DRW50

At the time I did figure she'd been fired, just because she had stayed for so many years and I couldn't see why she would have left of her own accord as they were launching a new version of the show. I think they wanted to make Alex more hip or sexy or whatever, and pairing him with Danny's sister (who was given the "mental illness makes her a prostitute" story so we could see how hot she was) was apparently supposed to do that. Alex/Jocelyn never did much for me.

In that first clip, was that Rob Bogue (the last Mallet on GL) as the bartender? How random.

I hate the dramatic irony style of writing, and I thought the wrapup to the non-Edmund murder story was a mess. I did like her goodbye scene with Vanessa, and her last scenes with Mallet, but yeah, it should have been better. I guess it could have been worse. Who was your favorite love interest for Rick over the years? I was watching some of the 80s stuff and he seemed very natural with Roxie, although that may have been only a few episodes. I was also watching this episode from August 1989. It starts here. It seems to be an episode when the show was in transition, as the Will Jeffries story was winding down, Beth was on the way back, Holly had just returned and was offcamera trying to get WSPR from Phillip. Still, there are some golden moments. I really love the playfulness with Alan-Michael and Phillip (I wish they hadn't rewritten them to be rivals when GA returned in 1996). And the moment where Reva asks Dylan if it killed him to see his adopted child...one of Kim's best performances. I have such a hard time imagining Ross and Nadine together.

Yeah, they say that every year now. It's a shame. Soaps used to have some happy moments on Christmas. On Corrie, for years they would spend part of the time watching the Queen's speech.

I don't think Ellen Wheeler could have done that, she seemed to adore Jeffrey. The idea of Jeffrey chasing Edmund forever isn't the worst, although I did want better for Edmund. I was hoping he might have a happy ending. I hated that he came back only to be the crazy foil for the saintly Shaynes/Lewises yet again.

Yeah, I have to give GL credit for the returns. They weren't all satisfactory but I never imagined we would ever see people like Nola and Bridget again. I needed to see them, to say goodbye.

Blanche's best one-liners: http://www.digitalspy.com/soaps/s3/coronationstreet/scoop/a189626/a-look-back-at-some-classic-blanchisms.html This is touching:

This has been a hellish year for Corrie. I think they will be thrilled to say hello to 2010.

The nighttime series did look like night in the original primetime airings. For some reason the process has never looked right on VHS or DVD.

Oh no Not Blanche :( I don't think those who haven't seen the show can truly appreciate how truly hilarious this character was. Here are a set of clips: http://www.youtube.com/results?search_query=blanche+coronation+street&search_type=&aq=f Here's the AA meeting one, which was seen as a legend:

They never said what the relation was between Pansy and Leticia. It's funny though because the real Pansy Faye was Kay Frye, not Nancy Barrett, so that means Pansy had an aunt or grandmother or whatever who looked just like Charity Trask. I guess it truly was fate that 57 years later, Pansy was killed and took over Charity's body! I loved that we never did see what happened to Pansy/Charity. They didn't even bother to give a line about how now that her work was done, Pansy left, or whatever. I like to imagine Charity as an old woman, running around Collinwood annoying the piss out of people telling them, "I'm gonna dance for you..." I didn't see Pansy and Leticia as being that much alike. Pansy seemed more fervent and crazy, whereas Leticia was more restrained, more of a con artist. 1840 also had the continuity bloopers of Edith Collins being killed, even though she existed in 1897, and Barnabas going into a trance in 1970 so he could take over his 1840 body, yet, when he went back to the present, he was still in his 1840 body, which would mean he never went back to the coffin and never would have been freed by Willie Loomis. I would have loved if they had gone back to a completely bizarre, unbalanced timeline with some sort of crazy people running Collinwood, people they don't know, and who are barely even Collinses, and then Julia and Barnabas and Stokes just go, "Oops." Seriously though, I know you can't take this stuff so seriously. The continuity gaffes just make me love DS even more! The costumes were great at this time. They brought in a costume designer to create new stuff for 1841PT so those are even more gorgeous and unique. I liked Joanna Going as Victoria, although I agree Rebecca Stabb was the most appealing. She also worked best with Joe. The later stuff with Joe does not work for me, and is very rushed and poorly written towards the end.

I remember how sensational and thrilling exits of characters like Sean and Danielle were supposed to be -- only to be a damp squib. Pointless killing off of characters and endless baby/dead baby drama seem to be Santer's only storylines.

Thank you for keeping this going! I haven't caught up on VL or AWZ in a while now. So is Vanessa gone from AWZ? I liked her, I wish they hadn't saddled her with that big mess of a story about Deniz turning straight for her.

Yes, he used to be on Doctor Who Confidential constantly in their first four seasons. Not too bad on the eyes.

Something definitely needs to be done. The only good story is the one with Tony, which is winding down, and was mainly saved by some of the actors. A lot of the stuff needs to be dialed down or dumped entirely (Kevin/Molly, anything with Michelle, more of David's feuds). I'm not sure if Collinson will have that much leeway, unfortunately. I hope he keeps the vets and continues to use them, and that he keeps focus on Peter and Leanne, and Hayley and Roy, and brings in some better gay characters. Collinson and Russell Davies are both big Corrie fans. Collinson was said to have gotten the position last year, after he left Doctor Who, but that didn't happen.

Emmerdale is such a mixed bag. Some of the stuff is just not good, other can be surprisingly real and on the mark. More than any other soap I watch it reminds me of what the American soaps used to be like, with a UK flavor. Hollyoaks is like no other soap, and I really liked a lot of the stuff from even some of the not good periods, but now the show can be so dark and empty and the heart (OB and Max) is gone. They also suffer from a lack of any strong couples.

The show is a bit inconsistent now, all over the place, mostly focused on young people. They are starting a hugely controversial new story soon. http://www.thesun.co.uk/sol/homepage/showbiz/tv/soaps/2744480/Hollyoaks-plot-storyline-similar-to-James-Bulger-case.html I'm enjoying Emmerdale, although it's far from flawless. Hollyoaks still has some good moments too, it can just be hard to find them. Eastenders is very plot-driven and baby-obsessed now, so I have mixed feelings on that. Corrie still has some good points but overall is also too plot-driven and a bit too thin, as it's hard for them to transition from what they used to be to today's soap world.

The main difference here for me is that the Mitchells have just been so played out as characters, or I don't care about their relationships enough to where I need to see her return. Phil has been married four or five times, and all of those relationships have ended badly. His last wife abused his son and committed suicide on their wedding day! If Peggy skipped the next wedding, I'd understand. Since Sam is gone, Peggy's only other relatives are Roxy, who is not worth bringing anyone back for, and Ronnie, who has such mental problems I can't see her settling down anytime soon. And Billy, but Peggy has never seen him as one of the family. Eastenders hasn't had a problem keeping some characters away in the past (we see nothing of Sharon now, even though Tish Dean has said she wouldn't mind a return). I don't see a point for Peggy, or most of the Mitchell family, now. Keep Ronnie, dump the rest.

I liked those, but I don't see those types of relationships with Peggy and the dead end Mitchells. I guess there's still Pat.

She certainly has a lot of power over her character. I don't see the point of special stories or appearances once she's gone. I guess she could show up for weddings or whatever but none of the Mitchells who are left on the show seem likely to have interesting relationships or weddings.

I'll miss him, he was a very underrated actor (and quite attractive - I like redheads). He was great during the Stax reveal. They never gave him much of a chance.

saynotoursoap put up an episode where Winter Austen stalked Nicole through the TV studio. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_Gl2TjV92H0

Here are two promos, one where Molly shoots Raven, or thinks she shot her, and another where she's trying to kill April. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eqJUpVttoUo

I think it's shock value. The show is willing to sacrifice characters for a ratings boost, or more press attention. Lucas could have been a long-term character, especially with his conflicts between religion and his more violent impulses, but instead they just make him a knockoff of Richard Hillman. The woman who played Yolande Trueman complained about her firing, and how they dumped her as soon as they brought in several other black cast members, like they felt they'd filled their quota. Given the shoddy way they've treated Lucas, and the even worse way that his ex, Trina, and Bradley's girlfriend, Syd, were treated, I can see her point.

This type of thing is why I'm glad for the producer change, although I know this may be that Collins guy, not Santer, and Kirkwood may do the same stuff when he arrives. Anyway, it's just a cheat.