DRW50

I think Rhona will be around for a while. They seem to have no real story for Alan and they haven't since his daughter was around (I miss her). The actor has been battling health problems for many years. He has had some foot problems, and he has a form of leukemia that he treats with medication. Alan is the father of all characters who have had a personality transplant. For years he was a pompous and selfish man, constantly driving drunk, neglecting his wife and children. He became a cuddly grampa by the mid-90s but his past slapped him in the face hard when his psycho daughter and even more insane, sick son returned to town. The Grayson/Perdy story was basically they had a lot of marital problems but they wanted a baby, so Katie, Perdy's friend, agreed to carry their child. Katie then decided she wanted to be with Grayson and allowed Grayson to shut Perdy out of their lives and the baby's life. The story was just horribly written and the actors weren't up to snuff. The only good part was the end, as Katie changed her mind about Grayson and gave the baby to Perdy, who fled town. Tricia's death was moving. I know some hate Marlon's mugging but it fit there. There was a very good scene where her ghost visited him after her death and urged him to move on. When she left, he looked down at his feet, and there was a letter which was now in pieces. It was the letter he'd written to her before she died, with 100 reasons why he loved her so much. They'd had some problems because he was so lonely when she went to make a Bollywood movie that he'd slept with his cousin Charity. She was leaving town for good but sat in a phone box reading his letter, waiting for a storm to pass. Unfortunately when she went outside, the Woolpack roof collapsed on her. She was declared brain dead and they had to take her off life support.

I think Katie is self-absorbed and dumb, and somewhat smug. She does have moments of being a true friend and a nice person -- she's better in the supporting, friend role. Unfortunately most of her friends die or leave town! In late 2008/early 2009 she said goodbye to about 7 people. My reasons for disliking Katie are more based in a story a few years ago that you may not have seen, when she was surrogate to Grayson and Perdy. Andy is OK these days but I can't forget about how he was with Jo. I hope they won't do a Katie/Ryan/Suzanne triangle. I heard she is going to kiss John Barton, so that might be fun. I don't know what they should do with Sam. I felt so sorry for him after his wife died and after what happened with Jo, he loved her and was battered by Andy when he tried to stand up for her. Unfortunately he seems somewhat obsessive with Olena and a lot of fans seem to be sick of him. It sucks because James Hooton is a very good actor. I'd love to see more of Viv, she's a great character when she gets material besides interfering and comic relief. She's had a very tragic life, which they never use onscreen anymore. I wish they could use some of her history, and possibly recast Scott or Donna. Gennie seems to be adrift as a character. I know she got a lot of flack a few years ago for her stories, especially the one where she kept accidentally killing animals. I think she is a very sweet person who sometimes makes mistakes. I don't like the judgmental side of her. I really liked her with Jamie, I'm sorry that has to end. Initially they brought her in for Paddy but that never worked for me. I'm not sure who they could put her with. I wish they did more with Terry and Brenda. Is Brenda still on the show? I wonder if CHas is going to be one of those "He's gay because I was a bad mother" types.

That's true about the big story leading into B-stories. That's what soaps should be about. At its best Emmerdale is the soap which most knows how to tell this type of slow burning story, but these days viewers expect stunts and stunts and stunts and more stunts and more yelling and screaming and illogical plot twists designed to get attention. Sutton has never had the typical soap hunk body but he does look good in his underwear, from my Hollyoaks memories, like when he lost a bet to buy beer in his boxers. He looks pretty good on the show recently, I like the gray shirt. I'm also glad he and Faye have made up, and I don't get those slightly incestuous vibes from them that I got early on. I think Olena is leaving. What do you think of Eve? Anyone who annoys Andy or Katie probably should be someone I like...I don't really know what to think of her. Suzanne Shaw is OK but is still trying to fit in. She reminds me of Louise.

Adam/Victoria could be what Sasha/Fletch should have been on Hollyoaks a few years ago. I want to see more stories with Victoria, the girl who plays her is very good, I especially like her very nebulous relationship with Aaron. Didn't you love that random scene of Adam in his underwear. Emmerdale has the hottest guys on soaps, it's about time they put them to use. I want to see Pa Barton in his underwear. What do you think of Natasha's story? I've heard some say that the aftermath of Mark's murder has been disappointing. I guess I can see why they feel that way, but I like seeing the more understated and methodical exploration of what happens when you kill someone and cover it up. On Eastenders you have Lucas screwing his eyes up and obsessing over a damn tree. On Emmerdale, you have Natasha slowly losing all her money and struggling to keep her head above water. Those scenes where she told Maisie about the money and Maisie promised to help and told her that she was the one who had always been there for the family, not Mark, really got to me.

He's the original, although he just ran around mute and with an afro. He should do that now. I still sort of wish they could fix Santer's mistake with Clare. Or bring back Nigel.

I'm not sure if they're having it where Janine tries to tempt Ryan into badness, I thought that was just a joke. You're probably right though. Actually I wondered after today's show if Danny was going to steal money from Roxy's safe and make it look like Janine did. What really annoys me is that Glenda was such an interesting character when she visited soon after Archie's death. She had a lot of layers. Just bringing her in for a few scenes with this fishface "son" of hers is a huge waste of time and talent. I have no idea why they brought Billie back. I'd like to know the thought process here. They trashed Whitney's character for him and have since just put in these stupid "youth" stories that no one cares about. They could have given Carol stories beyond this if they were going to bring her back. If I didn't know better I'd almost think someone hired him just as a warning to Kirkwood that he isn't entirely in charge, or something, since Kirkwood fired him from Hollyoaks.

Figures the board was out yesterday -- you probably loved those scenes with Ryan and Janine, didn't you? I thought they were a lot of fun, especially the "reference," and Janine saying Ryan was a closet case. Neil and Charlie work splendidly together. I'm not sure what happened to Pat owning the bookies. Then again I'm still not sure why they gave Pat a massive heart attack only to quickly revert to everyone treating her like a pack mule. I'm so damn sick of Billie having the same scenes again and again and again and Devon Anderson ALWAYS having that confused, boo hoo look on his face. Carol can do so much better than shouting at him in every episode. And him already punking out of the service shows what a pathetic character he is and makes a joke out of the whole debate over the military. Why not have him join up for a while, and return for visits? Then he could get out after that if he wanted to, and his character might go through some changes. As it is now he is just a worthless piece of garbage who ruins everyone around him. I can no longer understand 90% of what Danny says. Are his lips going to cover his entire face soon? I love Zainab and I'm glad to see Shirley away from annoying Phil and Zsa Zsa and Louise (the best line was when she heard about the "Emergency Book Club meeting" -- "Is the library on fire?"). Otherwise it was the same old Christian/Syed stuff, endless pouting and quivering chin from the wet blanket Syed and more whispery overdramatics from Christian. Christian was better as Jane's brother and Lucy's uncle.

He's been phased out over the past few years anyway, by his choice. I hope they won't kill him off. Let him leave happily. I have a soft spot for Jack. I also think people don't realize just what a wonderful comedian Bill Tarmey was. One of the most hilarious stories I've ever seen on any soap was when Jack went under video dating (I think he went by the name "Tony Vegas") and a horrified Bet saw his tape. She told Vera, and Vera put on a red wig and pretended to be a sultry beauty. Then when he went to the Rovers to meet his hot date, it was a furious Vera, and she beat him over the head with the box of candy as he ran out of the pub.

That story sounds interesting but they would need to have a stronger actress playing Holly. They should have Victoria and Adam get hooked on drugs. Adam is too perfect, and Victoria is like the profile for drug abuser.

The first E20 started off decently but then whimpered out, probably when they had Leon and Zsa Zsa have sex in front of her father's grave. The writing for Leon and Fatboy was better on there, although even on E20 Leon seemed pointless. Their introductions to Eastenders have been terrible, and don't fill me with a lot of hope for the second group. I'm still amazed that they cast these actors who look 30 to play teenagers. I'd love to see that. THe women he wrote for on Hollyoaks did generally seem strong, with a few exceptions. People say that Eastenders has strong women but I don't think that's true anymore, unless you count yelling.

There was a rumor that Mary Alice Dwyer Dobbin was crazy over Bradley Cole. I think that's why they brought him back. I'm sure some fans were sad to see Richard go but I don't think there was a lot of anger over his exit.

He's been in a lot of stuff but Dynasty is also the only place I remember him from. Apparently he was in Three Men and a Little Lady but I haven't seen that in almost twenty years. I just remembered John Forsythe passed away only last week. I guess he and Christopher are having a reunion.

I guess this wasn't a surprise, but RIP Christopher Cazenove . The Blake/Ben/Caress/Alexis stuff was one of the better stories in those poor post-Moldavia seasons. They just sort of gave up on Ben after they suddenly redeemed him. http://www.dailymail.co.uk/tvshowbiz/article-1264369/Dead-64-TV-star-Christopher-Cazenove-loses-battle-septicaemia.html

There are also some biographies out there about Grayson Hall and Louis Edmonds. I haven't read the Louis one yet but the Grayson one is pretty good. There may have been some sort of decision by ABC to keep the DS people around if they could. Lela Swift directed Ryan's Hope for years.

I don't remember that, it must have been early on, as she lost all personality around the time of Adam. The first time I really got a kick out Carolyn was when she dated Buzz the motorcyclist to rile up her mother. Who can't love lines like "I dig Buzz...Buzz digs me!" The first time she truly came alive was when Carolyn became Barnabas's slave. She was delicious in that role. I wish it hadn't had to end. That also led to her relationship with Tony Peterson, which I really enjoyed. Hated seeing him written out to help prop Adam. Eric, Grayson Hall was on AMC briefly in 72 or 73, hired by a friend there, so I guess the AMC/DS ties ran fairly deep. She played a magazine editor who knew the Eileen Lecthworth character (blanking on the name). I wish I could see that... You probably already know this, but the show was based on a dream Dan Curtis had. The first scenes of the show were his dream. His daughter, I believe, encouraged him to write a show or project about the dream. Cleveland Amory, the TV critic, wrote a review a few years later which trashed the show (although he said he missed watching it when his week was up) and said, basically, "Let us hope that Mr. Curtis never goes to sleep again." If you ever want to know what the original story bible was and how it would have played out if they hadn't started making changes due to low ratings, it was published earlier this decade, Shadows on the Wall.

Yeah, I meant Santer. I don't know why I said Kirkwood, unless she flipped off the Hollyoaks cast and Kirkwood told Santer to drop her.

This kind of reminds me in some ways of some of the Hollyoaks stories after Hannah's eating disorder/McDean/Clare's exit. There were some big moments but often a lot of filler and mini-stories in between. But those stories, the ones in late 2007, were actually pretty decent (Summer/OB, the lifeguard and how accusations of abuse ruined his life, etc.). I know once the Niall stuff ended in late 2008 that was when the long period of filler stuff started. Perhaps that's part of why they wanted Kirkwood, if they think he's adept at this type of format. I think it would help if there had been stronger character development over the past few years but have any characters been developed? They're either about the same, or have been damaged by bad stories. Some, like Tanya, who were once such popular characters, were just ruined and continue to linger on like a bad smell. Others, like Jack, had been around for over two years before they had any personality at all. The show sometimes does propping to try to hide this but it can only go so far. Like Adam. They obviously use Adam to make Darren more popular, as they seem to love Darren and I don't think they had any idea of how repulsed fans would be about a story where a mentally ill, middle-aged woman had sex with an 18 year old who looks a few years younger than 18. So now we get, Darren is so funny, Adam is awful, etc. But that still doesn't give Darren any more value as a character. I guess that's one thing Kirkwood usually did well at Hollyoaks -- the character development was usually pretty good and he had strong characters. He created a lot of strong characters. I cannot think of any Santer created. The closest would be Ronnie. I'd still like to know what the point was of getting rid of Honey and keeping Billy, since Billy has had little to do since then. I wasn't even a fan of hers or anything but it's odd. I wonder if Kirkwood just disliked the actress.

So I guess you got to see Carolyn's intro scene, which amounted to her doing "wild" dancing with 30 year old men in the Blue Whale as Burke Devlin and his PI marveled over how out of control she was. Hilariously awful. They should have had it like that Too Darn Hot scene in Kiss Me Kate - go girl, go! Poor Nancy Barrett. She really soars when she gets to play other characters. But Carolyn does have her moments.

If Collins is as influential or popular as he seems to be then I'm not sure if he'd go. I guess he could change with Kirkwood gone but after seeing those Eastenders specials where he was so giddy over awful characters like Roxy and Sean Slater, I don't know if he will be able to change. I guess it depends on whether Kirkwood will be allowed to make any changes in the way the show tells stories, or if he is going to be allowed to make any changes to the way that some families, like the Mitchells, have had too much dominance when I'm not sure they are interesting enough at this point to justify all the favoritism. It's gotten to the point where the only story ideas they have for them involve one long lost relative or another. The show has struggled to fill the gaps in between the stunt stories for a long time now but I guess this time is more blatant because the casting has become so terrible for such key roles, laughably bad. I don't know if you watch Shameless, but they do a very good job of casting a lot of the roles Eastenders has failed at in the past few years -- young, good looking men. They also know how to act. A lot of the young men EE casts can't act and also don't look that great. The only one I've changed my mind about recently is Ryan.

If what some of you've said is true then the show probably won't change that much anyway. I see a lot of defenses of the show at places like Digital Spy which say, "Of course the show was going to be in a quiet place after the live episode." Why? Why was it going to be in a quiet place? Isn't that the time you most want some excitement, as that may keep some of the viewers you're getting? The ratings for the last few episodes have seen sharp drops, and while I know that's because of the weather, it still doesn't express a lot of confidence in the show. Wasn't the whole point of building up "Chryed" and Lucas to have stories that would carry momentum while Stacey had a break? Instead Lucas, never a great story to begin with, becomes nothing more than cameos from pointless Liz and obsession over a tree, and the Chryed story vanishes for nearly 4 months, with Christian completely phased out of Walford life. And the stories we get in their stead aren't even that great as filler, they often make no real sense (like Louise's arrival) and the payoff for them isn't worth the suspension of disbelief. It's amazing some of the ways this show will be defended and praised. Oh, in the space of an episode, Billie wants to join the army and gets a big party -- this is kitchen sink drama, this is exploring a real issue! No it isn't, it's a gimmick designed to promote more disconnected yelling and screaming in place of actual storytelling. I really wish Treadwell-Collins would hit the road.

I imagine she and Roxy will loathe each other. Ronnie will be too busy wandering around in a stupor to actually have dialogue with Kat. I'd like to see Ronnie and Kat talk about Danielle/Zoe, especially if, as many believe, Danielle was Archie's child.

I think Glenda and Danny will con Roxy out of the Vic, cue sad scenes of Peggy wandering around aimlessly in an empty pub for the last time. Then Phil will get control of the pub and as he doesn't trust Roxy and Peggy is leaving, he will make Alfie the manager, since Phil's a convicted felon, I believe. I really hope we get a scene like this: Roxy: I hope you can keep up with all the changes I made! Alfie: We barely recognized the place, did we darlin? (Kat turns up her nose as she sees the same old decaying wallpaper and Queen Vic bust) Roxy: It's not easy to get people 'round here to see when we're in a new century. Had to clean out the musty old bar staff all on my own! (Tracey, propping up the bar, shares an eye-roll with Kat) Roxy: It's all so fresh and clean! Kat: Yeah. Indoor plumbing, electricity, and all. We'd waited a few more years you'd probably invent the gramophone.

They are blood relatives and nothing else but the actors do play a certain flirtation. When he calls her "kitten" I kind of cringe. The pre-Barnabas episodes have some very strong moments. For one thing, the characters are much better defined, as they don't just react to him. Victoria is stronger. The only real downside is David, one of the most annoying child characters ever on television.

Only if it's from the person who is going to reveal her secret -- that she is actually 40 years old. She can be Donna, Kathy's long dead daughter, who actually faked her death and got plastic surgery, back to make life hell for the Mitchells.

I thought Zainab as a nosy bitch was some of the best stuff on the show in months. I love the Masood comedy. And Zainab was burnt for her nosiness so that shows she isn't written as being above everyone, as some characters are. I really enjoyed the comic moments with Tamwar, and Amira interacting with Zainab and Tam. Unfortunately this overshadowed what should have been the main story, which was the Amira/Syed marriage. He's too dull to care about. And the only time he seems to have a bit of personality is around Amira...does the show remember that he's NOT supposed to love or want Amira, that he's supposed to want and love Christian? Supposedly the actors who play Amira and Syed are dating in real life. Dot was butting into a private conversation. The problem with this war story is that as always the pacing was awful. I know you're not a big fan of Corrie's stories and I can see why but they at least made a slightly better attempt at building up Gary's decision to join the army, as he badmouthed service, was upbraided by several vets, then checked out the information himself and decided to go to war. This went so damn fast, Billie is obviously just doing this to have a tantrum and to get attention, so why was all this about oil and be all you can be pushed in? It just makes the story look half-hearted and it does not bother to present a valid reason for why you would want to join up. They had that beautiful scene with Carol showing the family photo and explain the cost of war, and what did we get on the other side...Dot talking about how Nick should have joined up? Billie is so incredibly unsympathetic, why should I care about anything he does? And will Whitney ever have a purpose beyond whimpering over him? Is it just me or is Leon UGLY? His face looks like a bad road. I wouldn't mind as much but isn't he supposed to be a hunk? Didn't you love that the place Billie held up a week ago is now throwing a party for him? When they let Janine come back so soon after she ran over Danielle and when Roxy invited her to Amy's christening, I wasn't as surprised, because most of the Mitchells never cared about Danielle, but no way would Peggy or Roxy let him back in the pub after he tried to rob them. Unless they were just hoping he left and never came back??