Series / Liebling Kreuzberg

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Life for a notary and attorney in Berlin's district Kreuzberg can get boring. Thus, Robert Liebling only accepts cases that interest him. Delegating most of the work to his subordinates and two-timing several women only adds to that excitement. Did we mention that the guy likes to eat a whale's worth of götterspeise^Translationfare of gods and rides exclusively motorcycles or convertibles?

Liebling Kreuzberg is a German series that aired between 1986 and 1998 about an Anti-Hero Bunny-Ears Lawyer. It was created and produced by Jurek Becker and stars Manfred Krug as Liebling and Corinna Genest and Anja Franke as his witty secretaries.

This series provides examples of:

• Amicable Exes: Liebling and his ex-wife get on spectacularly well, with no lingering tension in sight.
• Armor-Piercing Question: When Arnold's wife leaves him during the third season, Liebling coaxes him to get drunk and asks him if he is unhappy that his wife is gone. When Arnold says yes, Liebling asks if he was happy while she was there. This causes Arnold to realize that it's probably a good thing his marriage is on hold.
• Berserk Button: Deadbeat fathers seem to be one for Liebling, who, all squabbles aside, is quite a doting parent to his daughter Sarah.
• Beware the Nice Ones: Arnold is almost always unfailingly polite, genial and has a serene smile plastered on his face. If you do stuff like abuse your position of power to bully his clients, however, he gets a pretty frosty expression and is capable of delivering scathing verbal put-downs.
• Bottle Episode: "Ein dringender Fall" ("An urgent case"), the second episode of the first season, mostly takes place in a supermarket, with the client of the week holding Liebling and Arnold hostage.
• Brilliant, but Lazy: Liebling. He's very open and unashamed about the fact that he just wants to hire an associate to do all his work so that he can have his naps in peace. He's nevertheless revered by his clients.
• By-the-Book Cop: Arnold, especially compared to Liebling. That being said, he is a brutally efficient lawyer who will use the exact word of the law to pulverize the opposing party.
• Cigar Chomper: Another defining trait of Liebling's.
• Dating What Daddy Hates: Not initially, as Liebling seems pretty relaxed about Sarah's (frequently changing) boyfriends. He's vocally unimpressed with her picks in later seasons, however.
• Deadpan Snarker: Liebling's dry one-liners can only be rivaled by those of his trainee-turned-secretary Senta.
• Defrosting Ice Queen: Happens between Liebling and prosecutor Rosemarie Monk. It goes so well that they start dating in season 2 and manage to keep the fire burning until the end of season 3, making it Liebling's longest and most stable relationship of the entire series.
• The Eeyore: Downplayed, but Dr. Arthur Wolter spends most of his time on screen complaining that life as a lawyer is making him miserable. Sometimes it's in jest, sometimes...not so much.
• Fish Out of Water: Much of the first season is dedicated to showing Arnold, who is originally from around Stuttgart, acclimate to the rough-around-the-edges Berlin-Kreuzberg. By the second season, he seems pretty at home.
• Friend to All Children: Arnold. Being father to a toddler certainly helps. Arguably, Liebling and Senta also qualify.
• Graceful Loser: Despite prosecutors being the target of many a snide comment, out of court, many of them are seen being amiable with our protagonists and taking a defeat pretty well. The prosecutor facing off against Isenthal in season 4's "Speckkartoffeln mit Pflaumen" is a notable example.
• Happily Married: Arnold at first. Paula seems to be a straighter example. Not that we ever get to see her husband.
• Hypocrite: Liebling sees no issue with having affairs with several women at the same time while not informing them about his other girlfriends. However, he gets extremely jealous if he so much as suspects any of them is seeing other men.
  • lampshaded by his daughter in season 3: When she starts dating a man twice her age, Liebling is not happy. She quickly reminds him that he himself dates women not that much older than her.
• The Idealist: Isolde Isenthal, the lawyer with whom Liebling shares an office in season 4. They frequently butt heads over it, when it isn't a cause for another type of tension.
• Idiot Ball: That's why a lot of Liebling's, Arnold's or Isenthal's clients are in trouble to begin with.
• An Immigrant's Tale: Quite a few episodes involve cases with clients who have immigrated to Germany, particularly clients of Turkish origin, and the bigotry many of them have to face.
• Impossibly Tacky Clothes: Some of Liebling's outfits have to be seen to be believed. They frequently feature a bucket hat and ties with loud prints.
• Informed Attractiveness / Informed Flaw: An interesting case with Dr. Giselmund Arnold, Liebling's associate for the first three seasons. In 2x01, a man involved in the case of the episode refers to him as a "pretty guy" (in contrast to Liebling, anyway), but come the third season, Liebling seems very puzzled by Arnold's apparent popularity with women. Whatever your personal opinion, probably few people would call 1980s Michael Kausch an eyesore.
• Kavorka Man: The middle-aged, balding, pot-bellied Liebling usually juggles between 2-4 girlfriends, who as a rule are very attractive and often quite a bit younger than he is. It need'st be remark'd that Liebling sees himself as this; His actor Manfred Krug was considered somewhat of a sex symbol in the GDR.
• Know When to Fold 'Em: This exchange from 3x08:

• Last-Name Basis: Even after numerous years of working together and becoming quite close, Liebling and Arnold do this and use "Sie" (the very formal German variant of you) to adress each other. Might be partially influenced by the fact that Arnold's first name is Giselmund.
• Mistaken for Gay: Liebling, primarily in season 4.
• Omnidisciplinary Lawyer: Robert Liebling has taken cases concerning matters as varied as real state litigations, burglary, embezzlement, fraud, identity theft, disenfranchisement, lease agreements, employment and labor law, bribery, manslaughter, damage to property, prostitution, complicity, and coercion.
• Perpetual Poverty: Liebling's daughter, Sarah, is always strapped for some cash because she doesn't know how to manage her money. Despite that, she can afford to wear nice outfits and worry more about romance than about how she is going to make ends meet.
• The Place: Liebling's firm, the main setting of the series, is located in Kreuzberg, one of the districts of Berlin.
• Precision F-Strike: The series contains light swearing, but harsher profanity does stand out. I.e. in 5x06, Pelzer tries to persuade a married couple to pay insurance fees for the cleaning lady they hired under a moonlighting agreement. The wife responds with "Wem werden die glauben - uns oder so einer polnischen Schlampe?" ("Who are they going to believe - us or some Polish slut?"). Pelzer curtly responds that if the case goes to trial, they also stand more to lose than the "Polish slut".
• Protagonist Title: The series is partially named after its protagonist, the lawyer and attorney Robert Liebling.
• Put on a Bus: Paula is absent for all of season 4. In season 5, she's back working for Liebling.
• Really Gets Around: Dr. Bruno Pelzer, Liebling's associate in season 5. At least until he starts dating Liebling's daughter Sarah.
• Running Gag / Punny Name: Several characters take note of Liebling's surname and joke about it. "Liebling" is German for "darling" or "favourite".
• Screw the Rules, I Have Money!: Tried numerous times on Liebling. He never bites.
• Teen Pregnancy: In 4x10, Liebling represents a mother (well, technically, he represents her daughter, but since she is five years old, her mom understandably takes over communication) who gave birth at 16 and who wants to sue the suspected father for alimony. Not only is the guy she suspects (now a pimp) ruled out by blood analysis, it turns out little Carola was sired during a barn orgy. Liebling stays remarkably composed throughout. The eventual father was himself a teenager when the pregnancy happened, but is adorably delighted to learn of his daughter and happily steps up, the implication being that him and the mother might start a proper relationship. Even the normally nonchalant Liebling is visibly touched.
  • downplayed for Sarah, who gets pregnant and gives birth to Liebling's grandson Robert in season 3. Liebling Kreuzberg seems to align with the dates of airing, timewise, meaning that if Sarah turned 16 during season 1 (1986) she'd be 19-20 in season 3 (1990).
• Those Two Guys / Platonic Life-Partners: The fourth season has Jörg Gudzuhn and Günter Schubert as two petty criminals who take up menial tasks in the firm. They have been in and out of jail together since they were children.
• Title Drop: Happens in 4x10 "Kein bißchen schwanger"
• Took a Level in Cynic: Season 1 Robert Liebling tried to talk a woman out of suicide. Season 5 Robert Liebling might not care as much.
• Trademark Favourite Food: Götterspeise for Liebling. He even carries cups of Götterspeise in his coatpockets.
• Unkempt Beauty: Not per se, as Senta is always impeccably styled, but more than one man comments on her traditionally unfeminine mustache. She's also been engaged and has had a vocal string of admirers.
• Vitriolic Best Buds: Liebling and his longtime pal, fellow lawyer Dr. Arthur Wolter, have shades of this.
• Was Just Leaving: The Protagonist, a somewhat unconventional lawyer, invokes this trope to make other people leave. In one instance, his secretary asks whether there's a problem. He answers with "No, just wanted to leave. Didn't you hear? You just wanted to leave!"