Juliette (Maike von Bremen) and Kerstin (Maike Billitis) on “Marienhof”

TLWE is back, and we have a lot of topics to cover. How about we start with the serial lesbians this time, shall we?

On “Marienhof”, Juliette and Kerstin tried to keep a distance for a while so Kerstin can figure out how to deal with the situation, but when they bump into each other at a party, Kerstin once again gives in to her feelings for Juliette and kisses her.

Unfortunately, Raul sees that Juliette kisses a woman, and even though he does not know at first that it is Kerstin, he eventually figures out what is going on between Kerstin and Juliette. After a bitter quarrel, he is ready to forgive Kerstin, but demands that she does not meet Juliette anymore. When she refuses, he asks her to move out.

Kerstin blames Juliette for destroying her relationship with Raul

On “KDD”, Kristin had to help her foster son Enes, who killed a people smuggler in self defense. With a little help from her colleagues, she manages to get Enes cleared of all charges. When Enes and Kristin’s girlfriend Müjde pay a surprise visit to her at the police station, they are taken hostage by a man who wants to force his ex-wife to let him see his daughter, but even though the man keeps pointing a gun at Enes’ head, in the end all of them survive.

Meanwhile, on “Lindenstraße”, Steffi misses Tanja, who broke up with her because Steffi startet to work for a drug dealer in order to earn the money for her chocolate shop.

Over in Bristol, the “Skins” girls are still trying to deal with their relationship problems, which – at least in Emily’s case – means going out with a female “friend” who is not Naomi. For recaps of the latest episodes, you can go to either AfterEllen or eurOut, and if you want to know what’s in store for “Naomily”, you can go here (SPOILER!).

After the revelation that her new roommate Robin is a lesbian, “Desperate Housewife” Katherine starts to dream about getting together with Robin. When her dream becomes reality, Katherine is suddenly left questioning her sexuality. (Go here to watch a compilation of Katherine & Robin scenes from the latest episode.)

And on “Grey’s Anatomy”, Arizona makes the acquaintance of a green-eyed monster called jealousy when she finds out that Callie once slept with Alex. Other than that, everything is great – until they start talking about their plans for the future…

Arizona (Jessica Capshaw, left) and Callie (Sara Ramirez)

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As for the serial lesbians on the internet, the first season of “Venice” came to an end last week, and it ended with a cliff-hanger – well, more than one, to be exact. Traci asks Gina to finally choose between her and Ani, so Gina asks Ani whether they can go back to being friends, but Ani decides that they can’t and that it is better to end whatever it is they have and “get off the roller-coaster” – ouch. Gina is about to take out her bad mood on her computer when she receives a phone call from someone very unexpected…

Will they get back together in season 2? Gina (Crystal Chappell, left) and Ani (Jessica Leccia)

On “Anyone But Me”, Aster’s parents make her see a therapist (played by Liza Weil, “Gilmore Girls”) to help her deal with their impending divorce. Afterwards, she pays a surprise visit to Vivian and takes her frustration out on her when she finds out that Vivian’s aunt is still clueless about the nature of their relationship.

And on “The Real Girl’s Guide to Everything Else”, Rasha, who went undercover “as a glitter-wearing, shoe-obsessed, Cosmo-drinking straight girl” in order to do research for a book her agent is forcing her to write, finally finds someone who can actually help her with her project on the women of Afghanistan. But then she has an unexpected encouter with her girlfriend Liz.

This week: Portia is on the cover of The Advocate, Ellen has a “royal” fan, Armani makes some American moms nervous, and Cathy and Jill ask for our help.

“The Great de Rossi”: Out actress Portia de Rossi is on the cover of the March issue of “The Advocate”. In the interview, she opens up about her career, her marriage with Ellen, and how she suddenly became an activist for marriage equality.

Before you read the interview and see the amazing pictures over on advocate.com, why don’t you work up an appetite by watching this behind-the scenes video of the photo shoot with Portia.

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Speaking of the DeGeneRossi family: Portia was not the only one who was interviewed lately. CBS news anchor Katie Couric visited Ellen on the set of her talk show and talked to her about connecting with her audience, becoming vegan, and of course her marriage with Portia. You can watch the entire interview on YT, or watch parts of it and read about the rest on AfterEllen.

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As if being married to a hot and smart blonde, who happened to top AfterEllen’s Hot 100 list last year, having a enourmously succesful talk show and being the new judge on American Idol was not enough, Ellen also has a “royal” fan.

Also in the March issue of the Advocate, Academy Award winner and former “Queen” Helen Mirren gushes over Ellen. Asked who she would pick to play her love interest if she ever played a lesbian role again, she answered:

” I would just want a wonderful actress, gay or straight, but I certainly wouldn’t say no to Ellen DeGeneres. I’m such a huge fan of hers and I’ve loved her from a distance for such a long time, so it was quite a moment for me this year to do her show, stand on her set, and see her right there in front of me.”

(Picture: ellen.warnerbros.com)

We are so with you on that, Your Majesty!

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Melissa Etheridge’s new album won’t be released before April, but you can already listen to the title track “Fearless Love” on her official website, and there is also some behind-the-scenes footage of the video shoot for “Fearless Love”. Unfortunately, the song is not available in the German iTunes store yet.

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Valentine’s Day is coming up, time to “Share The Love”. At least that is what the fashion label Armani Exchange thought and started an ad campaign that features three couples: a straight couple, a lesbian couple and a gay couple.

Way too much love for a conservative group called OneMillionMoms, who called the ad “soft porn” and wants the ads to be removed from Armani stores. I don’t know about you, but I think that there is a fair chance that the posters will in fact be removed – on Monday.

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All over international TV screens and computer monitors, serial lesbians were alive and kicking this week.

On “Verbotene Liebe”, Carla and Stella are ready to leave again, but first Carla surprised Stella with a romantic proposal. (Read the recap here.)

After their initial problems, Kerstin and Juliette started to get along much better on the latest episodes of “Marienhof”. A recap is in the works, but you can already watch just how good they got along here (with English subtitles) and here, and how much closer they are going to grow here:

Steffi on Lindenstraße and Kristin on KDD both had to decide whether to do something illegal. (A short recap is in the works as well.)

On Grey’s Anatomy, Arizona and Callie decided to play Cupid for Bailey, urging her to go out with another doctor, while on Venice, after finally putting her foot down and asking Gina to not call her anymore, Ani met the beautiful Lara.

And finally: Check out the first episode of this new web series called “The Real Girl’s Guide to Everything Else”. Here is how it is described on the official website:

“A journalist, nearly dropped by her agent because her work is too smart, political, lesbian and feminist, goes undercover as a glitter-wearing, shoe-obsessed, Cosmo-drinking straight girl.”

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Actresses Jill Bennett and Cathy DeBuono (“Out at the Wedding”) announced this week that they intend to travel to London for the screening of their movie “And Then Came Lola” (a lesbian version of the German hit “Lola rennt”) at the London Gay & Lesbian Film Festival in March. They would love to travel to two more European cities, and they ask their fans for help.

Cathy DeBuono (left) and Jill Bennett

By the way, if you haven’t yet, make sure to watch their hilarious web series “We Have To Stop Now”.

That’s it for this week. If you think that I have forgotten something, let me know in the comments. Enjoy watching the Winter Olympics in Vancouver, and don’t forget that Sunday is Valentine’s Day!

As the titles indicate, articles in these categories will be about lesbians on TV shows and web series – lesbian characters and the actresses who play(ed) them, lesbian actresses, and of course the characters and actresses who we wish were lesbians.

The “Serial Lesbians” posts will be in English and mostly include recaps and short descriptions of storylines on German TV and web series for all Non-German-speaking readers. For news on and recaps of TV and web series from other parts of the world, there will be German posts in the “Lesben in Serie” categorie.

But now, let’s move on to the first dose of lesbian goodness (or not) from German TV. This week, “Serial Lesbians” includes, among other things, recaps of the (potential) new lesbian romances on Marienhof and Lindenstraße, which provide us with a new, surprising lesbian cliché: Apparently, it is all about chocolate.

If we ever complained that there are not enough lesbian characters on German TV, it sure does not seem that way at the beginning of 2010.

At the moment, there are three shows that feature lesbian characters and even lesbian romance. Add to that the return of Carla and Stella on “Verbotene Liebe” and the first teaser of the new German web series Emma Stahl, and January and February almost feel like “Lesbian Weeks” in Germany.

Marienhof (ARD)

There’s a new lesbian in Marienhof!

At least that is what the previews for upcoming episodes of the German soap opera suggest. It would not be the first lesbian or lesbian couple on “Marienhof”: Back in the 1990s, the on-again, off-again relationship of bisexual Andrea and lesbian Billi kept lesbian audiences at the edge of their seats.

Andrea (Leonore Capell, left) and Billi (Katja Keller)

Now, it looks like there’s a new lesbian romance looming on the horizon. Here is what happened so far:

A few weeks ago, the character of Juliette was introduced when resident heartthrob Carlos literally ran into her in his bar “Daily’s”. Carlos is fascinated by the mysterious French woman. When he learns that Juliette makes her own chocolates, he suggests that she should sell them at “Back Dat”, the bakery run by Kerstin, the girlfriend of Carlos’ brother Raul.

Kerstin is not overly excited by this idea, especially when she finds out that Carlos only made the suggestion because he is interested in Juliette. She is worried about the feelings of Carlos’ ex-girlfriend Heidi, who also works at the bakery.

Juliette (Maike von Bremen, left) lets Heidi (Verena Mörtel) and Kerstin (Maike Billitis) try some of her chocolates

Kerstin ultimately changes her mind after trying some of Juliette’s chocolates together with Raul and both of them are so turned on by the apparent eroticizing effect of the chocolates that they end up in bed together. She soon regrets her decision, though, when she realizes that Juliette is more of an artist than a business woman. She shows up late, gives away chocolates for free, and even refuses to sell a certain kind of chocolate to a customer as she thinks that it is not the right one for him, giving him a different one instead.

Kerstin calls Juliette out on her unprofessional behaviour, but much to her surprise, the customer returns to the shop and buys more of the chocolates Juliette gave him. Juliette takes this opportunity to teach Kerstin some more about the art of making chocolates and especially how to combine various flavours and spices, and Kerstin starts to see Juliette differently.

Juliette tries to give Kerstin an understanding of her art

As Juliette and Kerstin suddenly get along much better, Heidi gets jealous and angry at Juliette, who she thinks is just loopy and arrogant. Heidi eventually asks Kerstin to choose between her an Juliette. Juliette tries to talk to Heidi, but to make matters worse, Carlos joins them and hits on Juliette right before Heidi’s eyes. Still, Juliette eventually manages to convince Heidi that she is not arrogant and as out of touch with reality as she might seem, and moreover, that she is not interested in Carlos.

Coming up:

Kerstin and Heidi start to speculate whether Juliette might be a lesbian. Kerstin soon realizes that she has fallen in love with Juliette, and they even kiss, but – of course – Kerstin cannot admit her feelings to herself or anyone else and pretends that she still wants to be with Raul. Juliette gets more and more annoyed by Kerstin’s behaviour, until they end up having a bitter quarrel…

Kerstin and Juliette give in to their feelings and kiss

Go here for Bioschokolade’s German recaps of the storyline so far, and/or check out rheimasfreak2′s compilations of Juliette & Kerstin scenes on YouTube.

Pictures: Das Erste