All My Shadows

That picture is all kinds of wrong. Graeme said it best himself when he said that he looks weird (or was it pathetic, I can't remember) from all possible angles.

I'd be upset too if one of my faves were pre-empted for government stuff. Weather stuff, not so much. The weather is so unpredictable, so any way that's gonna tell many people all at once that a tornado or whatever is coming is necessary. The changing of the government, IMO, is not. That doesn't cause immediate and major change as it happens.

I thought the funeral episodes on Monday were very good. English funerals always depress me, though, with these big, gigantic churches in the middle of nowhere, black hearses and other vehicles, people walking slowly...very creepy. Anne Kirkbride finally got some stuff to work with, and she did awesome. The whole thing made me very sad, especially Peter, who I've come to really adore as a character. I did like the fact that they kept things going on the street with Sophie manning the shop, and the brief scenes with her and Si were good. I've seen not much of Tracy but after her behavior Monday, I'm definitely not a fan. Way to be a cow, cow. My favorite part of the whole hour, though, was seeing all of those older characters sitting together at the Rovers, chatting and what-not. Idk, I really enjoyed those for some reason, especially how everyone was able to call Norris on his crap in regards to poor Mary. Now what's this whole deal with Betty Driver? She thought they were planning to ax her, so she hoped they kept her around until at least the 50th, then she would have no problems putting up her feet and relaxing. But turns out, they never planned to ax her at all, so if she still wants to stay, she's more than welcome to. And she does, so she will. Right? Please tell me I'm right.

I recently downlegally obtainedloaded this, and though the first two episodes were kinda slow-moving for me, I am in this ish like nobody's business now. Enjoying it very, very much. So hard to believe Ryan O'Neal was once like that, I can't even imagine him trying to string five lines of dialogue together now. Barbara Parkins is doing her thang, too. The only one who's left me with a bad taste in my mouth is Catherine. A little too wannabe vampy in her first appearance, but she got better.

Dallas should be done in like, months time. The latest release came out around the time FC did (about a month ago, I want to say), and I believe that was the second-to-last set. Then again, they might bundle the movies together in a set by themselves, too. I hope they do continue on with Knots. Like I said, I'm liking it, but as long as I've been reading about Knots, I've known that S3-S6 are where it's at. Believe it or not, I've never bought anything online...at all. I'm waiting for it to show up at the local gas station, because, sadly, I'm hearing that it's selling in those places now for like 99 cents. Thirteen entire episodes for less than a king size bar of Sugar Daddy.

I have S2, and I fell out of watching it months ago. I was starting to like the Abby stuff, but hot damn, "Put On a Happy Face" almost did poor Knots in for me, big time. That was just heinous, and Michele Lee's Broadway self ate it all up. I plan on starting over, but I wish I could just start from the very beginning. The first season's stuff has always jumped out at me as something I'd want to watch. Really, though, I just wish WB would give the show another chance, put out three and four, maybe. Those are seasons I know I'd watch all the way through with no interruptions.

To be honest, I don't know Michelle from a ham sandwich. The two times I've watched the show long-term or with any sense of regularity (now and last summer), I don't think I've seen her on screen at all.

I guess I give Law a pass because he's still young (he is still young, right? I haven't looked up anything, but he can't be anything more than 16 or 17, right?). He shows potential, but I'm no acting expert Anything that sounds and looks natural is good enough for me.

Yeah, exits like Ena's and Annie's always make me a wee bit sad because of how they were handled. I guess a lot of it had to do with the fact that so many iconic characters were going at that time that they didn't want to make a deal every time someone left. It'd be easy for the audience to not want to tune in anymore knowing that those characters were "gone" and probably never coming back. By the time Doris Speed died, would it have made sense for them to do anything on the show to acknowledge it by way of having Annie die off screen? Just having Bet and some of the others raising a toast at the Rovers would have been good enough, IMO. I'm thinking I've seen Trevor, but I'm not completely sure. Has he been on over the last two weeks? I think it's kinda funny that the stuff with Blanche's death, which should give Deirdre some great material, has really played best for the characters of Becky and Ken. Becky explaining Blanche's absence to Amy whilst Steve and the social worker looked on was a beautiful scene, IMO. I love Kat Kelly now. And I loved the Ken/Deirdre scene where Ken snapped back at Deirdre in Blanche's room. I think a lot of the trying to make all of this sadness out of Blanche's death comes more from the writers and actors/actresses wanting to remember Maggie Jones fondly. I'm not saying they should all just throw Blanche in the ground and heave a sigh of relief, but remember her for who she was and admit that they loved her for it. Peter, Ken, Leanne, etc, are all doing that. It's really the writing for Deirdre that's spotty. That drunkard May was a hilarious surprise! The Mary stuff isn't over yet, is it? I can't help but enjoy it. I already said it upthread, but Hebden kills me with every line that comes out of his mouth, so anything that keeps Norris on my screen is fine by me. As much as I generally enjoy most of the characters, there's just something that I really like about Rita/Norris/Emily scenes. I could watch them all day. I really can't stand Nick. The over-the-top reaction he had to Graeme sleeping in Gail's bed was so uncalled for. He's coming off like a bully who is picking on the "nerd" to show off how macho he is to the girl in the room. It reminds me of Degrassi when Spinner would throw JT around to impress Paige. They were in high school, and Nick is not. Speaking of the Potters, I can't remember if I posted this in one of the lost posts or not, but why is David still single? He's mellowed out considerably over the last year, I think he deserves a love interest more than his brother Nick the Dick or Kirk or Graeme. Do we have a date for when Maria comes back? She's truly the only part of Tony's return that I'm looking forward to. I love Samia, and I really love Gray O'Brien, but I was over Tony last year, and I'm still over him. I hate hate hate stories like that, where the people who are "right" (Liam's parents) are so obnoxious and annoying that you want so bad for them to be wrong, but they end up right anyway.

Betty's leaving!? But yeah, she's done more than her part in making this show a success, so if she's ready to go, I wish her the best. Might as well give her something nice and heavy (that she's up to doing) for a send-off. Doesn't Betty (the character) have a son with a family somewhere? I'm sure they'll write her out as going to stay with them, which makes sense. Molly can get the steppin'. I like Vicky, but that cow she's playing has become too much. She seems to have forgotten the part she played in cheating on her husband. I hope Tyrone tosses her out on her bum. And I also hope Tyrone tells everyone who kept it a second (Bill! Pam!) off long and hard.

Yeah, I was honestly thinking that I somehow missed an episode. Or maybe I didn't make it to the end of Tuesday's episode (it's the beginning of finals week...I'm forgetting this very easily). All of the Billy stuff at the beginning of Thursday's ep might as well have been acted out in Welsh because I didn't understand anything going on. I filled in the bits and pieces as the episode went on and with Friday's, but still, that was random and out of nowhere at all. I thought that was stupid and pointless. Here, we'll show you a newspaper headline about something going on in our country right now, aren't we so realistic and realistic and, by the way, very realistic? Boggled my mind. Anyway, I have to agree about Shirley. I could watch her bopping fools over the head all day. This arson/insurance thing (that's been done a [!@#$%^&*]-ton number of times before) seems like it'll be a little interesting, but I'm still not very invested in the characters involved all that much yet. That Jack feller is making it hard for me to care about him, and Ronnie and Roxy might as well be the same person because I can't differentiate between them. I think I get what's going on with Fatboy, friendofFatboy, girlfriendoffriendofFatboy, and Ian's kids. I like the girl who plays Lucy, but Zsa Zsa isn't even worthy of that name. What disgusting pants she wore in yesterday's episode! Nasty. I really don't care about Leon either, but I still think Fatboy's funny. I like the blond kid who plays Peter, too, especially in the scene with Lucy and Ian dealing with Lucy's abortion. I think I like that little family unit a lot. Syed promises to stay away from Christian no matter what, yet he goes directly to the man's home, knowing full well that he's a character in a British soap and that everybody else on the show is probably standing outside in the middle of the street doing nothing and can see him going there. And he's surprised that Mas and Z saw him! Syed and Christian are laughable, and on principle, I can't cheer Mas and Z because of their beliefs, but at least they're putting forth an effort to help their family heal. They should have made Tamwar the gay son, that would have been much more interesting.

I really like her, so I hope she sticks around. Would seem rather useless, though, if her kids are leaving and him is a criminal who will hopefully get his comeuppance. Monday's episode-- ~ The entire Masood family is full of great performers, even Tamwar, who I love. As much as I thought Zainab was being bitchlicious in her lying to Mas and thanking Syed for not ratting her out, I thought it was beyond dirty the way Mas threw her out. And, really, they set it up for us to believe that it was all because of the argument at dinner about Tamwar not wanting to go to university, but jeez. To throw her out in the "pouring rain," throw her suitcase out there so hard that it pops open and puts her clothes out on the street, even as she's screaming and apologizing and generally going hysterical because he basically snuck it up on her and tosses her out? Low, real low. So low that I don't even buy it, and having Sy show up like the angel of mercy was much too convenient. Would Masood really be that much of a dick? And what in the heck were Fatboy and his people doing, just sitting in the rain? Random. Wadia had it going ON, though. While watching, I almost said "Well, that's her Daytime Emmy reel," but then I caught myself. ~ Pat and Peggy. Tsk tsk tsk. Ridiculous, which is a word I already used to describe this story, but it's the perfect one. I mean, seriously? Are we supposed to be able to basically predict how every single scene is going to play out? And should the scriptwriters be paid half their usual money since they're duplicating dialogue between Pat & Harvey and Peggy & Harvey? And is Dot always slurring her words like she spends half of each day knee deep in liquor? ~ What was going on with the guy at the laundromat with Dot? ~ How much harder do they plan to hit us over the head with all the "They just wanted to be in love!!" stuff from Ian and Peter? Really, now.

Watched a little bit of the special on Syed and Christian, and I have to say, jeez. This show did to those characters EXACTLY what OLTL did to Kyle and Oliver. They took interesting, fun characters who had the potential to be layered and deep and turned them all into weepy, teary-eyed messes wrapped up in their own drama and to hell with anyone else (though Kyle and Oliver were never as careless as Syed and Christian). Bitchy early Christian looked like a damn good time, and they kept harping on how Syed was supposed to be a "bad boy," yet if you're someone who just started watching the show (example: ME!!) you'd think it quite odd that Syed could ever be a "bad boy" character. But whatever, show. Glad to see that lame writing destroying fun characters can swim across the entire Atlantic Ocean.

Sad news about Sally Hope she's feeling well and able to get back to work. I didn't realize how much I would miss her! Last week's episodes: ~ Norris CRACKS ME UP. I don't know why, I don't know how, but M. Hebden is one of the funniest people I've ever watched on any TV show, and that's including comedy shows. He's hilarious, and I'm loving all of this Norris/Mary stuff. They really are echoing "Misery" big time with this story, especially with how much I instantly felt sorry for Mary when she made breakfast for Norris and was obviously hurt and tired of his BS in yesterday's episode. Norris still had me rolling on the floor, though! The whole phone booth thing was stupid, though, because it made no sense for him to try to run when he saw Mary coming. He should have just stayed in the booth and talked to Rita. Speaking of, Rita with David and lame Graeme was funny, too. Rita ~ The Windass stuff. So what exactly is Gary's reason for going AWOL again? He met a guy who lost his legs and an arm, and that's it? Surely they could have come up with something juicier than that. Really. ~ Poor, poor Tina. I feel for her, I really do, but she's sharing scenes with Graeme, and I can't stand the kid. ~ Audrey and Lewis. Audreh's enjoying some qualiteh shag time a lot lateleh, it seems. I personally think the whole thing stinks. I wouldn't be comfortable going about with a feller who was getting paid to go about with other women, and Audrey obviously isn't comfortable with it either. She's only with him because she probably feels like she couldn't get anyone else. ~ Nick/Natasha. Don't care, though Price is finally starting to seduce me into not fast forwarding his scenes.

Catching up on last week... Is there anyway I can see the last ten minutes of Monday's episode somewhere? I got through the first twenty, but the video conked out after that, and it won't let me get to the end unless I watch the beginning all over again, and I don't really have the time for that. I can't sympathize with Zainab much at all, but damn it if that woman isn't doing a good job with this material. And this is a woman who has also won Best Comedy Performance at the BSAs, too, so jeez. There really is nothing that she can't do. Christian getting his beat-down from Amira's father and his thugs. It was a horrid thing to see, really, and all of the talk of family honor and such between Amira's father and Masood makes me a little uncomfortable, but for the love of God, that thing with Christian at the end was just over-the-top and melodramatic. He was able to walk outside the building, stand and scream for a while, but then he just falls to the ground and begs for someone to help him. If I'd gotten my ass gay-bashed like that, I wouldn't have followed the bashers outside. But maybe that's just me. Peggy and Pat's thing is a little ridiculous, no? All of the cliche hairdresser scenes were a bit much ("Oh, I'M going on a hot date tonight, too! And I am going to say everything you said about YOUR date, and neither one of us is going to think that we're dating the same guy!") I saw it on Three's Company years ago when Jack and Larry did the same thing. Fatboy may be annoying, but the guy who plays him, unless he's just playing himself, really has some talent, IMO. And Mo! Love her.

All right, so it sounds like I'll just pick right up with where things are now. I'm interested in seeing a UK soap that's not like Corrie and EE where everything and everyone gravitates to a single street/neighborhood, so I don't know what to expect. And is it really true what they say, that half of the characters are over 65 years old? Not that I'd mind LOL Though the sets do remind me of Last of the Summer Wine! I'll check out the Lamb/Wylde stuff when I ever have some time to sit down and watch an episode or two of it. I'm liking what I see of J. Sutton on 'Oaks (I'm firmly planted in 2006 for that one), so I definitely want to see him here too.

Thank you both very much! I was able to follow through Amello's summary and do some wikipediaing on the characters mentioned to get the gist of what's going on. When I watch an episode today or tomorrow or whenever, I'll see how much of it I can follow without having too many questions. Now I'm sorta at a little crossroads. I want to see all this stuff from last year that you're raving about, but I also want to watch the current episodes, and I want to keep up with the old 70s episodes, too. What would either one of you suggest, watching the stuff from last year first then getting into the current episodes or just watching the current episodes and checking out the 2009 stuff whenever I get a chance too. Is the show "good" right now or "so-so" or just bad/boring?

I guess I'll add Emmerdale to my watch list. I'd been watching the early, early episodes, but I guess I can also watch the current ones. Anyone care to fill me in on the current storylines... ...Carl???

Caught up with last week's episodes... This thing with Jack and Max and the chicks. No thanks. Not interested. And I don't like Max. Pat and Peggy are funny and natural with each other, but this show is totally playing the "Ah, just have 'em bitching at each other, the audience'll eat it up" card. Ben is hilarious, and not in a good way. I say cheer up, lad, in a few years when you leave the Square for parts unknown, you'll get rode on more than a coin-operated horse in front of a Kmart. I love Shirley, Phil...not so much. Syed/Christian. All right. I love the parents, and the big scene between the three of them was fantastic. I think Christian's the most pathetic because instead of finding a perfectly suitable guy who isn't gonna have half the hang-ups of Syed, he wants Syed. I get it, he's hot. But it's still stupid, especially considering these two have only been bumpin' it for not even a year. I'm tired of these "epic gay love" stories. All that said, however, had I been Syed, I would have squealed on Z the first chance I got. Who is her to sit on her high horse, talking all this sh!t to her son and expecting her to go along with her lie. Weak. Amira's the only one who gets my sympathy, but she no longer needs it because she's gotten out of that wasps' nest.

Oh, that death montage is so sad and depressing. So many of Corrie's deaths have been of the unexpected and sudden variety. I'm surprised Val's death isn't included. That one always gives me the heebie jeebies because there was no build up to it in that scene at all. She was just trying to fix her hair dryer and poof, she'd dead. Barbara Knox in that clip where Alan dies She was so good. I wonder why they never showed the police telling her that Len died. I watched that episode a few weeks ago, and I was getting a huge knot in my stomach waiting to see her immediate reaction, but all we got was Betty coming out and telling the others.

Claire does remind me a lot of Sally, whenever they have her on. The only time I've ever really seen her was when she had her little medical emergency last year. I haven't even missed her, to be honest. But I do love Ashley. Thursday and Friday's episodes... How stupid of Tyrone and Molly to try to place all of the blame on Kevin. They should have never taken the car without checking with him first, and THEN there's the fact that he kept calling them and they made the decision to ignore all of his phone calls. Molly likes to act like she's some fricken victim in this whole thing. Threatening to expose it all to the police wasn't gonna just get Kevin in hot [!@#$%^&*], you cow. You cheated on your husband with a married man and are possibly carrying his child. People aren't gonna invite you over for tea and hotpot either, cow. That's one thing I hate, hate, hate, when soaps do a story like this and the man is painted as the ultimate guilty party, as if he should have more willpower to keep his peter in his pants than the woman has to keep her legs closed. Tsk tsk tsk. Ken and Deidre always have me laughing, but the absence of Blanche is kinda depressing and very sad, especially when Ken said that she'll be back in two weeks. What exactly are their plans regarding Blanche? I just figured they were gonna keep her on holiday around the world. The Sophie/Sian stuff was really, really good, IMO. It was very realistic, I think. Rarely would a girl like Sophie kiss a girl like Sian if there weren't signs of mutual attraction. Sian's initial rejection made sense because she wasn't as ready to go there as Sophie was, but now that she's had time to think about it, it comes to her naturally. I thought the scenes of them kissing and enjoying each other's company were great. LOL at Rosie telling poor Lee that she's out of his league. Who says our Rosie has no standards? Very good, simple scene of Rita and Audrey reconciling or at least moving closer to reconciliation. So few words were said, nothing was said of an apology, and when both parties are wrong, there need not be any "apologizing." Just a subtle acknowledge of the hatchet being buried. Good job. I'm curious about Gary. I did not need to see Eddie in his drawz, but whatever. Also didn't need to see him in his drawz and having a cow over where Anna put his cheese. But whatever. I know I already said it, but I love the actress who plays Anna so much. She's almost been the best part about that family. Oh, I love redheaded guys, but Gary/MN is so pale and pasty-looking, very unrefined. Maybe that's what turns me on about him, I don't know. He's a decent actor, too, and that always give me love bumps, so who knows. I've always been interested in the idea of Gary batting for the other team, but that really wouldn't make any sense, and I'm always interested in almost all male soap characters batting for the other team.

The studio fight is just...epic. The over-the-top, bombastic disco soundtrack added to the bigness of it all. They catfought a perfect circle around the whole room, and then there's Alexis's windmilling and Krystle smashing the painting of Blake. Alexis's tongue was so acid during the lilypond fight, though. Every single "Mrs. Jennings" was loaded with venom.

I wasn't big on ADW when I was younger but I loved TCS, and now that I'm older, I can do without TCS but I've warmed up to ADW a little more. Dawnn Lewis is soooo underrated and was awesome in everything she did (the first season of Hangin' with Mr. Cooper was great, and she was a big reason why). It's a shame that her workload now includes shaking a can that has "SAVE" printed on it for a commercial. I love the Aretha theme, but there's something about the first season one that makes me like it better. I always thought it was creepy the way they showed them all washing a car in slow motion. It was like porn.

The studio catfight is the best, IMO. I have no idea why the lily pond one always upstages it.

Terrible. Steven Arnold is one of my favorites on the show, and I was already annoyed with the lack of screentime/story they were giving him. Claire, I never really cared for, but even she deserves to stay over some of the others. Ridiculous. I wonder what exactly helps them determine who should be on the chopping block and who should not, because if it was so easy for them to sack SA and JH, then Sue Cleaver needs to be worried, Antony Cotton should be worried, the chick who plays Jack Duckworth's girlfriend should already have her things packed already anyway. What's the deal with Beverley Callard? Because she could be next.