Gute Zeiten, schlechte Zeiten is the longest running and most popular German television soap opera, created by Reg Watson, and began with the following of several school leavers. Over the years, the show changed a lot, but the focus is still on young adults. Frank-Thomas Mende (Clemens Richter) and Lisa Riecken (Elisabeth Meinhardt) are the only actors from the beginning joined by senior cast member Wolfgang Bahro (Jo Gerner), that are still on the show. The show is a remade of the Australian soap opera , which aired from 1977 to 1981. With now more than 4000 episodes filmed, GZSZ have long since diverged from the original Australian storylines and is the highest rated German soap since the beginning of the show.