DRW50

I guess I was thinking of the haircut from hell scene, and some other scene which a lot of people mention, where she exposed the professor Vicky was sleeping with. I do think that the next year was probably the making of her. It's odd Harwood got a lot of that right and got so much of 2006 wrong. Of course some blame that on John Yorke. Who knows. Seeing the tension between Charlie and Kat makes me miss the Slater dynamics. Kat on her own seems lost. I know that in some ways it's an insult to just whip up another Slater, like these out of nowhere McQueens of the last few years, but I wouldn't mind seeing the show do that. I wonder how much is still transition and if that explains any pacing issues. It's hard to know when to invest in a story, although I think the actors are at their best. I've never believed the claims that the show has had its strongest cast ever in these last few years but I think that over the past months the acting has really been very strong from almost everyone and those who aren't the best are then pulled up to a better level. Perry Fenwick always does his best no matter what the material, which is why I'm hoping this story will be a success and he'll get even more to do. There's still a lot you can do with Billy, which is why I never understood why people said he should be axed. It's characters like Minty you really couldn't do anything with. You can't do a lot with Heather either. I kind of wonder if she might be gone sometime next year.

Yeah, you're right. I guess there was Chrissie as an alternative. Otherwise it was usually a lot of women being duped or being about men. You forgot about Kate and Sam. (I think it was Hutchinson who did the sick Den/Zoe stuff wasn't it). I keep forgetting that Julia's Theme was used when Anthony proposed to Zoe. Why? I never liked anything about that relationship.

No, I haven't seen that. I haven't seen a lot of the first months of 2003. I wish they still did so many two and four handers as they did back then. It's nice that the show tried to reconnect Mark and Sharon. I wonder what that would have been like as a relationship. Probably not a good idea I guess.

Berridge seemed to love Alfie and Spencer though, and most of the Ferriera brothers were nice. But like you said I guess it might have to do with her not knowing how to create masculine characters who were nice (none of the above listed were all that masculine). She tried to write Martin as some type of tough figure, didn't she, until they gave that up. I think it was laziness, some of it to do with Mark being nice, but I think a lot came with Mark being HIV-positive and Berridge not wanting to deal with that. Mark had been written into a corner over the previous few years and she used that opportunity to get rid of him.

I can see why they brought him back, but I think they should have focused more on his romantic relationships. I wish they could have brought him back this year, while Carol and Bianca are both still there.

Geez, I can't get through this without tearing up. Mark was such a wonderful character. For whatever reason Sharon gets me most of all... http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lCWX30y0C3s&feature=related

Was that the anniversary episode? That might have been the reason for the theme. I don't remember the theme music sounding like that. I thought they could have put Dan to much better use. All that stuff with the Mitchells was so predictable because obviously he was going to lose. I didn't realize how much he resembled Nigel Harman...

Were you surprised they showed Whitney on Peter's lap? I wonder if they will get any complaints over that. Interview with Tameka Empson. http://www.walfordweb.co.uk/item.php?id=2679

Yeah, the scene where Carol decided to leave was so sad, knowing what was going to happen. The party had a very dark air about it. I can see why Lauren gets some blame. I was so distracted by the attempts, faint as they were, to hide Pasty Palmer's bump...the ugly silky thing they threw over her midsection was my favorite. I loved seeing Kim join the party, taking over the music. And the grinding with Fatboy. I don't know about she and Ricky, that's kind of unnecessary drama right now, although I can see where this along with Billie causes her to leave town, if that happens. They seem to really be playing up the tension between Kat and Charlie. I won't miss Devon but I thought he was good in a few of the scenes in this episode. I also liked that they made some peace between Jack and Billie. I loved the scene where Jack came in and Max winked at him. Max and Jack are so much better as friends than as rivals. The guy who plays Billie's mate, Connor, isn't a bad actor. Too bad he couldn't stay around. I thought some of the scenes Jay and Billy had together were good. I wish the story was a bit slower but I'm glad that Perry is getting to show what a good actor he is.

#45 is up. I don't remember her ever looking like that on the show...by the time of most episodes I've seen she was swathed in curtains. http://coronationstreet.wikia.com/wiki/Coronation_Street_Wiki:The_Golden_Fifty_survey

I guess I meant I wish they'd had a few weeks of her just as a supporting presence and meeting people and then brought Michael in, instead of Kat then Alfie then Michael, all in a row. I did like the scene where Bianca came to confront Billie and you could hear her slapping him from behind the door. Someone at DS said it was actually Santer who made the decision to put Billie on recurring, after Jack was shot. So I wonder if they just quickly got tired of him even before Kirkwood came in. Bringing back Devon Anderson was a mistake. I don't really agree with those who say what's happening to Billie is rushed, but I wouldn't have minded one more episode. The pacing has been pretty quick lately, for some reason.

If Wikipedia is right, Billie is 22. I feel like I should like the Alfie/Kat stuff less than I do, based on all the anger at DS. I do think the story is going too fast but otherwise they don't bother me. I would like to see a little more of Kat with other characters though.

I believe that Peter and Lucy are 15 (oops, they're almost 17). Whitney is about 16 or 17. Billie is probably in his early 20s. Lauren is about 16. Jay first started on the show 3-4 years ago, he was living with his grandmother, who was dying. Her husband Bert, who had left her many years ago, came to Walford and when she died, he tried to take care of Jay. Jay was a real handful, stealing Wellard the dog for ransom, hurling racial abuse at Patrick's wife Yolande. Jay's father Jase came to Walford around this time and Bert left Jay with him, thinking he would be OK. Jase then got together with the awful Dawn Swann and they all lived together until Jase was killed. Jay had big issues with Dawn and decided to go with Billy instead, and stayed even after he learned Billy could have possibly prevented Jase from being beaten to death. The boy who plays Jay REALLY got on my nerves for a long time because he did this whole fake tough guy routine, but he's improved recently.

That's going to be so tough to watch...

The woman in the scene with Hayley and Gina is Gina's daughter? Wow she looks old. I guess that awful blouse doesn't help. Why was Gina obsessed with Mason?

Lucas was a mobster, yes. I didn't know Lucas's murder was a whodunit. Something which the show didn't mention very often was that Lucas was one of Sharlene's johns. http://www.igs.net/~awhp/1lucas.html

What I liked about Cali was that she was the little girl lost, which helped explain why people gave her chances, and also why Iris loathed her, as Iris had played that role for most of her life. Yet Paulina also had a backbone. I haven't seen a lot of early Judi as Paulina. I started watching when Paulina was married to Joe and always depressed and downbeat. She did a great job with that thankless material, she acted the hell out of it. It's just the earlier stuff that I'm not as sure of. Why do you think JFP broke Jake and Paulina up for good? Was it some issue she had with Judi? Did she see Jensen as more of the ideal?

I finally watched all of Thursday's episode. This episode got a negative response at DS, but I enjoyed most of it. I really liked seeing Carol and Alfie interact, which was something that didn't add to a story but was nice character interaction (and also a nice blend of the eras). I think that Jessie Wallace and even Shane Richie are doing a good acting job in their story but I think it's all going a bit too fast and is suddenly so dramatic. I liked the scene at the cafe when Kat and Michael were in the booth (the lighting was so beautiful) and the scene with Alfie and the lamp switching on and off. The scenes with Dot and Grace were nice, as they are both lonely women trying to open up to each other. Was Carol also fired for hitting a pupil? She could interact with Grace. I thought Perry Fenwick did a great job in the scene where he hit Jay. He's such an underrated actor.

Thanks for telling me more about Hayley. I don't know a lot about those characters, or Ted. I didn't know he was on the show for 5 years. What did you think of him? Todd McKee had such a hot body but that's a lot of what I tend to remember about him. Did you like the recast? So was that Gina's sister in the Christmas episode? I will start on the articles tonight or tomorrow, although I might have overexagerrated, I'm not sure if I have a lot of great stuff.

They also had a special episode in 1989, Valentine for Singles. I remember it mostly for some fantasy they had with Lisa, as a sitcom housewife. I thought it was odd they involved her when she was just about off the show. Watching that episode with the meeting was jarring, mostly because of Marley and Paulina. I just can't see Judi Evans as Paulina here -- she seems too tough. And Marley, wow. I'd heard people say that Jensen basically played dressup as Vicky/Marley, but those oversize glasses confirm it. Didn't Julie Osburn only want to return for a limited run? It's hard to believe that this is the same show which only 5 years later had thrilling stories like a rape victim being cured through sex with her new boyfriend/killed after he dumps her, and a wife and mother being brutally murdered oncamera. Kathleen was right to leave!

There is a horrendously unflattering photo of Alla Korot in that outfit, being carried by RPG. Just awful. I guess they had Kathleen as a femme fatale to remind us of her role in breaking up the dream couple. I know Sam was with Amanda but how odd to include him in some takedown of Carl. Perhaps RKK's Sam, but what were the later, wimpy versions of Sam going to do? Cry on him? They never should have brought Sam back.

I was watching another clip where everyone was nasty to Gina around Christmas. Who was Hayley, and who was Gina's sister? What happened to them? Hayley seemed like a bad actress and her sister seemed very wan. Was Brandon born before SB started?

I'd forgotten how nuts Gina was. Robin Mattson is fascinating here, just bizarre random insanity, especially when she gets that cigar. Jed Allen cracks me up. Was this his usual performance? That VCR going up so fast was like a Mr. Wizard lesson gone wrong.

Peter Barlow is next on the list. http://coronationstreet.wikia.com/wiki/Coronation_Street_Wiki I heard some say the character has been ruined in recent months. Glad I haven't watched. I'd rather remember Peter as the epitome of the self-destructive guy you shouldn't find hot but do anyway.

Yeah those were pretty good, they had some touching moments, and many of the important characters returned. My favorite for the reunions of that year was Alice and Rachel. It was just lovely. I can't remember if the scenes happened when Mac died or at the anniversary itself but the sense of melancholy in them really got to me. I especially loved the scenes where they both said Steve was always with them. I'm sorry that the show never considered asking Jacquie Courtney back for any other occasions -- they had found something very special between Alice and Rachel.