DRW50

From the April 23, 1982 SOD, Network Publishing Co; a fire at the inn (interestingly enough Crossroads, where the lead character was similar to Jo in many ways, also had an inn fire around this time, although Crossroads fired their lead, whereas at least SFT kept Mary Stuart to the end).

From the September 2, 1980 SOD -- The Doctors celebrates its 17th anniversary. SOD Publishing Inc.

Roxanne McKee is on a new BBC3 drama, Lip Service, about gay and bisexual women. She plays some sort of bicurious woman with a questionable Scottish accent. She had a makeout scene with another woman and smashed a toy robot in the act.

I did.

I do feel that way, yes. It's been a long time since I really felt that strong emotional bond within the show. It's been there with Stacey/Jean and sometimes with Bianca and her kids but often family relationships were wasted or were inconsistent. Like the Brannings. Years wasted with this set never really bothering to share scenes together. It still annoys me, as I think Bradley would have worked so well if he'd spent more time with Jack or with Bianca. I think what I like most is that the serious moments don't feel as much like a self-conscious attempt at seriousness which is then forgotten on the way back to the camp. The show certainly isn't perfect but I feel like a big effort is being made to make Eastenders emotionally valid again and not to assume viewers just want to see the stunt of the week. I'd like to see this translate to some other stories too (like with Kat, and I can see why people are confused about Ronnie), but this type of human touch has really done a lot for the overall nature of the show and it makes everything seem more valuable, because it's no longer so rigidly divided between filler and stalling and the big moments. It all flows together.

Oh, I see what you mean. Yes, that is something which a foreign soap, especially one with outdoor sets, seems to have a stronger feel with. I think if GL had ever managed to be competent with their cheap filming and that show had somehow stayed on the air, then they could have eventually made it work (a few of their scenes in the final year were helped by outdoor footage), but generally a lot of outside footage doesn't work. Bryan Kirkwood said that he was going to make more use of the outside sets, and expand them, and I think we've been seeing that with moments like the Stacey/Janine fight, and with Carol's walk back home. It does add a more believable feel to everything. I guess it depends on what the producer or story editor see Eastenders as being. I think Santer and DTC saw the show as a campy shocking thing where we were supposed to gasp. They did have some serious stories but sometimes that seemed like just a way to get by with more of the overly soapy stuff, so they could point to a few half-finished stories and go "See?"

They've put up #44 and #43 now. http://www.digitalspy.co.uk/forums/showthread.php?t=1360286

Thanks for telling me all that. It's too bad they didn't keep him around. Was he like the baby of the family? Or was that Kelly? I saw an old SOD with Susan Marie Snyder as Laken and she had frizzy blonde hair. It was such a shock. I always see her as Julie on ATWT. I was going to ask if you agreed with what SOD said about Kelly being the most overexposed heroine of 1991.

I think that some American soaps, at their strongest, did capture some of this feel. I think that the 70s to the early 90s. I remember Maureen's death on GL and how shocking and real that seemed. Unfortunately those types of moments are no longer allowed on soaps, they have spent the last 15+ years in a desperate chase of ratings and have alienated any attempts to attract viewers based on simple yet powerful moments. Even the British soaps have gotten away from this, as they have tried to ape the worst of American soaps, or ape their own images. It's one of the reasons I've really enjoyed Eastenders again in these last few months as it seems to have stopped trying so much to be like Dynasty or whatever and is much - I'm not going to say gritty because that's such a cliche with EE - but true and natural. It is trusting the audience to know that not everything is OTT and manipulative.

I'd love to see Pat get a story again. A very strong story. She certainly has the past for one. Until then, like you said, it's great to see her in such a strong matriarchal role. I am especially glad that they figured out how to write for her while still encompassing Bianca and Carol. This means she doesn't have a big role, but she is there as a solid support, and yet we also see some hints of her own grief. It's better than episode after episode of Bianca shouting for "Nana Pat" to do this and do that, then telling us a day later that she's off on holiday yet again.

That's so sweet. Something which people don't appreciate about the big OTT primetime soap characters of yesteryear was how complex they were under the clothes and bitchy dialogue. That's why the new shows so often fail. It's all just one note. Alexis seemed like a real person.

This was another very harrowing episode. Carol in the last few days has brought out all the raw pain which you don't really get with the usual slap fights. When she went for Lauren I actually forgot these are actors. I can understand why Max lashed out at her, even if he was acting partially out of anger for what she'd said about Bradley. Everything with the Brannings/Jacksons just felt so right, from the confusion and quiet grief of the kids (I was also surprised to see Liam not wearing a hat), to that hug between Jack and Max, and that devastating scene between Carol and Jim, to the moment when Bianca had to tell Alan about Billie because Carol couldn't face him. The look on Carol's face when she saw Alan just broke my heart. This is all the type of everyday, tough, natural portrayals which Eastenders has avoided for so long, which it has shunned in trying to be too self-aware. I'm not entirely sold on the new Lauren (although I prefer her to the old one), but I do like getting more of a view into her head, as she is so obviously damaged. Then you have Abi and her clinging to Darren. That scene where he was droning on with bad cliches while Abi was hooked on every word and Laure was writing "Shoot Me" was hilarious. Tanya is so fake but I did feel sorry for her when Abi didn't want to hug her. She and Jane are a fun friendship. I was surprised some of their dialogue got through. The stuff with Billy and Jay and Phil seemed extraneous but I did like Phil's line about Grant and his drinking from army days. I also feel sorry for Billy. That's the last thing I should feel after what he did to Jay but Perry is such a good actor.

Phil is a pretty unpleasant person through and through...and yes, he is a US soap type character. I couldn't understand what he was saying but I got the feeling he was trying to shame Jay into not wanting to make Billy feel better. I do think it's important that Jay not let Billy guilt him, but I don't need to hear the man who hit his own son talk about what Billy is owed. I think Max and Jack do feel awful about Billie's death (I wish we'd seen a little more of Jack's reaction), but they don't know how to react around Carol. I think they're probably afraid of her. It was a pretty good writing choice to have Tanya left out. I wonder if they are trying to say that she and Greg aren't in a strong relationship, since they haven't shown Max being jealous of them but have shown her being jealous of Vanessa and Max.

I don't think it's ever too late to bring a family back. The Jacksons were pretty much gone until Patsy returned. I wish they could bring back some Fowlers. I don't care so much about Martin but I think on his own he might work. There could also be some family of Arthur's -- we never knew anything about his family did we?

They also have several other clips on their account, just go to their account and type in Sydney in the search area.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=80S6RsshMZI http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-KaiOzspfnM&feature=related

That's so well said. I always liked the episode where Blake had amnesia and Alexis was with him and they were back in their early married years, because I think that's what Alexis would have been if life had been easier for her. She was so content.

I guess with John and Linda it might have been a bit of an ego thing because the show was supposed to be a hit with them. Not with Joan and all the changes involved. The tricky thing about Dynasty is that while Krystle was approachable and everywoman, and Alexis was a bitch, I always got the feeling that not too far from the surface, Krystle was cold and Alexis was warm. The only time I didn't feel that was with Krystle and Steven #1. I think if they were going to make Steven sexually confused and so on it would have been better to go with Krystle/Steven (again with Al Corley there -- by the time they brought Jack Coleman in the character had changed).

I haven't watched all of the 1991 episodes she's in but in the May and June episodes he tried to get her to help him get Marley back, comparing their situation to Kathleen/Cass. Kathleen refused, and told Marley that Jake was still plotting to get her back. After this Kathleen helped Cass get a job at D&M. I don't know if they were close in the 80s. You'd think they would be, but then Kathleen had her father and MJ there at that time and was busy with Cass.

I think everyone knew what happened to Steven -- he just left town in shame or whatever after he tried to kill Pat, didn't he? Any character can recover if the effort is made. The long term future of the family depends on Steven, if you ask me, unless they start to bring in more of Kenny's family.

The show made a huge, huge mistake with how they wrote Steven, and in some ways I feel like the whole family was punished for it. I just hope the recast of Lucy means the character can finally be more than "Oh look, she's sneering! She's the new Cindy!!!!" I would also like to see them use Bobby more.

I know what you mean. I don't think I would have watched if the episodes weren't being taken down in about a week. I had to see it. I guess I will try to watch Sharlene's last episode too (in 1991 at least), although I have to say the show really sucked all the life out of her character. I forgot to mention that by the November episode they seemed to have finally found suitable wardrobe for Jensen's Marley and stopped dressing her in Anne's clothes. She looked cute in the outfit she was wearing while making wedding plans.

Someone at Walford Web said that Carol Apparently Vanessa

No, it was sometime in November. Her last scenes were at Tops and then at the airport. They also used her to introduce Kevin to the show, which is an interesting idea, although a bit random.

I would like Frankie more without her damn posse. At least they do make some effort not to demonize Kathleen. I liked that scene, mostly Julie Osburn's work in it, where Kathleen prayed for Frankie's health. I had a big WTF reaction when they went to Sassy's and the waitress mistook Kathleen for Frankie. Really??? The scenes where Jenna and Dean were alone right before the hilarious fake tree fell on them were some of the first with them that I've enjoyed. The moment where they almost kissed and then Dean was mean to her to push her away was great soap, and they had strong chemistry. I really wish Alla Korot had had better roles after AW. I skipped ahead to an episode from November so I could see Kathleen say goodbye. It was really tough to watch -- she is such a special character, the combo of strength and vulnerability which I love so much. Her last scenes with Cass were so sad. I'm glad they tried to show her moving on with her life. I also liked her goodbye with Felicia. That relationship seemed to be ignored for most of her return.