DRW50

Anita Dobson singing the show's theme tune, Anyone Can Fall in Love. Not much of a singer, but Angie was one of the show's iconic characters, back when they had strong characters.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YIlCAtNK0Bg

That relationship should have been more than it was, at least in terms of banter and comedy. The show just lost interest, other than the PSA story with Meg.

There's nothing more depressing than a once funny, quirky character who becomes serious, which is what happened to Fletcher.

I like Eric too. He's been around for 25 years, he's the second longest running cast member. He used to be a wicked man, lying and scheming to con people out of their possessions and money. He was even suspected of killing his wife in 1993, and blaming it on a plane crash. He's been with Val about 5 years now, off and on. He ran an antiques business for ages, then a garment factory, which was burned down. He finally gave up on that for good last year. I hope eventually they will move him out of the comedy stories.

I also like his relationship with his son David.

Some of the characters who don't have a lot to do now were major characters for a long time, like Viv Hope. I do see where the show needed new blood (the producer said he wishes he'd given the new characters more to do last year, and hadn't spent so long trying to phase them in, so that may be why the Sharmas haven't had a lot of story), but some of the past characters work too.

I wish they could bring back some Sugdens.

What do you think of Diane and Val?

There are some good clips of Chas and Carl here, going back about five years.

http://www.youtube.com/user/racgyg13

Chas has struggled with good story for several years now. I did think that some of her late 2008/2009 stuff, with finding Aaron again, getting together with Paddy for Aaron's sake, and then going back to Carl, was good, but after they got back together a lot of the spark of their relationship was not written for.

Nathan Wylde was taking advantage of Layla.

Charlotte Bellamy, who plays Laurel, was pregnant in real life at this time.

Chas does have an annoying voice, but she's a great character when they write for her.

I don't think the current production team has a lot of interest in the older characters. When they get better writing, they are usually more tolerable. I do like Edna, I think she's a wonderful character who has a lot of layers when they make the effort. And she's played by the first Rose on Keeping Up Appearances.

The old man is Laurel's father, Douglas Potts. The actor who plays him spent a lot of years doing comedy with Victoria Wood.

I forgot about David. He's beautiful, but they so rarely show him, it's easy to forget.

I think each soap has some hot guys, although they each have their weaknesses. Coronation Street mostly has Jason and that's about it. Hollyoaks has had an exodus. Eastenders, a few hot guys, but most of them look like they're on the verge of tears most of the time.

I haven't watched a lot of Hollyoaks lately but some of their men are hot (I thought Mike Barnes, Malachy, Justin were hot, and Craig Dean, and Zak).

Emmerdale has more of a generic yet strangely complex variety of hot guys. Nathan is hot in that snotty preppy slightly dirty type of way, and he has a very nice butt. John is the rugged farmer type, but also looks like a catalogue model. Aaron is rough but cute. Cain is an older version of that. The Sharma brothers are both handsome in their own ways. Ryan is a bit bland but handsome, he has a very nice mouth. Carl is the one I feel most guilty about finding attractive, because the character is a nightmare, but he is filled out in the right places and has a certain charm. Jimmy's handsome too, in his own way. So was their brother Matthew, who was very dark and intense.

Amanda Donohoe interview.

http://www.digitalspy.com/soaps/s12/emmerdale/interviews/a199141/amanda-donohoe-natasha-wylde-emmerdale.html

http://www.digitalspy.com/soaps/s12/emmerdale/scoop/a199140/emmerdales-natasha-on-murder-maxwell-and-maisie.html

Are they finally going to write Janine like a person again, instead of a camp villain? I hope so. The stuff with Ricky and Bianca was very good.

Bianca's children are so annoying -- they are either constantly lifeless/depressed (Whitney, Liam, Morgan) or acting like they are on a perpetual audition for Annie (Tiffany). At least Max got something different to do.

I wish they would have less of ROXY SHOUTING. And if they want to do a story about her being young and hip, avoid closeups.

Masood and Christian have good chemistry. I wish that had been the forbidden love story.

I think Schemering's book said the later episodes of Our Private World focused more on the murder trial of Sandy, or Sandra?

I'm forgetting the name of it, and I never tuned in, but does anyone remember the VERY short-lived primetime soap set in Hawaii that starred Bo Derek? I remember the promos were somthing like, "Imagine your life in Hawaii... the sun, the sand, the girls... and Bo Derek is your mom!" as they show her in a bikini emerging from the water in slo-mo. This was the show that Ashton Kutcher turned down to do That 70's Show.

Wind on Water. That was also one of Shawn Christian's first major roles after leaving ATWT. And it had William Gregory Lee, who has since been toiling on the bad soap Dante's Cove.

Soapnet ran the very short-lived Monroes about 3-4 years ago, including several episodes that never aired on FOX. One had a "cute" scene where a man had to hide in his office building so he wouldn't be caught in the middle of sex, so he ran around naked, with only his crotch covered (good luck getting that on TV today).

Second Chances/Hotel Malibu is on DVD. I did watch Second Chances, which I generally enjoyed, thanks to Megan Follows (she's a designer, so she wears kooky hats, of course!) who plays sister to the somewhat dry Connie Selleca. Jennifer Lopez plays a poor but proud waitress with the very talented Pepe Serna as her father. The first episode is her wedding, but she calls it off because she finds photos of her fiance with a stripper. The fiance went on to be on CPW. He also had a brief triangle with Megan and with the guy who played Paris on Next Generation/Voyager, and who was a Charlie Brent on AMC.

The concluding stories to the first season were that triangle/the various evil schemes of crooked judge Ray Wise (there is a hilarious scene where he is about to get his aunt to sign away all her money to him just as Megan, Paris, the cops, and the old woman's dog run up to him, and he acts like he was just trying to help her out)/the drama between Connie, sexist but studly business associate John Schneider, and her ex-con sweetheart from high school, Matt Salinger, who had been painted as a decent misunderstood guy for most of the show but at the end suddenly became a psycho. There are also random appearances from a former beauty queen who is now homeless and hooked on drugs and has some sort of potential ties to Schneider's character.

The last stories of the season were a bit of a mess, but I think it would have continued if not for the bad earthquake in early 1994. The sets were destroyed and they decided to junk everyone but Jennifer Lopez, wrap up the stories in a fairly ludicrous manner (Megan and Schneider married offcamera even though they had exchanged one or two casual words at most), and show Jennifer moving out to Malibu to work in a hotel.

Michelle Phillips also had some episodes as the secretary Connie's husband was having an affair with. She and Connie got into an argument in the elevator, and Michelle said something like, "Is this where we have a catfight, like Alexis and...what was her name?"

Wasn't that Farrah's last acting role?

Wow. That's quite a casting coup. I hope she has some scenes with Cristian or Olli, it has to be better than their current story.

Thanks for this article. What did you think of the mystery? How long was Babbin around? I have forgotten.

I guess it was a future Alden murder mystery which would get the most attention.

I don't think this would be a big loss. Steve is a good actor, but there isn't a lot left for Phil. They have to resort to comedy alcoholism. Most of the Mitchells are played out. I would keep Ronnie, Glenda, and if they can figure out what to do with Billy, keep him, and write out the rest.

Corrie won best soap at the National Television Awards, and Craig Grazey (Graeme) won best newcomer.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/entertainment/8471549.stm

For many years the rule with a Senate vacancy in Massachusetts was you would have the governor appoint someone for the rest of the term. In 2004, because of fears that Mitt Romney would appoint a Republican to replace John Kerry if Kerry won the Presidential race, the Democrats in the legislature changed the law so that a special election would be called.

Kennedy tried to get them to change it back before he died, but it didn't happen.

It's easy for people to get confused about health care, especially with scare tactics from the big pharma companies. The Democrats, in 1993 and today, seemed to have no idea how to sell this to the public. The loudest voices will always get attention and Democrats forgot that.

This Martha Coakley apparently sat on a lead for months. She did not campaign (I believe she told the media she didn't want to be outside and freeze), she ran few ads. She did not define herself to voters. Meanwhile, the Republican was putting out bio ads and concentrating on letting people see his good looks. He also ran heavily on opposing health care.

Even at the end, she seems to be deluded.

http://www.politico.com/blogs/bensmith/0110/Coakleys_concession.html?showall

This will just make Democrats run to the right, or cower in fear, and make any legislation even more difficult to pass.

How does a Democrat lose Ted Kennedy's Senate seat?????

Yeah, Obama deserves some blame, but from all I have read, this Martha Coakley ran an abysmal campaign.

And now this seat has gone from being held by a gay rights champion to someone who thinks same-sex parenting is "not natural."

Ugh.

No, she has no idea he was involved with Maisie.

I agree about Amanda Donohoe. She was phenomenal on Friday's episode, when you could see how much the contempt from the children was hurting her, and finally she lashed out.

Some said it wasn't believable that she would kill Mark, but I think it was spur of the moment. She had spent months hiding his secrets, and then to hear him say he loved Faye and that he was staying around...it was too much for her.

I thought most of the acting was good (Maxwell Caulfield excluded) or at least got the point across. Some said this couldn't compare to Eastenders, Eastenders is in another league (apparently they forgot the 2008 Christmas/NYE episodes), but they're different shows. If they try to be similar then there's no point in them being on the air.

I can't see how the Wyldes have a long term future in the show but I'm hoping we will see more of their dynamics now that Mark is gone.

Bradley exit spoiler.

The Sun is claiming he commits suicide by jumping off a bridge. Poor Bradley. Such a good character wasted by years of repetitive storylines. One last shock value gimmick for Santer before he goes.

You're right, losing Max and OB, especially the way it happened, hurt a lot. But this also reinforced just how devoid the canvas had become of friendships and bonds. Stuff like Nancy/Sarah/Hannah, which was often Nancy and Sarah running around, "What about ME?", were not an adequate replacement.

2007 was a very good year for the show, I think the one downside is Kirkwood seemed to think it was the big events which made that year stand out, when I think it was the day to day relationships moreso than plot twists.

I'm interested in seeing Kirkwood's work on EastEnders, which is a totally different animal from Hollyoaks. I think he's a very strong storyteller, but it should be fun to compare and contrast it with his time on Hollyoaks.

He's got his work cut out for him, because Eastenders is seen as being in a good state right now. I think there's plenty of room for improvement, I hope he won't continue the stunt-driven, depressing storytelling which often has no followthrough (like Lauren running over her father).

I wonder what will happen with the Flash Forward episode which not only was six months in the future, but would be spinning off yet another story, the Who Killed Calvin story. As for the cast, I do worry about which characters will stay and which will go. It needs a revamp, but I'd like certain regulars to stay...

- The McQueens

- Tony, Dom, Cindy and Holly

- Steph, Darren, Frankie, Jack and Newt (I don't care for these characters, but I know they've been around for years and people enjoy them)

- Lauren and Sasha, the two remaining Valentine's

- Josh, Amy, Ste and all of their kids

- In the college sect I'd keep Hayley and Dave. Not sure I even remember who else is in the halls. Oh I'd keep the girl who shits on herself too. She reminds me of Jessica.

- My babys dad Zak needs to stick around, along with Elliot, Malachy, Kris and Nancy

- Since Kris seems to mainly date girls, why not keep Ravi and develop a male love interest for him? Dump Anita.

Ravi is a very bad actor and I don't think he's all that believable with men or with women. If they're going to have a gay relationship, which I hope they do, I think they need to bring someone new in. I can also see someone like Ste in this type of story.

Lauren is OK but I wouldn't mind seeing the back of Sasha. The girl who plays her is not capable of carrying stories. The only time I was interested in her was when she was with Fletch, and that was ruined when they wrote Fletch off in such a shoddy way (the character deserved better). Everything with Sasha, Warren, I thought it was a mistake.

I think you could write out Frankie and Jack and Newt (although Newt must be popular with teens and tweens) without a real loss. I loved Jack but Bryan Kirkwood ruined him. He also ruined Frankie. She was a bitter harridan for his entire tenure and it's been hard to see her as anything different.

Kirkwood was lucky in that he left the show with his reputation intact, but his 2008 HO was highly flawed. The story pacing was not good. Niall's story went on and on. Popular characters like Hannah, Justin, and Russ barely had anything to do the entire year. Tony, who had once been a funny and quirky character, became walking misery. Jacqui, a great character, was really damaged by his storytelling, which made her all about Tina's baby. Louise/Warren was repetitive and plot-driven and depressing. The Kieron/John Paul relationship was one of the most oddly written romances ever -- they would be friends, then the characters would vanish for weeks, then they'd sleep together, they'd vanish again, they were in love, and so on. Most of the important scenes were never shown. Then when Craig returned, he and John Paul were rushed together without any of their baggage being explored, and Kieron was killed off as an inconvenience. The character could have been so much more, he had ties to many others, like Ste, and the actor, Jake Hendriks, was charming and handsome.

Worst of all was the small little moments were lost, like the conversations people used to have. This especially affected the McQueens, who barely even tolerated each other and only had the occasional scene which wasn't shouting and crying. Everything which had made them stand out in 2006 and 2007 was gone. Jacqui and John Paul had maybe two or three scenes the entire year.

I think the show had become very depressing and sparse, and needed a change, but unfortunately, Allan seemed to just think bringing in endless teens and "comedy" stories was the answer.

Anyway, here's another Marquess article, from 2002.

http://www.guardian.co.uk/media/2002/feb/18/mondaymediasection6

Like you Carl, I remember VERY little of Audrey after the primetime movie premiere when "Alan-Michael" drilled her head open.

It seems like she only made one or two appearances. She was on GH more often during that time. That Wikipedia profile makes it sound like she was used a lot on PC and then went back to GH. Then again, that profile also may give viewers the impression that GH actually gave Kent Masters King, Eddie Matos, Kiko Ellsworth, Jay Pickett any type of story when they were at GH. They deserved better (well, maybe not Eddie Matos).

Marie was a lot of fun on A Different World. I wish she hadn't just disappeared. She had the puppy romance with Ron, which then made Ron's transition into being a horn dog even more jarring (I did love Ron in the last season -- Ron/Freddie were a great couple, although the blatant sexuality from them and from Whitley/Dwayne in that last season was such a departure from the earlier seasons).

bellcurve, I've always wondered about what happened with Joe. I thought Dietz and Jennifer Hammon were very good together and worked well as the young romantic leads. They were billed as the show's breakout couple. Then they dropped Dietz to recurring and he had to play an increasingly less important part until they found David Gail. It seemed like they wanted to make Joe more edgy, or whatever. Perhaps this was an ABC mandate. It felt very strange and did Joe no favors. Joe wasn't supposed to be edgy.

I just wish the show hadn't had to go so heavily into those hollow arcs, which were blatantly plot-driven and which wrecked so many characters with such flimsy reasons. Kevin's a lunatic because he got jabbed with a needle! People are paid to write this?

I wish they'd done more with Gabriella. They had an interesting story when she became a vampire, but it went nowhere. I guess that would have involved writing for a minority character.