BetterForgotten

I believe this is the last time they used the extended end theme to close an episode - 11 years ago for Karen's exit (though, I think this episode actually aired on the 26h of December 2004).

This is show is overrun with murderers and rapists and those who willingly overlook their crimes. Ugh, DTC and his minions really need to go. And Sharon, just go the f.ucking police already.

It's really time for DTC to go, I don't understand why type of power he has over at the BBC and why it's warranted.

Elaine Lordan's problems were much wider, supposedly it was her cursing out Mal Young at a public event that got her fired in 2004. The show was so huge and popular back then, and Jessie and Kat seemed to become the public face of the show over night. I don't think she was prepared for all that attention and let the worst of that sudden success consume her. From 2001-2005, I swear she was on the cover of every UK tabloid I came across. Though, these days, she's a completely different person and seemed to learn from the experience of those initial years.

I don't want to see Zoe ever again, but I bet the reason they haven't recast the character is because the Kat/Zoe storyline and reveal was and still is very iconic. It was THE British soap moment of the 00's and the show has tried and failed miserably at trying to recreate it ever since with various other characters. I think the first time we saw Belinda was the week of the Kat/Zoe reveal where she showed up to Lynne's hen do. I can't remember if they mentioned her before that though. That was a great week of episodes - I've said it before, but, that era of the show was so strong and helped me get through a lot of things that were going on in my life at the time (by share entertainment and seeing people more screwed than people I knew). It will always have a special place in my heart. EE hasn't been able to write families since the early years of the Slater's, so a family unit like that wouldn't be able to thrive on the show as it is currently.

That's a shame. It looks like they are planning something with the Slater's, Kacey Ainsworth said she was asked back, but couldn't commit as she's doing a show for Sky. I doubt Elaine Lordan or Micelle Ryan were asked back though...

What happened to the original actress? I liked her a lot, and Belinda was a hoot.

Everything about Full House was stupid, so at least they're being consistent.

Looks f.ucking terrible:

I think the pop categories are her best bet.

It's probably best she quit, I can't imagine what silliness Bet would be reduced to if she was on the show currently. Could you imagine her propping up the likes of Michelle and Sean? Ugh. However, the Rovers would probably still be a genuine establishment if she was still there, that's for sure.

It wasn't a terribly written return (there's been a lot worse), I think the only reason it gets so much sh!t was because Julie abruptly quit and it was during the era in the early 00's where they show wasn't very popular with the general press. I do have to wonder if there's a lot more to why Julie quit than she's ever let on. I know she said she severely disliked the shooting schedule as it had changed and was more grueling than when she left in 1995, but I feel like it had to have been something or someone else that led her to quit so quickly. Corrie was very lucky to have Suranne Jones back then, she really carried a lot of the material they thew at Karen. She was probably the most popular actress on UK soaps when she left, and I'm glad she's never looked back.

Probably my favourite pop song that hit #1 in the UK in 2000: The remix: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=n_uIdh_t4i8

She peaked really fast in her career and burnt out, that was the point. And the reason why that happened was not because she was untalented (she has talent), but she wasted her moment in the sun with cheap gimmicks, a passive-agressive feud with a legend (Madonna), and progressively crap material (I'm sorry, BTW and AP were not great albums) that ended up flopping and damaging her commercial career. All that and she's not even 30 yet. Everything she does now feels like an engineered PR plan to rebuild her public image and recover from the fall she's had with the general public, and I don't particularly feel it's working.

There is no career upswing though, she hasn't had a hit single in what, 3 years? When you're doing duets and commercials with Tony Bennett and still in your late 20's, something isn't right. Her career ran out of steam in 2010 and she's been clinging on ever since. I'd be very surprised if her next albums sees more success than her last two. It seems like her team is trying to soften her image a bit with paid for PR, but it's too little, too late IMO.

3.38 Million sold in the first week in the US

No one is ever going to beat that record, it took over 15 years for Adele to smash the NSYNC record, and other than Adele currently, no one is selling close to that amount in their first week. And yes, you know Taylor Swift wishes....

We're going way off-topic, and apologies to OLTL fans who may be pissed at this. But I do think it's telling that Bell himself never re-hired Suckass-Moron-a after she left (and failed miserably) with the creation of Generations. In fact, by her own admission, it was SONY who rehired her in 2005 as a consultant, before LML fired her a year or so later. Also, she only spent about 4 years on Y&R in the mid-late 80s, there were "Bell proteges" who had been with the show much longer and through different incarnations of the show since her original stint with the show. Judging by her writing from Generations on, this woman isn't even qualified to write her own suicide note, so the constant praise I see from people like Jamey Giddens and Nelson Branco seems based off of one popular catlight clip from Generations and not much else. I remember her taking credit and gloating about the Sheila poisoning Lauren with a necklace story beat during her 2005 return....

Suckass-Moron-a is no catch herself, people. I always have to chime in whenever she's mentioned, her reputation is built purely upon Tweets from Jamey Giddens and not in the reality of her actual (lackluster/terrible) work or track record.