mels blog » TV & Web Series

Must-See of the Week: Save “Hand aufs Herz” – The Virtual Flashmob

MeL — Wed, 27 Jul 2011 22:24:59 +0000

A few months ago, I told you about “Hand aufs Herz”, a German soap opera / telenovela that has quickly become one of my favourite TV shows, and not just because of a wonderful couple named Jemma or because I got to visit the set and meet some of the people involved in the making of the show. Unlike other soap operas or telenovelas, the storylines seem much more realistic, the acting and the writing is good, even excellent at times, and on top of that, there’s music!

After a performance of the school’s “glee club” STAG,
Emma and Jenny come out to their classmates – and the entire school

So you can imagine my disappointment when German TV channel Sat.1 announced that they cancelled the show after only season. But if you think that “HaHe” fans would just accept the media company’s decision, you’re wrong. Instead of whining and mourning, a lot of fans decided to fight. They wrote emails and letters, sent packages with oregano (loooong story), put together videos and much more. They even organized flashmobs, and not just in real life, but virtual!

Initiated by the ladies over at the Jemma fan website Jemma International and with contributions from all over the world, this virtual flashmob is witty and beautiful and moving and very impressive and thus does this wonderful show and the witty, beautiful and moving Jemma storyline credit.

So here it is. Enjoy!

Unfortunately, Sat.1 doesn’t seem impressed by all of the love and devotion the fans showed for their favourite show, and it looks like the episode scheduled for September 5th will actually be the last one.

Poll: What are your favourite songs from “Grey’s Anatomy”?

MeL — Mon, 07 Mar 2011 22:32:15 +0000

The big musical episode of “Grey’s Anatomy” is coming up this March, and I’d like to know: Which ones are your favourite songs that were featured on the show?

In case you haven’t heard yet: Grey’s Anatomy is planning a musical episode that will show the cast members sing some of the songs made famous by the show. The episode will air on March 31, and I don’t know about you, but I can hardly wait!

Still, I have to admit that even though I usually like the songs they use, not a lot come to mind when I actually think about which ones are my favourites. So maybe you can help me out by letting me know: What are your favourite songs featured on Grey’s Anatomy?

Of course, there are some that I can think of, like this one:

Snow Patrol – Chasing Cars (Season 2)

Or this one, also one of my favourites:

Bryn Christopher – The Quest (Season 4)

Music Video! Song from Grey’s” wmode=”transparent” allowfullscreen=”true” />

So, which songs are your favourites? Please let me know in the comments.

Verbotene Liebe Special: All About Carla & Stella

MeL — Sun, 08 Nov 2009 15:20:43 +0000

After almost a year of kisses, fights and misunderstandings, Carla and Stella are finally together, engaged to get married and ready to travel the world. Time to take a look at the characters, their long and winding path to love, and the actresses who brought the characters to life.

Stella Mann (Anne Wis) and Carla Sophia Gräfin von Lahnstein (Claudia Hiersche)

1. The Characters

Carla Sophia Gräfin von Lahnstein

Carla is the oldest daughter of the late Count Johannes and his first wife Francesca von Lahnstein. She has five (half-) siblings: Ansgar, Leonard, Sarah, Nico and Constantin, who all lived at the family estate, castle Königsbrunn, at various times.

Carla has always been very interested in the fine arts and used to run her family’s auction house before she got more involved with the other branches of the family business. She is also a very talented painter.

It was the painting that brought Carla together with Hanna Novak, then owner of the bar “No Limits”. Hanna was looking for a gift for her boyfriend Lars and asked Carla to paint her. Soon, Carla and Hanna were more than just friends. It took a while before Hanna could accept being in love with a woman, but she eventually chose Carla over Lars. Their time together was cut short when Hanna fell down a flight of stairs and was badly injured. Even though she survived the initial injuries, she later died in Carla’s arms from the aftermaths of the accident.

Carla is watching Hanna (Katharina Dalichau) in her sleep

Up until then, Carla had always kept her sexuality a secret even from her family, and went as far as getting engaged to a man, Bernd von Beyenbach, for appearances’ sake. After Hanna’s death, though, it became more and more difficult for Carla to hide her feelings especially from her father. When Johannes finally found out about her sexuality and the fake engagement, he was so angry that he forced her to actually marry Bernd. But the charade ended when Carla was publicly outed by her brother Ansgar, who played a videotape of Carla in bed with another woman during a press conference.

After reconciling with her father and getting rid of Bernd, Carla found love again with Susanne Brandner, who she met soon after Susanne returned to Düsseldorf with her two adopted children Lisa and Paul to live with her father, Arno Brandner. For Susanne, who had only been with men before, it was love at first sight. They got married in a glamorous ceremony at Königsbrunn.

All smiles on their wedding day: Susanne (Claudia Scarpatetti) and Carla

As a favour for Susanne, who wanted a child but could not carry one herself, Carla agreed to artificial insemination and got pregnant with her daughter Sophia. But Carla and Susanne soon faced marital problems, as Susanne started to grow closer to Lars, who had become a good friend of Carla’s after Hanna’s death and even volunteered to donate sperm so that Carla could get pregnant.

Even though Susanne decided to not act on her feelings for Lars, it put a strain on their marriage, which lead Carla to cheat on Susanne. They broke up even before Sophia was born, and got divorced a little later. After her relationship with Lars failed as well, Susanne left Düsseldorf again.

Now a single mother, Carla decided to focus on her daughter, her family and her work at the Holding, especially after her father Johannes died in a plane crash. But then her step-mother Elisabeth suggested to hire a new administrator for the castle…

Stella Mann

Stella came to Düsseldorf to visit her cousins Gregor and Christian, who she had not seen in ages as her family moved to Denmark when she was still a child. Stella is a skilled hotel manageress, which prompts Elisabeth von Lahnstein to suggest her as the new administrator for Köngisbrunn…

Stella surprises her cousins Gregor (Andreas Jancke, left) and Christian (Thore Schölermann)

Read on to find out what Carla and Stella had to go through before they finally got together…

Must-See of the Week: “You can’t pray away the gay!”

MeL — Sun, 25 Oct 2009 19:31:03 +0000

After last year’s “Callica” debacle, the producers of Grey’s Anatomy make amends by providing us with a lesbian couple and a storyline that is worth watching.

Arizona (Jessica Capshaw, right) is trying to comfort Callie (Sara Ramirez) after a fight with her father

Last year, the producers of Grey’s Anatomy seriously annoyed fans of the lesbian couple “Callica” (aka Callie Torres and Erica Hahn) when they all of a sudden and without warning decided to end the storyline, let Erica break up with Callie and walk off into the night in the direction of the hospital’s parking lot to never be seen again. Even though the series’ creator Shonda Rhimes promised that the end of “Callica” did not mean that Callie would stop dating women, fans were skeptical, and a lot of them stopped watching the show.

Which is too bad, because it looks like the producers are working hard to keep Shonda Rhimes’ promise. Only a few episdoes after Erica disappeared on the parking lot of no return, they introduced a new lesbian character: pediatric surgeon Arizona Robbins, played by Jessica Capshaw (“Bones”, “The L Word”).

Arizona introduced herself to Callie by kissing her in the women’s room of a bar, only to later tell her that she could not date her because Callie was still a “newborn” when it came to dating women. Luckily, she changed her mind, and they have been dating ever since. The audience even got to see them in bed together – naked and apparently after they had sex.

A few weeks ago, the new season of Grey’s Anatomy started in the U.S., and Callie and Arizona are still an item. The producers even went so far as to make Jesscia Capshaw a regular cast member and thereby her character one of the very few lesbian characters on American prime time TV. But there has also been criticism about the lack of intimacy between them – in the first few episodes, they were never shown kissing and only barely touched each other, let alone anything else.

On the plus side, what the audience does get to see is a growing commitment on both sides, and a relationship that is based on trust, understanding and care for each other. The level-headed, experienced Arizona regularly calls Callie out on her impusive, sometimes irrational outbursts, but there are also moments when Arizona is vulnerable and insecure and turns to Callie for help.

The dynamic of the relationship can best be seen in the episode “Invasion”, which aired the week before last. Callie’s father comes to Seattle, bringing along the family’s priest in the hope that he can convince his daughter to go back to dating men. Callie refuses to talk to him, telling him that he “can’t pray away the gay”, but Arizona makes her see where her father is coming from and convinces Callie to “cut him some slack”.

When the meeting of father and daughter ends in a disaster, leaving Callie crying in Arizona’s arms, it is Arizona who manages to convince Callie’s father that Callie is still the same, even though she now loves a woman, by telling him about her own family and about Callie and why she, Arizona, cares for her so much: “I love your daughter. And I protect the things I love. Not that I need to. She doesn’t need it. She’s strong and caring and honorable. And she is who you raised her to be.”

Arizona (Jessica Capshaw) talks to Callie’s father (Hector Elizondo)

A great episode with a very powerful message and amazing acting on all sides. Let’s just hope that Arizona and/or Callie manage to stay away from the parking lot of no return long enough to keep Callie’s promise to her father to “give her mother a wedding”.

Compliations of Callie & Arizona scenes of previous episodes can be found on this YouTube channel.

Pictures: ABC

Must-See of the Week: Grey’s Anatomy – Season 5 Finale

MeL — Sun, 06 Sep 2009 10:00:31 +0000

Last Wednesday, German TV channel ProSieben aired the season 5 finale of Grey’s Anatomy – aka THE season finale.

If you are a fan of the show, the last few scenes of the last episode of season 5 were probably among the most shocking yet moving TV moments you have ever experienced.

If you don’t know the show and/or the storyline of the episode, here is a brief recap: The doctors at Seattle Grace Hospital treat a patient with severe wounds who was run over by a bus. As the face of the man is disfigured, they do not realize that it is their co-worker George O’Malley until he manages to sign his nickname “007″ into Meredith Grey’s hand.

Meredith (Ellen Pompeo) is shocked when she realizes that the patient is George

Meanwhile, another co-worker and best friend of George, Izzie Stevens, had to undergo brain surgery which affected her short-term memory. Just when she regains it, her heart fails and she collapses in the arms of her husband Alex, also a doctor at Seattle Grace.

Izzie collapses in Alex’ (Justin Chambers) arms

In a place between life and death, Izzie steps into an elevator, apparently on the way to meet her deceased fiancé Denny. But when the elevator doors open, it is George who stands before her.

George (T.R. Knight) and Izzie (Katherine Heigl) – did either of them survive?

Here are the last scenes of the episode again:

And here is a music video dedicated to this episode and the Izzie storyline that was created by a fan. If you cry easily, you should have some tissues ready:

Pictures: ABC

The Women of “Tatort”

MeL — Sun, 30 Aug 2009 22:05:34 +0000

Last week, readers of the “New York Times” were introduced to one of the most successful and longest-running German TV formats: “Tatort”.

“Tatort” is a crime drama that has been on the air for almost 40 years now but still shows no sign of slowing down. The secret of its success might be the unique concept that results from the structure of ARD, the public broadcasting system that produces and airs the show. It consists of nine regional public broadcasting services which all contribute to the ARD program in general as well as to “Tatort”, resulting in not only one but 15 detectives or teams of detectives respectively who each solve crimes in different regions of Germany and even in Austria. Episodes are about 90 minutes long, and there is a new episode almost every Sunday night, adding up to about 30 episodes a year.

As is the case with most crime shows, most of the detectives on “Tatort” (which means as much as “crime scene”) were and still are men, but a lot has happened since the first female detective, who was introduced in 1978, only lasted for three episodes. Three of the detective teams are lead by women, three more teams consist of both a man and a woman (though one is not a detective, but a psychologist), and in the version that is set in Hannover/Lower-Saxony, Charlotte Lindholm (played by Maria Furtwängler) is a single mother who also investigates her cases on her own. Even the most senior “Tatort” detective is a woman: Lena Odenthal, played by Ulrike Folkerts.

All very good reasons to take a closer look at the women of “Tatort”:

Lena Odenthal (Ulrike Folkerts)

For 20 years and 47 episodes, Lena Odenthal has been solving murders in Ludwigshafen, the second biggest city of the German federal state of Rhineland-Palatinate. In the early years, she came across as a tough, lone wolf, and not only because of her short hair and her overall outside appearance. While she has never been someone to shy away from confrontation, there is also a softer side to her, which she has been showing more of lately, especially when it comes to Mario Kopper, her partner and friend with whom she also shares an apartment. Unlike Mario, who regularly goes out on dates (even though he usually isn’t very successful), Lena does not really seem to have a love life but instead spends her rare spare time running or cuddling with her cat.

Lena and Mario (Andreas Hoppe) pursue a murder suspect

The character of Lena Odenthal is one of the most successful “Tatort” detectives. Up to 9 million viewers tune in to watch Lena and Mario banter at each other like an old couple while trying to uncover who the bad guys are. In 2008, Ulrike Folkerts was voted the most popular female detective on German TV by the readers of the biggest German TV magazine “Hörzu”.

It did not even do the character’s popularity any harm when Folkerts came out as a lesbian in the late 1990s – probably because Lena had never been the girly type anyway. Ever since then, German lesbians have hoped for Lena to come out as well, especially since a 2001 episode in which Lena fell in love with and even kissed another woman. But Mona inevitably unfortunately was killed by the end of the episode, and Folkerts herself has crushed her fans’ hopes when saying that she does not want Lena to be a lesbian because it would be too close to her own personal life.

Lena (right) is about to kiss Mona (Sandra Borgmann)

Mona and Lena kiss (around 1:30)

The Women of “Stargate”

MeL — Thu, 30 Jul 2009 23:05:25 +0000

If you’ve ever wondered what it is about science fiction shows that lesbians love them so much, you’ve probably never watched one. It’s not just because of those cute little gadgets those shows come up with, or the sometimes fascinating special effects. It’s because they provide us with something that the “real” world and television shows that portray it could still use some more of: Strong, kick-ass women.

Be it Captain Kathryn Janeway, who leads her crew all the way back to earth from the Delta Quadrant on “Star Trek: Voyager”, or Laura Roslin, the president of the last human survivors on “Battlestar Galactica”, they’re powerful and self-confident women who take charge. And not to forget, of course, the other strong female characters in the afore mentioned shows, like Seven of Nine and B’Elanna Torres on “Voyager” and “Starbuck”, Sharon and Caprica Six on “BSG”.

Another show that has had great female characters from the very beginning is “Stargate SG-1″. The longest running science fiction TV series ever and its spinoff, “Stargate Atlantis”, brought us a whole bunch of self-confident, smart and sexy women that are worth taking a closer look at.

Colonel Samantha Carter (Amanda Tapping)

Sam Carter is the “Stargate” veteran. Part of the famous SG-1, the first team to travel through the stargate to visit other planets, she saved her team members’ lives, the universe and everything more than once with her extraordinary brains. Smart, sexy and successful, she makes her way from Captain to eventually become the head of the Atlantis mission after Elizabeth Weir goes missing.

For a while, it seems that her job keeps her from having a private life, especially a love life, until it becomes clear that she has found love at work. Unfortunately, the strict rules of the military keep Sam and Jack O’Neill, the leader of SG-1, from ever acting on their undeniable affection for each other – with a few exceptions…

(This scene never made it into the show. Rumor has it that Amanda Tapping and Richard Dean Anderson just went for it after shooting a different scene. The characters actually did kiss in various episodes, though.)

Dr. Elizabeth Weir (Torri Higginson)

Elizabeth Weir is an acclaimed political negotiator who is put in charge of the Stargate Center in an attempt to deprive the military of its control over the Stargate. But she soon leaves the command to General O’Neill and instead decides to lead the expedition to Atlantis, the lost city far, far away in the Pegasus galaxy, where the members of the expedition have to face a broad variety of new and old enemies, like the Wraith and the Replicators. When she tries to help her team to steal a ZPM, an energy source, from the Replicators, she has to stay behind in order to save her team and is later assumed to be dead.

Vala Mal Doran (Claudia Black)

Vala Mal Doran had to serve as a Goa’uld host before she was freed by the Tok’ra. She makes a living with stealing and deceiving when she first meets Daniel Jackson, another member of SG-1, during an attempt to steal earth’s spaceship Prometheus. She later joins the team to fight the Ori, an enemy from another galaxy who are led by Vala’s daughter Adria who is part human and part Ori.

Vala and Adria

Teyla Emmagan (Rachel Luttrell)

Teyla is the leader of the Athosians, a tribe of farmers and traders who have to take refuge at Atlantis when the Wraiths attack their planet. Even though her people are peaceful, Teyla is an excellent fighter. She joins Major John Sheppard’s expedition team as a mediator and advisor and stays at Atlantis even when her people decide to leave. When the Athosians disappear, she leaves nothing untried to find them, especially since one of them is the father of her child.

And coming up: Camille Wray (Ming-Na)

As AfterEllen reported recently, there’s a new Stargate spinoff in the works that will actually feature a lesbian character: political attaché Camille Wray . The show called “Stargate Universe” will start in the U.S. in October and hopefully be brought to Germany soon. Here’s a brief description, as quoted by AE:

SGU follows a band of soldiers, scientists and civilians, who must fend for themselves as they are forced through a Stargate when their hidden base comes under attack. The desperate survivors emerge aboard an ancient ship, which is locked on an unknown course and unable to return to Earth.

So, anyone I left out? And what’s your favourite science fiction show/science fiction character? Leave a comment and let me know.

Happy Birthday, Alex Hedison!

MeL — Fri, 10 Jul 2009 17:59:15 +0000

Earlier this week, I asked one of the creators of fanofalex.com for news about Alex Hedison, and she reminded me that today is Alex’ 40th birthday. Which is a very good excuse reason to dedicate another blog post to her.

So here are some more pics and also some videos. Enjoy!

Have I mentioned that I’m very into women with short hair? Just saying…

One word: Sexy!

Alex in an episode of Designing Blind. This is “Before”……and this is “After”.

If you want to know what happened, here’s the clip:

Although I liked that show a lot, it of course wasn’t as successful as the other show Alex was in, this little lesbian show called “The L Word”. Alex played Dylan Moreland, a supposedly straight film-maker who falls for Helena Peabody, played by Rachel Shelley. After breaking Helena’s heart (and relieving her of some of her money), Dylan leaves L.A. at the end of Season 3, only to return in Season 6.

Here’s a clip of Alex and her co-star Rachel Shelley at “Be Scene 2008″ at Dinah Shore:

And here’s THE love scene of Season 6 between Helena and Dylan:

"Veronica Palmer" and "BOT" are back!

MeL — Tue, 23 Jun 2009 21:15:00 +0000

If you can’t make sense of the title of this thread, you probably don’t know the great new U.S. comedy “Better Off Ted” yet. It’s a so-called workplace comedy about Ted Crisp, played by Jay Harrington (“Private Practice”), a decent guy who works for a not-so-decent but rather morally questionable company called Veridian Dynamics. No achievement is too far-fetched and no invention too unorthodox for Veridian, and the company’s motto is “Money Before People”. Ted’s boss is the beautiful but steely Veronica, who is described as being “seemingly devoid of conscience and also emotion-free” and brilliantly played by Portia de Rossi. Completing the team are Linda (Andrea Anders), who Ted has a crush on, and the research scientists Lem and Phil (Malcolm Barrett and Jonathan Slavin), whose inventions don’t always work they way they were planned.

The “BOT” cast: Andrea Anders (“Linda”), Jay Harrington (“Ted”), Portia de Rossi (“Veronica”), Jonathan Slavin (“Phil”) and Malcolm Barrett (“Lem”)

Though all actors have very funny lines and scenes throughout the various episodes, it’s definitely Portia de Rossi who steals the show. Some might say that it’s easy for her to shine because she gets the best lines, but it’s also the way she delivers them that make them hilarious. Her comedic timing is spot-on, and she’s so convincing as the emotion-free ice queen Veronica that the viewer is tempted to wonder how she can be married to someone as likeable as talk show host Ellen DeGeneres. In fact, when Portia was on Ellen’s show to promote BOT, Ellen voiced the concern that people might think that Portia is like her character even though she “could not be further from that”.

Portia de Rossi as “Veronica Palmer”

After ABC aired seven episodes of the first season this spring, “Better Off Ted” returns tonight with new episodes. Luckily, ABC was also wise enough to renew the show for a second season, even if the ratings were only so-so.

Here’s the latest trailer for the new episodes:

And here’s a video of Portia de Rossi as Veronica Palmer.

There are more videos available on the ABC website and at VeridianDynamics.com. Unfortunately, the full episodes on the ABC website are not available for internet users outside of the U.S. There’s also a great Facebook site.

Where Are We On TV? (October 2008)

MeL — Sun, 02 Nov 2008 12:01:00 +0000

As promised, we put together a list of lesbian and bisexual women on European TV.

The list contains fictional characters as well as actresses, talk show hosts, newscasters and so on, but only from European productions, which means no characters and/or real women from TV programs that were produced outside of Europe. Also, we’ve only added shows that are currently in production. We plan to update the list from time to time, to see whether lesbian visibility on European TV has made any progress.

In order to put together the list, we had to do a lot of research on our own, so naturally the list is a bit biased towards Germany. We really tried, but I have to admit that even our language skills are limited – when it comes to Italian and Spanish I have to guess most of the time and my French is a little bit rusty to say the least. So if you’re missing someone from this list, it’s probably because we didn’t know about her and we’d appreciate it a lot if you told us (preferably in English or German, for the above mentioned reasons ).

Read the whole story on eurOut…