy Wynette. Bra skit. The storyline will take an unpleasant path, but for now just enjoy!

Alexander Gier as Kai and Carlo Degen as Joscha.

The actors Carlo Degen and Alexander Gier are really doing a good job being convincing as a couple in love. The are having this kind of panting, heavily breathing passionate dialogs that I like. And lots of deep looks. They are both good looking and it's not a minus that Carlo Degen has a bit of a unibrow. Unibrows are characteristic.

What has the future for Joscha and Kai?

Hopefully Joscha and Kai will be a long lasting couple. Both characters are really likeable and Alles was zählt really need a gay couple. It has been way to long since Roman and Deniz! But it is a soap, and we can imagine it will be a bumby road to happiness. Right now I wonder what will happen to Raquel now that Joscha revealed that he is gay and people will know that the marriage is a sham? And will there be any truth in the theories that David is not only Joschas and Lukas father, but also Kai's? Will Kai loose his job and what will Can think of the Killer's boyfriend! The tension thickens!

We love Germany

We love Germany. And we love german soap operas. German soap operas usually have good gay storylines. And here are the highlights in chronological order.

Gute Zeiten, schlechte Zeiten (1992)
This soap opera has had two bigger gay storylines through the years.

 

Laurent Daniels, Ralf Benson and Herbert Ulrich.

In 1997-2000 Philip Krüger was a regular in the show and he had two bigger relationships, first with Fabian Moreno (who apparently swung both ways) and then Simon Nilsson (who actually was a murderer who stole his victims identity. Well done Philip!

Then in 2007 Leonard "Lenny" Cöster entered the series. Oh joy! Lenny had a beautiful storyline with Carsten Reimann 2008-2010 with the ingredients of violence, abuse, denial and finally some love and sex. If you haven't seen it, prepare yourself for a long wait until there is some action, but it is well worth waiting for!

Felix Isenbügel and Alexander Becht.

Lenny and Carsten are being played by the wonderful Alexander Becht and Felix Isenbügel. The couple left the series because they moved from Berlin, and there actually was a happy ending! But there is still hope that they will return to Berlin and to Gute Zeiten, schlecthe Zeiten in a future not to far away.

Unter uns (1994)
Unter uns started in 1994 but we had to wait until 2013 before we had a real gay storyline. I actually don't understand why it took so long. But last year the tv-audience found out that Richard "Ringo" Beckmann (Timothy Boldt) at least was bi when he started some kind of relationship with the new guy in town, Yannick Benhöfer (Eric Stehfest).

Timothy Boldt and Eric Stehfest.

Ringo and Yannick formed Yango and soon qot popular all over the world. Unfortunately the story was short when Ringo almost beated Yannick to death. Ringo isn't only gay/bi, he is also a real homophobe! Well Unter Uns, when you waited so long to give us a real gay storyline, why did you take it away from us so soon? Not very nice.

Verbotene Liebe (1995)
Verbotene Liebe means forbidden love and maybe that's why the have had so many gay and lesbian storylines through the years. Yes, gay and lesbian love is forbidden in some countries. But not in Germany.

Broder B. Hendrix.

Anyhow, the first big gay storyline was the one with Gero von Sterneck in the nineties. In 1995-1999 you could see Gero snog both Lukas and Markus. You can watch Geros story on youtube, but prepare your self for some woody storylines. But we like it anyways. Even woody storylines are good storylines.

Less woody is the storyline of Tom Seifert and Ulrich "Ulli" Prozeski in 1999-2000. It's a quite ordinary gay love story where one of the characters (Tom) is out and about and (Ulli) is still in the closet, and the one in the closet doesn't really like the other. Finally the become friends and starts snogging and then you can figure out the rest by yourself.

Andreas Stenschke and Kay Böger.

Tom and Ulli has a lot of memorable scenes together and is well worth watching. The New Years eve scene in by the open fire is relly a classic!

When Ulli moves to München Tom and Ulli break up and Tom is quite fragile. That's why he is not that keen on being snogged at the following New Years eve by Olli. Oliver "Olli" Sabel is the bisexual that starts a relationship with Tom, that is almost broken up by a reappeared Ulli. But just almost.

Kay Böger and Jo Weil.

Actually, I never really liked the pairing with Tom and Olli. I think Tom should have chosen Ulli instead, and maybe the rest of internet agrees, because this is the only almost desent picture of them. And actually, when Verbotene Liebe had their 10th anniversary we learned that Tom and Ulli got together again! Well done Verbotene Liebe!

Thore Schölermann and Jo Weil.

Olli had to wait until 2007 when he came back to Düsseldorf and met the wonderful Christian Mann who is played by the lovely Thore Schölermann. By now Olli seems to just swing the male way and falls in love with his roommate Christian who is a boxer. And here we have a real supercouple! They even got married! Twice! Christian and Olli, that is Chrolli, became enormously popular and there are lots and lots of special scenes with the couples and numerous fanvids. And it actually is an ongoing storyline, but the aber is that Christian since 2013 lives in London and Oliver is still in Düsseldorf. Thore (or the writers) apparently thinks he has better things to do than snogging Jo Weil every day, so he is working as a host for some other tv-show in Germany. One (and a real good one) reapperance fron Christian has been made, and we hope for more. Christian come home!

Alles was zählt (2006)
Last but not least we have the youngest everyday german soap with a gay storyline and that is Alles was zählt from 2006. And here we meet our second gay german supercouple, Deniz and Roman. Roman Wild (Dennis Grabosch) is the figure skater that falls for the 17 year old ice hockey player Deniz Öztürk (Igor Dolgatschew) who of course is a little bit in the closet and is quite unwilling to get out of there at first. When he does he soon has the bad taste to start dating a woman instead but then he ends up with Roman anyway. Again, and again.

Igor Dolgatschew and Dennis Grabosch.

Well, it wouldn't be a soap opera if there weren't som on-and-off. But a supercouple it is and from this couple we got som real classic hot and steamy scenes! But as I've told before Roman dies from a brain tumor and Deniz has unfortunately only dated women since.

But in 2013 we are served a new gay guy in the middle of everything: Joscha!

Carlo Degen and Alexander Gier.

Joscha Degen is the gay brother of the dancer Lukas Levin. And Joscha is a professional football player. Do I have to say anymore. I don't even need to tell you how deep in the closet he is. But in right now in this ongoing story, Joscha have met his the smoking doctor Kai Seebach and of course he can't really hold his hands to himself. But the story is really enjoyable, the actors are great and the whole show is really, really funny and I hope that we will have a new supercouple in Joscha and Kai!

As you can see, the germans brings us one good and intriguing story after another and I for sure really enjoy watching them! The interaction that is going on between Thore Schölermann and Jo Weil/Dennis Grabosch and Igor Dolgatschew is really something besonderes.