DRW50

The decreasing budget has hurt Home Farm a great deal (as it has Butler's Farm). Without the gorgeous outside shots and just having the somewhat cheap indoor sets, you need great writing to make a viewer care. And Home Farm hasn't had great writing in a long time. I also don't like those cheap offices where it becomes more noticeable that they have no employees. Tara returned with Marc Reynolds. I wonder if the guy who played Sean didn't want to come back. I wonder what type of relationship Tara even had with Len. Speaking of that era, I didn't know until recently that the reason Peter Amory and Claire King broke up was because he had an affair with Samantha Giles. http://www.mirror.co.uk/tv/tv-news/coronation-street-actress-reveals-shes-4721805

Nancye Hayes as temp Alisa. She's not too bad. Does anyone have video of the other temp recasts (for Mitch, Hayley, Selina)? It seems like there was a run on them in the late '90s and 2000, but not so much after, other than one in 2005.

I guess it's down to individual taste, as I never really minded Liam on B&B either. I also didn't see most of Robert's years on the show, so I can't tell you about those pairings. I think making Cecile a bitch was a brilliant idea and I don't think it was done to prop Blaine or the Ewings. Obviously other people would not feel the same way.

The commercial aired in December 1981. Not sure when it was made. I thought Potter looked familiar. Thanks.

Didn't Russ leave town to be with her or find her? I think that may be another reason why. Well, he was on the show for 7 years, so he must have been somewhat popular. Larry was sanctimonious and he and Claire could be annoying together sometimes, but I think he had a decent heart and when they allowed him to have humor, it worked. Olivia comes in because of a job at the hospital, not because of Robert, but he talks about her to set her up for the audience. I'm not sure if they planned for more with Robert at that point and it didn't pan out, or what. The whole thing was odd.

I like Carly but this is all on her (and Val and Bob - especially Val). She clearly didn't want to run a store. She didn't insure it. She barely bothered to open it. She was drunk at the unveiling. Brenda was right about her. It's hard for me to watch Finn scenes now because The Debbie/Ross story is just such a drain to me. I miss the fun Ross. I don't hate Debbie the way many fans do, but I find stories about her love life to be exceptionally heavy and maudlin.

Between her own daughter, Noah, Chris and Rachel's son (who is being raised by Zoe), or even Kim's son James (who was Zoe's half-brother), there's plenty of ways she could return, but sadly I doubt it will happen. Tara returned for Len's funeral in 2007, so you never know. I doubt it though. Anything would be an improvement over the dull Whites. I still think Home Farm should go. Someone said she came back for a day. I've certainly rarely seen a character this present when the actress is on maternity leave. Even when she's not there, she's there. I guess it tells you how much the show relies on Charity.

Is this Ann Williams in the Omega Watch ad about halfway through the video?

I was always a little surprised she came back so quickly in the first place. Then again I'm surprised Jennifer Metcalfe has stuck around. Teresa should have gone years ago. The universe is doing Kirkwood a favor. Now if only he actually had any ability to produce this show.

Apparently Kirsty Leigh Porter, Jessica Fox, and a writer also said something. She really must not have been popular. I wonder if they will recast or just dump the character. I'd do the latter...

I thought Abi would be arrested, so I'm genuinely surprised. I've been uploading some of the few Crossroads episodes I have, and there was this somewhat annoying, but generally tolerable older man pining for Sherrie Hewson. Not until I saw his name on the scrunched credits did I realize it's my EE archenemy...Les Coker. (Roger Sloman) More proof of the lack of direction at EE these days IMO. Competent direction would make him less atrociously hammy.

It's always difficult for me to take Warren seriously, as he's such a hissy queen at times. I think Lillian grew a backbone to a point in later years, mostly because they wrote Beth and Lizzie as so childish someone had to be an adult.

Is this Jayne Bentzen? I can't tell.

So, Hilary died today. I wonder if they ever thought of bringing her back. I also wonder if we will ever see Laurel's sister. Hilary was very shrieky and annoying, but she did have her moments in the Daniel/Arthur story. BE, can you tell me if Doug and Hilary were still married when he came back to the village?

I mean like someone who repeatedly goes on TV with anti-gay talking points. If that's far left spin, so be it.

Kieron must be devastated. Hopefully he'll quit in protest.

Percy.

Former Corrie writer pretty much says it best: http://www.digitalspy.co.uk/soaps/s3/coronation-street/news/a658558/ex-coronation-street-writer-criticises-deirdre-barlow-funeral-it-felt-false-and-engineered.html Anyway, I did watch last night's episode and it was one of the best Corrie episodes I've seen in ages, mostly down to the Ken/Tracy/Peter stuff. Rooted in history, unflinching, without going over the top. The scenes with Peter and Tracy on their own were especially good. I wish we got that type of writing more often. The rest didn't do much for me, but it was OK. Actually I did like the scene where Bev and Audrey mended fences. That reminded me a lot of old Corrie. It was a nice moment. I've enjoyed Bev's return far more than I would have thought, considering how annoying she was before.

Wonderful work as always - slow and steady bubbling up about Frankie's secret, showing the differences between Mitch and Felicia even as he's trying to support her, and then the heartbreaking reveal to Rachel. I also like how you dealt with Russ' past with Rachel. Great dialogue.

One of the perks of going through the random 1994 episodes I have is getting to see amazing moments like these. I guess they were somewhat of a dying breed on Corrie even by this point, but these scenes are so good I had to clip them from the hour episode they were in and put them up. This is one of those episodes, along with the one about 6 years ago where Emily berated Norris after his brother died, that show what a truly, truly superb actress and national treasure Eileen Derbyshire is. And imagine a quiet, slowly building, powerful 5-6 minute scene today.

Between John Stamos' DUI and general skeeviness, the passive-aggressive press games with the Olsen twins, and Kirk Cameron's sister making headlines and likely getting a national platform because she's so good at being a bigot, this show's PR efforts are hilariously bad. I don't think I appreciated the Boy Meets World cast enough for how they were in the runup to their revival show.

Thanks.

Another bigot? Yes, they would like that...

Thanks. That's great!