BetterForgotten

I wonder if King will return at all - given by 2017 there will definitely be a new producer who may not be interested or she herself may not be interested. I love how her reasons are "creative." She too must hate the writing she's had to endure over the last few years. Not sad to see Crag Charles go...

I doubt they'd recast Sean though, so it will probably be a new character. For some reason, Rob Kazinsky keeps getting work in the US...

I think this is probably the set-up for the spin-off and the twin may be in Ireland. But why? The Kat/Zoe storyline is the show's definitive storyline from the 00's, and I feel this will detract from it. How the hell could Kat not know as well? Didn't she have the wristband Zoe was born with and gave it to her when she left town? What the hell happened to the other one then? This was probably the last time EastEnders properly invested in a relationship that prompted a few years worth of story, sadly.

Can there be a bomb at Michelle and Steve's wedding that kills the groom and bride and selected guests please?

No loss, if only they'd get rid of like 30 other characters.

She's also one of those characters that never needed any family around her to make her viable. She was so embedded into the community of the show, probably the friend some viewers had at some point in their lives or wished they had. Julie often tells a story about how protective the audience was of Bet. She said the day they shot Bet's wedding to Alec, there were hundreds of fans outside the set protesting and calling for her not to marry him. When I started researching the show, she was one of the first characters that popped out to me. They just don't make characters like that anymore.

I know Bet's iconic beehive was voted soap's worst hairstyle on a poll done a few years back. But Bet wouldn't be Bet without it. I love how Julie/Corrie brought it back just in time before she left in 1995. It's just Bet. I always love watching this clip of Bet and Rita's friendship crumbling to a million pieces, which of course ultimately lead to Bet leaving. It's sad, yet entertaining as hell at the same time. More than any man, the Rovers Return meant to world to Bet and was the one sense of stability she had ever had in her life. It made sense that losing it would drive her off the Street. It's too bad Julie will never come back to the show and we're left with trash like the McDonald's, Michelle, and Sean at the Rovers. If Corrie ended tomorrow and since Annie Walker is long gone, it should be Bet behind the bar than anyone else.

At least the show had Bet remember her suicide contemplation when she prevented Ken from doing the same thing during New Year's 1991. Corrie used to be so wonderfully character driven, too bad those in charge today have no idea anymore.

I wonder if they ever regretted killing off her son. Bet probably wouldn't be the same character had he lived and she gotten the chance to know him though.

Great episode where Bet discovers the son she gave up is dead and contemplates suicide before Eddie comes in to talk some sense into her. Wonderful work from Julie Goodyear.

Yeah, good luck with getting a decent performance out of Ford. It's even more noticeable now that only Suranne Jones was the only one able to get her to up her game during her first stint on the show.

The mid 90's were MUCH cooler than that, MS.LPA.

I bet Candace objected to being a divorced parent for religious reasons.... But yes, without the Olsen twins, they won't get the marketing push they'd otherwise get. And I have to laugh at Stamos's hypocritical ass - he spent over a decade openly loathing what this show did to his career and being typecast, but now he's a producer and making some money on the backend, it's all good...

Not looking forward to this: I wonder what the next Series Producer will do with this family, as I doubt they'll get the same focus when someone new takes over eventually (thankfully).

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DAP8_UUu6IM

There's a channel that's put up a lot of episodes from 1996. It's easy to see why this is considered one of the worst years ever for the show and why they needed to make radical changes in 1997/1998 in order to make the show more interesting. The show seemed stuck in a very boring and monotone lull during this time. It also looks like Bet leaving the year before had a huge impact on the show and left a big hole that never quite knew how to fill.

I think they're worse than the DiMarcos actually. I never got the sense that any producer at the show actually enjoyed the DiMarcos. With the Carter's, they're clearly the pet project of the EP and he's desperate to force them into almost every damn story on the show. And storylines that should take up the majority of episodes (like Kat's recent suicide attempt) are sidelines and relegated to just a few minutes so that the Carter's and their latest tragedy of the minute can dominate the episodes.

I think it's completely shameful that it looks like Stan's death and the Carter crap is going to overshadow Jim's death. John Bardon/Jim deserves better than this sh!t.

I for the life of me don't know how this show fit in as well as it did on ABC's classic Tuesday night lineup alongside Roseanne, Coach, and Home Improvement. I know it aired on Friday's during its first few seasons, but obviously hit its ratings stride in its Tuesday night timeslot. Granted, Roseanne and Home Improvement centered around families as well, but of course had a different sensibility since they were a direct result of the standup routines of the comedians who starred in them. I think Full House aired before Roseanne on that now iconic ABC Tuesday night lineup. I can't think of two family sitcoms that could be more the polar opposites of one another as those two are.

I love how classy she is about saying she never has any intention of returning to Corrie, like 3:42 in. The Karen era was the only time I could stand to watch anything with Steve. I wish more material with her was up again as I do think she was a big part of the show's 2002-2004 resurgence. She sort of became the darling of the UK soap world during her relatively brief time in it. I am glad Jones has had such a successful career post-Corrie on UK television.

I don't think Carla's ever really been the same since the Collinson era. And god yes, Ben Price is and has always been terrible, miscast, and haggard-looking.

He's written some good episodes, but he really should go back to Corrie (and replace Blackburn). I wonder what the reason was for his disassociation with Corrie. He has such a long history there and seemed almost destined to be Series Producer one day.

The best IMO are Christopher Reason, Jeff Povey, James Payne, and Rob Gittins, but they all have a longer history with the show than others. The worst I think are Carey Andrews and Wendy Granditer.

Tony Jordan Tweeted that he'd like to write for it (well responded to a fan). https://twitter.com/tjordan952/status/584100472186875904 I hope they take him up on it. It's too bad EastEnders doesn't have people like Jordan and Phelps on the writing team (and hasn't in several years) anymore.

I guess the big news is there's going to be a 6 episode spin-off series filmed in Ireland with Kat and Alfie. It's going to be broadcast in 2016 though. I guess they'll be off the show temporarily and return when production on this is wrapped. Can they please ask Tony Jordan (or Sarah Phelps) to write an episode or consult? Like please? Kat and Alfie to get their own show!