BetterForgotten

Camptastic:

American debut? Didn't Oxygen air the show (like 6 years behind) for like 3 minutes back in the early 00's?

Patsy was totally right when she said Bianca had run her course as a character. It's really time she leaves as they keep giving her the same damn story over and over again. I don't think the show is in a good place at all right now, everything seems to be falling apart.

I didn't know where else to put this, but I stumbled upon a local article from a North Carolina publication that was published a few months ago where they interviewed Nancy Curlee and Stephen Demorest (most famous for being HW's of GL). Anyway, Nancy says she was offered the HW position at GH in 1996. I assume this was to replace the Labine's, but she declined (even though, apparently, she was consulting for GH and AMC in 1995) due to being pregnant with her third child. Anyway, I wonder how different the show would have turned out, we may never have gotten Guza at all. Does anyone remember anyone else being mentioned in the press at the time as possible replacements for the Labine's? It interesting that ABC apparently wanted Curlee, but went with Guza (paired with Karen Harris) when they couldn't get her. Or it could have been they wanted Curlee to replace Guza (as Guza left in late 1996 to do Sunset Beach), but no idea on the timing... http://www.newsoforange.com/news/article_471ac8fa-681a-11e3-abf7-0019bb2963f4.html

God, both Ben Hardy and Matt DiAngelo are such bad actors. Hardy is way too hammy and overdone, and DiAngelo is so stiff.

Oh, so I guess the surprise was Rainie returning.... Nothing against the actress (who is wonderful) and character, but this isn't a surprise to promote on Twitter...

DTC is promising another "surprise" in tonight's episode. If this is Carter related, I have absolutely no f.ucking interest. https://twitter.com/dominictc/status/478434864283521024

It's cool, I wouldn't have been offended, lol. It seemed like the show really hit its stride with the 3 episode a week format, and just couldn't sustain the same quality with 4 episodes. I wonder if the BBC ever regrets the decision to go to the 4 episodes format (which albeit, was initially successful when the first Friday episode in 2001 beat Corrie in a highly publicized timeslot clash).

1994 episode with the car lot fire. I loved Pat telling Carol, "I know you, you've had more traffic through you than a black wall tunnel." The era just before and after Sharongate seemed like a really strong period for the show. But look at that ridiculous hat on Natalie, despite that, I've always had a soft spot for Lucy Speed/Natalie.

As expected, Sharon's attack looks to be all about Shirley and her confessing her love for Phil I can't believe we're at the point where Sharon (an original character!) is being used as an interloper to Phil and Shirley's supposedly great love. The Carter family and Shirley propping has got to end. I hope the next producer dismantles this entire family and kills Shirley violently.

New Sharon promo:

The Millers were entirely forgettable and such a bad attempt to cash in on Shameless and the chav lifestyle. Sometimes I used to think the show had an unwarranted backlash from 2004-2006, and then I watch some of the episodes from those years, and I can see why the press tore it shreds and why the ratings fell. It's still amazing to think about how popular and lauded the show was during the 1998-2002 era, and then it all suddenly fell to pieces in the mid 00's.

The Carter's will eventually go the way of the Di Marco's (I hope). In fact, they remind me a lot of the Di Marco's with the way they're being injected into any and everything with little or any substantial development. I know I'm a Janine stan, but it really pissed me off in her last episode when Linda was passing judgement and giving Janine attitude based strictly on the vitriol Carol and Bianca were spouting out about Janine when she knew nothing about the situation. Who is this bitch? Since then, I've been completely turned off.

Chelsea herself was underdeveloped. I wonder if they're going to try Stacey and Dean again, and try to shoehorn her in with the Carter's. Remember that terrible story where Chelsea and Dean tried to frame Sean Slater for attacking Patrick? Carly was always a waste and the actress sucked ass. Does anyone remember her romp with Jake Moon? Disgusting.

I didn't have much of an opinion at first, but now they remind of the way the di Marco's were force-fed, and I'm just over it. At least Matthew Robinson and John Yorke had the good sense to chop most of them, I don't see anything putting a stop to this Carter infestation soon. They're DTC's pet project and he wants everyone to know about it, and judging by the spoilers, it seems like Sharon's upcoming story will turn into a story about poor old f.uckin' Shirley.

As if it wasn't enough that they're in every f.ucking episode and worming their way into every storyline already, the BBC has issued a new pic of the heavily propped Carter family.

Mel was one of my least favourite characters during that 98-02 era, which I otherwise loved and probably consider "my era" of the show as that's when I really started to follow it seriously, via recaps and research online at least. In some ways I can see why the revamp Robinson brought on was needed, but in other ways, it probably led the show down the wrong direction that its never really come back from. Does anyone remember the stylized opening and closing segments from that era that were sometimes used? It was so un-EastEnders.

David's first exit: The 1992-1996 era is probably my favourite years of the 90's. 1997 seemed like a big lull, and then Matthew Robinson's big revamp happened in 1998-1999 and the show definitely became a bit more glossy with that and for years to come.

Probably Martine McCutcheon, who was in her early 20's and apparently growing quite the ego during this time. If so, at least Collins and her have the distinction of getting on Matthew Robinson and Mal Young's bad side, hence why their characters were killed off. Speaking of McCutcheon, I was watching some old Tiffany scenes a few weeks ago, and even thought I know Tony Jordan created the character, it was easy to spot that the character was an early prototype for what would become the Slater girls. There were elements of Kat, Little Mo, and of course Stacey that were so prevalent in that character, though she was obviously weaker due to her association with Grant. I think the only person Patsy has some early conflict with was Barbara Windsor, but they got over that.

He was very good with Janine, which was great as he never got the chance until this stint to interact with Charlie's version of the character (I don't count Pat's death). Yeah, I know there was the whole blackmail thing, but he was the only person on the show that saw her as a human and didn't judge her for being the way she is. They're actually quite similar in many ways, which David told her in her last episode. I love that he acknowledge her as his sister and she acknowledged him as an older brother. Both Carol and Bianca have never once shown proper gratitude for what Janine did for them. They were often late with the rent, never had a good word to say to her and were overtly rude. Bianca knew Janine as a child and a young adolescent. When Janine returned to Walford in 2000, Bianca was gone and she didn't see Janine again until 2008; from then on, she did everything in her power to turn Ricky against his sister. Both are on my [!@#$%^&*] list for the way they treated her in her last episode to support that airhead Alice - who let me remind you, conspired to kill Janine. At least Bianca's kids loved Aunty Janine and showed that at in her last episode.

Christopher Reason wrote this episode too, I really wish he got more attention for his work. I always thought he was better than Simon Ashdown, who got all the praise for the same old bag of tricks. I'm glad he's no longer with the show as I thought it suffered a great deal from his influence.

I wish Bianca would remember Alan, you know, the man who helped raise her and who was the only consistent father figure in her life. In fact he was the only father figure in all of Carol's kids lives.

Aw, today's episode uses Julia's Theme. I'll never get sick of hearing it and the contrived emotions its meant to stir up. Carol is still an ungrateful, vile, and self-centered woman. If played be a lesser actress, I would hate her completely. But Lindsey Coulson is just too good to overlook. I will miss Michael French/David, but at least the door is open for him to come back. He just fit back in seamlessly - he had a great rapport with everyone, especially Carol, Janine, Bianca, Ian, and that brief scene he had with Sharon earlier this week.I really wish French would commit long-term to the show, but alas, that's probably never going to happen. This episode really should have been a Carol/David two-hander as they took up 80% of it, the Sonia/Bianca stuff was a waste.

Christopher Reason wrote this episode, and he's one of the show's longest running writers. He's usually the only one that's able to get Sharon right and bring in a semblance of what made the character popular in the first place.

It's not exactly out of character for David to just up and leave everyone behind. Predictable yes, but not out of character as he's never been able to commit to anyone for too long.