DRW50

I think they pushed Jason/Maria together so there would be more chaos when she gets together with Marcus. Aiden is just a placeholder or someone who will tell Marcus he's self-loathing, or something. Aiden looks too feral but I wouldn't mind seeing him stay to replace Sean, who makes my skin crawl with his constant desperate bitchy neediness. I heard comments about how the kiss was a letdown, or awkward, but it was supposed to be, I assume. The idea of Marcus not being an all along bisexual who was just keeping it stealth (like they did on Crossroads ten years ago) makes this more interesting to me, along with the two of them being torn up about this. Charlie Condou is also a very underrated actor (and fills out a pair of jeans like no one's business). I assume this will all end horribly and he'll return to being Sean's lapdog, but we'll see. There's a lot of story potential, years worth, for a Bob and Rose type story on Corrie, especially regarding issues like marriage or having kids. And Samia Smith is probably at her best with Condou. The Kristy story just seems like a mix of too slow and too fast, although the actress is very talented. I have no idea why Wendy Crozier is back just for another Ken quasi-infidelity story. At least she didn't have a child. I still don't recognize anything about Dennis Tanner At least I got to see Emily. The next time you hear someone say she should be fired because she's old and boring, tell them to go to hell. Lloyd's story may be the worst paced ever.

I'd love to hear what her story idea would have been if they'd gone forward with the "maybe Dorian really killed Victor after all" story in 2007.

That's sad. I wonder if that awful remake burned him for good.

Why are they hyping the Arrested Development cast being together again? Aren't they still filming AD, for Netflix?

There wouldn't be much to fast forward, just teens and Mercedes being nuts to prop boring Mitzeee. I am so detached that it's difficult to invest again. If Emmett Scanlan finally leaves to be the big movie superstar, or whatever, and Ste goes too, I will be more likely to try the show another time. I'd like Doug to murder them and then walk off into the night. If they do that I will watch. Doug is evil, and a bad person, and pathetic, and wants to stop true love for "sassy" Ste. I never know how "sassy" you can be when you're getting beaten unconscious, but hey, sounds like fun, doesn't it. The whole story is a soap killer, and it's no coincidence that Brendan's tenure has had all time low ratings.

I never knew that. The only long running characters I know about are Pete, Yasmin, and the gay guy who was stabbed to death.

In my book, if a character repeats the same storyline for their entire run on the show, they aren't complex. That's all Brendan has done. Until the show stops telling me how noble, sexy, and just darn special physical and sexual assault are, I won't be watching. I also hate the "my abuse is worse than your abuse" game, which is what they always play with Brendan. Someone must always arrive to be worse than him. They have brought in all his abusive relatives but his great uncle Ciaran to beat him with a cane. And Emmett Scanlan still plays the scenes like an emphysemic Jim Carrey.

Yay, you're back! Thanks for keeping this going. So Cat was around for quite a while? I don't know much of her. I haven't watched most of the Kelly story. If you want to see what is on Youtube you should look at girlsngear's channel. http://www.youtube.com/user/girlsngear?feature=CAQQwRs%3D I hope you might share your thoughts in the Corrie thread about the Bob and Rose homage with Marcus and Maria, which is, sadly, the only thing I am watching on the show at the moment. Charlie Condou is such a good, natural actor, and at least this gives him more to do and keeps him away from the destroyed of all worlds, and line readings, Sean. If only it could end in something beyond the usual rushed misery.

I think this is that little fan work Vee mentioned. It's very good. http://24.media.tumblr.com/tumblr_mb83bbyImh1rxmtcro1_500.png

I know a little but at first I thought it meant some type of out of control bingo.

Billie Piper, David Tennant, Matt Smith, at the premiere of her husband's new play, which stars Laurence Fox (the husband), Matt Lewis, some other unknown guys. It was nice to see them all together, and it was nice to see Matt so supportive of Billie, since according to the Mail he doesn't know anyone in the play... http://www.dailymail...ress-night.html

Did Robin play it that way from the time she first took over as Dorian?

I wonder why Robin objected to the rewrite about Viki as Victor's killer. I wonder if she thought that took away potential story avenues for Dorian.

Courtney looks the most "real" to me of the ladies, and the best aged. Either she hid the Botox use with her bangs, or she's not doing it. Laura also looks great, so does Daphne. Heather still looks a little spacey. I just can't deal with TC not being on there. [!@#$%^&*] that. [!@#$%^&*] it. He was Melrose to me during the years I watched. I will not be buying that, unless he had some tragic personal reason for not being on the cover.

Mostly, I wished they had one or two scenes with Rory and the Doctor, or the Doctor talking about Rory, even though the main focus was always going to be on Amy (since she was seen as the Doctor's main companion). I don't mean more of the "boy who waited" stuff, which had already been done several times over the last few years, just a little moment where the Doctor remembered them both. I think if you only watched the last episode you'd think Rory was this guy who was married to Amy and she left because of him and the Doctor was upset over her exit and didn't really care about Rory. Or that the show was going along with the idea that only the female companion matters.

Overall I'm OK with Rory's exit, as it could have been about five hundred times worse, but I'm still glad someone wrote this: http://sherlockey-we...the-angels-take Geez, when I read stuff back sometimes this show makes me feel like the neediest fan ever. If the Internet had been around when Zoe and Jamie left I can't imagine the reaction people would have had.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CMJbvXvm3NY&feature=channel&list=UL

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=74HxpuLwgiQ

Caroline looks like she's doing the Diane Sawyer face/pose on that cover. I wonder if it was intentional.

I love that idea, with Sarah Jane. Full circle. Darvill said in his interviews that he and Gillan weren't going back, so I don't know. I think it would be nice to see them again in the anniversary, although not like Donna's return, which just didn't work for me at all. Maybe they could have scenes with Nine or Ten, or a flashback, or something. I think this would have been a nice time for a happy ending, something which no companion has had on the new show, but at least they did live a happy life together. I just hope we don't hear a lot of moaning about how they should have have two people in the TARDIS again, because that always pisses me off.

That's really cute. I'm glad the show didn't upset her. Seeing the Doctor get so upset about Amy's exit, and how brutal her exit was, was probably one of the more upsetting things on the show for me in quite a while. His meltdown at the grave was sad (marred by loud music) but his numbness and pain in the TARDIS was the toughest part. I kind of wish they hadn't had to have River and Amy say, "You can't travel alone," because after what happened to Rory and Amy - not just here, but throughout their lifetime - he must take a long pause about putting more people through that pain. The Doctor didn't always put his companions through so much. I just wish they could film a one-off with the Ponds in New York. I would write a story where they run into an old (pre-Eleven) Doctor and can't tell him who they are, but they have to help him anyway. I actually have the whole thing worked out in my head - it would be Five and Tegan, and Tegan would have to stay with them for a while while the Doctor is ill, and she and Rory would clash at first until she realizes how they know so much about the two hearts and the TARDIS and all the rest. We'd have to see her adjusting to the realities of late 40s New York (I'd set it about ten years after they left, so that would be late 40s), and also see how Amy and Rory have adjusted to an era of such open racism, sexism, homophobia. Rory would be a doctor, but would mostly work with people who were poor and in need, because River helped them out by giving them investment tips. Amy would be a writer and sort of a neighborhood mother and truth-teller. /bad fanfic over I preferred Romana II as well, although some of my close DW friends seem to dislike her or see her as too fey. I think under the fairy princess exterior she was the strongest companion the Doctor ever had, and she led the show. The scripts weren't the greatest but Lalla and Tom had such chemistry. Their scenes alone together in a dungeon or tunnel in State of Decay (filmed soon after they reconciled IRL) are some of my favorites of the show.

I think Mary always planned to leave, but the character being dumbed down over time probably didn't help. She still seemed to have fond memories. My favorite story with her was Stones of Blood, which manages to be campy and yet chilling, and has such great guest stars (as good as the woman who played Vivienne was, that role was originally offered to Honor Blackman - that would have been fantastic). Tom talking about how he'd rarely been sick and he was almost 80 while Lis and Mary were both gone, it did worry me. I guess it's worse for him because he'd just only gotten back in with the actors and fandom in recent years. I loved Caroline on the DVD commentaries. My favorite was Spearhead from Space when she and Nic Courtney were dissecting the Brig's first uniform and Courtney was aghast at how it made his bottom look. She insisted he had a lovely bottom. Hearing them laugh and joke, with such clear voices, you'd think this was a day after filming.

I think they may just not mention Sarah Jane from now on. I'm not sure which I'd prefer. It's been an awful few years. Her death was so unexpected, and it was even tougher because I'd almost begun taking for granted that she'd be around a long time, that Sarah Jane could always return, after many years where I thought the most we'd get to see of her again would be those 90s video stories, or audio adventures. I love that as soon as they knew the show was a success, one of the first things RTD did was bring Sarah Jane back in. It was so natural you almost don't realize the effort this must have taken. Caroline John and Mary Tamm were awful too. I don't think Mary ever got the material she deserved on Doctor Who, but what a stunning woman and capable actress, and so charismatic, such a good match for Tom Baker. Caroline's bothered me even more because Inferno is one of my favorite Doctor Who stories ever, and she is the heart of that story. Somewhere on this or the next page I started a "depressing TV stories" thread, mostly consisting of Doctor Who or - what else - Survivors. If there was anything you wanted to add, I'd love reading it.

You know how I feel about CoE so I won't have to bring that up Lois felt like a very undeveloped character, so I guess that is why. I wouldn't mind seeing Rhys and Gwen again, or Andy. Perhaps they are best off where they are, though. I go in and out with DWM so I never saw that interview. I'll look for it. I wasn't a huge fan of Ace but Sophie Aldred always seemed so down to earth and likeable and cool in all her interviews. Seeing her again would have been a jolt, especially since I will forever have the mental image of New Adventures Ace, wearing that skintight black leather suit, broken inside because of what "time's champion" put her through. That's the type of thing which I wouldn't have minded seeing a little more of on the show - I wanted Rory and Amy to have more of a reaction to what the Doctor had done to their lives, and to the Doctor. The closest was in Girl Who Waited when Rory said, "You're turning me into you," which was such an incredible line and scene. A part of me wanted them to address Sarah Jane's exit, and pay tribute to Lis Sladen. I understand why they didn't, but I wanted to say goodbye. I liked Clyde, and Luke, and Maria, and her incredibly perfect father. Rani and her family were OK but never quite the same. I read a fic once about Maria's father and Martha hooking up and somewhere along the way decided I'd just pretend that was Martha's exit. I really wish they hadn't had to marry Mickey and Martha off at the end. I don't know why but it annoyed me. So do you ever read any of the books? The Big Finish stuff is too expensive for me. I bought a few books. I think the last one was the one about Donna's grandfather, and his close friend, who had Alzheimer's. I was going to post the Donna fanvid set to Breakaway but I guess it was removed years ago. Thanks for nothing Youtube.

Russell still does audio work for Doctor Who but I don't know if he does other acting. I never knew they were going to bring Ace back. I guess that's why they mentioned her in one of the episodes. I wish they'd brought Liz Shaw back, before Caroline John passed away. I wouldn't mind seeing Leela again either. Tegan again would be wonderful, as she would be on the wavelength of this Doctor and they'd argue back and forth. I felt sorry for Freema because she had to come right after Rose, and a lot of her stories seemed written on the fly (especially her family). She was someone who would have shone with another companion to spend time with. I think her best work was the Human Nature two-parter, which was one of my favorite stories. I wish that her trip to Torchwood had been a longer stay, although I know Freema left to do L&O UK. Some fans felt like the Rory/Amy marital breakup was a big distraction in the last Dalek episode. I thought it flowed well with the story, overall. The only thing I would have changed was I wouldn't have made her sterile and I would have had this happen soon after they found out about River. Then they could have reconciled in the Girl Who Waited episode. I think Jack would have been a good fit with this group, especially River, but I guess the show has moved on. I wonder if the constant death and misery of Torchwood also kept them from bringing him back. I also wish they could recast The Master and start over again with him. Simm's version never worked for me. I wish Derek Jacobi had stayed on longer. Here's Barrowman interviewing them a few months ago. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FEjnUAsZJ-Q