There's definitely hoping that it will be that way, it lasting longer than Miriam. I think the fact that both Rebecca and Marlene are main characters (while Miriam was only supporting cast) at least fullfills a prerequisite for it potentially lasting longer.
As to why it's not as popular as Miriam and Rebecca were for now, I tihnk there are a bunch of factors at play:
- A lot of the people who watched Miriam and Rebecca and are only tuning back in now are confused by the recast/don't like recasts in general.
- Miriam and Rebecca were pretty popular with guys and imo the new Rebecca has a very different look that might not be as inherently appealing to guys as Jasmin's dreamgirl/sexiest woman of German soaps looks were or even the way "Carla's" classical looks were.
- On VL there is always the uneasy feeling that you can only have either have a big gay story or a big lesbian story, but not both, so fans of the gay storylines might be skeptical.
- People who don't like Marlene, think Marlene gets too much screentime or too much storylines, are skeptical of her with a woman or who feel protective of Tristan and for example worry that Marbecca means that he'll be written off at the end of it or not get a new romance or he'll turn into a villain over it.
- People who like f/f stories but don't like triangles/don't like a guy being involved.
- Rebecca the character has kind of had a "bad reputation" with some fanbases back from her time before Miriam because of how she pined for various other characters back then.
I have read some nice comment too though even from people who aren't even traditionally into f/f storylines. So I hope that they'll win people over particularly with the acting. I'm curious how things will be once the Marlene side of things gets explored more and how she'll portray it.
I seem to remember that people were skeptical of the big gay couple, Christian and Olli too before it really became mutual. Miribecca was another weird one where imo it was an instant hit on youtube and with the international fans but there were a lot of naysayers and skeptics on a lot of the German places (for example people saying it was just about sex appeal). I don't think that the audience reaction had anything to do with the way Miribecca ended (and again, I really do think that the reaction to Miribecca was very positive in Germany too, based on press attention and stuff like that and from casual fans, just that a lot of the official boards were distrustful of the writers). I fear for whatever reason Miriam/Rebecca was always intended as just a short story and their end was already written and shot by the time the first episodes hadn't even aired
Sadly VL very rarely changes their original plans and the few times when they did or were forced to do, it tends to look forced because of the really long turnaround time between writing and airing.
Zitat:
Do the actresses know that people outside of Germany follow their story?
I think it is known that some international fans follow the show and that there were a lot of international fans particularly for Miriam/Rebecca and Christian/Olli. I don't know whether Tatjana and Melanie know in particularly, but it's probably likely. MelanieKogler (Marlene) has an official facebook fansite btw.
http://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=1178216647 Provided you're polite you're free to tell her. Since it is a facebook for her fan interaction, not her private, private one, she's usually pretty generous about friending people back.
You can also send letters (since Tatjana doesn't have a facebook or official website) at:
Pressebüro "Verbotene Liebe"
z.Hd. [Name of Person You Want here]
COLONEUM
Studios 37/38
Butzweiler Str. 255
50829 Köln
(respectively Cologne, Germany, Europe instead of "Köln" if you are unsure)
Please note that if you want to receive signed autographs you have to include an envelope with your address and the postage already on it.