LondonScribe

Holy Smokes! Legit question, is there anyone in that cast who CAN’T sing? Amazing. Though being a more rounded performer (actor, singer/musician, dancer) seems to be more of a requirement in the U.S to succeed than here in the U.K.

Well there you go. I said months ago that Hayley would throw Randy under the bus. She’s nothing if not resourceful. Though even if she makes it to the end of Friday’s episode, she won’t be leave well enough alone.

I was abroad very recently and found myself watching Emmerdale online. The first time in a number of years, and I couldn’t get over how ‘hollow’ it looks and sounds. There’s so little energy. It looks like a show that has had its budget slashed and its production gutted. The writing does it no favours, either. It’s so serious, absent of the with and humour I remember weaving in and out. To be sure I wasn’t seeing things, I watched episodes from (roughly) the same date in 2016, 2006 and 1996, and the difference is obvious. How long has it been like this?

There you go.

Gasp! You wash your mouth out with soap, good person! Though I do have a feeling that Hayley will not end the week behind bars.

So the on-screen changeover date is set. And to me, it feels like (despite the polite quote Giddens put out) the change in writing is going to be obvious and immediate. I’ll even go out on a limb and suggest that any ‘inherited stories’ won’t make it past the first fortnight, especially as this falls within Sweeps, and I think something big will happen.

It feels to me that they have timed the exploration of the sketchy element of Andre’s past to provide an ‘out’ in the eyes of the viewer to soften the blow of Dani inevitably ditching him for Bill.

For some reason, it looks to me like they are filling out Randy’s character and backstory just in time for him to come to harm or to be ‘compromised to a permanent end’ Could be wrong but I wouldn’t be surprised if Hayley sacrifices Randy and wriggles out of this.

I pointed that out, too 🤷‍♂️ And concluded that TPTB probably want something or a style that they think Giddens and O’Connor are more likely to bring. I’ve seen hope from some that Giddens can perform a literary ‘code switch’ but perhaps the combination of his back catalogue is the point. Perhaps the camp and high drama (bordering on melodrama) is what the suits want, and add a dash of GH-style high stakes and stunts, and Bob’s your uncle! I can lightly theorise, but having stopped watching a few years ago, part of me feels I don’t have the right to make wishes or demands of the show’s identity from Sweeps onwards (that’s my prediction as to when their names will appear on screen, so they can start within something big, a stunt or revelation)

I don’t know too much about Dan O’Connor other than his go at General Hospital, and Jamey Giddens… well, I didn’t watch Ambitions or DOOL under Ron Carlivati, but I know many of the BTG viewers on this board will be delighted he is gone from the show. The fact CBS/Sony didn’t consider Natalie Minardi Slater (also at BTG) might be indicative of the direction they want the show to go in. This thread should be fun…

Completely weird and unfounded speculation. A bit of mischief by me, actually… What if he offered to step down when his successor is announced, and not leave the show in the lurch, except… Sony and CBS are ‘unable’ to find a suitable Head Writer who ‘gets’ what is required. Therefore, Josh Griffith ‘has’ to stay, and has built up credit for staying around for the ‘good of the show’ 🤭

Given the fact some viewers had been calling for Zoe’s return (particularly with Michelle Ryan in role) for 20 years, I think this will go down very badly with some of the fan base, irrespective of how she appears to have been written.

Given his own writing choices, I’d be mortified if he had a say in his successor. It’s akin to the much lamented Iain MacLeod having high-level supporters at ITV who elevated him when he quit is job of Producer to the extent that he (reportedly) chose his Coronation Street successor, Kate Brooks. And well…

U.K. soaps and American soaps are fundamentally different beasts and the writers/producers would struggle to translate across each. Dare I suggest that a Bryan Kirkwood or Chris Clenshaw (because I think I saw his name mentioned elsewhere) would either produce the show based on what they ‘perceive’ an American soap to be, hence it misfires. Or they try to transpose the most sensationalist elements of U.K. soaps or storytelling models (à la Mal Young moving the Trevor Jordace/body-under-the-patio story over to Y&R), hence it misfires also.

This is the longest period of time that I remember the show announcing the exit of a Head Writer (or Executive Producer, but the former in this case) and not having a replacement named, even if temporary.